The story of the stupas in three parts.

[icarus]

Flashback... The story of the stupas in three parts.

Part one



In 1991, I helped build these. By April the project was far, far behind, tangled up in wrangling over who's in charge of what. I rode with the foreman, Mark, back from the job site one evening, bumping over ruts in the road, the sun low. Temps had hit 100 degrees and the weather was musty-muggy.

He complained about the wrangling. "We have six months to do this. Six months. And they're dicking around!"

I listened for a bit. Finally voiced what I'd been thinking. "We have to get ahead of schedule."

"What?"

"We have to get ahead of schedule."

"We're behind schedule right now. And that schedule's as tight as a virgin's--well, anyway, we're already behind."

"So we have to get ahead," I said with the certainty of John Belushi in the Blues Brothers. "We need to get so far ahead that when all the usual problems crop up we'll have time for them."

His jaw dropped.

"I'll find a way," I said.

He stared. "You're crazy."

"Where there's a will there's a way."

After a moment he shook his head. "I believe you." And laughed. "You're crazy, but I believe you. Which probably makes me crazy, too."

"Everyone knows you're crazy, Mark."

We laughed at our insanity, somehow certain that we were going to put this project ahead of schedule.



Part two tomorrow: Is it broken?