EuroTrip - Day 32

Aap kaha se hai?

How would you feel when a white man old approaches you on a railway station and says these golden words - "Aap kaha se hai?"

We were pleasantly surprised when it happened with us while we were waiting for our train to Bruges. All we could say was "India." Mr. X was going on the same train as ours so our conversation was bound to be longer than just one question. We had lots of questions in mind now and somehow waited till we settled in the train.

He has been coming to India for more than a decade now. A retired language teacher, he teaches Shakespeare at schools run by Belgian Missionaries. His last visit was more than 3 month long where he spent the time juggling between teaching English and learning Malayalam in some town of Kerla. A documentary film maker, he had also been to Jharkhand and done some research on Naxalites. He has also been to Gujarat, Orissa (those temples are really beautiful!) West Bengal and Diu too. It feels so great when some firang knows more about India than just Bombay and Goa.

He says he really likes his students in India as they are much more serious about their studies, are much more disciplined and actually give him respect. They are still in touch with him through emails and Facebook. That's such a pleasant thing to here. We always thought that we are such a waste. Our group-mates in ESCP have really made us believe this.

He recently had showcase of his work in his town. That evening it rained and he says he felt so much like being in India. It was like the smell of monsoon, he felt. Interesting.

Last but not the least, he mentioned that Belge broadcasters are showcasing India oriented show on the national tv these month. They sent experts from here to visit India and explore the place. A lady writer who is expert on woman's issue is going to present a documentary on state of women in India, this week. India shining it is. At least some of them consider us worth some attention!

The meeting was an experience in itself. He talked about his country too and gave us some useful tips for traveling in Belgium. For just the first time, we had the real exchange of ideas. So far we have just behaved like those tourists who come, enjoy, buy souvenirs and go back. Our interaction with any city hardly ventured beyond what is given in the tourist information brochure or LP. I have been to 10 countries by now and somehow I feel it's just this race to increase country count that we are being caught in. This is one thing that I really cursed my tuchchas for when they told us about their country counts. I don't want to be in this race. I am not too much into geography so it is ok with me if I leave one or two countries that were just an overnight distance from here. I want to spend some time in a quite countryside village smiling with the people there. With the kind of issues we are faced with (being strict vegetarian, we hardly have chance to explore the local cuisine. No drinks either for the obvious reasons. And then the goal of actually finishing this trip on real shoestring), its a limited freedom that we have got. I think it's the high time we start exercising it.

Life needs more excitement.

The same old jokes don't make me laugh anymore.