it is first of all it is strange that that i have no blog entries for three months
... strange the last entry was written by pete seeger
... a couple of entries before that, the translations, were plucked from my book on translation
...the three linguistics related posts before that are actually reproduction of writings by different authors
SO I HAVE NOT ACTUALLY POSTED ANYTHING FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS!!!!
of course i can say
- i have been busy ... teaching .. research ...family and social life...(brag brag)
- i still dont have that super slim super light super small computer with super fast net connection (grunt grunt)
- nobody reads these posts any way (sigh sigh)
however, the real reason is the same as that for which i dont exercise, go crazy trying finish papers on time, haven't yet finished so many of those great books i collected and dont even meet friends as often
if i can really get over this .. i will probably write about laziness (ironically there is a draft on the topic lying there for 5 months)... laziness...
but this one is about my trip to China
six months have passed, and i have already forgotten quite a bit
but it does not matter .. its not about minute descriptions ...
it is about feeling like a stranger... in a .. well may be not that strange a land
the part of china i visited was not that different from kolkata
tall buildings, shopping malls, flyovers...
except that it all seemed a lot cleaner... lot lot bigger and there are fewer people
what really struck as strange, as is often the case, people...
and its not how they look... but how they are
and it so happened here that i struck as strange to them
and its not how i am .. its how i look
this is the first time i felt so conscious of my brownness
it, mixed with language barrier, made some people bluntly ignore me when i am asking for help and at other times made complete stranger come up and chat with me.
most people i met across street outside the campus, and i did manage to make quite a few walks outside, would give look at me be startled or raise their eyebrows, whisper among themselves and even giggle. one lady, cycling a rickshaw actually gave me a surprised stare, and laughed out loud.
i was really impressed by these rickshaw pulling, bus driving ladies
they looked tough and comfortable in their skin.
seen some of them put their feet up, and fold their arms behind their head and relax in their vehicle while waiting for the passengers.
one of the Chinese delegates, who said that i am the only indian she ever met, told me that we indians look like the whites, except that we are black...'you have big eyes and big nose' she explained with a sigh.
and they are such beautiful people, babies are the cutest, students at the university looked like they are straight out of some fashion magazines, dressed to perfection
they were tall with glowing spotless skin and shining hair.
a visit to the supermarket with friends explained why they look the way they do
they can tell what each and every food do to your body
'this is good for hair, this one improves iron in your body, this improves vision..,'
we bengalis usually point to our food and say ' this tastes good, this one is even better....'
and also i stopped bragging about varieties of bengali food after my china trip
i have learned that you can pickle anything, make dry food of any thing
and oh those flower teas ...
and ye we all know of the chinese passion for fresh food.. aquariums in restaurants to make sure that the fish you are eating, died less that 10 mins ago.
the delegate i was talking about also told me that she finds my accent difficult, adding that she has no problem in understanding delegates from Europe and US.
language landed me a in great deal of trouble when i landed i the airport at 2 in the morning.
none of the staff seemed to know the word 'taxi stand', and i learned after half an hour or so, i have no future as a mime artist. i was wondering whether i will end up living in the airport for the rest of my life, when a total stranger offered to help.
and after only a few days, when i was leaving, a colleague commented it is strange how fast one can get used to a new place. she was right, i completely got used to the land. i also got used to being a stranger too, language already did not matter.
i returned with loads of good experience... great food ... great people.. ( the conf was good too, but that's not what i will write about in this blog)
the most priceless experience was of course that of being a stranger in a strange land
[due acknowlegement to Robert A. Heinlein for the title of the post]
