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Now and then I get excited about things and wanted to blog it. Though the excitement was never enough to rise against my laziness ;-) . But something unusual happened today which I would love to share.
I was sitting on a bench at Oakleigh Station(Melbourne) waiting for the train. My head was down, eyes were closed and I was listening music. I was in my own world until someone taps me on my shoulder. I looked up and saw an old man. He was fair, light colored eyes and looked someone from interior Australia. I took out my earphones and the first word what he tells me was "Namaskar" in complete foreign accent. Out of shock instead of replying in Hindi, I wished him back with "Hello".
And the conversation goes like this:
Old man : " Aap Hindustani hai"
Me : "Yes"
Old man : " Hindustan mein kahan se"
Me : "Benares, Aap nahi jaante hoge".
Old man : "Benares....Varanasi...Kashi"
I was amazed. I have been to many parts of India. And many people dont know "Benares" specially in southern india until you tell them it is other name of "Kashi". And this old man from some other country knows all three names of the place.
Me : "Aap kahan se ho"
Old man : "Tashkent"
I might be poor in geography but seriously I didnt know where this place was.
Me : "Tashkent kahan hai"
Old man : "Jahan LAL BAHADUR SHASHTRI ki death hui thi"
Now this was another shock. I definately knew about Lal Bahadur Shashtri but never heard of Tashkent. I felt ashamed that he knew more than me about my country's history.
Old man : "Mujhe chalne mein pareshani hai, train mein chadhene ke liye madad chahiye"
Me : "Sure"
I helped him boarding the train and he wished me "Dhanyawad" while leaving. I never met before anyone from different country and culture speaking Hindi with such pleasure.
By evening this incident was out of my mind. But then I saw this on one of the Melbourne's tram
Later after "googling" I found Tashkent is in Uzbekistan(Part of former USSR)
6 comments:
it is really a nice incident to hear n thts very true though we r an Indian but we are still unknown about and alot to explore......
Nicely written!!
Could I add you on my blogroll? I didnt know that you were bloggiong too.
heyy nice . proud to be indian .. hum hindustani.
naye daur me likhenge hum mil kar nayi kahani hum hindustanii....
but this can happen to anyone .. haha imagine a australian waiting for a DTC bus in delhi .. u will say to him
manu: "hii are u waiting for bus no 500"
australian : "yes i am waiting for quite long."
manu: where r u from
australian:" i am from melbourne"
manu: "i too stayed in malbourne.."
australian: where did u stay in melbourne
manu:"near carlton gardens"
australian: "my poor geography .. ohhh noooo ... i dont now where is it" ..
australian is thinking "being in melbourne for so many years i dont know any thing about this place "
"carlton gardens is on the edge of the Melbourne CBD is a mature 19th century European park containing two major buildings - the Royal Exhibition Building and the Melbourne Museum."
manu: i generally dont get seat in bus because of the over population here so please keep a seat for me(by putting ur hanky) if u manage to get one ..
australian : sure i will do
manu : thank you
australian : thank you
finally australian was not lucky enough to manage a seat even for him self so both manu n australian went hanging in the crowd
p.s manu went hanging outside the bus like a soap bubble at its limit
Hey Manu..
Incredible Article!!!!
and Truly Incredible Incident!!!!
Iam happy..you shared with all..:)
Rupa...
Good one! Incidents like these bring us closer to our very own land! :)
Lovely....nice to hear that our traditions and culture are actually so immensely widespread.....must be a great feeling when u get the glimpse of ur country in another, already on a u run high on emotions and then u see how beautiful ur country is....Awesome
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