Deja dit

I have this conversation around 20-30 times a day with practically every Indian (usually male!) that I meet from fellow train passengers and street kids, to rickshaw drivers and hotel managers. It is unbelievably repetitive and goes along these lines:

“Hello Madam! Where you from?”

“From England.”

“Ahh England (smiles)….cold!”

“yes very”

“you friends?”

“no I’m travelling on my own”

(looks utterly shocked)”you travel lonely? No friends? No husband?”

“yes travelling alone. No husband as yet!”

“you have how many years?”

“I’m 29.”

“Hmmm” (he mentally calculates 29 + not married = something must be very wrong with her) ”how much days in India?”

“six weeks.”

“no friends six weeks?”

“no just travelling on my own.”

“no trouble?”

“not as yet”

“where you go in India?”

“I spent a couple of weeks in Kerala. Now I travel round Rajasthan.”

“you like India?”

“yes it’s very beautiful”

“and (insert place name) you like?”

“yes very much. Are you from here?”

“yes” (pauses) “you like cricket?”

(Uh oh…here we go!) “err…sort of. We’re not very good though!” (I think!) “India beats us!”

(smiles) “Flintoff”

“yes Flintoff” (please don’t ask me anything else about cricket!)

“he good character?”

“yes…I guess”

“ahh…(smiles, realizes he’s run out of conversation and moves on)