Buddhi Gautam

After my lessons in basic French were over, I was given a scholarship to go to France, in a school close to the Franco-Swiss boarder. The school had a good reputation in teaching French, and students came in large numbers from around the world. The first person I knew was a smart cookie from Mozambique, who as soon as we introduced each other, asked me, “Do you know the film Dosti?” When I answered in the affirmative, he asked me to sing a song from it. Amateur singer as the legendary Bhimsen, the guy wore a bewitching smile when I sang some lines of koi jaba raha na paye. To top it all, he didn’t understand Hindi and for that matter, couldn’t vote me out on the song!

This, however, gave me a glimpse of Bollywood mania in many countries in Africa. Another person I met was a girl from Vietnam. We were in the same class and became good pals. Though we spent most of our time boning up on our French, other topics vis-à-vis each other’s country cropped up occasionally. One day, upon my request, she narrated the Vietnam War to me. But in no time the topic left me cold. It was 1996 and war then meant nothing to me and we dropped the topic like a hot potato. If it were now, I’d certainly have listened to my Vietnamese friend much more attentively. I ran into an Algerian teacher in a bistro. Since everyone wished to know as many students and teachers from as many countries as possible, the teacher from Africa broke the ice and asked me where I came from. The moment I revealed my identity, “There is peace in your country,” he said. “Yes,” I had replied.

A middle-aged Canadian approached me to give away the emblem of his country so that I could stitch the maple leaf on my T-shirt. Later a French guy told me that the Canadians always have a couple of such emblems in their pockets to give away to friends and foreigners. I declined to accept it unless he told me where exactly Nepal was situated. After a moment of pondering, he said in Africa. This drove me up the wall and I had to struggle hard to smile back at him. When I told him that Nepal was situated between India and China, he asked me: where are China and India? This comforted me to some extent and I accepted his gift. A potpourri of experiences, they were.