To Jayantada, from Dublin, with love

Photo credit: Bishweshwar Das

Jayantada (the renowned poet Jayanta Mahapatra) left us for ever on the evening of Sunday, 27th August 2023. I was in Cork then. I went numb. My flight back to Germany on Monday the 28th August was cancelled and I suddenly found myself in Dublin on Tuesday, the 29th August, with nothing else to do but wander around, while waiting for the flight rescheduled for Wednesday. This is what I saw that day, in the company of a lovely Finnish woman, whose flight was also rescheduled. I wrote the poem at 2 a.m. on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday... Talking to Jayantada helped.... here it is...

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Random thoughts about Indian tourists in Europe

I am an Indian myself. But there are a few things I find hard to understand about my guests from back home when they come visiting: here is a random sample of some problems I have had. I am not complaining, perhaps I am just as bad as any of them, but I just wanted to make a list so that I knew what to expect, and what not to expect, next time someone comes visiting me. I guess some of my friends will be cross with me because they think I am talking about them, I hope they will forgive me and take it in the right spirit. I am being grossly unfair here I know, for most of my friends who have visited me over the last years have been very independent, capable, accommodative and were a lot of fun and no trouble at all.  But still, there are some typical Indian traits that I need to talk about. Or perhaps these traits are not Indian at all...

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