Saying goodbye to India…and a call-out to readers!

“Everyone likes to talk about India, whether they happen to be loving or loathing it. It is a topic on which a lot of things can be said, and on a variety of aspects–social, economic, political, philosophical: it makes fascinating viewing from every side.”

— Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Out of India

It’s a brisk winter morning in Delhi and the whole world seems bundled up against the frosty air. Stall owners wear puffy jackets and woollen vests; bicycle rickshaw drivers tie scarves long-ways around their head and ears, as though supporting a toothache. And I, entirely unprepared for such a cold spell, don the only sweater I have, paired comically with flip-flops.

I leave my bags at reception and head out onto the main road of the Pahar Ganj bazaar, located just north of the New Delhi rail station. The smells of heady incense and freshly squeezed sweet lemons greet me as I eat a bread omelette for breakfast, pick up a final few bangles and scarves for Christmas presents, and dodge the oncoming green-and-yellow auto-rickshaws barreling past me.

And throughout it all, throughout the cold and the busy bazaar, I’m doing everything I can to forget one unforgettable truth:

It’s my last day here.

On our train journey from Jaisalmer to Delhi, I forget what happened, or what caused him to say this, but my friend Nambi said, “You’re going to be an expert on India by the time you leave here.”

At first I replied, “Well, I’ll have to be if I’m going to write a book on it.”

But then I paused for a second, and changed my mind. “Actually, you don’t have to be an expert on a place to write about it. I think it just has to move you enough.”

That was certainly the case with French Polynesia. My paltry little month in that country was enough to sustain me through nine more months of writing a book about my time there–proof that a place can remain with you long after you leave.

But at that time on the train, I wasn’t sure what would happen in India. I wasn’t sure if it would move me or not. Yes, I’d just finished rattling across her in a tuk tuk, but there were still three months ahead of me–three months of which not too much had been planned. To now find myself on the other side of this journey–with it largely behind me, with only a matter of hours left until I board a plane for London–is bittersweet.

Because I think India has moved me—even if it will take some time to figure out just how, and in what ways.

When I was staying with Nambi’s parents outside Chennai, one of my Tamil lessons covered how to say goodbye. Appa taught me to say, poy te verah (sorry for any incorrect romanization here…it ain’t easy!), which means “I will go and come back.”

When I said this to Nambi the next time we spoke, I thought he’d be proud–but instead he was just confused.

“That’s like saying, I’ll be back soon. What you should say instead is, appram pesalam. That means more like, talk to you later.”

Learning that, I then found it funny Appa should teach me such a phrase, since I wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon. But I liked that what he’d taught me lacked the definitive edge of the English ‘goodbye.’ “Be back soon” leaves the door open, making your return seem likely–if not expected.

Because now I can turn to you–dear frustrating, fascinating India–and say, poy te verah.

I will go and come back.

…and now a call-out to readers!

An idea came to me in Mumbai last weekend, as I was lying in bed trying, as usual, to fall asleep. A lot of bloggers sometimes invite readers to share their stories, tips, photos, etc, on their blog. For whatever reason, I haven’t done that up till now, but suddenly in Mumbai, I wanted to change that.

And to give a theme to this first call-out, I decided to ask:

What countries have moved you?

Made you see yourself or the world in a different way, have left some kind of lasting impression, and made sure you never forgot your time there? This could be a foreign destination, or even your own home country, but perhaps an area or region you hadn’t explored before.

Once you’ve picked one such country, send in one photograph from your time in that place–along with 1-2 sentences about why that country moved you. As soon as I get several in, I’ll post up the first round-up of responses!

This isn’t so much a contest as an open invitation to you, my lovely friends and readers, to share a photo if you like–however, I will set a deadline to give this a sense of structure. If you can email your photo and brief description to me at [email protected] by Wednesday, December 28, I think the readers’ round-up will make a fantastic start to the new year.

Can’t wait to hear from you!