Within You, Without You.
"Padhaaro Mhaaro Des"
A simple phrase, yet, in its simplicity speaks so much. It's a heartfelt welcome of another person into not just your land but your entire world. It's a welcome I have felt since stepping on these wondrous sands of the city of Jaipur. But this is not the story of my welcome here... rather the story of how I learnt to welcome a guest who is stepping onto these wondrous sands of the city of Jaipur.
To give you a background of how things began for this gentleman and myself we have to go back to June. When I was a 'wanderer' in the city of Liverpool. A dream location to be in since I began my love affair with the football club, Liverpool FC. So, I was there, alone, looking at things, getting a feel of the city before visiting one of the many pubs of the land. A beer in hand and watching people enjoy themselves got me grooving to the music playing and since the only groove I have is of the famed "Indian" dance it caught the attention of these (fairly) young looking group of friends. They asked me to come over and join them, and I did. This is where I met Mr.Matt Howard. (Apparently he's a Dr.Matt Howard) We got talking about a variety of topics out of which a major part consisted of football. After a little bar hopping and the usual serious conversations which begin at around midnight to one in the morning it was certain that these people are the ones who I will remember for a lifetime. They had welcomed a stranger into their social circle vehemently and I never had a single moment where I thought I was in bad company. The night passed, my home beckoned and I was out of Liverpool that evening not knowing whether I will see any of these people ever again in my life.
Dr. Howard after expressing his fleeting wish to visit India during the conversation messaged me on Facebook one day. He had booked his tickets and was making this trip a reality. Jaipur was his first destination. The morning he reached Jaipur, I get a call which woke me up and I was pleasantly surprised to hear a British accent speaking to me from the other side.
"Mate. The hostel I book apparently doesn't exist"
"What?"
"I'm at the location of the hostel I booked and these people here are telling me that this place is shut"
"Welcome to India, buddy. I'll text you the address of my place, come over"
I meet Matt standing outside a rickshaw and his face gleamed with joy. It was the face of a person who had been wanting to take a dump since a long time and had finally seen a toilet drive up to him on a scooter. It was happiness in its purest form. He hugged me twice in quick intervals, sat behind on my scooter (he was pretty nervous, mind you) and we were off to experience some of the best times I have had so far. I went to work, came back at midnight and luckily enough the Liverpool game was scheduled to kick off at thirty minutes past one at night. He was out with my roommates having a jolly time, getting a feel of things in Jaipur and it was made sure that he came back home (Well, it was his home now) to a series of Liverpool chants which we very gleefully sang along to. It was the Arsenal game which ended three all and it was heartening to see another person, from another land feel the same emotions I went through during that game. Every goal scored was cheered like we were children on Christmas morning, every goal conceded was met with profanity that well, adults are capable of and in the end, the two of us were satisfied with a draw. After having watched a pulsating game together on the dining table, we got talking about India as a country and I must say, it was a learning experience for me too! Listening to his first impression of India as a visitor really opened my eyes to what an exhilarating place I am staying in and which is easy to take for granted since I have been here for the most of my life. We talked about cultural differences, choices of food, religion, just about everything under the sky and then the conversation slowly shifted to the phenomenons which take place above the sky we see and the terrace beckoned. It was cold, it was late and two guys were just sat there on the terrace staring at the night sky, watching the stars and discussing the insignificance we hold. Ironically, we also came to how insignificant the football game was and how we based our emotions on twenty two people trying to kick a ball into a net. Just before his jet lag kicked in and it was time to go to bed, we shared the best thing two or a group of people can share in each others' presence and that is silence. None of us spoke a word to each other, we just chilled and it was not even a tad bit awkward.
The next day arrived, I had to go to work but I gave him a list of things he could do in the city. I suggested a Ram mandir to him which was a 7 minute walk from the house and this idiot managed to walk for 90 minutes to some strange place but oh, well... It's all part of the journey, isn't it? I came back from work, made sure that he had some Old Monk and coke...
"How do you like it?"
"I don't usually like rum but this tastes good!"
He told me he was done after just a glass but then ended up having four more during the course of the night. Monk, I tell you. After taunts of how the British have robbed us of most of the things (for which he repeatedly apologized) and discussions about exes, it was time to call it a night since we had a big next day planned.
Liverpool, Pune and Thane (a friend who works in the same hotel as I do joined us) were merrily having samosa and kachori standing on the streets of Jaipur at one in the afternoon. An Uber was booked, our destination? Amer fort. Evidently, it was not such a good idea to visit Amer on Christmas day because of the crowd and traffic, so we marked out a 40 minute walk through a garden which was apparently a shortcut through to Amer. This garden is famous as the garden where Lord Krishna used to get his girlfriend, Radha on dates. (This was the easiest way to explain it to Matt) After watching modern day Krishnas and Radhas living up to the history of the place we were disappointed as we reached a dead end. The short cut was fenced. We trudged back along the route and decided to take the longer road uphill since we were so determined to make it to Amer fort. As we were walking
through a lane, a god sent rickshaw driver who eventually mapped out our entire itinerary for the evening took us not to Amer, but the other fort above i.e. Jaigarh. It was beautiful, an evening on a fort which took
(a measly) seven hundred years to build. We witnessed history, watching how the king of the land lavishly lived in his massive home. The sister fort of Jaigarh followed and we called upon our new friend, the rickshaw driver Vijay to take us to Nahargarh. On the way, he randomly stopped at a crossing, opened his tiny glove box and asked us, "Chai piyoge?" Two Indians and a Brit can never say no to a cup of tea in the evening and he poured us four little glasses of some beautiful tea from a small plastic bag. I felt so proud at that moment that my foreign friend is getting to witness Indian hospitality at its finest. It made me feel good as an Indian that yes, humanity is still very much alive. Vijay dropped us off at Nahargarh and after seeing one of the most beautiful sunset our stomach was hungry for some appeasment and we entered the restaurant on top of the fort which offers the most breathtaking view. The three of us, just sat there looking at the lights of Jaipur on Christmas night while having some nice chilli chicken (I fed him chilli chicken!!!) We talked, we laughed, we ate... again, it was just three humans who were merely enjoying being in the company of each other on a chilly night whilst looking at an amazing view. It was time again to call upon Vijay and his rickshaw (or his Mercedes, as he proudly called it) and we headed back home to have a nice homely dinner of Jeera Aloo, Sarson ka Saag and Butter Naan.
After the dinner, as we were going to sleep, it was time to say bye since I had work early in the morning and Matt was flying to Varanasi later in the day. He stood before me, looked and smiled, gave me a real bear hug and just said, " Mate... It has been amazing." As a host, it was the one of the best feelings to have someone say that to you. He didn't need to make any elaborate speech about how thankful or grateful he was for everything but it's just the feeling with which he said it gave me a sense of unparalleled satisfaction. Honestly, anybody can be a good host to such a wonderful person who was so open to new experiences, who never said no to anything but rather just embraced everything as it came along. An absolute gent who respected me for the way I was and earned my respect for the way he conducted himself. Brilliant sense of humour, jolly, non complaining all in all, just a great guy! It was very truly my privilege to host him and welcome him into India. A quality I have learned through observation of people in Jaipur who really live up to the slogan of the city. As a fellow Liverpudlian, I am certain, Matt will never walk alone.
The part which struck me the most was how similar humans around the world are despite coming from glaringly different backgrounds. Me, a hindu by birth, Matt, a christian...me twenty two, Matt is twenty eight (!)... born and brought up thousands of miles away from each other, yet there was no time where I felt that he is a stranger to me or a person I had met for just 4 hours in my life before. It was just two people enjoying the company of each other at the present moment without thinking about how much time they had spent in the past or how much time they will be spending with each other in the future. It got me thinking as to how easy human relations could be with this kind of a thought process where if the present moment is alright, there is nothing to worry about. Most relationships I have seen go sour are because of either distance, speculative thoughts or brooding about mistakes made in the past. Time is a relative concept, it is something we use to measure our lifetime but human relationships are immeasurable. Age, religion, caste, creed, sex are so insignificant if you compare it to the bond humans can form if they keep these things aside. If, you are with a person and are just involuntarily focused on the company he/she is keeping you, it's love! It doesn't necessarily have to be physically intimate, it's just an energy which is shared and does not require any explanation.
And the time will come when you see,
A simple phrase, yet, in its simplicity speaks so much. It's a heartfelt welcome of another person into not just your land but your entire world. It's a welcome I have felt since stepping on these wondrous sands of the city of Jaipur. But this is not the story of my welcome here... rather the story of how I learnt to welcome a guest who is stepping onto these wondrous sands of the city of Jaipur.
To give you a background of how things began for this gentleman and myself we have to go back to June. When I was a 'wanderer' in the city of Liverpool. A dream location to be in since I began my love affair with the football club, Liverpool FC. So, I was there, alone, looking at things, getting a feel of the city before visiting one of the many pubs of the land. A beer in hand and watching people enjoy themselves got me grooving to the music playing and since the only groove I have is of the famed "Indian" dance it caught the attention of these (fairly) young looking group of friends. They asked me to come over and join them, and I did. This is where I met Mr.Matt Howard. (Apparently he's a Dr.Matt Howard) We got talking about a variety of topics out of which a major part consisted of football. After a little bar hopping and the usual serious conversations which begin at around midnight to one in the morning it was certain that these people are the ones who I will remember for a lifetime. They had welcomed a stranger into their social circle vehemently and I never had a single moment where I thought I was in bad company. The night passed, my home beckoned and I was out of Liverpool that evening not knowing whether I will see any of these people ever again in my life.
Dr. Howard after expressing his fleeting wish to visit India during the conversation messaged me on Facebook one day. He had booked his tickets and was making this trip a reality. Jaipur was his first destination. The morning he reached Jaipur, I get a call which woke me up and I was pleasantly surprised to hear a British accent speaking to me from the other side.
"Mate. The hostel I book apparently doesn't exist"
"What?"
"I'm at the location of the hostel I booked and these people here are telling me that this place is shut"
"Welcome to India, buddy. I'll text you the address of my place, come over"
I meet Matt standing outside a rickshaw and his face gleamed with joy. It was the face of a person who had been wanting to take a dump since a long time and had finally seen a toilet drive up to him on a scooter. It was happiness in its purest form. He hugged me twice in quick intervals, sat behind on my scooter (he was pretty nervous, mind you) and we were off to experience some of the best times I have had so far. I went to work, came back at midnight and luckily enough the Liverpool game was scheduled to kick off at thirty minutes past one at night. He was out with my roommates having a jolly time, getting a feel of things in Jaipur and it was made sure that he came back home (Well, it was his home now) to a series of Liverpool chants which we very gleefully sang along to. It was the Arsenal game which ended three all and it was heartening to see another person, from another land feel the same emotions I went through during that game. Every goal scored was cheered like we were children on Christmas morning, every goal conceded was met with profanity that well, adults are capable of and in the end, the two of us were satisfied with a draw. After having watched a pulsating game together on the dining table, we got talking about India as a country and I must say, it was a learning experience for me too! Listening to his first impression of India as a visitor really opened my eyes to what an exhilarating place I am staying in and which is easy to take for granted since I have been here for the most of my life. We talked about cultural differences, choices of food, religion, just about everything under the sky and then the conversation slowly shifted to the phenomenons which take place above the sky we see and the terrace beckoned. It was cold, it was late and two guys were just sat there on the terrace staring at the night sky, watching the stars and discussing the insignificance we hold. Ironically, we also came to how insignificant the football game was and how we based our emotions on twenty two people trying to kick a ball into a net. Just before his jet lag kicked in and it was time to go to bed, we shared the best thing two or a group of people can share in each others' presence and that is silence. None of us spoke a word to each other, we just chilled and it was not even a tad bit awkward.
The next day arrived, I had to go to work but I gave him a list of things he could do in the city. I suggested a Ram mandir to him which was a 7 minute walk from the house and this idiot managed to walk for 90 minutes to some strange place but oh, well... It's all part of the journey, isn't it? I came back from work, made sure that he had some Old Monk and coke...
"How do you like it?"
"I don't usually like rum but this tastes good!"
He told me he was done after just a glass but then ended up having four more during the course of the night. Monk, I tell you. After taunts of how the British have robbed us of most of the things (for which he repeatedly apologized) and discussions about exes, it was time to call it a night since we had a big next day planned.
Liverpool, Pune and Thane (a friend who works in the same hotel as I do joined us) were merrily having samosa and kachori standing on the streets of Jaipur at one in the afternoon. An Uber was booked, our destination? Amer fort. Evidently, it was not such a good idea to visit Amer on Christmas day because of the crowd and traffic, so we marked out a 40 minute walk through a garden which was apparently a shortcut through to Amer. This garden is famous as the garden where Lord Krishna used to get his girlfriend, Radha on dates. (This was the easiest way to explain it to Matt) After watching modern day Krishnas and Radhas living up to the history of the place we were disappointed as we reached a dead end. The short cut was fenced. We trudged back along the route and decided to take the longer road uphill since we were so determined to make it to Amer fort. As we were walking
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| Chai Piyoge? |
(a measly) seven hundred years to build. We witnessed history, watching how the king of the land lavishly lived in his massive home. The sister fort of Jaigarh followed and we called upon our new friend, the rickshaw driver Vijay to take us to Nahargarh. On the way, he randomly stopped at a crossing, opened his tiny glove box and asked us, "Chai piyoge?" Two Indians and a Brit can never say no to a cup of tea in the evening and he poured us four little glasses of some beautiful tea from a small plastic bag. I felt so proud at that moment that my foreign friend is getting to witness Indian hospitality at its finest. It made me feel good as an Indian that yes, humanity is still very much alive. Vijay dropped us off at Nahargarh and after seeing one of the most beautiful sunset our stomach was hungry for some appeasment and we entered the restaurant on top of the fort which offers the most breathtaking view. The three of us, just sat there looking at the lights of Jaipur on Christmas night while having some nice chilli chicken (I fed him chilli chicken!!!) We talked, we laughed, we ate... again, it was just three humans who were merely enjoying being in the company of each other on a chilly night whilst looking at an amazing view. It was time again to call upon Vijay and his rickshaw (or his Mercedes, as he proudly called it) and we headed back home to have a nice homely dinner of Jeera Aloo, Sarson ka Saag and Butter Naan.
 |
| A photo with Vijay was a must! |
After the dinner, as we were going to sleep, it was time to say bye since I had work early in the morning and Matt was flying to Varanasi later in the day. He stood before me, looked and smiled, gave me a real bear hug and just said, " Mate... It has been amazing." As a host, it was the one of the best feelings to have someone say that to you. He didn't need to make any elaborate speech about how thankful or grateful he was for everything but it's just the feeling with which he said it gave me a sense of unparalleled satisfaction. Honestly, anybody can be a good host to such a wonderful person who was so open to new experiences, who never said no to anything but rather just embraced everything as it came along. An absolute gent who respected me for the way I was and earned my respect for the way he conducted himself. Brilliant sense of humour, jolly, non complaining all in all, just a great guy! It was very truly my privilege to host him and welcome him into India. A quality I have learned through observation of people in Jaipur who really live up to the slogan of the city. As a fellow Liverpudlian, I am certain, Matt will never walk alone.
The part which struck me the most was how similar humans around the world are despite coming from glaringly different backgrounds. Me, a hindu by birth, Matt, a christian...me twenty two, Matt is twenty eight (!)... born and brought up thousands of miles away from each other, yet there was no time where I felt that he is a stranger to me or a person I had met for just 4 hours in my life before. It was just two people enjoying the company of each other at the present moment without thinking about how much time they had spent in the past or how much time they will be spending with each other in the future. It got me thinking as to how easy human relations could be with this kind of a thought process where if the present moment is alright, there is nothing to worry about. Most relationships I have seen go sour are because of either distance, speculative thoughts or brooding about mistakes made in the past. Time is a relative concept, it is something we use to measure our lifetime but human relationships are immeasurable. Age, religion, caste, creed, sex are so insignificant if you compare it to the bond humans can form if they keep these things aside. If, you are with a person and are just involuntarily focused on the company he/she is keeping you, it's love! It doesn't necessarily have to be physically intimate, it's just an energy which is shared and does not require any explanation.
 |
| What better way to end this with a line from a song by The Beatles? |
And the time will come when you see,
We're all one...
And life goes on,
Within you and without you.
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