Two Indians

When Haridas' choir sang at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan School last year, the head of it wrote me a nice letter. This year I had not the slightest idea that we would have that place for our evening functions, which are all plays, songs, jokes and all that. When we got to the school, I thought, "Perhaps the head of the school will be here." But, as usual, I was wearing a running suit. I only wear dhotis on special occasions.

Right away the registrar came up to me with folded hands and said, "I have to honour you." When he returned a half hour later, he was wearing his Indian kurta and dhoti and had put a tilak on his forehead. Also, he had brought a garland to garland me.

We were both on the stage. He spoke very highly of me for a long time. An Indian was honouring me, saying nice things about me! I was embarrassed. Although I was unprepared, I spoke very highly of the founder of his organisation and of my personal experiences with him.

Another Indian, a Bengali, happened to be there. When I returned to my seat, he came up behind me and started showing off. He touched my feet and then gave me a pound as a gift. Since I am a Bengali, he started talking all about Bengal. Finally Alo stopped him, saying that we had many important things to do.