Distorted Mirror by R K Laxman

Author:R K Laxman [R.K. Laxman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789351180005
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

Like elsewhere, the immigrants from Italy, Greece, India, Yugoslavia and Turkey who have settled here for more than a couple of generations frequently return to the land of their origin and bring back a bit of the outside world, good and bad. I saw Italian restaurants. Chinese tea houses, Indian yoga centres . . . And one day resting my limbs in Melbourne sitting on a park bench I suddenly even heard the approaching sound of a harmonium. It was soon followed by the strong smell of incense sticks. Sure enough along came a Hare Krishna group, clapping, dancing and singing away in praise of the Lord as if it was in Chowpatty.

On the last day in Australia, waiting in my hotel lobby for the car to take me to the airport, I was casually turning over in my mind the experiences of my travel. An old man sitting next to me examined the tag on my luggage, smiled and asked, ‘Come from India?’ His dress was pretty rumpled, fingernails chipped, and chin unshaven. ‘Going to,’ I replied.

‘I just returned from there.’ He volunteered the information and a dialogue ensued. He was a millionaire, one of those who kept a sheep farm. But he had retired and was lonely, his wife having died long ago. Now his children and grand children took care of his business and he spent his time travelling. ‘I spent eight months travelling all over India: Sikkim, Bangalore, Taj Mahal, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Jaipur, Cuttack, Nagercoil . . .’ He would have gone on but my car had arrived and I left with my opinion of Australia as a continent floating away in remote isolation drastically changed.

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