Whether or not he spent a lot in lands afar, Tagore did travel miles. To Russia, China, Japan, Argentina, America, Germany, France, Bali, Java… To Dalhousie and Shillong mountains. To the seashore at Puri. After these speeding miles he regretted missing dewdrops on a blade of grass outside his door but no, he never regretted any mistake committed through lack of insight into the nuances of any culture. For, he held, learning from errors was a critical part of growth, intellectual and spiritual.
Kolkata-born Abhik Roy may not have taken a cue from Tagore. But this Doctor of Communication who spent 25 years teaching culture in universities across Europe, Asia and America, echoes this in essence when, at the very outset he writes, “cringe, laugh and learn” from Traveling Blunders. “I’m not an expert traveler,” he writes after experiencing New York- Paris-Rome-Budapest-Berlin-Beijing-Seoul-Tokyo, “but I’ve learnt that approaching other cultures with humility and humour makes the world feel more like home.” So the professor turns his most embarrassing blunders into laugh-out-loud stories, all entailed by a crisp dictum in cultural survival.
The 150 pages, half of which are comic illustrations by Gwen Grafft depicting the author in sticky situations, take you on a self-deprecatory tour of the world where you might unwittingly be a square peg in a round hole. No matter how seasoned a traveller is, nothing prepares him for the culture shock in store the first time he flies out. Language, dress code, dining habit, greeting might all go for a toss. “Imagine a Mohammedan travelling to the North Pole through Ramzan one summer,” Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi once said to me. Or be in my seat when I first arrived in Beijing for Festival of India, and had to ‘savour’ froglegs, snake-meat, and squirming shrimps-in-some-sauce. Culture shock? You bet: until you learn that in China, “everything that shows its back to the sun is food.” So humans, walking upright on their feet, are the only creatures exempt from the plate.
Until smart phones and AI smoothened travel with road directions in local voice-over, carrying the hotel’s visiting card with a map overleaf was smart. How else could you say ‘Take me to Hotel X’ in French, Mandarin or Swahili? For, all the world doesn’t speak English, Shakespeare’s, Queen’s, or Elizabeth Doolittle’s. Likewise, it pays to dress right for an occasion. Else, you might show-up in a Parisienne black dress for a big fat Chinese wedding where black is the colour of mourning while red-n-gold reign to symbolise happiness and prosperity — just like in Bengali weddings! And, in a church wedding, the priest ends by saying “you may kiss the bride.” Otherwise too, in the West, a peck on the cheek with a hug is the best way to greet a lady. Copy that in Bengal and you may be hauled up for sexual harassment!
Well, even an insignificant Thumbs Up can cause a rift. For some it denotes accordance, success. For some others in Bengal, it can mean ‘Kanch-kala, two hoots for you!’ Not just gestures, silence too can spell difference. In the West, silence can be awkward; Far East, it says you’re willing to listen. In conclusion? Keep travelling. And glean from your blunders. It’ll make us more thoughtful.
Traveling Blunders
By Abhik Roy
Notionpress
pp. 150; Rs 349/-
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
