Namaste, Shukriya and Shahrukh khan, Sonia Gandhi

The first thing I realized coming here in UK – We have to redefine our identity here. All the Indians here refer each other as ‘desi’ and rest of the Europeans refer us as 'Asians' and not 'Indians' specifically. All the restaurants serving Indian food are 'Indian restaurants' or 'desi restaurants'; although half of them are run by our Bangladeshi, Srilankan or Pakistani bhai.

So I was just an Asian to the localites . Although you are a foreigner here in London, you are expected to know their language well. Plus you have to understand the British culture too. And it’s quite fair on their part, after all we are well exposed to this Englishness for not less than 150 years.

Shahrukh at Mt Tirlis, Switzerland

But cross the English channel and realise the difference. You will be treated as ‘Indians’. This was my experience. At least in well crowded tourist places, you will surely get the greeting ‘Namaste’ if you are travelling with Indian group. They recognise you as 'Indians' and not mere 'Asians'. They will make sure, you are comfortable in their country by greeting in your native language. This was my experience in France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy as well. Sometimes to lure you buying things, Salesman may speak few Hindi words. Knowing that, these are all salesman's tactics.. still, it creates certain warmth.

In a patience testing (read never ending) queue for Eiffel tower top floor when you hear a 'Shukriya' from a guard at Baggage check counter, it certainly gives pleasure. A French guy is saluting you in Hindi,...  feels good specially after your English experience.

Italian Connection

This was quite frequent in Italy. I was welcomed by one Italian shopkeeper by salutation in Italy followed by 'India - Italy; I -I.... equal' !!!!  Again a feel good factor. So we are equal finally. (Don't ask me whether this realisation is on the backdrop of this infamous Italian economy Shrink).

On a busy Saturday afternoon, we sailed through a boat to reach the famous city of Canals - Venice.  In a very crowded dock area in Venice, a salesman selling souvenirs tried convincing us by greeting ‘Namaste’ followed by words 'you from India – India - Shahrukh Khan'.Now, that was a kick. So Shahrukh is the identity of Indians abroad!! Phew!!! (Satyamev Jayate :P Alas !!)

No need to tell you that I didn't bother to even look at items he was selling. 

One more example again from this Italian Canal city. Venice is also known for its glass works/ artifacts apart from Gondolas...specially Murano glass. Murano Island is the famous tourist place for its glass factories. You can get to see demonstrations of the art here. We visited one of the Murano glass factories and the person giving demonstration of their work concluded with 'Shukriya' saluting towards our Indian group. Furthermore wittingly he told us, 'Give my regards to our Sonia Gandhi'.