An Indian couple in Hyde Park. They were only in London for 2 days and we had the pleasure of spending one of their lunches with them. What did they eat? some largely chickpea based snacks. What did we eat? Sandwiches. Sticking to the cultural stereotypes.
Now these guys were literally some of the loveliest people in the world. They sat with us, offered us some of their chana dahl and even gave us their address in case we are ever in India. And you know what, I think if we were to follow up on this kind offer they would welcome us into their home with open arms. Not because we are especially nice, but because they are.
We offered them some of our sandwiches and cake in return. The man nibbled a bit of the corner of mine politely after checking if it was vegetarian. Yes 2 vegetarians in a row.
The man led the conversation, largely he wanted to talk to us about education. he was quite a philosophical type of a bloke and left us with this sage piece of advice:
Life is only 15000 days. Out of all these only a third are our own. Use it to make friendship.
I like to think that we made a friendship today. Maybe not a long lasting one. Maybe not a geographically sensible one. But a good solid hour of lunch friendship.
His advice to us was "Try and make peace". His wife's advice. The same. Indian women don't think for themselves, they think through their husband, he explained smiling. This guy was no chauvinist, just a gentle traditionalist. And they seemed happy to me. Happy in their clearly defined rolls.
So again, much was learned. These folk really warmed our souls.
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