It was 27th September, 1995 when a youth embarked a journey
to the other World-unknown to him. He had
been staying in deep jungle less than a fortnight ago. The other World was a like
a fairy-tale for him.
He lived in a small village in the midst of
forest, where his partners were wild elephants, boars and poisonous snakes. The
area was den of extremists. The only means of communication to outside world
was a jeep, which used to go out in the morning with full load of daily wage
labourers and come back in the evening. He
was a change agent on his mission to de-learn and re-learn. He had left his Ph.D. course in Agriculture four
years ago but continued his learning in the field.
On 13th
September when the Jeep returned back in the evening, the driver handed him a
slip. It had a message that his father had phoned a public booth in nearby town
and wanted to talk to him. Next day, he went in the jeep with other passengers to
make a long distance call to his father. There was no mobile/cell phone during
that period, and one had to use Standard Trunk Dialing (STD) system. His father
informed that a letter had come from Government of India with his admission
letter and flight tickets to Dublin for 27th September.
He had
applied for Irish fellowship for Rural Development course, and he was the only
person from India to be selected for that particular course. The period after that was roller-coaster for him. Everything
going to happen was new for him: his three piece suit, the flight, the country,
the people, the culture, the food. However, he
was ready to explore - willing to get immersed in the new world.
For two
weeks he shuffled between Delhi and his hometown to complete all the
formalities. Finally, he took the Air France flight
on scheduled date to start his journey to unknown World. It was his first flight with change over at
Paris. At Dublin, a central public announcement system was waiting for him to
welcome. The announcement directed him to pick-up a phone near to arrival gate.
The voice on the other side instructed him to take a cab and reach the address –
41 Morehampton Road, Dublin. Since he did not have any Irish currency he was
asked to tell the cab driver that money will be paid by the host. The journey in unknown world had started.
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| Two Worlds |
At the given
address, Student Officer for Irish Council of Overseas Students (http://www.icosirl.ie/) greeted him. He gave him brief
orientation and asked him to sign a contract. He handed a packet to read and
some Irish currency to him. The Student Officer also informed him that the
earlier Indian could not complete the course last year and returned back within
a month as she had cultural shock. He then directed the cab driver to drop him
at the given address - Apartment no.14, Merville Residence, University College
Dublin, Ireland (http://www.ucd.ie/residences/our-residences/merville-residence/).
By the
time the youth reached Merville Residence it was evening. He had left his
country for more than 24 hours. He dropped dead on the bed. When he woke up, it
was afternoon. It took some time for him to realize that he had slept for about
20 hours. He did not know the word ‘Jet-Lag’.
After waking up he took a view to his apartment and learned that it had four
single bedrooms, a shared kitchen and living area and two bathrooms. The kitchen did not have firewood or gas stove, but hot
plates - he saw for the first time in his life.
He was
introduced to his flat-mates – two Spanish and one American. This was his time to start identifying people from
different countries by differentiating the way they speak.
He also
learned that why the gentleman on the flight had told him that he will have to drink
heavily to survive in Ireland. The Irish wind was very strong and chilling. He
tried beating the cold by wearing thick sweater and coat, but it did not help and
the strong wind continued to penetrate through his thick cloths. His flat-mates
suggested him that instead of wearing thick cloth he should wear layers of
cloths. They also advised him that if he starts jogging and exercise then he
would be acclimatized sooner. The learning in
new world had started.
Next
morning he reached his college. His teacher and Office Assistant informed that
his classes will begin from Monday, 2nd October, 1995. They suggested
him to use the time to explore Dublin, which he did by wandering around for
next three days. Everything fascinated him. The bus
did not have any conductor, and one has to put the coin in the box at the entrance
to buy the ticket. He took bus from college to City Centre from where
he could walk all over to major points in the city – the city mall; Grafton
street; Temple Street; Molly Malone; St. Stephen’s Green; Christ Church
Cathedral; George Bernard Shaw’s home and many. He had nothing else to do
till the class started.
One thing
he could not understand. He had got colour
blind. All the faces looked alike – all white, difficult to differentiate.
The campus
had gymnasium and jogging track. He re-started his jogging and exercise within
days of reaching, and these helped. In India, he
had to face minimum temperature of 5°-6° Celsius and maximum of 42°-45°
Celsius. In Ireland, minimum was -15° to -20° Celsius and maximum was 10°-12°
Celsius. The body got adjusted to extreme climate once he started
his exercise and learned wearing layers of cloths. He did not need alcohol or
heavy cloth to keep his body warm.
First time,
when he went to his class he still had colour blindness. All faces looked white
- similar. He had big difficulty in identifying the faces of his classmates. He
found a noble way of recognizing them. He wrote all
the names on a paper and in front of each name he wrote words like Breege-curly
hair; Siobhan-blonde; Jim-tall guy; John – short hair; Shielah – spectacle.
It took a while before he started remembering their faces. There were a couple
of students from Eastern European and African countries. Their English accents were very different, he started
listen them carefully, trying to understand and find meaning.
When he
went to open his bank account, he was given a card and taught how to use the
card at a machine known as Automated Teller Machine (ATM). It was 1995 and ATM
did not have made entry in India. He had
started learning and managing himself in this new World.
The campus
residence was another world for him. He was seeing people from
different countries – Italian, Spanish, French, Mexican, Chinese, Brazilian; Bangladeshi; Sri Lankan;
South African; Sudanese; Pakistani; Greek and many others nationalities. He
learned that Dublin is known as educational hub,
and students from all over the world come there for learning.
These all
students from different countries had one thing in common – they all had left their home to gain knowledge and they
all wanted to mingle and socialize, but did not know how – they were all alone,
sometimes getting homesick, like him.
As he had two
flat-mates from Spain, he came closer to Spanish people - there were few in the
campus. They used to go out together during the weekend – to pub, dance clubs,
movies. He started accompanying them. They taught him some Spanish words (like Me Amigo) and dance steps of famous Flamenco dance. He had learned break-dance during
his earlier hostel days at BHU, Varanasi, India. He
mixed these two dances and made a new discovery – Spanish break dance.
Soon, he
started winning dance competitions in discoth and dance clubs. He used to get
Wine and Whisky bottles in reward, but as he was non-alcoholic he made a deal
with his Spanish flat mates. They paid for his tickets and soft drinks and
whenever he wins he gave the reward to them. Soon he started learning Irish
dance steps – famous tap dance and straw (folk) dance.
He also started organizing weekend parties in his campus residence.
Anybody could join - the only condition was that the person has to bring one
dish of his/her country. Soon
the parties started getting popularity: the people used to taste Spanish Omelets,
Ethiopian coffee; Indian Chole (chickpea); Italian Pizza; American Tacos; Irish
Turkey and many other dishes together.
He later
moved outside campus at Belfield Court Apartment, but the parties continued. In the one such parties the local police – Garda arrived
as the neighbour had made a complaint. The party had got noisy when
the people started dancing on the music of different countries. However, seeing
people from more than 20 countries, the Garda went back without taking any action.
It was talk of the campus next day.
With his
skill in bringing together people from different countries, he was asked to facilitate
Irish-African Students Cultural Society. He
had started enjoying the new World.
He stayed
in the new World for two years. He was so
much immersed in the new culture that nobody thought that he would leave.
However, he had to come back to continue his learning, sharing and contributing
to the World he belonged, and he did so when he completed his study.
Upon returning he was back to the jungle,
though in different region with different people. His new home in the jungle was
35 kms away from the road-head, where one has to cross many hills and rivers/ rivulets
and where the only means of transport was foot.
Here, he learned that when it rains one should run instead of
waiting in a shade for the rain to stop. The reason was that all the
rivulets would get flooded and one won’t be able to cross to reach home, and
would have to spend night by climbing on the tree. The jungle was full of wild
animals. A tiger had taken the calf in front of his eyes. Fortunately, he was
on the other side of rivulet and the calf was another side, when it happened.
It was here he
learned that if any snake or scorpion bites, the villagers – indigenous persons
would put the affected person on a holy platform and pray to God to save
him/her. If the person is good person, s/he would be saved and if
dies that means s/he was an evil person and God did not bestow mercy to him. There was no doctor, no school, no road and no
village haat/market. The life
was simple. Money was not needed, as the barter
system still existed.
Though he
worked and traveled to many countries in Europe, Asia and USA later, he still finds the solace in the world he belonged,
working with those to whom, many from the other world would call poor, stubborn,
and illiterate.
His exposure to the other World had expanded his context, knowledge and
most importantly his vision to see inside-out (zoom out) and outside-in (zoom in).
Jitendra Sinha
7th
September, 2014
Many of the males have migrated and women are bearing the brunt – they
have to feed the remaining family members, old aged and young children. As cutting of standing trees is
banned, they axed the trees few days before and wait. Then, they go to forest
very early in morning, cut the dried tree, catch the train and come to weekly
market. It’s a full day exercise, for which they hardly get Rs.80-100 (US$1.5)
for a bundle. 
