Towards the end of our month-long sojourn in Brazil, courtesy the Group Study Exchange Programme of Rotary International, we came to a small city, Sao Jose do Rio Prato, St. Joseph of the Black River. We had crisscrossed Sao Paulo state, starting our journey from the megapolis, Sao Paulo, we travelled to tiny habitations like Fernandopolis, Jales, Cafelandia... We had helicopter rides, river cruises and numerous visits to schools, hospitals and small factories. We were in the local newspapers, the city mayors extended a warm welcome to us. To a whole lot of the hinterland Brazilians, an encounter with a group of Indians was a novel experience. That we could rattle off the names of Brazilian World Cuppers was something that startled them most. Thanks to a crash course in Berlitz School, London, we had picked up a little Portuguese, throwing around lots of “Obrigado” (thank you) and trying to impress every Brazilian woman we came across with “Voce e’ bonita” (You are beautiful!).
As we reached Rio Prato after short stints at around fifteen small towns and travelling miles and miles of wilderness by road, our hearts were full with Brazilian exotica. Rio Prato was our last halt before the journey back home via Rio De Janeiro. On a lazy afternoon as we were having lunch hosted by a local Rotarian in a downtown restaurant, a lanky brown young man walked in. He was greeted warmly by our local hosts and introduced to us as an English teacher who had recently migrated from the United States. After the exchange of initial pleasantries, he settled down with a ‘cerveja’ (beer). He introduced himself to us as John Aashfaque, a traveler by profession! The moment he came to know that I hail from Calcutta, he startled me by speaking in Bengali. After a month in Brazil, Bengali sounded so strange!
Bengali drew us closer and we met twice after that. John fascinated me as I was getting to know more and more about him. He was born in Calcutta in the late fifties of a Bengali Muslim father and a Christian mother. Soon after his birth, his family migrated to Dhaka and John left for England for his schooling. On finishing school, he drifted across to West Germany and lived by doing odd jobs. Between jobs John went around Western Europe several times on a motorbike, making forays to Hungary on the Eastern side. He fell in love with and married a German girl. But his mother-in-law was averse to the ‘black and white together’ concept. He had a baby daughter but his marriage was soon on the rocks thanks to his mother-in-law. Divorced, John jumped across to New York and soon became part of the city’s cultural crosscurrents. He started working for an Indian TV channel interviewing celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and making programmes for US-based Indians. He spent five years in New York, and travelled to nooks and corners of the United States. But stability bored him and he set out to travel in Amazonia.
John came to Brazil and cycled down to the Amazonian forests. Drifting around the state, he reached Rio Prato and started teaching English after being cajoled by the locals. John had been at Rio Prato for about a year when I met him. When asked about his next plan, John said that he would like to travel to Australia, the only continent he had yet to visit. John could speak fluent Bengali, English, German, French and Portuguese and managed with a limited fluency in Hindi, Italian and Spanish. As I asked him whether he ultimately wanted to settle down anywhere, pat came the reply, “Oh yes, I would settle in Brazil”. But why? He answered, “It’s the only country where there are no colour feelings, I’ve experienced colour discrimination everywhere else”. That observation endeared Brazil more to me than their football feat.
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As we reached Rio Prato after short stints at around fifteen small towns and travelling miles and miles of wilderness by road, our hearts were full with Brazilian exotica. Rio Prato was our last halt before the journey back home via Rio De Janeiro. On a lazy afternoon as we were having lunch hosted by a local Rotarian in a downtown restaurant, a lanky brown young man walked in. He was greeted warmly by our local hosts and introduced to us as an English teacher who had recently migrated from the United States. After the exchange of initial pleasantries, he settled down with a ‘cerveja’ (beer). He introduced himself to us as John Aashfaque, a traveler by profession! The moment he came to know that I hail from Calcutta, he startled me by speaking in Bengali. After a month in Brazil, Bengali sounded so strange!
Bengali drew us closer and we met twice after that. John fascinated me as I was getting to know more and more about him. He was born in Calcutta in the late fifties of a Bengali Muslim father and a Christian mother. Soon after his birth, his family migrated to Dhaka and John left for England for his schooling. On finishing school, he drifted across to West Germany and lived by doing odd jobs. Between jobs John went around Western Europe several times on a motorbike, making forays to Hungary on the Eastern side. He fell in love with and married a German girl. But his mother-in-law was averse to the ‘black and white together’ concept. He had a baby daughter but his marriage was soon on the rocks thanks to his mother-in-law. Divorced, John jumped across to New York and soon became part of the city’s cultural crosscurrents. He started working for an Indian TV channel interviewing celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and making programmes for US-based Indians. He spent five years in New York, and travelled to nooks and corners of the United States. But stability bored him and he set out to travel in Amazonia.
John came to Brazil and cycled down to the Amazonian forests. Drifting around the state, he reached Rio Prato and started teaching English after being cajoled by the locals. John had been at Rio Prato for about a year when I met him. When asked about his next plan, John said that he would like to travel to Australia, the only continent he had yet to visit. John could speak fluent Bengali, English, German, French and Portuguese and managed with a limited fluency in Hindi, Italian and Spanish. As I asked him whether he ultimately wanted to settle down anywhere, pat came the reply, “Oh yes, I would settle in Brazil”. But why? He answered, “It’s the only country where there are no colour feelings, I’ve experienced colour discrimination everywhere else”. That observation endeared Brazil more to me than their football feat.
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