A Voice for Change

 I'm on the land of Biju Patnaik, the green and clean Odisha. Son's chess tournament brings me to this part of the country which as a globetrotter I wouldn't have considered on my travel map. Why? The terrible Indianess in me wants to visit Greece, sail to the Bahamas, savor a La French wine, and behave tanning on the beaches of Australia. But I don't care a damn about local tourism, despite the many requests, the Prime Minister makes, with folded hands, to boost local tourism. That's his job! And me, doing mine of not following his. Now that I'm here, the explorer bug bites me, and I set out in search of some luxurious time-spending option without spending a penny. Forgot, I'm an Indian after all! I have a noteworthy sense of smell. I can smell a library from a distance. Here, where I'm logged at the KIIT campus, I relish the aroma of books wafting in the air. I immediately go about sniffing and land straight at the school library. Voila! The place is s

A fellow passenger is playing a Telugu song. The music is soothing the soul. I can't get the words. But it doesn't matter. I enjoy the melody, soak in the tune and feel absorbed in the song totally.  That makes me wonder do our words really count if intentions are great? Can language really be a barrier?  Hmm...not much if one is eager to form a bond. This is my fourth day in a city whose language I don't understand,  a region that does not recognize my 'ye dena' or 'ye  nahi chahiye'. Yet, I'm doing fine with help of my sign language, Google and few translators.  The first day in Vijaywada was a struggle. At food counters, both the people - me and the seller slapped their tensed foreheads in exasperation. I wanted salt. But my good gracious Anna didn't understand salt, namak or mith. There was nothing in menu card that I could show to him that I wanted to order. The menu card had English and Telugu interpretations. So ordering the food was easy by s