Every time I am in Europe I am struck by the diversity of people and cultures that I see on the streets, on public transport, in the shops and markets. Of course the greatest diversity is in the kinds of restaurants one gets to sample in most big European cities. I have more often than not avoided getting into an Indian restaurant, but that evening both Jashodhara and I were very hungry. We had landed in Lisbon in the afternoon, and after quickly checking into our room went to the old city which was a very interesting place we were told. We had walked around for quite some time, and soon we were very hungry. And we were now in that part of the city without any obvious cafes spread out into the streets. Around a corner I thought I saw an Italian restaurant – we went in to check out – and it turned out to be a hybrid Indian – Italian one. This was our first interaction with such a hybrid outside the subcontinent. In any other condition we would have not gone in, but there was a young South Asian with a disarming smile who welcomed us and in we went. There were big images and idols of Buddha and also of the Dalai Lama everywhere. We were a little confused about the antecedents of the owner, but things became clear when we asked for clarification about an item on the menu. The young man went and fetched a ‘cheat sheet’ which had things written in Bangla and the penny dropped. Here was an Indo-Italian restaurant serving curries and kebabs and pizza and pasta being run by a Bangladeshi in Lisbon. A true global potpourri! But we still hadn’t figured out the Buddha and Dalai Lama influence when the owner came up and introduced himself. He was from among a small and dwindling population of Buddhists from Comilla district in Bangladesh. We who grew up in West Bengal learn of the Buddhist Pal dynasty which had ruled Bengal in the past, but this for me was the first encounter with a Buddhist Bengali and that too in a distant land.
Some more dots got connected in the mind with the recent string of hate crimes in Bangladesh, one which had even included a Buddhist monk. The Bangladeshi interaction in Lisbon continued through the next hours in Lisbon as we dropped into souvenir shop and then a mini-market, both run by Bangladeshis. Needless to say we were given small discounts in all these shops without even asking for it.
in Horta seemed to be involved in the ‘sea’ business, and Diya appeared to know every third person on the streets, more so in the neighbourhood of Porto Pim which was to one corner and had a small cove and a beach. This is where Diya was sharing a small house with three other researchers from DOP, or the Department of Fisheries of the University of Azores. Her house mates were young researchers from Italy, Greece and Spain. The MSc programme that Diya was doing EMBC+, was designed with diversity in mind. Coordinated by the University of Ghent in Belgium it includes other universities in Spain, France, Sweden, Portugal and Ireland. Not surprisingly the students are from a diverse background and the course itself requires them to move from one university to another selecting preferred courses and ecologies.
Three girls taking turns in hopping across a rope which two of them twirled swung round and round. These were children sharing a common present through a public school system. I hope they will learn more about each other – the European, the African, the East Asian and the South Asian, than we do in India through our private schooling system where we hardly encounter the ‘other’ and the ‘different’.
Some more dots got connected in the mind with the recent string of hate crimes in Bangladesh, one which had even included a Buddhist monk. The Bangladeshi interaction in Lisbon continued through the next hours in Lisbon as we dropped into souvenir shop and then a mini-market, both run by Bangladeshis. Needless to say we were given small discounts in all these shops without even asking for it.
The next leg of our journey was to Faial – a small island in the middle of the Atlantic, belonging to the Autonomous Region of Azores. Here the South Asian influence, both among tourists and residents was not surprisingly very low. The town of Horta was small and very laid back, with a marina brimming with small boats. The once whaling centre is now a refuelling point between the eastern coast of the American continent and the western coast of Europe, and a port of call for people sailing between the Caribbean, or the Bahamas or the US and European countries. The walls around the marina were covered with small rectangular drawings marking the different boats and their voyages. Everyone
in Horta seemed to be involved in the ‘sea’ business, and Diya appeared to know every third person on the streets, more so in the neighbourhood of Porto Pim which was to one corner and had a small cove and a beach. This is where Diya was sharing a small house with three other researchers from DOP, or the Department of Fisheries of the University of Azores. Her house mates were young researchers from Italy, Greece and Spain. The MSc programme that Diya was doing EMBC+, was designed with diversity in mind. Coordinated by the University of Ghent in Belgium it includes other universities in Spain, France, Sweden, Portugal and Ireland. Not surprisingly the students are from a diverse background and the course itself requires them to move from one university to another selecting preferred courses and ecologies.
After five days in the sunny Azores I went to Sweden to attend a ‘business’ meeting.
We were participants from all across the globe, which was not surprising because it was a meeting of a global network. There were more Europeans than from the other continents, but too was not surprising because we were in Europe. The venue for our meeting was a ‘folk school’ in a secluded village not far from Stockholm. I say secluded because the school campus, though just an hour out of Stockholm was surrounded by forests and a lake, and did not have internet connection beyond the main administrative building. Our rooms were the school boarding dorms which had just been vacated as the students had left for their summer vacations. But this school was different. Along with the students lived some ‘Friends’. These ‘Friends’ were differently abled people who lived in small cottages with their care-givers. We had occasion to interact with some of these ‘Friends’ who were perfectly competent to share their thoughts and emotions with us, communicating through tapping on an alphabet chart, which was then conveyed to us by their care-givers. What they said was not only eloquent but also very poignant – pithy and spiritual at the same time. One of them had also written had written a book of poetry. The students who came to this ‘folk school’ I am sure learnt many important lessons about life, living with ‘Friends’.
We were participants from all across the globe, which was not surprising because it was a meeting of a global network. There were more Europeans than from the other continents, but too was not surprising because we were in Europe. The venue for our meeting was a ‘folk school’ in a secluded village not far from Stockholm. I say secluded because the school campus, though just an hour out of Stockholm was surrounded by forests and a lake, and did not have internet connection beyond the main administrative building. Our rooms were the school boarding dorms which had just been vacated as the students had left for their summer vacations. But this school was different. Along with the students lived some ‘Friends’. These ‘Friends’ were differently abled people who lived in small cottages with their care-givers. We had occasion to interact with some of these ‘Friends’ who were perfectly competent to share their thoughts and emotions with us, communicating through tapping on an alphabet chart, which was then conveyed to us by their care-givers. What they said was not only eloquent but also very poignant – pithy and spiritual at the same time. One of them had also written had written a book of poetry. The students who came to this ‘folk school’ I am sure learnt many important lessons about life, living with ‘Friends’.
Sweden has special provisions for people who are differently able or physically or mentally challenged. The municipality in which such a person is born is tasked with the responsibility for providing support. Earlier the focus was more on institutional care, but now specially trained care givers come home to provide the necessary support. This allows the person to live an emotionally adjusted live close to their family. I wondered about the needs of care giving for such persons in India. In most cases such people are considered a ‘burden’, in many cases hidden from others because having such a family member is stigmatising. Whatever care is possible and provided, is completely a matter of private means and desire. Sweden is of course a much richer country, and can afford to provide such universal social security but also respect the human rights of all its citizens. But I wonder whether as a civilisation, caring for such special people, is just an economic decision or does it signify something more moral about our responsibility towards others. And are we in India not losing out on this even though our economic growth is currently unparalleled. I wonder how many parents in India, who send their children to private schools would send them to a school like the one I visited. I feel much richer even from that very short visit.
The big international story of the period I was Europe was Brexit. England voted to get out of the EU. Many other separatist voices have become louder in the other countries of the European Union. This is a complete antithesis to the more amalgamated diversity that I have been extolling here. Xenophobia is making a big come back all around the world. Not so long ago there were the Paris bombings and the response to such incidents and the Syrian refugees had put a strain on the Union. In the US the presidential candidate is promising to build a wall with Mexico and getting the Mexicans to pay for it, while in India Chief Ministers are rustling up their own budgets to do the same. South Asians from across the Indian borders in the West or the East, speaking the same language, sharing the same histories, are happy to continue their differences, even after relinquishing their passports and submitting to a new culture in Europe or in the US. Religion and ethnicity are become increasingly divisive in world globalised through a common economic order and domestic strife. The reasons may seem different but the malaise seems to be the same, and is probably assuming epidemic proportions.
I am an optimist and I strongly believe in change through endeavour. I cannot end without sharing two powerful images from two other cities that we visited during this European sojourn. Jashodhara, Diya and I regrouped in Amsterdam before we made our way to Ghent to attend Diya’s thesis presentation and graduation. We went to the Amsterdam city Centre for the evening and it became very late as we walked by the ‘graacht’ under the slowly darkening summer sky. It was past 11 when we boarded the tram at Centraal Station to back to go where we were staying. The tram came on time and we paid our fare to the woman tram driver smartly carrying her hijab like any male cab driver or pilot would his peaked cap. It was nearly midnight as the tram went off into the night, a confident woman driver taking her passengers home, a sight I dare say I would not have witnessed in her home country. The second image is from Ghent, which seems much less ‘touristic’ but is no less culturally/ethnically diverse. It has a large international student population, but what struck me has been an image I saw from the 4th floor balcony of the flat we were staying. There is a school next door, and we had been waking up to the sound of the school getting down to business every day. Today in afternoon I saw children from different backgrounds playing together, completely engrossed in the present. A group of boys running behind a ball, no obvious team formation in sight.
Three girls taking turns in hopping across a rope which two of them twirled swung round and round. These were children sharing a common present through a public school system. I hope they will learn more about each other – the European, the African, the East Asian and the South Asian, than we do in India through our private schooling system where we hardly encounter the ‘other’ and the ‘different’.
When we grew up – I hardly remember there being a Muslim boy in my class in school or those who we say belong to the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. I came across the SC/ST students in college because there was reservation. There was some resentment then, there is much more resentment now among the so called ‘general’ category because they see ‘their’ seats getting usurped by the ‘undeserving’. In a class of 150 students, I can recall just two Muslim students, even though the Muslim are nearly one quarter of West Bengal’s populations. And I don’t see these things changing, not from the economic changes that have swept across the country, and nor from the political changes. And the deeply entrenched inequality in our country will not let the technological revolution bridge these divides.
I know Europe has a bloody history – a history that saw it colonising the rest of the world, a history of domination and bloodshed and of the holocaust that extended till not so long ago. But through its ravaging rapacious acts the many countries of Europe have also brought the rest of the world much closer to their own shores. Many people of many colours and faiths now try to find a new future here. Perhaps their children will show us a new way to live together.
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