India, a French Colony

As you may or may not know, I am taking the girls to India in just a few days for a two week vacation. If you want to follow our adventures there, I'll be sending my "letters" via blog at www.FamilyGoesToIndia.blogspot.com.

In order to get our visas -- which were astronomically expensive: 360€ (about $500) for the three of us -- I have to go the Indian visa outpost here in Paris. I must say, it is an absolute model of efficiency and tranquility, so I feel like at least $15 of that $500 is well spent. When I return to pick up my visas, I am standing at the front counter at the same time as an older French gentleman (I'm guessing around upper 70s or 80?) who is complaining that the change machine isn't working and wondering where he can make change for a 5€ bill in order to make his necessary copies. I understand perfectly what is going on, so I make change for him, and he is so happy not to have to go out into the cold.

We happen to be leaving the facility at the same time, and he of course is extra friendly and warm to me. He tells me that he goes to southern India every year for a few weeks to volunteer in an orphanage. His wife doesn't join him much because she doesn't like the heat, though when it's 10-15°C below like this, I can't believe that hot summer weather doesn't sound great to everybody.  We have a long conversation about the poverty in India, and he tells me how many of the children at the orphanage -- most of them girls -- don't even have names. The reason he goes to southern India is that Pondicherry used to be a French colony, and is still francophone, as opposed to the more famous British colonial history and anglophone portion that we all know. I once had an Indian family attend my French preschool and when I asked what their motivation was, they explained it was due to their French colonial heritage, so I'm familiar with this history, but still find it a strange thought: French India.

It is small interactions like this that make me feel very lucky to speak French. Of course I've had lovely person-to-person moments in countries where I don't speak the language and either through sign language or their English, we muddle through. But because he is an older man and doesn't speak any English, my French is the only key to my helping him out and to our conversation.

Two more postings till India! I'm not sure how much internet access/time I'll have there, so I may have to play catch up when I can, or even once we return.