Saturday, October 30, 2004
Bristolians
Ha! I am back!
This post is about some Bristolians I have met thus far. Long time coming.
BTW in other news, I have realised that there is no point in trying to 'entirely settle down', therefore am taking things as they come: the great local ales, the company of lovely women, and of course the idea of an approaching winter (Suddenly English expressions that sounded stupid in India like 'a warm welcome' seem to make a lot of sense). Yes, pictures are on their way, but to have an idea of where I live, you could check out this link from BBC Bristol.
Mickey: A SouthAfrican 'Pommie'I met while at the Youth Hostel. Apart from greatly admiring Gandhi (while pronoucing his name perfectly), he love cricket, and believe it or not, speaks Tamil—something he picked up from his neighbours in ZA
Robert: The first Englishman I befriended. He hopes to one day become a media baron. Right now he runs a couple of websites. Londoners web and Blackworld
Matt: One generous soul that now resides in Australia. While clearing out of Bristol, he offered me his bicycle for free. That was over breakfast one rainy morning.
Martin & Jutta: A lovely couple who are part of the chaplaincy team at the uni. Helped me a great deal in getting settled. Both of them make great soup; and you must be here on a soggy afternoon to know how valuable a good bowl of steaming soup is.
Nadeem: My first Pakistani friend. In fact, I have not made any Indian friends yet. It appears that in Pakistan they are all told that Indians, especially South Indians are casteist vegetarians. I somehow seem to reinforce the latter stereotype.
Melissa, Maff, Eva & Cleo: My landlady, landlord, landchild and landcat respectively. I did not know until quite a few weeks into my stay that Maff has a band; and did not know until one funny morning that Cleo loves to pee on the bed.
Carlos, the Italian girls, the Spanish boys, the Czech ...: These are the people who I befriended while I was briefly 'homeless' my first week in Bristol. (No I was not selling the Big Issue yet). Carlos is a Spaniard from Venezuela and Los Angeles. He is also a bald paleontologist who think Barney the dinosaur is gay. He also reminds me of my nephew. The Italian girls were covered in the last post about Sophia Loren.
The Chinese: There are so many of them around. Back to the old joke about every third new person on this Earth...
The Binge Drinkers: If you have not read the very popular newsitems yet, come to Bristol city centre on a Friday or Saturday evening. You might even spot me rugby tackling a traffic island.
South Asian: Not just Indians, but Asians. That's what we are all called here. Not too many in Bristol, which is very good. But if you go to Easton, you can find some. And don't forget to visit the sweetmart. I am not talking about Indian food though which is readily available at the nearest Tesco. Go there just to see some brown faces.
First Buses: That is the name of the bus company here. Frankly, coming from a very well connected place like Chennai, the service seems to be inadequate, but hey, I have never had to stand on a journey; always find seats.
David: He is a PhD student at the Drama Department and also teaches us. He has worked in Chennai, and loves South Indian food. So much so that he has vats built at his place to ferment dosa batter. He also has a highway-restaurant regulation size dosa kall (Imported via someplace in London). The two of us have a plan as well. In case none of this cinema/drama stuff works out, we are gonna start the first South Indian restaurant in Bristol centre.
Old Books shop 'proprietor': A common sight in Chennai is also here. Referred to as a book fair here, it involves a crazily dressed man / hippy like woman selling old books along the harbourside. Dirt cheap, throwaway prices; and importantly, out of print books.
Football fans: Another remarkable Chennai exprerience outside a Sony showroom, where a sizable group of men were watching some important final game through the window.
Reunion Girls: Flatmates of a friend here; four amazingly beautiful girls from the Reunion islands. Guess what, one of them has a greatgrandmother who is 'Tamoul'. Guess my language gets back to me in infinitely strgange ways. First it was a SouthAfrican who knew all the right swearwords, then it was my landlord's sister who has lived in Pondicherry, and now some Creole girls from a tropical paradise.
Quirky filmstudents: They don't like watching the credits, and believe it or not, some of them absolutely hate The Godfather.
Famous Bristolians: I would love to get to know two of my favourite performers though one of them is dead and the other lives elsewhere—Archibald Leach and a certain tall person with a funny walk.
The Malayalee: Is there any place on this Earth without them? They are in Bristol too.
Apart from that, most Bristolians, and I guess it applies to most Britishers, know where Madras is. They also know that I being from Madras don't speak Hindi, or Punjabi; and I am pleased that at-least a few of them know that I am not from that B�$%&*Wood. They also keep talking about a Chicken Madras, which I guess is something like a Chettinad Chicken dish.
Comments to Bristolians
WoW...you've been busy, hopefully having more fun than is legally possible. As I posted a few months ago, India will kick Chinese butt (population-wise) in the next 50 years.
posted by 
OJ_Audet @ HotMail.com
YB: Oh Yes!
Hemanth: :) (returning the smile)
posted by Anand
Yeah i wanted to put that question up, "who could have ever hated GodFather?" i guess u've found my answer, eh!!!
Will catch up withya sooner..
posted by Ari
Any bloggers out there?
Next to Malayalees (and reddy-s in America), Indian bloggers are the biggest exports.
posted by Ravages/CC
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