Old Town, Plovdiv
A hearty greeting from a very cheerful, aging taxi driver followed us as we stepped off the bus terminal into a taxi, wary as often happens in new surroundings of being ripped off. “Where are you from?” our driver asked. No sooner had we said India than he broke out into an accented rendition of Chal Chal Chal Mere Saathi (Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go My Elephant), a popular Hindi song of the early 1970s from the Bollywood blockbuster Haathi Mere Saathi (The Elephant My Friend). It was uncanny to be miles away from home in a little town inhabited by around 325,000 plus people, listening to the most popular hit of the first Hindi film I recall watching. Or maybe it shouldn’t have been, as Plovdiv was said to be one of the oldest cities in the world. Perhaps it was befitting for us to be in a city that memories and history are made of, listening to a song that my childhood memories were made of. Our ride ended with yet another iconic Bollywood song, Mera Joota Hai Japani (My Shoes are Japanese) from the 1950s, a song that extolled patriotism and the virtues of being Indian despite the fact that one’s attire was foreign. True perhaps of the heart and spirit of the Bulgarians who are said to wear patriotism as their national identity.
Plovdiv charm
Plovdiv was a discovery. We were staying in the Old Town (located in three of Plovdiv’s seven hills) in a delightfully charming B&B that oozed with national revivalist period splendor and charm. From the chandeliers to the marbled arches and pillars and period decor including gold gilded mirrors and crockery, the place already took us back a century or more. We lost ourselves in the Cyrillic scripted cobbled streets, remnants of an old town leaving us with a new discovery at every street corner. Beautiful old mansions and imposing churches, matched by at times lovely quaint people. I had read somewhere of Plovdiv being a place where every step you take leaves you with the echo of a thousand years of history. History that dates back to between 6000 to 8000 years. At night though, it transforms itself into a buzz of cultural activity. The combination of history and culture are what make Plovdiv the intriguing city it is.A few months earlier I was in Ethiopia. Obama had been elected as President and Obama trivia was all over the little souvenir shops in Lalibela, one of the world’s most fascinating sacred sites. As I walked around, on my way to the rock-hewn churches, I was followed by a group of little kids. Hazarding a guess that I must be from India, their chants of Shahrukh Khan followed me, creating an unspoken bond that transgressed geographical, cultural and language barriers. No conversation…just a chant.
Obama had just become President of the USA
Lalibela, one of Ethiopia’s holiest cities
Sermons on the mount…to experience a religious services was biblical
Meeting ground in Mekelle
I mulled over this as I sat at the airport on my way back from Mekelle to Addis Ababa. My flight was delayed, the airline could not say for how long. I was the only one who made the occasional trip to the airline counter to check on my flight. My fellow passengers, all Ethiopian, were reconciled. There was none of the frustration and anger that one typically associates with unexplained delays at airports. This was a resilience and acceptance that I had come to learn was so characteristic of the country. They had so little and yet they were happy with what they had. Everything would eventually come…the grain that would be bartered for a piece of meat, the drops of rain that would offer little succor to the dryness around and my plane to Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian next to me started a conversation. It was Bollywood yet again. He told me of his love for Hindi movies and how they showcased what strong family relationships and true love were all about – no expectations, no demands, just pure old world love and acceptance. Our conversation steered into love and relationships until our flight was finally announced.
Just another market day in Lalibela
The fascination for Bollywood in the most unexpected locations took me back even further to a holiday we took 16 years ago to Indonesia. My husband and I chose to get away one night with our drinks to a quiet spot in Kuta – as quiet as Kuta could possibly get in summer. A group of little boys passing by, all of between 10 to 12 years, decided to strike up a conversation with us. They were absolutely delighted we were from India. What followed was a barrage of questions. Did we know Sharukh Khan? Had we seen Aishwarya Rai? What about Salman Khan? Who did we know? What did we know? In their microcosmic view of the world, we all lived on the same street in India. Looking back now, I wish that I had told them of my tryst with Bollywood and how, many years ago, I had a fleeting role in a Bollywood film, Gehrayee (The Depth, a movie influenced by The Exorcist), and that the heroine, Padmini Kohlapure, was in my basketball team!