nidhiramblers

We were standing at the entrance of the movie theater at Siam Paragaon. A tall farang walked up and shook my hands and said 'Welcome to Bangkok, I am Nick Snow' . I said 'Thanks' wondering ' where did I meet him and how did he know that I was not in Bangkok for almost six months!' Luckily Tara caught on and told him 'Did you think he was Shyam Benegal? Well he is not, we are also waiting for Mr. Shyam Benegal!' It felt nice to be mistaken for Shyam Benegal! It surely was an honor as I am a great admirer of his movies. While I have not seen some of his later movies, the earlier ones 'Ankur, Nishant and Manthan' are my all time favourites! Ankur changed my perception of Indian villages totally. I had this very idealistic view of a village having never lived in one. And who can forget Shaban Azmi's role in that movie! It was an astounding piece of acting on her debut. Shyam Benegal is standing next to Gayathri!! Let me explain! Shyam Bene

Beijing  Our Chinese friend Charlie was at Mala & Bharat's place at 9.30 a.m. sharp as promised! He was his usual cheerful self and said 'Knee How?'  I said 'Fine'.  It is actually a greeting in Chinese, but I thought he was asking me about the condition of my knee after the previous days climb at the Great wall. A very apt question as my knees were really tested the day before! Charlie is one of the friendliest persons I have met. He was there to receive us early in the morning at the arrival area looking absolutely smart in a suit and a natty tie. As we reached our friends Bharat and Mala's home, it was nice to see Bharat who was waiting for us to just say hello! He was on his way to Shanghai for a tennis tournament with the school kids. They teach at the ISB in Beijing and were Tara's colleagues at NIST in Bangkok. The Great Wall Mala had planned that Charlie would take us to the Mutianyu sector of 'The Great Wall' on the first day. As I wa