I escaped the sweltering summer heat of Mumbai in addition to the raging election campaigns, by finding myself on a tour of Schengen countries early May last year with my wife, six of my close relatives and fifteen others. The lion’s share of our travels were by bus.
The first leg of our journey took us to Paris. While deboarding from the vehicle in Paris, the tour manager sounded a cautionary note, “beware of pickpockets and thieves. Tourists are vulnerable to theft all over Europe.”
To drive home the point, he spoke of one passenger who lost her check-in bag, another was deprived of his wallet and a third of his umbrella.
“Are we in a ‘banana republic?” was a question that popped into my head.
However, the thought of thieves failed to rob us of our enthusiasm. The Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Leaning Tower of Pisa were splendid. So was Tulip garden in Amsterdam.
For me, Amsterdam had one more attraction. I had never seen or felt hailstones. One chilly afternoon in Amsterdam it started raining hailstones. I keenly picked up a few with childlike joy.
When we reached Frankfurt, I recalled that in the seventies my uncle had worked there for six years. His German neighbours resented the “unbearable odour” —as they put it —of ‘Sambar’ which my aunt always cooked. However, I remember the smell of her fragrant curry, it used to stimulate my taste buds. Now, Indian food is experiencing newfound popularity worldwide.
At the Swarovski Museum in Austria, the next leg of our European expedition, we saw on a screen great people —Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi —appealing for eternal world peace.
As I saw Gandhiji appearing on the screen, I was thrilled and goosebumps carpeted my skin.
On the penultimate day of our tour, members of all tour groups had dinner together. Wine and fruit juice flowed freely to our joy. Four Italian belly dancers gyrated to the tunes of Hindi songs as our dinner was in progress. Several visitors joined them gaily. We had fifteen blissful days in the best parts of the world, blessed with natural beauty and prosperity.
No cities in our country have attained the enviable status of the ones we visited. Yet, all of us felt homesick and wanted to return to Mumbai!