do you remember, sara, when the woman near the beach told us not to take the coconuts, but we took one anyway, you climbing on my shoulders and knocking it off with a branch, and me cracking it open with a stone, and it tasted delicious and illicit?
tu te souviens, jean, quand tu ne comprenais rien de ce que disais les gens parce que tout le monde ne parlais qu'anglais et sabine t'a dit que il fallait absoluement que tu aprenne l'anglais et moi j'etais d'accord avec elle mais je continuais a te parler tout le temps en francais parce que ca me faisait plaisir? je dirais que ca faisait plaisir a tout les deux de se parler.
ti ricordi fabri quando mi hai chiesto perche volevo andare in india quando tutti gli indiani venivano in calabria - sembrava - e se volevo conoscere a gli indiani non bisognava far altro que restare li?
do you remember, man on the motorbike, when i wandered right across the road on my pushbike, bumping into you and causing you to fall off and scrape your knee? you pointed with indignation at your broken headlamp but when i gave you a 500 rupee note you were appeased.
do you remember, tattva, when you were driving through the forest and you told me the story about your friend playing chess, when after staring at the board for half an hour someone said, "its your turn" and the other one said, "no, i thought it was your turn"?
we laughed and laughed we found it so funny.
do you remember, man next to the sea, when i said i was going to sleep out and you invited me back to your house and when i was following you you said, "wait here" and you never came back?
do you remember, little children, when you said you would show me where residential building C-3 was , but first you wanted to play cricket with me in the park, which we soon abandoned? you did not count on my incompetence.
do you remember, ramesh, when i made up a story about finding you in my tent and following you through the woods? of course you don't.
do you remember, bhuppi, the first time we met i was so drunk because i had been given a lift in a swanky car with three young men who gave me a plastic cup of whisky, and another and another, and i drank them all? it was strange to wake up next morning in a room i did not know next to someone i did not know.
i remember at michael's house in the living room when you kissed my neck and i almost touched your blouse.
remember, temiko, when i sang that song on the guitar and you sang along with me, changing the tempo of the last line, and i told you i liked your version better?
do you remember, manish, when i stripped naked and swam in the mud pool before i knew anything about the indian cultural prohibition on public nudity? you stood there and said nothing.
do you remember, young american traveller who i met on the bus, when you threw a bunch of the plums from the roof of the bus, and one of them landed in the open window of the passing bus, and everyone cheered?
do you remember, man at the entrance to jama masjid, when i asked, "why do i have to pay to enter Allah's house?" and you told me the 300 rupee ticket was only if i had a camera, then you checked my bag and let me in?
do you remember, all you people in the street, saying to me, "chappals, where are your chappels?" and i said that i liked to walk barefoot? i thought walking barefoot might have been another social faux pas, like eating with left hand, but prateek said it was just unusual.
do you remember, driver of the crowded truck, when you gave me a lift and then asked for 100 rupees? when i offered you 10 rupees you raised your hand and refused to take it.
do you remember, six-year-old boy at the orphanage, when you offered me pieces of chewing tobacco and i thought they were sweets and swallowed them?
do you remember, you thousands of touts, when you eagerly encouraged me to buy your product or ride in your rickshaw and i learned to walk on confidently saying, "nahi chahiye, bhai"?
the most useful hindi phrase i learned.
do you remember, david, when you told me that after 20 years of meditation you have realised that everything which people call reality is but a dream, and that it had become more and more difficult for you to really communicate with people? i felt privileged that you communicated that with me.
do you remember, clouds, when you drifted across the night sky and i told you you were beautiful?
do you remember, ioana, when i told you i thought i would go to the hospital, for the spine in my foot was still hurting and you told me to just tell myself that my foot was healing - and to believe it - and it worked?
do you remember, all you indians, who asked me what i thought of india and i never knew how to encapsulate it in words but i said that i loved india that india was so full of life and colour and noise and diversity and one of you said, "incredible india"?
i thought that summed it up nicely.
do you remember, you grinning kids in the railway station, when you told me you had just come back from trance parties in goa and you asked me what drugs i had taken and i told you i wanted to get high only from breathing pure air?
i wanted to burst your bubble.
do you remember, dude on the train, when the train slowed down to pass through the station, and i jumped off because it was the wrong train, and i staggered slightly to right myself on the tracks while you stood at the doorway with a grin which didn't fade as the train moved on?
do you remember, man on the moped in nainital, when you stopped and said "jump on!" and when i said "thank you" you told me that when doing good to others you actually do good to yourself, through the accruement of good karma?
do you remember, selma and bex, when we had that final meal together at the hare krishna community, consisting of copious cloves of garlic and onions roasted on the embers, thinking all the time we were doing something illicit? i later found out they didn't mind at all what we ate. the veto of garlic and onion only applied to them and the food they made in the temple.
do you remember, auxana, when you told me you thought i must be really stoned and i said, "no, i'm normally like this. i often speak quite slowly" and it took a while for you to believe me?
do you remember, hari, when i told you that it was a great privilege for me to meet someone who gave so much of his life to being of service to others, and you just kept on driving? you'd probably heard that lots of times.
do you remember, prateek's next door neighbour, when i ran up the stairwell and you shouted after me: aap kaun hai? (who are you?) and when i said: "men prateek ka dost hun", you told me i was disrespectful (because i wasn't wearing a shirt.)
i remember.
i remember all these things.
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