As the joke goes, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon and found a Malayali with a tea stall — it goes to show that Indians are universal and enterprising.
I had occasion sometime back to travel across South America and the Caribbean. Indians, Indians everywhere. During a visit to Surinam and the rainforests near Paramaribo, at a lookout point, hearing our group chatter in Hindi, a very old lady dozing in a hammock nearby sits up and starts talking to us in chaste Bihari Hindi. It was like discovering a long lost relative. She apparently had migrated to Surinam about half a century earlier and now was more native than the natives. In fact, we were told that Surinam also has a sizeable population of Tamil migrants. The Tamil they speak is archaic and dates back a number of decades.
At Mexico City, we met a dynamic person hailing from somewhere near Thanjavur. He was the proud owner of sizeable Agave plantations which translated into generous gifts of tequila for us. At Sao Paolo, we met a student from Andhra who had followed his doctoral guide across half the world to Brazil and was now learning Portuguese to communicate better. At Cusco deep in the Peruvian Andes, we found an Indian (not an Inca Indian) restaurant run by a Bihari couple. The food — hot rotis and palak paneer — was out of this world.
At Havana, a South Indian brought us homecooked rasam when a viral attack made it difficult to eat anything else. He had made Havana his home, acquired a family there and had become a Cuban in almost every sense.
In Panama, we met two Hyderabadi brothers who ran the biggest electronic chain in the country. Being a Hyderabadi myself, we struck a chord. It turned out that they had actually studied at the same school as my brothers. At Montego Bay in Jamaica, we walked into a shop seeking directions and found the owners were a newly married Telugu couple who were only too willing to guide us. We also got fabulous discounts on Jamaican coffee and liqueur.
The Caribbean, given its tropical climate, is of course a favourite place to settle down for Indians. Trinidad’s streets, named after Indian cities such as Delhi and Madras, are testimony to this. I am told that Indian migrant labour helped build the Panama Canal.
Everyone of these Indians treated us as long lost friends and made it a point to add to our visits. They had made these countries their homes and wanted that their adopted countries be seen as wonderful places.
Meeting all these people makes one realise that the world is indeed a small place and Indians don’t necessarily flock only to New Jersey, Jackson Heights or San Jose. There are those who go further to Valparaiso or Montevideo.
While there is a wistful longing for what they have left behind, there is also pride in what they have achieved by moving out into the world.