Meet Manik. He waved at me when we were clicking pictures on the promenade beach in Pondicherry. He said, "Madam multipurpose scarfs hai le lijiye." (Translates - these scarves are multipurpose use, please buy them). I was surprised to hear Hindi in South of India. So I climbed up the rocks to meet him.
I asked him where is he from? He said Uttar Pradesh (a norther state in India) I smiled at him and asked where in Uttar Pradesh? He said Lucknow. This is how all conversations start isn't it and then they become stories.
Manik convinced me to buy one scarf. He then shared that they moved to pondicherry when he was very young and eversince he has been living here selling things on the streets. He said he keep visiting Lucknow and misses it a lot. Although his life is ok in Pondicherry, it is nothing like back at home in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
After taking a picture together, while saying goodbye, I said to him may be will meet again someday in Pondicherry or Lucknow. He exlamied with excitement and said mam how?
I said you never know we might land up at the same day at the same place and we giggled.
Promenade beach pondicherry will always remind me of Manik and his story.