These episodes from the roller-coaster life of one man take us to the Alps where he loses his son; the Parisian hotel where he survives malaria; and the wild, high seas where he hangs on to a rope ladder praying for his life. In these true stories, he survives a bloody coup in Africa and travels in an airplane standing in the aisle. He blocks a presidential motorcade but is still alive and free. He uses a Shakespearian quote to escape from a tormentor on a crowded train in rural India. We see him offloaded from a flight in Freetown. We also see him mercifully accommodated in another flight when he reports at the wrong airport in London. His first encounters with steak in Paris and cheese in Africa make us laugh. As do his encounter with peanut selling girls and the mistaken 'overnighter' suitcase. The pre-schooling model of the author's childhood memories must make us realise how lucky we are today. The chunk of chicken at the Abidjan airport and the method used by the author to obtain a driving licence add a touch of hilarity. And indeed, the young man going to the university with a perforated shirt demands our sympathy. While the rogue elephant in Ngorongoro gives us a fright, the domesticated Indian elephant will make our eyes moist.
Оглавление
B. NAIR. Shakespeare on a Train
PREFACE
CONTENTS
1 Shakespeare on a Train
2 The Full-Blooded Elephant
3 Wrong Airport
4 Trapped in a Coup d’Etat
5 Sorry Folks, the Flight is Full
6 No Seat, You Can Stand in the Aisle
7 Lost in Amsterdam, Lost in Geneva
8 On the Jump Seat
9 Face to Face with a Rogue Elephant
10 Hanging from a Rope Ladder on the High Seas
11 Malaria in Paris
12 Wrong Overnighter
13 The Kalari
14 Wrong Aircraft
15 A Visit to a Paramount Chief
16 President Behind You
17 A Lesson in Manners
18 D’Accord, Pas De Probleme
19 The Shirt with Orion’s Belt
20 Cheese for Dessert
21 Rounds of Beer and Membership
22 How I got my Driving License
23 Saignant, a Point, ou Bien Cuit?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Отрывок из книги
The man in a white sarong and a collarless shirt continued to abuse me. His vocabulary in his vernacular, far exceeded the terms found in any dictionary of that language. It was my language as well, but I did not have the faintest idea about many of the words he was hurling at me. I noticed some of the passengers listening to his charade cringing by some of those epithets. The women turned their faces away and some covered their ears with their hands.
I was frustrated and angry. I also felt sorry that I was partly to blame for the discomfort of those fellow passengers. I wanted to hit back at the man who continued to insult me. I could not even make one sentence in the vernacular to match my adversary’s choice of words.
.....
Before the trader could comprehend what was in front of him, a powerful blow came across his body propelling him upwards. He hit a tree and fell lifeless to the ground. Even if the trader had not hit the tree, he would have still died from the force of the blow from Neelan’s trunk. His family and the neighbors found his body the next morning near the tree.
The mahouts could not make any progress in tracking Neelan. They knew that it was not wise to try to locate the elephant in the darkness. They were aware that the elephant had an uncanny ability to hide silently. Only when someone was very close and had no chance of running back or otherwise escaping, the elephant would show up in front of him. Even a trained mahout would not get a chance to defend himself.
