My China Daily Connection: Meeting John from Nanking in India

I live in Bengaluru, which is known as Silicon Valley of India. But not all the areas are IT hub. I live in outskirts of the city, which is home to local population,still unaffected from this IT boom. An old area, where you can hardly find any skyscrapers unlike other parts of the city. I have moved 2 years earlier to finish my self-designed learning path. China Daily has been part of my reading daily. Over the years, I have developed a depth of knowledge in many different Chinese matters though such readings. Just with a laptop and internet, I have exchanged information with my Chinese friends. We exchanged Hindi-Chinese learning lessons.

But unlike virtual world, it is rare to find anyone from China in this part of the city. But life is all about surprises, isn't it?

One day, I was traveling through BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) for some work to other parts of the cityI found myself sitting next to the person, who seemed not to belong from this place. Thanks to the advantage of wide screen, I could sneak very easily into his smartphone. Can you imagine, what I found out? He was reading China Daily. After reading this newspaper for more than 3 years, it is not difficult for me to identify logo in a single glance. Subsequent glancing showcased few Chinese characters. I may not know Chinese characters that well, but at least I can tell which one belongs to this language. I did not wait a second to ask, if he is from China. He said yes.

Then I asked, 'from which place?' He said, you would probably do not know the place other then Beijing or HongKong. Then, I told him that I read the same newspaper as him and reading it from past 3 years, so I know a lot abut China. He smiled and said, 'Nanjking'. I said,'Wow! You are from the ancient capital city of China'. He was very surprised on listening the word, 'ancient capital city of China'. Probably, no Indian has ever described his hometown so historically correct to him.

We started talking further and I told him more about 'Zhu Ge Liang', 'Rice Dumpling', 'Confucianism', and importance of Red Color in Chinese traditions. He was very surprised with my knowledge about China. He was more surprised to find that I even know about by 'Romance of 3 Kingdom' novel. During all these conversations, everyone sitting around in the Bus was looking with equal surprise. But this conversation could not last longer, as I had to get down from the bus to make a transit. This 20 minute quick conversation ended with his firm handshake and his introduction, 'I am John from Nanking. Please to meet you'.

I did not get chance to either get his contact details or his where about as I had to get down quickly. I simply said, 'Enjoy your stay in India'. This entire conversation had not happened, if there was no China Daily. After this incident, I will study China Daily in more depth and may be meet 'John from Nanking' again in the bus.

Unlike others, I have started reading China Daily just 3 years ago, but it has become my best friend to know anything about China. May this friendship continue forever and I hope to meet many from 'John from China' in near future.