The Singer in Kerala

At Coconut Lagoon some of us took the sunset cruise. There were musicians on board. Most of us listened appreciatively, except for that noisy unfriendly French group lost in their own world and loud jabbering.

An Indian guest started singing and urged the musicians to play the songs he wanted to sing. He even explained some of the Indian pop songs. There was a song where some other Indian guests hummed along. He said, ‘’join in, everyone!’’ Too bad, the Germans and guests like me simply couldn’t.

At dinner, he took the stage again, to sing with the musicians. He really enjoys entertaining, this guy.

The same singer appeared when I went to Marari Beach. He was there too, and he was at dinner, singing with the band, again!

His wife stood next to me at the buffet spread and said, ‘’this is too rich, everything is too rich in fact. But we are on vacations!’’ she said, and took some more desserts. I just laughed. ‘’Are you from China?’’ she asked. Bingo! Finally someone asked if I was from China. So far I have been asked so many times if I was Korean, Japanese or Thai.

“You see, I just went to China, and that’s why I mentioned China,’’ she continued. ‘’I see,’’ I smiled back.

Actually I don’t see. If she met a Korean, or a German, would she have asked ‘’are you from China’’ just because she’s just visited China?!