- Barber chair, Diplomacy and a Cute Girl -

In my opinion “Public diplomacy” is a very important indicator for a country to obtain a unique identity among different societies. You can eventually feel when you are in an alien country. In this context ‘India holds a very special and unique place’, this is not a hypothetical statement perhaps my encounters and experiences.

“Sind sie aus Indien?” - “Are you from India? ” is not a very uncommon question people ask me whenever they see. Not sure how do they find it, wondering if they assume all chocolate coloured fellows with a laptop bag are Indians. It so happened once while travelling in a U-bahn (underground tube) in Munich, a gentleman frantically started to ask questions on software and computers, after knowing that I am an Indian :-) :-)

During such meetings, I take it as an opportunity to initiate a meaningful talk, most importantly on topics like Indian culture, people, states, languages, foods, etc., etc., I presume to be an informal diplomat of India :-) Recently one such incident happened; it was in a barber shop. I can say universally Barbershops and Teashops are the best places for all such loose talks, gossips, politics so on and so forth. It was a busy day for the hair-stylers, so I have to wait for my turn. While I tried to glimpse through the ‘Elle’ magazine, the hairdresser attended me. She is all set with her instruments and gadgets; fully ready to negotiate with my head.

During the course, she initiated the conversation with the same traditional question :-) It continued with TajMahal, Indian curry, diwali, Goa, temples, and landed up in Bollywood. As most people do, she too knew Shahrukh Khan (gosh… everybody knows him) and started to tell the story of “Kuch kuch hota hei”. I tried hard to avoid the embarrassment of the moment with open ended questions, as I neither watched that movie nor knew its story :-)

Certainly, the number of highly educated professionals and students, entrepreneurs, businessmen who travel away from home - definitely contribute to the public diplomacy of India to the world arena in a positive way. (Ofcourse there could be some hiccups). It is interesting to note that not only India’s open economy promote public diplomacy and reach globally, but also the cinema world. Besides dancing around the trees, extra-ordinary fights, emotional melodramas our Indian larger than life stars do contribute to the India’s public diplomacy.

Back to saloon, the gadgets muted, and mirrors over my head - yeah she is done. Overall, I understood that she likes India and knows much about India, though she is from a conservatory region of Turkey. It is worth the 2€ which I tipped her. She bid thanks and pronounced her name as ‘Chenab’, name of a river in Punjab. Holding the surprise, I was walked towards the parking lot to find my bike….

cheers ¬ Jb