Talk to Strangers

Abids, a commercial district in Hyderabad, where there's lots and lots of shopping (clothes, shoes, electronics, department stores) is also home to a street book market on Sundays, when most of the shops are closed. I'd read about it somewhere online and we went to check it out. Sure enough, for about 4 blocks down the main street, and on at least two side streets (for another four blocks) there were piles and piles of books for sale. People just set up on the sidewalks, streets, and most impressively, across a pile of gravel. No blankets, no tables, just scads of books from the 70s and 80s. Mostly ancient computer programming books, textbooks, and paperbacks from the early 80s. There were old copies of fashion magazines cheek by jowl with microwave cookbooks (including one that came with a GE electric range/microwave my folks had in 1980). I saw copies of books I read in 7th grade: The Outsiders and some random Sweet Valley High books.

As we browsed, several poeple asked if I read Telegu (usually when I'd pick up something with an interesting cover that suggested lots of pictures). No, I'd tell them. I don't. End of conversation. At one bookstall, a man in his late 50s asked me what language I spoke. I responded English, and Spanish. Ah, he says, habla espanol? You could have knocked me over with a feather. We chatted for a bit in Spanish and then he tells me he's lived in Houston for 20 years; he's in town visiting his brother--who meanwhile has struck up a conversation with Sion. After a bit, we go over to his brother and Sion, and he introduces me: she is from US. To which his (elder) brother counters, apparently in a show of "ha ha I win," gestures to Sion and says "he is from UK!"

Sadly, Sion declined an invitation for coffee--he thought I wouldn't have wanted to go. So now he's got the directive: if we're just mooching around and they're not creepy: hell yeah, lets go talk to strangers. (I think it's because the last time we accepted such an offer we had a hard time extracting ourselves from his wierdo company: but that was Vegas and involved a lot of drinks).