Blog #57: नमस्ते (Namaste)

Twelve hours into my journey, I see a man holding a white piece of paper with the words 'Miss Kailyn Robert' scrawled on it in black sharpie. Although it was spelled right, a rarity, I doubt my driver actually knew how to say it. (And although I received an email with his name, I surely couldn't pronounce it right either.)

"Namaste ma'am."

"Namaste, Uncle. Aap kaise hain?"

*Surprise at the Hindi that came out of my mouth, followed by something in Hindi that went straight over my head.*

"Uhhh... Hindi nahin."

My driver knew as much English as I did Hindi, which meant our conversation was about 87% head wobble, 8% him saying the name of landmarks, and 5% me saying 'haan' (Hindi for yes) while also wobbling my head aggressively. Still, I sensed genuine kindness from him.

As we traversed the winding roads of the foothills of the Himalayas, my driver whose name I can't pronounce whipped around motorcycles, monkeys, and men. An odd team if there ever was one, I felt like a couple of street racers, taking on the road together.

As strange as it may seem, I think the both of us felt a connection and an appreciation for the other person, which was rooted in the fact that we tried to speak each other's language. Even though my Hindi is admittedly below preschool level at this point, I think he at least appreciated my attempt, as I did his.

Later, as I was trying to find a tuk tuk to take me to the Ganga Aarti, I met a young couple who was trying to do the same. We ended up sharing a ride, and when they told me they were from Argentina, I started speaking Spanish to them. Automatically, their faces lit up, excited to find a stranger who they could speak their langauge with.

Now, my Spanish is far from perfect as well, but we were able to spend the evening together exchanging very little English. They were appreciative of my attempts at Spanish, and were especially surprised that it was coming from an American.

The thing is, I think as Americans, we often take it for granted that other people will speak English, wherever we go in the world. Instead of being pleasantly surprised by finding English speakers in foreign lands, it's often expected, and frustrating when we don't. I really don't like this about our culture.

Rather than feeling entitled to an ease of communication, we should place an emphasis on learning other languages, especially those of the places we travel to. Fluency isn't necessary, but at least knowing a few phrases is helpful, and is a means of showing you care about the people and the place you are visiting. And it's cool!

I repeat; I'm far from fluent in Spanish, and barely have a grasp of Hindi, but today I had conversations in three different languages! It was funny at times, but it also helped me to connect with total strangers, and I must admit, I feel pretty badass about it.

And, although these moments and conversations were rather small parts of my day today, they were also pretty big. It increased my confidence as a solo traveler, and fueled the fire of my love for languages. Plus, speaking a language is the best way to learn one, so I'm going to call making a fool of myself with a native speaker progress. Who knows, maybe by the time my driver arrives to race me back through the winding roads to the airport, I'll be able to say his name right.