An excerpt from Shantaram

"Gora Kaun hain?" the driver asked, when we climbed aboard the step. "Who's the white guy?"

"Maza mitra ahey" Prabaker answered with contrived nonchalance, trying in vain to disguise his pride. He's my friend.

The exchange was in marathi, the language of Maharashtra State, which has bombay as its capital. I didn't understand much of it then, but the same questions and answers were repeated so often during those village months that I learned most of the phrases, with some variations by heart.

'What's he doing here?'
'He's visiting my family.'
'Where's he from?'
'New Zealand,' Prabaker replied.
'New Zealand?'
'Yes. New Zealand. In Europe.'
'Plenty of money in New Zealand?'
'Yes, yes. Plenty. They're all rich, white people there.'
'Does he speak Marathi?'
'No.'
'Hindi?'
'No. Only English.'
'Only English?'
'Yes.'
'Why?'
'They don't speak Hindi in his country.'
'They don't speak Hindi there?'
'No.'
'No marathi? No Hindi?'
'No. Only English.'
'Holy Father! the poor fool.'
'Yes.'
'How old is he?'
'Thirty.'
'He looks older.'
'They all do. All the Europeans look older and angrier than they really are. It's a white thing.'
'Is he married?'
'No.'
'Not married? Thirty and not married? What's wrong with him?'
'He's European. A lot of them only get married when they're old.'
That's crazy.'
'Yes.'
'What job does he do?'
'He's a teacher.'
'A teacher is good.'
'Yes.'
'Does he have a mother and father?'
'Yes.'
'Where are they?'
'In his native place. New Zealand.'
'Why isn't he living with them?'
'He's travelling. He's looking at the whole world.'
'Why?'
'Europeans do that. THey work for a while, and then they travel around, lonely, for a while, with no family, until they get old, and then they get married, and become very serious.'
'That's crazy.'
'Yes.'
'He must be lonely, without his mummy and his daddy, with no wife and children.
'Yes. But the Europeans don't mind. They get a lot of practice being lonely.'
'He has a big strong body.'
'Yes.'
'A very strong body.'
'Yes.'
'Make sure you feed him properly, and give him plenty of milk.'
'Yes.'
'Buffalo milk.'
'Yes, yes.'
'And make sure he doesn't learn any bad words. Don't teach hi any swearing. There are plenty of arseholes and bastards around who will teach him the wrong bloody words. Keep him away from idiots like that.'
'I will.'
'And don't let anyone take advantage of him. He doesn't look too bright. Keep an eye on him.'
'He's brighter than he looks, but yes, I will look after him.'