Budapest Diary - Day 8

Today’s breakfast started politically – the discussion was whether India’s neighbors were dangerous. Snag thought the Chinese were, considering that they had already taken over some of Northern India and started building roads.

“Have you ever taken bath in a river” asked Snag, at the breakfast table. “No,” I replied “It’s very nice! The flowing water is really good for the body. It will remove all body pain. You should try it” she continued. “No thanks! The shower is good enough for me,” I said. That was it. I was branded an “NRA”, who should go and live in Europe or America.

There was a Chinese family, who were seated on the next table. Snag took a liking to the cute Chinese kid at the table. “In the future, he would probably be ruling our country… “I pointed out, “…after China takes over the whole of India. Snag was aghast! “How unpatriotic! If you keep saying such things, I will stab you with this knife. I’ll slash your throat!”. That was the second death threat I received in one week.

Snag was already planning for Vienna. “It is beautiful!” said Gabor, “You should visit the Palace. They have huge gardens.” “Is it filled with paintings?” asked Snag. “No. They have gold, silver, jewellery” replied Gabor. That made her more than happy. “And, you can go shopping in the main street. People from Hungary usually go there for our shopping,” he continued. She was beaming!

Lunch was not so good for her. She picked up something that looked vegetarian, but had not even had three mouthfuls, before rejecting it. “It doesn’t have any taste at all!” she moaned. I tasted a little and found that it was the same goulash thing I had had on Sunday. “I think I will bring the ready-to-eat stuff for lunch also,” she remarked! After lunch, we took a walk to the riverside. She was excited, and wanted to go down to the river, but was then content to walk on the banks. There were of course a couple of people down there next to the water. At the end of the island, on a small sandy patch, people had sat down to fish. I pointed out to her that this was what was called as a beach out here. She was quite amused. “I should probably sponsor these people on a trip to India to show them what a beach is!” she squealed, “But only if I were a millionaire…”

There was not much we had planned for the evening. Our sessions had finished late, and we had the impending trip to Vienna for tomorrow. It didn’t leave much time at our disposal. But Snag wanted to see the lit-up bridge and click some photos of it. “My own photos! Not your “plasticky” ones!” she exclaimed. Hence we went strolling along. She got excited on seeing a shop full of souvenirs. The shop was beautifully lit and had brilliantly dressed up dolls and beautiful clocks on display. Unfortunately for her the shop was closed till Monday.

“Click your elastic photos!” I told her, as we came up to the bridge. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Well, you said my photos are ‘plasticky’. So if my photos are plastic, yours must be elastic,” I shot back. Needless to say, she was not amused.