Indian Samurai इंडियन सामुराई

Indians seem to consider other countries of the subcontinent (Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal) as their poor parents. And Sri Lanka is no exception to the rule. They have almost constantly invaded this small island.

But Sri Lankans have actually nothing much to do with Indians. Women dress differently (no salwar kameez for example, but long skirts instead), they speak Sinhala which is similar to the North Indian and Indo-European languages but bifurcated some 2,500 years ago and has nothing to do with Hindi for instance. And then they are mostly Buddhist. And really more relaxed than Indians.

But far from me the idea of comparing both people. I just want to narrate a situation that made me laugh. We flew Delhi-Colombo with Air India; The plane was full of foreigners (there is for example no more direct flights from France and most have a transfer in India), Sri Lankans and pilgrims. On the way back, we flew Air Sri Lanka.

While the departure was at 13:55., they opened the doors for boarding at 13:00 – at least that’s what the screens indicated. And at 13:10 “last call!” Panicked, I made my little family rush and we were at the door at 13:15 and boarding... hadn't even started! Summoned to explain himself, the guy from the company explained that they were obliged to do that with Indians otherwise they would never leave on time! A “last call” at 13:10 while boarding started only at 13:25, respect... When Sri Lankans give lessons to their powerful neighbours...

But it did not stop there! The flight of 3,5 hours was quite turbulent and the pilot left the ‘fasten-your-seatbelt’ signal on for about an hour and a half. Typically, Indians, this signal, they don’t give a damn. Worse, they seem to get up as soon as it is turned on. Hostesses explaining to passengers that they have had bad experiences, the security stuff, nothing matters. It was not counting on the Sri Lankan hostess who was pissed and almost rude, yelling at people to sit down again. But Indians are tenacious, they still stood up. So BOOM, they locked all the toilets, I have never seen anything like this! “You want to get up eh?! Well get up but you are not gonna pee!” Frankly, I wondered if the staff was not taking some kind of little petty revenge because the turbulences were frankly not so bad. In the meantime, I had quite a laugh, my favourite Indian a little less...