It doesnt look that way at all.

So having known R for two years as a close friend and having learnt we share things in common which transcend cultural boundaries, I believe I owe him a blog entry.

On a walking tour in Munich, everyone gets asked whether they have been to the Oktoberfest, and only R raises his hand. R is in a habit of raising his hand to questions that follow the general theme “Have you been to “insert name of a country/city here”.

R is currently the most well-travelled friend that I have. He has been to the US, the whole of Europe, south East Asia, India, and other places. I know this not because he told me one fine day of all places he has visited but rather I accumulated all the isolated accounts I have heard from him of places he has been to. However the reason I write this is not this.

The reason I write this is what he told me one fine day when we sit in my room which I make no effort to tidy up when he comes now because he comes often and is cool with my untidiness and he tells me this

“Sherry my boy, when I was young I used to think we were poor because I lived in a one storey house while the others kids lived in a two storey one. It was only when I went to college that that my dad told me he could afford it that I learnt it was not the case. I didn’t like those kids who flaunted being rich and I decided I will never flaunt. And now when I talk about all these places I have been to I always hope it does not come out as if I am trying to boast. Please tell me honestly Sherry, does it?”

He left me thinking as to how great a man he really is. He actually learnt something from his experiences in life. That almost never happens.