Most of us are aware that Italian's are very excitable and verbose folk ! They are all over you in when it comes to communication and you could consider yourself lucky, if you can get a word in edge wise.
I had a rather strange experience with an Italian gent a few years ago. I was in Delhi, and in the Hotel Imperial ( A wonderful hotel, with an old world charm), waiting for an acquaintance in the lobby, when in strode a rather elderly man, puffing and red faced. He sat next to me, caught his breath and said something to me, in Italian. My Italian, being rather limited, I smiled and nodded, my head and continued reading the days news paper.
It did not occur to me that, the gentleman was getting rather edgy, till he broke out in a fusillade directed at me. I was nonplussed and shocked, to put it mildly.What was the cause of this man's ire? Why was he annoyed by me? We were attracting a bit of attention, so I tried to edge away, but the chap clutched my hand.
I was pretty alarmed and strange thoughts wafted through my mind. Was, this man, an escaped inmate from a lunatic asylum or worse was he gay and had taken a fancy for me. I was at a loss as to how I should deal with this rather strange situation that had overtaken me.
Amidst the confusion, I suddenly, noticed that there was a fellow, in a driver's uniform, close by, with a placard that said 'Mr.Pannatta'. Apparently, the Italian gent, had also seen the board and his demeanour changed perceptibly and he, headed towards this driver, after of course disengaging my arm, without a backward glance.
What do you make of this story?
My only explanation, would be that Mr.Pannatta, was waiting for a driver and probably rushing for an appointment. In his excitement he probably concluded that I was the driver, meant to ferry him to his destination and had grown excited when I made no effort to get him to his vehicle.
I've steered clear of Italians hence.
No comments:
Post a Comment