This is not a story, but just narration of a small but profound experience. Although three and half decades old it is still fresh in my mind. 

In the year 1986, probably in the month of July, I boarded an Air India Boeing 747 jumbo jet at Mumbai airport. My first experience of air travel that too for an international one. Too overwhelming for a shy creature like me. My destination was Tokyo, Japan. In those days direct flights from Mumbai to Tokyo were like science fiction stories. My flight did five touch downs and four take offs, like buy one get four free. First stop was Delhi, then Bangkok, then Hong Kong, then Osaka and finally Tokyo. Unlike other passenger, I was happy to have so many. I got extra material to tell the story of visiting so many cities, sorry airports, in a single visit abroad.

It was an international workshop hosted by Japan. I was a little scared about the impending communication problems I was to face, as I was told hardly few Japanese spoke English. To my utter surprise, on arrival in Tokyo, the way we were taken care of by the Japanese team that was so warm and caring that I forgot I had come to a country where knowing Japanese is a must or that English may not be sufficient at all. You are wondering why suddenly “I” became “we”. Yes, there were two more Indian participants for the same workshop, who boarded flight en route. Then on we were three representing our country.

We were all taken to a nice hotel. Hotels in Japan were very costly compared to the allowances we were granted. The rooms were literally tiny, but complete with all amenities. In the evening we all, may be around twenty participants of different countries, gathered in a hotel conference room for a detailed briefing of how everything would be done next day onward. All guides and documents were distributed to us. We were very impressed with such a meticulous work they did. For a while we forgot not knowing Japanese was not a deficiency.

At the end the hosts told us if anybody had any special plan or wish, they could help. May be like purchasing some special gift item or visiting some important place. We were not prepared with any special plan in our mind. But we thought why not take their help to reschedule our return flight to have a break and spend a day at Hong Kong. It may appear today what was so great about that, but in those days it actually was a hell lot of trouble to reschedule flights. Everything was controlled from Mumbai and the only official mode of communication was telex. You had to visit air lines office to explain the staff to get the changes done. We were also novice first time travelers in a foreign land. So we decided to take their help. 

Two ladies of their PR group joined in the three of us to understand our issue. The rescheduling was little tricky and was possible with a change in airlines for the first. The problem got compounded by their lack of knowledge in English language and conversely ours of Japanese. 

The result was something comic. Whatever we explained they understood in some other way. We said “No, no, no, it is not like that it is like this”. When they partly understood, narrated their understanding, we would again say “No, no, no, it is not like that it is like this”. This iteration kept on happening number of times. At the end we all decided that the problem has been appropriately conveyed and we were assured of help; greeted each other good night and went to our rooms.

Next day after our inaugural session was over we all joined for a high tea. For most of the participants it was their first international visit, all were curious to know each other and about their organization and their country. In between all socializing those two ladies came towards us and started expressing their deep love for India and the Buddha connection. All of sudden one of them very hesitantly asked permission to ask one question. She asked very politely that why we Indian always say ‘No’ so often. We were dumbfounded. Could not understand what exactly they were trying to say. Hesitantly we asked what the reason for their opinion was. The lady said you were telling “no, no” every time we said something. Then we came to some sense and explained that it has nothing to do with Indians, may be for some situational reasons. But we were really feeling embarrassed. 

Later on at the end of the day we discussed amongst ourselves if we Indians are really like that, who prefer to start any response with a “no” or we three only were to blame for creating that image in them? 

Whatever it may be, it left a lasting impression on me, to always be and speak positive.