Partial Truths

While Arvind was here over the weekend, he told me about a man he had first met in a local restaurant who had an encyclopedic knowledge of British postcodes. As we didn’t come across him before he left, Arvind suggested I visit the restaurant at some point to see if he was there. By Tuesday evening I hadn’t got around to it and headed back to Rosario’s for chai after my fun day of meeting people. The bar was quite busy; a while after arriving I noticed an Indian man talking with two Scottish tourists across the floor from me; he caught my attention because on learning where the men were from he had launched into an oration on the Scottish dimension of British politics, including the slightly obscure fact that Tony Blair was educated at Fettes, a fancy Edinburgh private school. After bidding them goodnight, he moseyed around the room until he came to me.

“Good evening,” he said.
“Hello,”
“What is your country, please?”
“England,” I replied.
“Oh, which county?” he asked, keenly.
“Wiltshire…”
“Wiltshire. Stonehenge, Salisbury, Marlborough, Swindon Town,” he rattled off.
“Yes!” I said, in surprise.
“And where you are living, please?”
“I live near Bath, in a small town,”
“Hmm..I see. That would be near Yeovil?”
“Not really,” I said, “No, closer to Bath and Bristol,”
“Ok, closer to Bath. So you will be having a BA postcode.”
I started to laugh: “I’ve heard about you!” I said – a fact that didn’t seem to faze him.

He told me his name was Shiva and asked for mine, which he acknowledged as a very short palindrome. He asked who had told me about him, and I said my friend Arvind from Bombay. On hearing his surname, he paused for a moment, seeming to mull it over until something suddenly clicked and he came back to life, repeating the name over and over again to himself: “Sivakumaran, Sivakumaran, Sivakumaran, it means ’son of Shiva’, Sivakumaran…” Having made the connection he remembered Arvind completely – that he works in movies and then, more accurately, that he writes screenplays, even the area of Bombay he lives in. Quite astounding. Quite certainly autistic, and one of the gentlest, most engaging souls I have ever come across.

I bought some postcards and stamps from him that night and he mentioned that he led birdwatching walks around the village. By chance I met him as I left the beach last night and we arranged to meet at 7am this morning. Which we did, along with another British visitor, Alan, and we spent three of what I already know will be the most memorable hours of my entire trip.

Shiva led us through and around the village along secret paths I would never have found for myself, particularly as most of them involved tramping through people’s backyards, wishing them a good morning as we passed. Alan was distinctly uncomfortable with this alternative cultural conception of property, but Shiva assured him it was fine, while I had a lovely time getting a glimpse of early morning village life. Shiva confirmed his reputation as a true wonder – from an exhaustive knowledge of etymology in several languages (did you know that “banyan” [as in, the tree] means “extra growth”, which is where the word “bunyon” comes from? Or that “vernacular” originally means “language of slaves”? Or that the Indian Drongo bird is named from the Italian word “dranga” which means “stupid” and was the name given to the lackeys of the mafia?) to an ability to spot every kind of bird with the naked eye from a huge distance. And what birds! Eagles, kites, kestrels, nightingales, various coloured bee-eaters, marsh harriers, open-billed storks, green pigeons, an owl, magpie-robins, and kingfishers that just sat there waiting to be admired, unlike their British cousins of which you catch a fleeting flash of blue if you’re very lucky. Shiva’s enthusiasm and passion for the birds was a joy to experience – “Look! Come, Anna! Look, Alan, come! Oh my God, oh my God,”. Wonderful.

I want to come back here with Arvind and make a film about Shiva. He’s one of those rare souls who makes a profound impression purely through being himself; everyone would benefit from an encounter with Shiva.