Coming back to make things better

SURAT, May 20: For someone used to knives and forks while dining at home, fingers instead of cutlery may not find favour. Not so with 19-...

SURAT, May 20: For someone used to knives and forks while dining at home, fingers instead of cutlery may not find favour. Not so with 19-year-old Stefan Lehmeier, a German youth who is currently in Surat. He finds the process of eating with hands amazing, for back home it is treated as bad manners !

Not that only food habits of Indians have caught his fancy. In fact, he liked the people so much on his first visit last year, that he spent out of his own pocket to return to the city again this year.

Lehmier was here in 1998 on an invitation from the Surat chapter of Experiment in International Living, an association headquartered in New Delhi. He spent 20 days with the Thanawala family.

He was moved by the pitiable conditions in Surat8217;s slums when he was taken around. He cancelled the Pune leg of his 20-day stay in India and spent that time in Surat.

He returned recently with funds collected from people back home for the improvement of slums. A report he had prepared on the conditions of slums came in handy to convince his prospective donors.

What he has liked most about the Indian people is 8220;the concern they show for each other 8221; unlike Germany, where people prefer to stay behind the four walls of their houses. Having attended various ceremonies and social functions, he is very impressed by the culture and values here. He realised the culture was vastly different when he found himself attending a wedding in shorts !

He is equally amazed at the ability of people here to generate garbage. When he was travelling by train, he could not believe his co-passenger throwing leftovers out of the window. 8220;Probably they don8217;t love their country much,8221; he says adding it took him much time to comprehend the conditions here and people8217;s response to them.

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India is the only country he has visited twice. The son of a police academy teacher, he finds Germany and India poles apart. He signs off saying 8220;Jai Shrikrishna8221; with folded hands, with a little help from Harin Thanawala, with whose family he is staying.