By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS,
London : An Indian adventurer who arrived at a remote South Atlantic island last week on a solo round-the-world sailing expedition was astounded when another Indian walked out of milling natives to greet him.
“This man just came up to me, and said ‘Hello, I’m Dr Bharadwaj,” said Dilip Donde, an Indian Navy officer who arrived at Falkland Islands Jan 15 after braving fierce gale force winds to complete the halfway mark of his journey.
Donde’s arrival at Falkland’s capital Stanley had been keenly anticipated by its population of 2,000, many of whom turned up on horseback for a view of an Indian sailing in.
As a British Royal Navy freighter escorted Donde to Stanley, some islanders jumped onto their boats to make up an impressive dozen-strong flotilla.
There were two Indian Navy officers who had specially flown to the Falklands, a South American archipelago of 778 islands known for its penguins, sea lions and seals.
But Donde had not reckoned with the possibility of meeting an Indian stranger in the Falklands, a British colony situated some 500 km from mainland South America.
“Well, they say you can drop a stone anywhere in the world and there is a good likelihood of it dropping on an Indian head, but this was something else,” Donde told IANS on a video link from Stanley.
“Dr Bharadwaj congratulated me warmly, and said he is an anaesthetist from London who is occasionally sent to work at the hospital in Stanley.
“We ended up having a great dinner with him and his colleagues in the house of a Falklander. The food was cooked by a Moroccan chef.”
Apparently, Indians are a rare sight in the Falklands – Donde reported a complete absence of Indian restaurants and corner shops.
However, Gurkha commandos enjoy a reputation for bravery and ferocity, having helped restore the island to British rule after an attempt by Argentina to take it over by force, sparking the 1982 Falklands War.
Donde, described by the Falkland Islands News Network as a “history making yachtsman”, plans to begin the final leg of his journey in the first week of February if repairs are completed on his vessel, the Mhadei.
“Who knows,” said Donde, “five years from now, there may well be an Indian restaurant in Stanley.”
(Dipankar De Sarkar can be contacted at [email protected])