Hannu flew to Jodhpur to shoot the advertisement and I’m alone in Mumbai. Small things start to get to me.

Like the three local men who steal my table at the restaurant while I’m washing my hands. Like the lady on the street who tries to force me to buy some flowers in order to gain a few coins. Like the guard who is a bit too enthusiastic to do a good job and doesn’t allow me to sit down for a while at the steps of the movie theatre even though I’ve walked a really long way and there is no where else to sit. Like when you feel angry and everybody else just smiles nicely back at you.

Luckily there are my friends back home who quickly diagnose that I’m having a culture chock. Surely not me? Yes, me.

“It isn’t what you have or who you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”

This is Shankar.

We met Shankar while standing on the street in Mumbai, back bags heavy on our shoulders. By that time on our trip hundreds of Indians had approached us on the street, trying to sell us something. I thought this was also the case with Shankar, and we dismissed him (something we’re a bit embarrassed now).

However, during that week in Mumbai we met Shankar daily and learned a great deal about him. He is the father of seven children. He has his own business on the side of the road fixing peoples’ shoes. And he is the happiest person we’ve met in a while. I’ve never seen anyone smiling as much.

Every day, he wakes up in the early morning hours to pray, takes his kids to school and goes to work at 10 a.m. He works until 11 p.m., returns home, eats dinner, does a bit of reading and goes to sleep for a few hours.

We ask him if he’s happy about his life, it sounds quite tough? He answers with a big smile: “Of course I’m happy. I have my own business that will secure my family’s income if something happens to me. Most important, I have seven children. Why would I not be happy? If there’s one thing I’d like to change, it is to have even more children”.

As it happens, Hannu was born to look like a Russian millionaire. This came in handy when he was walking down the streets of Mumbai and met an agent who needed a guy that looks like one.

In the beginning we understood he had to play a role in a Bollywood film. At the airport, before being flown to Jodhpur, he was told they will shoot a commercial for Chivas Regal whisky brand in the luxurious Umaid Bhawan Palace.

The day was long, the shooting took 16 hours. The idea behind the commercial was that there was an auction and people were trying to bid for a bottle of Chivas Regal whisky. Hannu had the tough job of raising his hand every once in a while and look eager to have that bottle (not easy to look eager for 16 hours).

Hannu flew back to Mumbai tired, but happy. Maybe a start of a new career?

Udaipur: the city where James Bond’s Octopussy was shot.
Udaipur: the city where I had my first true food poisoning.

The stay was short, and mainly spent in the bathroom of our hotel. The highlight of Udaipur was our hotel, Kesar Palace. It had a really clean bathroom!