Gypsies of the Blue

In 2009 I was studying at Monash University, Melbourne. It was a liberating experience, with professors who inspired me to write from the heart, while also helping me discover who I am professionally. My core units were Issues in international communication and Research & Travel Writing. These units made me realise that by interacting with people from different countries, and understanding their cultures while being in a foreign country myself, I could really get a new perspective.

I used to write my assignments sitting on the beach, when the weather was about ten degrees centigrade. People thought I was insane, but to me, it was the perfect setting. An empty beach, the soothing ebb and flow of the waves, a crisp breeze, absolutely no distractions whatsoever. I would write the first draft of a 3000 word assignment in one sitting, and go home to edit and polish them before submission.

One Thursday afternoon, after what felt like a long day of research in the State Library of Victoria, I decided to take the evening off and go to the beach. I was nervous about my assignment, I'd had a restless night before, I was annoyed with a few of my friends, and I just needed some space.

I had been sitting on the beach for about two hours, feeling alternately philosophical and nihilistic, when I noticed four guys playing volleyball nearby. I was surprised to note that these guys were as insane as I was, playing volleyball in the cold sand. They seemed to be having a great time, and their close friendship was evident.

As I took off my shoes and socks and walked to the edge of the water, the ball came my way. I tried to stop it in time, but it got caught in an ebbing wave and I missed the block. Missing the block turned my currently philosophical thought into a nihilistic one so fast that it could have given my brain a whiplash. I kicked the wave in annoyance, and walked away. As the guy came to pick up the ball, now neatly deposited on the sand by another big wave, he smiled at me, only to get a scowl in return. It occurred to me that the guy must have thought me a grumpy lady, sick of life. Just as that thought occurred, he stopped and asked me if I was OK. I nodded the typical non-committal Indian nod.

I didn't expect him to continue talking to me after that. But he did. He said, “Hey, are you OK? You're not planning to walk into the water and hurt yourself or something are you?” I was startled at that assumption. I quickly assured him that I was fine, and that I was just in a bad mood and was complaining to the waves about it. He smiled at me, told me to take care and ran back to his friends.

I continued whining and grumbling to the waves a few more minutes, collected my things and went to the nearby pub.

As I was gulping a delightfully huge glass of fruity stout, the four guys walked into the pub and got a table at the other end from me, and ordered their ales. I took out my phone and started playing a game on it. About ten minutes later, the guy from the beach spotted me and walked up to my table. He invited me to join him and his friends for a drink. They seemed like decent guys, so I joined them and introduced myself as 'Shivi'. Their names were Aaron, Jake, Todd and Nathan. They were from Sydney, and currently in Melbourne scouting venues for Jake's wedding and as an impromptu Bachelor's vacation. Aaron was a lawyer at a mid-size firm, Jake was a chartered accountant, Todd was a teacher at a public school, and Nathan was a sports writer.

We spent about an hour chatting about music and movies when Nathan asked me if I knew of an alleyway with a plain white wall. He said that they wanted to project a movie on a wall from their pick-up truck and chill out. That really got me intrigued. How could you project a movie from a truck?! I mentioned that about 300 meters up the road was an alley that had just been painted white after a nasty graffiti incident. We paid for our drinks, and headed to the alley, while Nathan drove up in his pick-up. They had found a documentary about gypsies who travelled all over the Caribbean, called Gypsies of the Blue. I sounded fascinating to me, so when they invited me to join them, I jumped at the chance.

Nathan maneuvered his truck perpendicular to the wall, took out a projector from a box under the passenger seat, and hooked it up to the top panel and plugged one wire into the car system and another one into a laptop. I stood fascinated, wondering why I had never thought of doing that before. Then he turned the keys in the ignition, and BAM, the alley wall had become a movie theatre.

We hopped onto the back seating of the truck, and cracked open a six pack of beers, and a few packs of chips. The movie was amazing, with stories of travel, different foods, minimal expenditure, and a lot of new friends. It occurred to me, that since I had friends in Sydney, that I could book myself into a backpackers and travel on a shoestring budget too! I made a mental note to plan that trip, and returned to watching the movie.

After the movie finished, we went to a little café nearby, grabbed a few slices of pizza, and went our separate ways. I have no last names, addresses, or details of those guys, but I do have the memory of having a perfectly platonic evening with some nice guys who gave me a brilliant idea for travel, and a relaxed and fun evening that made me forget all about my troubles for the rest of that day.

When I got home that night, I slept peacefully, knowing that the friends I had made that evening and the experience I just had is exactly why studying in a foreign country is so wonderful. The next day I figured out exactly how to finish the assignment that had me worried, and later got a high distinction on it with a note from my professor that said, “The life of a travel writer never ends with one experience. Onward, Away and Good-luck!”