#FOTW: A Happy Chat With Henri

Diago Suarez is a charming little place in the north of Madagascar. Also called Antsiranana, it is a major city and the capital of the Diana region. Which is to say that Diago Suarez had an airport.

Now, airfares in Madagascar are prohibitively expensive with the average single fare costing 300 euros. I had already travelled overland to Ile Sainte Marie and returned to the capital Antananarivo. I wasn’t ready for another 24 hour journey on a taxi-brousse so shelled out the money for the ride to Diago Suarez.

Again, since the airline industry in Madagascar is a monopoly run my Air Madagascar, delays are frequent and cancellations not unheard of. My early morning flight to Diago Suarez was delayed by eight hours when I reached Tana airport at 6 AM. No biggie apparently.

After having some breakfast and coffee, I went to the ticket counter and got my ‘new’ tickets and ruined the loss of an entire day that could have been spent exploring the city with its Portuguese roots and buzzing nightlife.

I sat down to read my novel (Jhootha Sach, a Partition-era novel written by Yashpal) to kill the time but couldn’t because of the huge commotion over other delayed flights. Sitting outside in the cold with my backpack for company, I resumed reading but my lost day began weighing on me more than I thought it would.

When we finally boarded and reached Diago Suarez, it was late evening. I checked into my hotel and decided to lift my mood by taking a walk around my area. After walking for 20 minutes, I was lost in the bylanes of the city and looking to reach the main road.

Which is where I met six-year-old Henri.

Henri was laughing even before I could get to him. I went into his father’s shop to ask for directions and saw him grinning at me. He seemed to be in a playful mood so I called him out and tried my French on him. It worked apparently because he came out of the shop and began playing hide-and-seek with him. That wiped my grouchy mood as well as we played for more than half-an-hour. He even walked me to the main road later where I got him a pack of biscuits and a candy for his return journey.

When I walked back to my hotel and saw these pictures, I realised what a poser Henri is. I laughed once again before turning out the lights on a day that had started horribly but ended with a smile on my face.

PS – Faces of the World is a series focussing on the most interesting people I’ve met on my travels. This is a community feature in which you are invited to send your own #FOTW Picture with a short intro to [email protected] to get featured.

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