What is Banana in Italian?

I've had just enought time to...   say "banana" in Italian.

Warm Italian on a cold autumn evening

It was 7.00 pm in Parma and we were cold and hungry. The last few days we had been having dinner at 6.00 pm in Denmark which was kind of early but in Italy, the restaurant only opens at 8.00 pm which was kind of late for us. While waiting for the recommended restaurant to open, we hanged around and ended in front of a small fruit stall. The owner came out and engaged us in a conversation where neither party understood a single word the other was saying.

It was kind of fun though. He pressed his thumbs against the first finger and thrust it in a forward  motion saying something we could not make head or tail of. This was repeated several times and we made our guesses about the significance of this gesture but not convinced we understood him. That was until he made the ringing sound before we realized he was kindly suggesting that we rang the doorbell of the restaurant which is just down the road. We laughed and told him we had done that but was not sure he understood us. Everyone was smiling and the autumn wind did not feel as cold.

With time to kill, we looked at his products and our puzzled look must have given away the fact we did not know what that ugly looking fruit with wrinkled skin was. He said something in Italian but that of course did not strike a bell. He then gently pushed against the skin revealing a deep wet purple meat beneath. Beetroot I guessed. I think. That opened the floodgate. We then pointed out the fruits and vegetables and he said it out lout in Italian. And we offered the English name. Who needs words for communication?

What is this fruit/vegetable/root? Anyone knows?

There was no way we could remember all those Italian words. So we decided to remember at least one word, an easy one. We looked at the fruits and pointed at a bunch of banana –

“How do you say that in Italian?”

He looked at us with a bemused look and say “Ba-na-nuh!”

And we all burst out laughing simultaneously. Okay, we will never forget that! We left happily for the restaurant waving goodbye to our new found friend. We will probably never meet again but every time I see banana, I will remember that happy Italian face saying “Ba-na-nuh!”.

Part I - The Monk & The Scriptures.

I've had just enough time to...   talk to the Monk about the scriptures.

Taken of the Monk & his books one night alone in Hangzhou, China.

“All the knowledge is in the scriptures”, the monk said.

“Studied it well and you will know all there is to know.”

The disciple took it to heart and studied it day and night.

And when he has memorized and could repeat every single word.

He went back to the monk with all he had learned.

“You have learned nothing”, the monk said.

“Except for the words you have read”

“The wisdom is not in the words”

“Go back and read some more!”

And the disciple burned the scriptures

And become a rich trader.

And the monk took another disciple

Who is asked to read more and more

And then some more…

The Path of the Sage.

I've had just enough time to...   listen to the sage.

Taken inside the Shaoin Temple, China.

I carry the dust of a journey
That cannot be shaken away
It lives deep within me
For I breathe it every day

You and I are yesterdays answers
The earth of the past come to flesh
Eroded by times rivers
To the shapes we now possess.

Come share of my breath and my substance
And mingle our streams and our times
In bright infinite moments
Our reasons are lost in our eyes.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - The Sage

_______

What we can learn from the Sage
Is not what he had spoken
But the path he had taken.

Without Words.

I've had just enough time...   to talk without words.

Taken in Kota Kinabalu esplanade.

If you can share a comforting closeness

Without a single word or movement.

 

He is your best friend.