Footprints foreign impressions
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1. A view of Innsbruck, a city in the Alps 2. St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna
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‘India surprises
me every day’
Bernhard Wrabetz, the Austrian ambassador to India, loves India’s improvisation skills, or jugaad, as he tells Gaurav Nagpal Not too many people can turn their passion into profession. Bernhard Wrabetz, though, is a lucky exception. He loves to travel and, as the Austrian ambassador to India, does so – extensively! In India for almost three years, Wrabetz has had a fascinating experience so far. “I realise I still know very little about India, because there is so much to explore! And this is the one place where you have at least two surprises a day, guaranteed!”
62 I Shubh Yatra I may 2016
shubh-yatra.in
Answering my puzzled expression, Wrabetz elaborates: “It’s the small things that surprise you. Jugaad is something Indians and Austrians have in common. In fact, in Austria, we have a saying: there is nothing more permanent than the improvised. We fix things, but just enough to get by. And India shows me instances of its jugaad philosophy every day!” Improvisation aside, there is much he loves about India. “I love the vibrancy and optimism of Indians even in