writefrance

even know your name, I just think of you as Froggie... anyway, I am Makhalouf, but everybody call me Macca, just like Paul McCartney.”

The Buddah laughs.

“I am Michel, I am from France,” I inform them. “What ‘is your name?”

“Lew, I’m Lew… everybody round here know Lew.” I look at ‘im, I am now more confused. ‘e dress like a noir, be’ave like a noir, talks weird English with a strange accent and the dodgy grammaire and is called Lew. That is not Indian.

“Lew!” I ‘ear myself say. “Is that an ‘indu version of Luigi?”

“No! No! I am not a Hindu, I am a cattolic… it is short for Llewellen. Not all the Indians are Hindu, you know, some, like me are cattolics, some are muslim, like him and we even have our own Jews.”

“So, this is what a Welsh catholic Indian who thinks ‘e is Negro looks like?” I say to ‘im.