My first foreign assignment after joining the Indian Foreign Service was China. As a starry-eyed young man in my twenties, I found travelling to the neighbouring country exciting and mysterious. Flashes of memories of the mid-1980s China come to mind every now and then to this day.
The assignment itself evoked a mix of mystery, excitement and trepidation. Mystery for travelling to a country about which more seemed to be unknown than known, excitement for boarding an aircraft for the first time, much less to speak about undertaking a foreign trip, and trepidation because I frankly had no clue about what to expect.
One of the first families my wife and I got to know in China was a middle-aged couple — I will call them Rs (to protect identity). They lived just two blocks away from our apartment. Mr. R was an officer in one of the international offices in Beijing. Ms. R, who passed away a few years ago, was a homemaker and much like a godmother to my wife. This lovely couple, who had reached Beijing a couple of years before us, was our go-to family for seeking guidance, sharing our joys and sorrows, and exploring places.
