BANGALORE: The sexagenarian former actor with a booming voice has gone around southern India's cities wearing his red and gold costume, worth 2,000 pounds, a plumed hat, ringing a bell and meeting large crowds. "I will be promoting India, of course, in my own way. I cannot do it officially (he is appointed by the mayor to welcome tourists in London). But, I will tell people go to India for a holiday," Moore told IANS before leaving for Mumbai on the third leg of his five-city India tour, including Delhi and Kolkata, to ring the bell and say "Oyez, Oyez, I am here." Proponent of one of the world's oldest form of communication, conveying the diktats of the British monarchy to its people in the 11th century, the London town crier was promoting the most modern technology for communication, the Internet broadband, from Satyam I-Way. "I thought the concept was novel. I did not find any conflict," says Moore. But, the response he got from the "very nice people" in Chennai and "the most gracious people of Bangalore" has made him fall in love with India. This is not his first visit to India. He had come to Bangalore four years ago to promote the British Week. "I rode an elephant then. Now, it's a chauffer driven car. It was very hot in Chennai. Bangalore reminds me of London, lots of greenery and the weather is just fine." He gave 10 to one of the many street urchins who followed him in several parts of the city. "Do you know what he said to me? You are the king." But what impressed him most were the gracious questions people asked him, like what the duties of the London town crier were or whether he could ring the bell for them". The replies he got to questions he asked people while distributing half-an-hour free Internet access vouchers in India's tech capital left him stumped. "The adults could not tell me whose statue stands before the Indian high commission in London. Children did. They correctly said Mahatma Gandhi." And those who answered his questions, about half a dozen of them, got some extra access to the Internet. "Every country has its own traditions. I like the old fashioned traditions here." The only Indian word he learnt this time was "Namaste", the greeting. He misses eating Indian curries because of "tummy trouble". And he found the autorickshaw, also known as the three-wheeler scooter, "a fun way of travelling." "I wish I could take one back to London!"
Source: IANS