The Babelian part of Meidling!

For a change, this entry will not directly deal with the news in Austria. I would just like to present one of the fascinating people of my neighbourhood. I live in Meidling, which is a very popular district in Vienna. On the main pedestrian street, you can hardly hear German, welcome in the Babelian part of Vienna! Whereas I have the feeling that Favoriten and Ottakring are largely dominated by Turks and people of the former Yougoslavia, we also have people from Africa and India in Meidling. At the market, this morning, I met a very nice guy, Gajendra. He is selling pork products and cheese from Vorarlberg. We started to chat and when I told him I was French, he said “Oh great, I’ve been to Paris many times, also La Baule. You know this city? Yes, in Brittany, there is always a big tournament there. I was a professional field Hockey player, “Hockey sur gazon”. With my team, one year we were second, one year we were champions, I played for many years. I’m from India but I played for Yugoslavia, I arrived in Yugoslavia in 1979, but then it became difficult in the country… I was young. I had friends in Austria, this is how I came here, but my family is still in Serbia. I have a friend in Vorarlberg, she is selling this product, now I work with her, we joined for the business.”

Somehow, I thought this story was worth to be told.