Amarjit Sidhu
Roxana Vasile, 23.09.2015, 19:07
Todays guest is Amarjit Sidhu, who is an aircraft pilot, a journalist, a photographer and a cook. He says that in Romania he feels like home and that this is the country where his best friends are now.
” I was born in India, but I left India in 1982, to go to America. So since 1982 Ive been away from India. First it was in Texas, then it was Miami, Florida, in Los Angeles, Chicago, then New York. So most of the time I lived in New York city…I came to Romania for the first time in October 2010..I came here as I was working for a company that used to cover UN conferences…so wed go around wherever there was a UN conference and cover it as a journalist. We would do a daily newspaper for a conference. So when I came here there was a conference on the Internet, about the governments role in Internet technology, it was a three-day conference at the big Palace Hall…After that we stayed for another two-three weeks to cover some more projects. I have gone to many countries but this was the first time when I was leaving Bucharest, it was towards the end of October, it was very misty and cold, I had tears in my eyes, I don t know why, but literally stopped a taxi and at the Triumphal Arch and I took some pictures there. Then I went back to New York and we published a magazine…in December of 2002 the company went out of business, so in January 2003 I didnt have a job in New York any more. And while I was here, somebody at the UN told me if I want to do a project with photos, so in January I called the person in charge, asking would you still want me to do the project; he said, yes, come! So I came back here in 2003 and the project was for three months…it lasted for five months. “
After years of coming and going, to and from Romania, Amarjit Sidhu finally settled in Bucharest for good a year ago.
“I came back to Romania in September last year, now I feel like Ill just stay here now.. I dont move anywhere. I go maybe for six months somewhere, but I would always come back here. I came as a photographer, for a journalist, and slowly I moved into cooking. I like to cook, I used to cook for my friends here, then my friends said: why dont you just start catering, you know.. I was just going to open a catering company, then somebody from an Indian restaurant told me to come join him…so I joined that restaurant, and from there on its mostly cooking.”
There are no common points between the Indian and the Romanian cuisine as they are totally different from one another – says Amarjit Sidhu, who by the way is mad about Cluj cabbage, a dish where cabbage and minced meat are placed in layers, and cooked in the oven with lots of cream. If in the early 2000 he had no choice other than visit lots of shops in Bucharest, looking for a piece of ginger root, now Amarjit Sidhu finds many of the spices he needs for the Indian food he cooks. Yet he also has a friend who brings part of them from London.
About the Romanians and especially about the younger generation, Amarjit Sidhu says they are curious, open and friendly. He feels comfortable around them. Actually, around 60% of his friends are Romanian; and he doesnt feel too many cultural differences between the two countries.
He has already read poems by Romanias national poet Mihai Eminescu, highlighting his resemblance with Indias Rabindranath Tagore. In the history of world culture, it is rare that see two people who have never met in person or through their readings, but who were so close to one another, in terms of mindset and way of expression. And when it comes to going places, he has already seen most of Romania.
“Almost all the cities, Ive been through them, Arad, Timisoara, Brasov, Cluj, Sighisoara, Baia Mare, Iasi, Tulcea, Vama Veche.. Bacau. Very recently I was in Sibiu and also Medias. Its a beautiful country! You have mountains, really beautiful! It has everything, you have a sea you can go to…if you want to go to the mountains, you go to the mountains, its not very far from here, 200 kilometers, anywhere in the mountains. You know, in India, if you want to go somewhere, everything is far, you know…you want to go to the ocean, you have to go 3,000 miles…so here, everything is very near. The only thing I think you dont have is the desert. This year I was in India in the desert for three months and I don t want to see the desert from now in ten years…its okay.”
In the forthcoming period, Amarjit Sidhu will be trying to get the European flight instructor license for the Boeing 737 flight simulators.
” Im also a pilot. I was an airline pilot for quite a few years, from 1987 to 2002. Well, this was my first thing, thats why I went to the States, it was to learn how to fly. That was the main reason for me to go to the States…thats what Ive been doing, once you love flying, youll always love it, you know…”
But apart from the 8,000-9,000 hours of flight on the record, Amarjit Sidhu also has a windmill he built for a home in India. He will also be focusing on cooking, photography and on the discovery of Romania and the Romanian people.
