Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady (SP)

Beltangady, Jul 7: A French national got stuck in India as he could not return to his country on account of the clamping of lockdown all of a sudden. He neither lost heart nor whiled away his time. He put to optimum use the additional time he got, to learn Kannada and succeeded in his aim.

Baptist Marriott (25) from France had come to India on a one-year tourist visa. He stayed in a rented room at Mundaje in Beltangady taluk. He was to return to France by March-end. But, at the end of his visa period, a lockdown was announced and therefore, Baptist was left with no other option but to stay back in India. He wanted to utilise this time to learn the Kannada language. Ajith Bhide and Sachin Bhide, farmers from Mundaje, readily helped him to acquire Kannada skills.

Baptist basically is an artist. He is a student of Florence Academy of Arts and teacher of an art school in Spain. Whenever he got time, he used to take in the beauty of the valleys in Charmadi ghat. He also is a skilled drummer. He has been training Dhanush Rajendra, a friend of Bhide, in the art of playing the drums.

Disinterested to return

Marriott had learnt about Mundaje from a saxophone artiste, Michael Mitchell. He says that during his first visit to India in 2017, he acquired some knowledge of Hindi language. "I was under the impression that most of the Indians speak in Hindi. But when I came to Mudaje, I learnt about the importance of Kannada language. Therefore, I began to learn the Kannada language. When the lockdown was announced, I was worried about returning home. When the lockdown was extended and flights were cancelled, I got a chance to improve my knowledge of Kannada. Now I do not feel like leaving this village," Marriot explained in Kannada spoken in French accent.