A bit emboldened by my interactions with Aseri, I ventured to try out a few more of my Fiji words. Struck up a conversation with the young lady who had ushered us into the Marriott lobby in the airport.

“Na yacaqu o Rajib”, I said.

She kept looking at me.

I knew my pronunciation was wrong. The “c” is tricky in Fiji. It is not pronounced as “s” or “k”. Instead, it is pronounced “th”. I have no idea why.

I tried once again slowly – “Na ya-tha-ng-oo o Rajib”.

Finally, she asked – “What language are you speaking?”

“I am trying Fiji”

“Oh! I cannot speak Fiji!”

“Huh?”

“I can speak Hindi or Tamil”.

That was no problem. I told her that my name is Rajib in both those two languages. But that took out all the fun of exploring a new country.

40% of Fijians are of Indian descent. Some 600,000 of them had migrated from mostly the Tamil Nadu area to work in sugarcane plantation during the period of English colonization in the prior two centuries.

Ah! Well, I will have to look further to find hapless victims of my Fiji knowledge then.