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Computer scientist and podcaster Lex Fridman has talked about living in India for a few weeks, calling it a "magical experience."
He spoke about his experience staying in India during the episode of his podcast, during which he interviewed PM Narendra Modi. During the interview, PM Modi spoke on diverse issues, including artificial intelligence (AI), cricket, football, China, US President Donald Trump, Pakistan, and his early life. Fridman also praised the team working around PM Modi, calling them "super kind, efficient, and excellent at what they do." Lex Fridman also praised the interpreter who, he said, simultaneously interpreted for him and PM Modi. Praising people working around PM Modi, he said, "Let me give a shout out to the amazing team around the Prime Minister. Everyone was super kind, excellent at what they do, efficient, great communication, and just great people all around. And since I spoke English and Prime Minister Modi spoke Hindi, I have to comment on the interpreter who was doing simultaneous interpreting for both of us. She was absolutely amazing. I can't sing her enough praises, from the equipment used to the quality of the translation, to just the human touch of it all." He said that India is composed of many distinct subcultures and Delhi represents "just one slice" and added that he will "most certainly" travel around India with his friend Paul Rosalie in the near future. Speaking about his experience of travelling around New Delhi, he said, "In general, my travels around Delhi and India revealed to me some early glimpses of what felt like another world, almost like another planet, different culturally from anything I've experienced before. A chaos of human interactions out there, big dynamic personalities and characters. Obviously, India's composed of many distinct subcultures, and Delhi represents just one slice. Much like neither New York or Texas or Iowa alone represent America. They're all different flavours of America." He said that during his stay in India, he walked around, rode auto rickshaws and wandered on the streets. He spoke about interacting with people in India and said that everyone in India was "super kind in the genuine human way" and said that it was easy to understand even when they did not speak in English. He said, "On my visit, I walked around and rode rickshaws everywhere, just aimlessly wandering the streets, looking to talk to people about life. Of course, like many places on earth, there are always some people, especially those that have something to sell, who will at first see me as a tourist, a foreign traveler, one with some money to spend." "Like always, I avoided such shallow interactions and went straight past the small talk to the meaningful conversations. Shooting the shit about what they love, what they fear, what kind of hardship and triumph they've experienced in their lives, I think the cool thing about people anywhere on earth is they quickly do see the real you, past the facades that strangers put up for each other, if you're vulnerable and honest enough to let them and I tried to do just that and I should say that for the most part, everyone was super kind in the genuine human way even when they didn't speak English, it was always easy to understand. Probably more than any other peoples I've interacted with in India, people's eyes, faces, body language, all communicate a lot of information, a lot of emotion, not reserved at all," Fridman added. He said that reading a person was "much tougher" when he travelled through Eastern Europe. He stated that there is often a protective layer between a person's heart and the outside world and added that it is all there "on full display" in India. "When I traveled through Eastern Europe, for example, in contrast, reading a person is much tougher. The meme does have some truth to it. There's often a protective layer between the heart of the person and the outside world. In India, it's all there on full display. So, I had a lot of epic conversations and interactions as I walked around Delhi for a couple of weeks. In general, on the topic of reading people, I do believe the eyes can often say more than words can. We humans are a fascinating bunch. There really is a deep turbulent ocean behind the surface waves we show the world. In some sense, what I try to do in conversations, on and off the mic, is to get to that depth," he said. Describing his experience of staying in India for few weeks "magical", Fridman stated, "Anyway, the few weeks I spent in India were a magical experience. Traffic alone was a wild time, like the world's most difficult test for self-driving cars. It reminded me of watching nature documentary videos of swarms of fish when it's thousands of them swimming around at insane speeds, seemingly in complete chaos. And yet when looking at the big picture of it it all works like a perfectly tuned orchestra. I will, most certainly, travel around India with my friend Paul Rosalie in the near future, maybe with some other friends all around from the north of India to the south." (ANI)
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