Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

A fellow traveler staying at the youth hotel on the hills of old Lyon made an interesting remark. “The French does not discriminate against people of different color or background, but they do openly discriminate against people who do not speak French.” While the first part could be considered an understatement given the frequent news of ethno-social divisions in the country, the second, by all means, is generally an accurate state in daily life.

The whole exercise was perhaps the greatest ever illustration of group-think in action: one guy in the big tour bus thinks he sees something in the dark, cloudless sky and rushes out the back door to stare upwards, and then, seconds later, a busload of passengers, easily numbering in the dozens, quickly follow the first guy out of the bus to stare at the sky. Before long, showering in the strong cold sea winds of the North Atlantic, a group of shivering tourists stand on the desolate Icelandic coastline.

In an average quiet residential neighborhood of west London, a little building just like any other around it had a massive national flag of Gambia flying from its second floor. A little plaque at the front door denoted it as the "Gambian High Commission in London," as anyone who did not deliberately came looking for the place surely would have been very much confused as to why there would be such a big flag flying in a random neighborhood of the metropolis without any other diplomatic presence.