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Two for joy
DIPLOMATIC BEST: Julio Faesler Carlisle and Alexandra at home in New Delhi. Photo: S. Arneja.
THE MEXICAN Ambassador to India, Julio Faesler Carlisle and his wife, Alexandra are at New Delhi's 13, Prithviraj Road for nearly three years now. But till Alexandra came out with her maiden book, "A Woman's Wheel of Life" in March this year, one didn't know that there is one more in the Faesler family to be proud of. A no-nonsense ambassador husband who writes "serious stuff" for Mexican newspapers and a dignified writer of a wife, who is a doctorate in international relations. An interesting combination, you bet.
Then there are the children. "My eldest daughter is an editor of a publication in Mexico," begins Alexandra. "The second one is a theatre director and producer of movies, the third one is a poet. The fourth daughter is a businesswoman in Madrid." An array that can very well vie with each other for notice in a single family!
Comparing the Indian family system with that of Mexico, she proudly declares, "We are very similar when it comes to holding on to family values. These values are almost sacred to us. Before anything else, comes the family, as in Indian society. But then, we do not have the joint family system and yes, the concept of arranged marriage is non-existent in Mexican society."
As to where she and her husband met, she replies with a lovely grin, "I don't think my husband will answer this question nor shall I." Sitting next to her, Julio Faesler nods when his wife states, "We do not miss our children at all here. We are enjoying each other's company." The daughters regularly visit them, and vice versa, she adds.
Though both make it a point to spend time with each other every day, Alexandra says, "We try to respect each other's privacy. Beyond a point, we do not go into each other's lives." This explains why she never told her husband she was writing a book on Indian women till the first draft was ready. "She told me she was writing a book but since she didn't tell me what it is all about, I didn't ask her. I wanted to give her that space," Faesler says. Though Alexandra was very tense as to what her husband would comment after reading her book, she says, she felt very relieved finally, when he said he liked it.
Definitely not a votary of mass consumerism - "the Americanisation of everything sweeping not just India and neighbouring Mexico but the entire world" - the couple says they never buy bottled water, never fail to teach their children and grandchildren that an individual is just a part of the family, that tinned food can't be an alternative to the food you can prepare yourself, that shopping in malls is "not everything".
"The time is now to teach the younger generation about the social values that we grew up respecting," the ambassador states, adding that in Mexican society, children are part of every custom and festival. "Besides celebrating Easter, Christmas, Saint's Day, birthdays, etc., each Mexican family would meet for dinner at least once a week, which gives the children a sense of family. If you travel through the Mexican countryside, you would perhaps see the highest number of families in Europe picnicking, which is a very healthy concept to instil the feeling of togetherness," he continues.
Though long married they have not acquired the proverbial similar looks yet. Alexandra laughs, "He still has got the Nordic and very European features intact, and I still look very much Mediterranean"
Posing for a photograph, Faesler does not forget to compliment her. "Today she is looking beautiful." Attractive in her beige dress with Lucknowi chikan work and a string of white beads adorning her neck, she replies, "He rarely thinks I do."
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