BHUBANESWAR: He looked visibly tired. After being held hostage by Maoists for 29 days, Paolo Bosusco was candid enough to say he needed ‘some rest’. For someone, who has spent 22 years in Odisha without seeking any attention, the last one month of his life proved to be the most dramatic as he grabbed media headlines.At the State Guest House, where he was formally handed over to Italian Ambassador Giacomo Sanfelice di Monteforte and Consul General Joe Melchiori, Paolo spoke fondly of his relationship with the State, its tribals and even showed signs of sympathy for the rebels __ you may call it Stockholm Syndrome.Stockholm Syndrome is an apparently paradoxical psychological phenomenon in which hostages have empathy and positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them.The Italian tourist guide called for an end to violence. Queried about the tribal girl, Arati Majhi, whose release was one of the main demands of the Maoists, he hoped that his sacrifice would gain her freedom.“They are fighting against injustice. I don’t know what is right or wrong. I am not a political person but I can just say everybody should shun violence and not do injustice to anybody,” he said.Attired in bright white, he said he was very happy to be free. ‘Mote bahut bhala laguchhi’ (I am feeling very good), he said in Odia, but admitted that he was tired and needed some rest.Asked how was he treated in the Maoist camp, he said they treated him well. Paolo, however, clearly said he never took any objectionable picture of the tribals, contrary to what Maoists had claimed citing it to be the reason behind kidnapping him along with holiday-maker Claudio Colangelo.Going by his experience, this could well be Paolo’s last trip to the State. “I am sorry but I have to leave India since my work is finished. But my history of love with Odisha will never be finished,” he said."Hei paare mu aau asiparibi nahin (I may not come back to Odisha again). “But I have great love for the tribals of Odisha,” he added.Paolo thanked the Odia people for all their love, kindness and friendship in the last 22 years in the State. “That will be something which will remain a part of my heart,” he added.
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