As was the case often, the taxi driver inquired if I was from India.

I confirmed, by force of habit, having gone through this rigmarole time and time again in the last four years.

There was some difference though this time.

"Vaj-pa-yee," he said in his median Shanghainese drawl.

This, was a break from the routine. In normal circumstances, our man would break into an exaggerated version of Awara Hoon.

Obviously, he had read his papers and was aware of the Indian prime minister's presence in China that was mostly front-page news here -- a welcome break from all the SARS reporting.

That the Indian PM deemed it fit to visit China even before the WHO travel advisory was lifted was not lost on the powers-that-be here, who had the propaganda department working overtime.

While the media in general repeatedly harped on historic ties between the two countries -- or the lack of it -- Vajpayee's trip had revived interest among the general populace of an India they had been kept ignorant off.

An average Chinese' awareness of India was limited to Rabindranath Tagore (there is a huge portrait of the poet at one of Shanghai's state-owned bookshops) and Gandhi (there was some confusion over this as well), and of course, the ineffaceable Raj Kapoor and his Awara.

Of late, there was acceptance of India's prowess in information technology, but by and large the level of ignorance among people was simply astounding.

It wasn't one-sided though. People back home were as clueless and disoriented about their giant neighbour with whom we share a 3,500-km boundary, however contentious it may be.

Our own understanding of China -- widely seen as the manufacturing factory of the world and the next great protagonist on the global stage -- was limited to chow mein and other vague dishes non-existent even in this country. For those fortunate to have studied history had heard of Mao Zedong's exploits and Deng Xiaoping's reforms at most.

Every visit back home threw up the usual stereotypes: What do they eat? Are they friendly? What do they think of us? … And more often than not viewed China with a little suspicion.

Vajpayee may have his reasons to claim the trip was a success, but what was heartening was the renewed interest in India.

Indeed if this relation has to burgeon it is necessary to expand on people-to-people contacts rather than restrict it to just economic and political ties. (That means easing visa restrictions for one.)

But for some reason the importance of building on these ties is lost on our bureaucrats. Any talk of culture inevitably brings up Bollywood. Is that all there is to us?

Cultural affairs comprise a wider sphere of educational, intellectual, artistic and sporting activity. They are an essential part of international relations, more so in this era of competitiveness.

The two countries can do a lot to bind cultural ties. There can be various cultural and academic exchanges. To begin with we can have student exchanges, who will return with a better understanding of each other.

"There is wide interest in tourism also. Besides, we share a lot in common, both socially and culturally," says Shen Dengli, a researcher at Shanghai's prestigious Fudan University.

Shen believes that understanding and respecting different cultures can only engender goodwill among nations.

Indeed, a bilateral exchange of ideas and setting up of friendship societies could only forge a better understanding and appreciation of the other. It serves our long-term objectives and will genuinely enrich the life we live in this cosmopolitan climate.

Diffusion of each other's language is another way of promoting mutual understanding. Classical Chinese, or Mandarin, is a gateway to its rich philosophical and literary heritage -- and ours as well.

Vajpayee's trip to the White Horse temple in Luoyung also brought into focus our centuries old links with ancient China. Local guidebooks talk of the Indian connection during visits to monasteries. During one such trip in Xiangyang in central China we were heartened to discover three Ashoka stambas with its back-to-back lions. The pillars survived the vagaries of time and the political upheaval of the late sixties and the early seventies. It is these symbols of Indian civilisation that make India a vital tourist destination.

Any such synergies can bridge differences and has the potential to influence and shape future ties. It is all the more imperative that we build on this, particularly because India Inc will find the going extremely tough, given the level of competitiveness here, before they can grab some kind of foothold in this country.

The case of Infosys Technologies is a case in point. A year after then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji gave his stamp of approval, the software giant is still struggling to set up base in Shanghai.

Besides, China's trade with India is less than one percent of its GDP -- and politics has much to do with it. In that sense Vajpayee's trip may have come a decade too late.

Bivash Mukherjee hails from Mumbai and works for the Shanghai Daily.