Suzhou, the "Venice of the East", springs to renewed life with a festive look on Feb 8.[Photo/China Daily]

My profile tagline, or status, on instant-messaging apps is, "Single, and, yay, happy!" My first-ever experience of the onset of a Lunar New Year in China is tempting me to modify that to "Single, and, yay, happier!"

Not because I found thousands of presumably single and visibly happy Chinese during my travels but because I simply loved that the whole Chinese nation, which is larger than my home country, seems to have celebrated the holiday with gusto and energy. In India, each province has its own lunar new year, and not all start on the same day.

My lingering memories of my Shanghai-Suzhou tour would be the warmth and kindness of total strangers, but for whom I'd have found it difficult to find my way from subway stations to various tourist sites. Poor signage and confusing maps at stations need an overhaul.

Another annoyance was the lack of vegetarian food. The Chinese phrases that I learned by heart－"wo bu chi rou" (I don't eat meat), "shenme rou dou bu chi" (I don't eat any kind of meat), "wo chi mifan he shu cai" (I'd like to have rice with some vegetables)－didn't rescue me always as they elicited "mei you" (No) from bemused food-sellers. I had to make do with french fries at KFC and McDonald's on occasions.

At a Dapu Road restaurant, my Chinese New Year's Day "banquet" was steamed rice with assorted barbequed vegetables from a pavement stall, topped off with barley yogurt from a Buddies convenience store.

Is it a custom for aging couples to break into arguments around New Year? I noticed so many squabbling 50-plus couples everywhere.

Another abiding memory would be that of Chinese visiting from the countryside. For them, a visit to Shanghai, it seemed, was a dream come true, a marvelous experience, particularly for kids. I noticed a boy, 6 or 7 years old probably, who seemed utterly fascinated by the blinking LEDs on the route map above the train-car door. Rural dads appeared overly protective and stern toward their children.

Whenever I found my selfie stick inadequate, I'd seek the help of passersby or fellow tourists. The language barrier was easily overcome with gestures.

I'd also volunteer to click pictures of families, couples and friends whenever I sensed instinctively they could do with some help. Initially, they would be shy or hesitant. Once they knew mine was a well-meant gesture, they would accept my offer. I must have clicked at least 20 such pictures for total strangers.

They would thank me profusely. Some would say they wanted to reciprocate. Two Chinese women, either in their late teens or early 20s, for whom I clicked a few pictures at the entrance arch of Yuyuan Gardens in Shanghai, were so overjoyed that an "uncle" should deign to help them, they kept on bowing and saying "Thank you, thank you so much", while smiling and laughing.

Putting a smile on some people's faces at a special time of the year really made me happy, too. Happier, that is. Time to change my status.