M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S !

Christmas!! That reminds me of my childhood christmas. When we used to sleep in night watching the Christmas program on DD1. Then at midnight we would light a candle in front of Jesus Christ and mom would put us to sleep. But we knew she was not going to sleep until Dad came back from the midnight mass.

And then he would decorate the whole drawing room with colorful crepe strips hanging from the middle of the room to all corners. and shiny balls, tit bits hanging from them. And balloons. How can I forget.. Balloons everywhere.

And when we awoke in morning, it was always with lots of expectations... because it was celebration time.. In the morning, Dad would take us along to buy cake and snacks.. for the guest coming throughout the day. Mom would typically cook chole-puri on the day.

Throughout the day, we would wait for our guests to start coming, and then slowly from late afternoon relatives would start coming. It was amazing that our Christmas party was mostly with the Hindu relatives who would join in enthusiastically as their own festival. And we continue the tradition even after Dad is no more now. Probably thats one thing that still keeps us connected to him. Its one thing that keeps me rooted in my multi-religious origins.

I felt really bad that I was not home this year for Diwali as well as Christmas. But still I celebrated both the festivals in a special way this year. Diwali I celebrated with collegues and for Christmas I was on Leaning tower of Pisa, and two days later in the Vatican. What better way? It was a Christmas I'll always remember throughout life..

Its cold here!

The cold here is getting even rougher.. It has snowed over the weekend and we were lucky today to see some sun. The temperature in day in usually less than 10°C and minimum goes to how low in Negative we dont know.

Saturday it was snowing all day in Vienna when I was there. We were covered all top to bottom in wollens. Its amazing to see how life has survived and thrived and civilizations have grown in such inhuman conditions. But it was an experience walking on streets in night in -3°C. And its not just us, a lot of people were going about their business as normal. Its only november now. Its said that it will go low upto at least -10°C here. Lets see. Its all a new experience for me. Its good. And I thought I'd seen it all with 0°C in Delhi.

Through the train we could see snow all around. Everything seems to be covered in a white sheet. Total WHITE. But after some time it gets boring. I think if I have to live with that kind of snow for 4 months a year I'll be really bored. I dont know, its kind of a gloomy feeling to see everything so silent around. And when its snowing, thw snow kind of dampens all sound. Hopefuly Christmas will cheer up the atmosphere and it will be all merry again!!

Growing up!

Today as I conversed with Shivi, I let out my feelings, which was long due. (Seems like Shivi was on a blog inspiring spree today :D)

Every person in life grows up gradually. Mine seems to have happened similarly in phases.

1st phase: School days. When I learnt the books (and learnt to keep to the books). It formed the basic moralities in my life - not differentiating among people on the basis of their cast or religion. Learning to ask a 'why' for every thing. Here I must make a mention to Prasanna Madam my science teacher in std. 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th. who taught me the importance of asking 'why'. She always told us - "science is not about theorems and formulae. Its about asking 'why'." I've never forgotten it since then. Thankyou madam !

2nd phase: Engineering. Like every one of us, I got used to the concept of mass bunks, copying assignments, going to friend's houses. If school days were the nurturing period for my brain I would say Engineering was my first social contact.

3rd phase: MDI. When I learnt that success is not all about intellect. Its not even all about marks/ rank. Where RG is always looming on your head, and then u learn not to give a damn to it. It was also the first time away from home. So learnt a lot in that sense as well - Being independent, taking care of myself, learning the difference between helping and being used.

Here as well I must mention that the first year and the second year were different for me.
In the first year I faced the homesickness for the first time - mostly kept to myself and my comp. because most of the time I was chatting with Gaurav or talking on phone to him. Gaurav really deserves a special applause for being with me and bearing my cribs during that time.

Second year was when I actually started enjoying my time at MDI. I made friends for lifetime and enjoyed the night long work for Illumina, for Delphique, my daily Prayas visits for a packet of kurkure (fat that I havent lost yet ), evening jogs with Rohit, chai/ maggi at Arcus. (ohh I'm getting Nostalgic...) Well keeping to the topic, I basically learnt how to enjoy my life.

But somewhere I missed to see the placements coming in future. Didn't prepare anything for it and didnt really think carefully about what I wanted to do in life.

I still remember the placement days when only 6 of us were left for placement for next day. And it was me including two of my best friends. That night taught me a lot about life. It showed me a LOW that was long due for me to see... (which also haunted me for quite some time afterwards)

4th phase: Working in Gurgaon. I was totally confused in the first few months. I didnt understand it. Marketing was what I always wanted right, then why wasnt I enjoying it. Why wasnt I kicked about it. Instead everyday I was asking myself thousands of questions. I didnt even know if I was happy or not. I didnt even know if asking these questions was right or not.
This period of one year was a time of introspection for me. I really THOUGHT about life, about what mattered to me, about what I liked to do and what I did not, about what was really important to me.

I realized that work didn't matter much to me. It was about the whole 24 hours I lived. It was a lot about the place and all about my surroundings. It was about getting to spend time with loved ones. I was missing them, and I wasn't liking Gurgaon one bit... The time I spent in Pune with Dada, Bhabhi and my friends (in Pune and Mumbai) was the best 5 months I've had in life and I hope its not over and I get to spend more time with them in future.

Well these have been the phases till now, and I guess next phase is in progress with me coming abroad for the first time. It has given a new perspective to life which I have shared before and will keep sharing as and when it happens.

Guess all of us have gone through these phases, and each has learnt from it differently, that is what makes each of us a unique individual... that is what makes each of us special...

My Orkut future!

"You will be recognized and honored as a community leader"

This was my Today's fortune on Orkut. Now how on earth does Orkut guess that?

This brings me to the interesting topic of future predictions. From the Oracles of Greece to the latest Online Numerologists, it has been long discussed, argued, defied, defended. But believe me its one of the most sustainable business around. Especially in this world where economic crisis, wars, political bandhs, riots, all seem to be just hiding round the corner to jump on you just when you think the dust is settling down.

As a kid my parents brought me up to believe in myself, not to believe in any horoscope.. etc. but still my mind unconsiously wanders towards the 'Your day today' section in the newspaper. When my self- respect points a no-no finger, the maverick persuades - "just for the entertainment, wont take long". Every morning I read my prediction, think not more than 10 seconds about it, and then rubbish it as useless waste of that 10cm column in newspaper (must be worth at least a few hundreds for any ad) .

It seems like these predictors have a fixed set of words. Every day they take all these words, put them in a big box and juggle them, (pretty much the way an efficient barman juggles the cocktail) and then pour out 10 words. Now these words they just place with a few conjunctions and a few prepositions and lo behold! your today's future is ready!!

Wow... if only life would have been a cocktail of such juices !

If not for you or me... I'm sure it is at least for person who writes that column everyday...

Lets see.. maybe tomorrow they'll give a better prediction for me ;)

Reminder of something...

Today, I went to Basel station after work to get a half-fare card. This is a one year card for 150 swiss franks with which I will get 50% discount on any kind of travel (train, tram, bus, cable car) for the whole year round. Quite a money saver I would say.

Also while I was going to station in tram, I saw a small girl of about 8 yrs with a big basket running to catch the tram and getting in hurriedly as soon as the doors opened. She got in, moved ahead and dissapeared in the crowd. But the way she got in the tram in hurry reminded me of something. And I remembered back home in India, how small kids who sell water bottles, small snacks n tea n samosas rush into the train when it stops on the station. The reason for their hurry and their fast movement across the train is so different from the girl's I saw today...

Involuntarily my eyes were wet when the tram started moving again..

Purple Velo and Pink Roses

4th Nov, 2008

Today was the day when I finally got the bicycle I'd been expectantly waiting for since a long time. Sharda, the girl with whom I stayed earlier is leaving forever to India and has generously given her cycle to me. And today afternoon I skipped lunch to go to her place and take the bicycle.

The bicycle is very light weight, 6 gears, with a dynamo for light after it gets dark (which is a traffic rule here). And the whole cycle is purple colored, even its lock is purple and so is the key. So all in all, its a cool smart girly cycle just like I dreamt. The only problem while taking the bicycle was that the tyres were low on air and I needed to fill air before I could ride it.. And here started my eventful 2 hours... which I will maybe never forget in life...

Now there are no "puncture walas" at every nook and corner here like in India, but I was informed that there are air pumps at every petrol bunk and one was located very near to where I started from.

Call it my luck or changing city, I could not find the petrol bunk anywhere nearby and after sometime thought of asking help from a bunch of kids playing there The three kids got into a frenzy discussion, about the right place to go. I guess wherever in world you go, kids are always like that, very enthusiastic to help people while also trying to show of their knowledge.

After the usual grouping, arguments and domination , they took me to a nearby petrol bunk,where Yes.. there was an air pump.. BUT... as we found out it was not for VELO (Velo means cycle here.. hence the Purple Velo). And trying to put air in the front tyre, we ended up deflating it completely. So that now I had to lift it and walk around. Saying many thanks to the kids, I decided it was best to ask somebody else for help.

Standing at the crossing I was waiting for some person on cycle to comeby who would surely know of air pump nearby. And so after 5 minutes I saw a Swiss Gentleman walking on the road with his Velo. He was around 55-60 yrs of age but very energetic and fit. He knew english and so I could express him my problem.

Very kindly he offered me to show the nearest VeloStand (where a pump was also expected) and in fact accompanied me there. On the way he told me that he was on his way to buy a birthday cake for a dear friend. He also told me that generally Swiss are cold and would not help anyone. But I was a nice lady and he wanted to be a good Swiss Gentleman and also was not in much hurry so he would help me. Now though I was listening most intently, I was suspicious - where is he taking me? why is he being so nice? ... I guess over the time we hear/ read/ see so much bad news everyday that a genuine human goodness is hard to believe.

So... whatever... we finally reached a velostand, which was in the middle of the market, but now, we could not see any airpump around. This was totally NOT MY DAY! The gentleman offered to find a pump for me from another place, but I then it struck me that I could also buy a manual one from the supermarket nearby. Here as well, the Swissman, offered to come with me to the supermarket, and did in fact find a cheap good pump for me. He also offered to help me fill air in the tyres after ordering the birthday cake. Just to remind you, he was spending this time on his way to a birthday celebration.

Now I was taken over by a sense of "representing my country" and wanted to show that Indians show gratitude graciously. I've had this 'representing India' feeling ever since I've come here, but never till today had it been so strong. I immediatly thought of buying some flowers for him. So while he was ordering the cake I went to the adjoining flower section and bought two Pink Roses (i could only afford that much). And once he was done, we went to the stand, tried to fill air in the bicycle. It seemed that he could not, because the tyre port in my bike was fine while the pump did not seem to support it. He said I could go to the same shop and buy a small metal adapter and it will be done. I thanked him for being so nice to me and gave him the flowers as a gesture of gratitude.

The expression on his face at that moment, I can never forget it. He was like taken aback like I was giving something big in return for small help.

In that moment I think I saw two people, not trying to 'represent their own country' being good to each other but just two humans happily surprised at the survival of human bonding, just plain goodness beyond color, age, nationality everything... It was a moment in my life I will never forget.

Finally after going one more round to the shop, I found out that the same pump would work for my tyres just that I had to lock it properly. And then while I was struggling to fill air in my tyres again, a lady from nearby shop came and told me of a place I knew where I could find a air pump. Finally I found the machine pump, filled air in the tyres of my bike and happily rode towards my office.

I had not eaten anything, but there was no fatigue, no hunger I was content with happiness and reaffirmed faith in mankind.

So it is.. now when I will ride my purple velo or see pink roses ever in my life, it will remind me of the kind hearted Swiss Gentleman and the fact that there are still people in this world who believe in pure, simple Humanity...

2 weeks in Swissland... and its been an experience.

Dearest people ,


Getting masala dosa on first day in Swiss is a priviledge thats not for most of the onsites. But yes i got it, and have been getting good veggie food for all dinners. Touch wood!



Many things that we take for granted back home, seem so precious here. Some of then which i realized recently are,

1. Hot cup of CHAI (everything without milk.. and hibiscus tea!... gosh.. but thanks to my Indian roommate here.. i didnt have to suffer long)

2. The meaning of word 'VEGETARIAN' ( fish is veg here.. )

3. SHOPPING after work hours (the shops here close at 6 pm. Sharp. and sunday closed.. so all u've got is a saturday, when half of the day is gone because u didnt get up early..)

4. The household BAI ( all work to do urself. i've suddenly developed a great respect for all the Bai's of India)



Wont make the list long.. they say i'll loose your attention if i kept going beyond that.



But I must mention somethings in Swiss that are interesting to note:



1. No inside DOOR in the lifts (yes... the first time i saw.. i was quite frightened)

2. You can cross only on zebra crossing (which is yellow here) and any car will stop and wait for u to cross. But you can be fined for trying to cross a road somewhere else.. or worse still, can be run over by a speeding car.

3. The TRAMS. They'll get u anywhere within a matter of 15 mins.. So all u Pune people who take 1.5 hrs to reach office..i can only say... get Jealous!

4. WATER HEATERS EVERYWHERE. No.. they are not the geysers we have in bathroom. They are water pipes running in every room, every stairway, every office, shop house, and also in bathrooms. The purpose is to provide central heating. Since a fireplace is not possible in every small room, place. This is the safest technology to heat every closed space.

So these are my very first observations on coming to Swissland.

Well more will follow for sure.. about my visit to Rigotsville and places in Basel.

How are you doing? Hope everthings fine in India. Do write to me about the haalchaal there..

Take care,

Bye

JQ