At the Airport..!!!

Airport, always a fascination for the first-timers, but a state-of-art galaxy of boredom for the others, especially when you are out of books. You curse the place for the void of having any book stores and then you curse yourself for being too lazy to buy one (or cocky for postponing the same). After bidding adieus, getting past the nervy immigration checks, a place where the smallest stare(glare/confused look) from the person across the table could leave you sweating even in the Himalayan temperatures, and a case of clarification in your passport could make each and every pulse beat the loudest noise around (a personal experience and hence the description also an exaggeration to certain extent, ahem..!!! :D), and the security checks, the Herculean task of waiting for the flight begins. You start to have second thoughts on the saying "Its better to wait than to be sorry", coz at some point you feel sorry for waiting, especially when you have to travel with Air India as they have a history of being late. Its just gets worse when its well past your dinner time and the fact that you eat less during your travel days, is just uncalled for. Just a scenario for inspiration, and that came from a small infant, or should I say an army of 5 infants.

As the seconds got slower than a snail, I did nothing more than turn my head in a 210 degree rotation for the last 20 mins. It did get on my muscles, in the form of a sprain. I had to stop. It was then that it started, from the infant sitting very close to my chair, a small-shrieking cry. The mom tried picking it up, but it only got louder and louder, and then it never stopped. Laughter is contagious, but with infants, "crying is contagious". I realized the number of babies around, only after those cries. It was as if an small number, sitting geometrically, at specified positions, so that every person in the section could hear them, resonating together. At first which sounded like a cry of despair from the kids, started to seem a thoroughly planned attack to create anxiety and to annoy each and everyone. And then we saw people gathering around the infants, ladies ofcourse, imparting their wisdom at putting them down, only in vain (At some point there was a teenage girl too, felt like she was taking notes, preparing herself..!!! :D :D). Somehow time started flying by, as this turned out to be a spectacle of curiosity for many and an entertainment piece for me, although the sound was driving me crazy. It then occurred to me their true motive was, to annoy, to suffice their boredom. Taking a piece out of that, I tried a hand at that and the result was quite satisfactory and thoroughly helped me pass 10-15 mins of my useless time. 

So there was this female at a cafeteria inside, giving out real rude responses to people at her place buying out stuff. So she became an obvious target, coz annoying a person who is already annoyed is easy, else you need to think of a new plan to annoy a fresh piece. Anyways, a shop inside the airport, called for turning you solid cash to liquid. I was prepared a bit, but when she said the rate, I backed-off.

Me: Excuse me, can I have a snicker?
Shoplady: That would be Rs.80.
Me (thoughts): (Are you kidding me, Rs.80, for Rs.22 chocolate bar. No ways am buying that. So I just stood there without telling anything)
Shoplady: Here you go.
Me: Now staring from the chocolate bar to the lady.
Shoplady: Yes!
Me: Oh sorry, I meant I wanted tea! (Laughter in my mind...!!!)
Shoplady (with a look of eating me alive and sounding thoroughly rude): That would be Rs.30 and why dont you hand me the cash first this time. (To her helper) Make a tea for him.
Me (Fishing in my purse for the money and waiting till the guy had started preparing tea): On second thought, its already pretty hot out here, please cancel my tea. Thanks. Bye!

Entry into Swiss - A yearned dream earned..!!

Switzerland, the name throws flashes of those snow-clapped mountains, where the hero and the heroine would be celebrating their mutually expressed feelings, the scene then changing to the beautiful landscapes and gardens, where one would wonder if such flowers ever grew on this planet, the wooden cottages that match so well with scenery, that one would feel if this is a natural phenomenon or did someone create this country. Evidently, it is one of the best places one would ever expect to be at and right from my childhood, after being exposed to our 'bollywood-style' movies, Swiss has been a yearning place, and for anyone I have come across, even for a visit. One tends to think the unfair scenario in films, where the actors are present in the hot-humid climate for once and the next scene, they are in this beautiful landscape which is a perfect compensation for time spent amidst the humidity. I remember the countless number of times I have closed my eyes and wished only in vain, opening then only to face the harsh reality, as if being there was not sufficient. Well for once, I had the last laugh, with the success of my plan to come to Ulm, which is a great place to study (the reality, not form the previous line!) and which is 2 hours from the Swiss border.

So on a particular weekend, which was just 2 days before an exam, Vamsi happens to ask me about a plan to visit Rhinefalls (Rheinfalls), one of the largest waterfalls in Europe, and I was like, what a timing, 2 days before my exam! I was thinking about that, when it struck me that, I was going to Swiss, whats wrong with me, what was there to think about! Immediately, with a conscious effort not to think about the exam, I make a call back to Vamsi asking him the itenary. Luckily, the trip turned out just as a perfect plan, with one day trip, giving me enough time for my exam preparation in the later part of the day.

We were a group of 8 people, 3 Indians, 4 Pakistanis and an African (talking about being multi-cutural!). One of the advantages in our State (Baden-Wuttemberg), is for the weekends, we have something called BW-ticket which is generally bought for a group of 5 people for 27 euros. That made our expense lesser. So we started our journey towards Rhinefalls and one I reached there, with all the thoughts of exam and the bits and pieces which I had prepared, creeping in my mind, I realized it was worth to give it a break. The beauty of the river flowing all-along the road, that we took to reach the falls was simply amazing and Vamsi and I stopped at almost every opportunity to sneak a snap. I was not surprised to see the count of pics on my mobile to 200, from 8 in the morning. I would love to give an entire description of the journey, but then it would take an eternity for the post to get over and the words never bring out the true picture.

On the way back to Ulm, we had a beautiful view of a lake, that we crossed, and decided to give it a shot. The Lake Konstanz, as if giving a perfect finale to our trip, turned out to be a stunner. It was unusually hot then and just sitting beside the lake was so soothing, that one would wish for the time to stop. The lake does attract attention during the summers and being a weekend, it was pretty crowded and just before leaving we thought of a small trip on the paddle boat. The water with the greenish tinge and the beautiful birds (damn, I dont know the breed!) just ascended its beauty. Only if I knew swimming, wouldn't have hesitated to jump in the water. When I returned home, I was thoroughly satisfied that day couldn't have gone better. Thinking so and smiling, I light up my table lamp and open the book to start my preparation. The album on the right pane shows all the pics.

Trip to Alps: Episode 2: The Snow War..!!

The evening on the first day, gave us a small idea on what have Hillary and Norgay
would have gone through, while climbing the Everest, though this cannot be compared to even 1% of that, but atleast we knew what they had achieved, was not a piece of cake. The storm was so enormous, that our visibility levels were zero, we couldn't see the our neighbours, when we were outdoors, and neighbours here I mean who are standing like next to you. I cant even imagine going out in that storm. Just to give you an idea, this was just the start of the storm. But in a way it was good, as none of the students ventured out and everyone was forced to stay together and we ended up having a great time.

So the next morning was pretty good, except for the breakfast. The worst part of this trip has to be the food. Not sounding very negative, it was pathetic, especially, after going on a spree of cornflakes, milk and honey, imagine on the trip you eat bread, cheese, salami, etc, I don't even want to think about it! But still had to suffice my hunger. Fruits were a good substitute, but again not as good as it sounds. So we start our hiking trip now, but even before the trip we started the 'The Snow War!'. Its sounds something very childish, but a person of any age, cannot stop the temptation of making rolls of that snow and throwing at others. Bhuvan, tried to act brave by wearing just the kurta and no overcoat, and was submerged in a pile of snow as soon as he came out. It was a lesson, that dont take such chances when you are in a place surrounded by snow, you make enemies within seconds :D! Vamsi and myself were already involved in war, but the heaviest contribution and fierce rivalry came from the Egyptians, as they were making rolls of the size of bowling balls and throwing almost at everyone. Finally not withstanding it, a group was formed between the students from India and Pakistan (wow, now you didnt expect that, did you!) against the Egyptians. Here started the real fun, during the trip, around every corners, the Egyptians would gather themselves, and start rolling up snow, and we would send a bait, which had to be Bhuvan most of the time, and start throwing of snows. Bhuvan would always find himself submerged in the snow. During all these, the students from China, acting very diplomatic, would be the spectators.

I suppose, this was the best part of the trip, it was great fun, especially coz our team would huddle up like those american rugby teams, forming strategies to bring them down. Finally the war ended, with both the sides doing equal damage to the players ;) and by the time we reached the our dorm, we were tired enough, that only beds miraged before our eyes. Again in the evening, the weather got worse and we regrouped together to have some good time in the common room. Winding up, here's a pic of the people who fought the snow war.

Trip to Alps: Episode 1 - The Start...!!!

So finally, after a month of knowing about Ulm, getting my German fiasco corrected (sigh! I actually dont have a count of them!), the cooking experiments (in this case I was the test piece! not a big surprise, no one would have given an attempt even if I agreed to pay them!) and lots and lots of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, we finally had the technical group gathering, where we were told the schedule for the next 3 months and though it didnt sound hectic, it was. However, the best part about the beginning was, we were to goto a place in Alps (its some complicated name, I cant recollect now!) and we had this induction program there, on the top. Now thats what I call an induction program! So we were supposed to gather at the Ulm Hauptbahnhof (Ulm main station), a train journey of 2 hours and then a hiking trip of half an hour. So the preparation for that, ahem, was quite overwhelming. I ended up wearing 4 layers of clothes and then a jerkin, just to be cautious, as it was the month of april and still snowing.
So the assembling time was morning 8am, which meant that I had to wake up early (damn!), which I managed to. Just had the usual amazingly healthy and boring breakfast of cornflakes and juice (man, am becoming a foreigner!) and started off the Bahnhoff (station). By the way, if I am using more German words in the subsequent posts, it must be considered the extent of my knowledge in German and not that am blowing my own trumpet :D! Talking about breakfast, sometimes, I wonder if I am really eating anything in the mornings. There was a time when I used to have chapathis, dosas, upmas, etc and never ate rice, nor drank milk and its just the opposite now, eating cornflakes in the mornings with milk, the afternoon food includes rice. Makes me wonder am I really in dreamland and is this reality. Anyways, but cornflakes does give lot of energy, even though its thoroughly boring. So I pack up some fruits and take water, and leave the dorm with Bhuvan. Surprisingly, we were well ahead of time, a change from being the usual late person, which made me really uncomfortable. Guess being on time never suits for a person of my caliber :D. And so we started our 2 hour journey in the train, which was not so entertaining, as it was crowded and I ended up sitting in corner listening to music on my ipod, which most of the others followed.

As we came near to the station, the beautiful scenery reflected on everyone's retinas, and people were swaying between the two sides of the train, wondering which side to look. The amazingly beautiful snow, covering the tip of the mountain, with greenish tinge of trees appearing in some places, is simply unexplainable. The digicams kept on clicking, even though the clicking speed was slow, making the pictures the worst representation of those scenes. And I was still trying to use my 2.0 Megapixel mobile cam in Sony Ericsson K750i, to bring out the best images possible, only in vain. The person beside me, William, using his 10 MP digicam, would just look at me, and I could comprehend each and every word:

William: "Dude, I am using a 10 MP camera and am not getting a descent pic with the train moving so fast, and you expect to catch a pic with that 2MP mobile cam of yours. Gimme a break!"

I was obviously intimidated by his digicam, nevertheless my pride didnt give up and returned a look telling, "Duh! you dont know unless you try!" Anyways, I was on the loosing side, for obvious reasons, else the Cannon company would have shut down. So we finally reached the station, and then we were able to take some good snaps, ofcourse in William's cam, I had to give up.

We took a bus from there and moved on further, and again those snow covered mountains, with traces of greenery in between, just got framed in my mind. Even though I repeat it a million times, the words dont express the real beauty. We reached to a certain part of the hill, and the path ahead was a small hiking trip of 10 mins. Well it was not really a hiking, just walking on the road, but the it was such a slant, that once if you would start rolling, you could easily return

all the way back to the station from where you took the bus. It had to be atleast a 60 degree slant on which the road was laid and walking up the

slant makes you feel even bad. To make it worse, I happened to realise my 4 layers of clothing, due to which I had started to sweat, and the baggage that I had packed. Well, I am sure, that i would have reduced most of my excess fat in that

particular strip of road. When we finally reached the top, which seemed to take an eternity, it was like heaven and it was just for a moment, as we had a storm approaching and had to get into our rooms immediately.

The evening was really good, except for the dinner, which I dont even remember what I ate, which explains how worse it would have been. But after the dinner, the real fun started, we had one of classmates playing some amazing tunes on the guitar and a few of them indulging in an entertaining game of cards, which included us. Perhaps the only moment so far, where the entire batch was together. We had to hit the bed by midnight, as on the next day, 2 long hiking trips, amidst the mountains, awaited us.

The First Few Minutes after we reach Ulm...!!!

So, thats what it was to begin our journey. Sigh!!!. We just hoped, we did not have to go through the same coldness for the next two years, if you know what I mean. And I must say, we were in a place, where this has to be far from reference. Ofcourse, I did not mean that all the rooms here have heaters (uh..!! ok bad one..!!). There we were in the station waiting for the person, to accompany us. We met the station master, and here, I thought of bringing out my heroics, as the other two friends of mine, didn't goto any German class. So this is how I went about:


Me: Entschuldigung...!! (Whats next..!! what next..!!) Kannst du, nein, konnen sie... (uh..!!! sigh..!!) Englisch sprechen?
Station Master: @#%@##@$ (in German)
Me: bitte..!! (so it was true, not many of them know english)
Station Master: directs his hand, and shows us the direction...
Me: Danke... (darn..!! any tom, dick and harry, without finishing a single level of German would have done that..!! and I am supposed to have finished 2 levels..!!screw me..!!!)


Well, I finally ended up making a big fiasco, as I had realized that it was more than a month since my German classes were over and I had forgotten whatever I had learnt as I had lost touch, not that I would done any better if I had, just a mere satisfaction that those classes were useful, however, which was not to happen (not sounding pessimistic, as later those classes came in more than handy). So after this fiasco, I ended up talking with him in half english and half german. And then we were able to see the person waiting for us, relief crossed our face.We were given a file for each of us, and the first thing I noticed, that the address was just 2 lines (saves me energy, to write those big addresses, as back in India!!!). It was decided that among the three, Vamsi, Bhuvan and me, Vamsi would be going in a different dorm, and Bhuvan and myself to the same dorm.

As we started our way outside the station, we had to buy the bus tickets, and thats where I spent my first exchanged euros, and believe, it aches a lot to spend some money when you know that its actually being converted some 60 times of the money at your country. Well I realized, that I had to get used to it. The best thing about that evening was, I saw the first snowfall ever. It was not heavy, but drizzles in the form of snow. Summarizing, cold wave entry, german fiasco, euro expense within minutes of getting to Ulm and then snow. Not a bad start at all, Harish.

We get to our respective rooms, and believe me people, tracing where you are in Ulm, is never going to be difficult, which anyone coming from a crowded country, would easily realize. I figured out that it must be the same through out Germany. To make it even simpler, we were provided maps by the university and so well detailed, that no one can ever get lost. The person, who brought us, also invited us for the dinner and the returning part was a challenge, as we were on our own. We still had some arguments, and luckily we got on the right bus back home. Special note, our dorm was near Ulm's biggest brewery (not sounding very appealing, but just as a landmark). And so we move on...

First Step outa Country..!!!

A normal software professionals' day, it sucks, was coming to an end, just when I happened to open my mailbox and the usual filled up inbox, but my eyes kept searching it, as it did for the last 2 months, the news that would lift me off this boring, monotonous, software job (am not against software, but it was the kinda job I did). Well those drained twins, keep searching, even after viewing the high radiation monitor for around 10 hours, they kept searching for the news, until their persistence paid off. The mail had come, from the University of Ulm, for a 2-year Masters course in Communication Technology. The day of excitement and enthusiasm, started, as for the first time, I was going to step outa country.

Well the preparations had started much before the mail came, not sounding over-confident, but still the German class, learning a new language is always fun. The next 3 months were full of discussions, with seniors, friends, batch-mates (luckily found two of them) and was good to know, that someone will be there to accompany throughout the the next 2 years. So some spice was added to my software life, every evening would be full of excitement, with all the preparations for visa, traveling, studies ofcourse, etc. I still remember, this friend of mine, who conducted a 100% fool proof visa interview, from Germany, before my original interview, giving me different tips to answer. The biggest challenge was laid forth by the airlines, giving a baggage limit of only 30Kgs. But then, thanks to a comprehensive check list of items, I was able to save some expenditures, except for the unavoidable ones and luckily my baggage was just enough.

And then the D-day had come. It was good and I was really overwhelmed, to see most of my friends turning up to see me off (thanks guys..!!!). So it was first trip to the airport, the inside precisely, and I still reckon my walk being dead slow, and my head turning almost 360°, hope my eyes could go back too, not amazed at airport, but just to be careful checking if anyone is calling me. The baggage check was done, after a last wave of bye to my parents, there I was with flight ticket, moving towards the plane. The only traveling mean, I hadn't used yet (well Helicopter and Rocket do not count, i hope). It was the Qatar Airlines, and was ahem, a bit crampy till Qatar. But then from Qatar to Germany, it was quite comfortable, nevertheless, I spent most of my traveling time sleeping.

And then we landed at Frankfurt, I was still trying to believe that I was 100s of miles away from my country infact in a different continent. Well realization soaked in once I was in one of world's busiest airports, the design, the complexity, just eluded any other airport I have been to (ok I have been to Mumbai airport). The first step in Frankfurt was not that bad, as we did feel a bit cold, but what awaited us later was a complete shock, as we were struck by the cold wave, which is supposed to be usual, when we stopped at Ulm. None among the 3 of us were ready for that, we were just with our jerkins, and we were literally frozen, when we got down at the Ulm station. Probably that symbolized the way the next 2 years was going to be. Instinctively we reached for our Big baggage, only to find it sealed, luckily I had my winter clothing in hand luggage and put it on (thanks to my friend's advice). So there we were in the Ulm station, still recovering from what struck us, and waiting for the person to receive us. The three of us realized that the journey had just begun!