In first year of our Engineering, sections were not divided based on the streams since in first year everyone had to study the same syllabus. So in my class, there were students from all streams.
This happenned when I was in my 1st sem Engineering. Our physics lecturer was taking attendance. Instead of calling our names, he was calling our roll numbers which was easier for him. After calling all the numbers, he used to ask again if anyone didn't answer their attendance. That day also he did the same and a guy got up. I dont remember his full name cos he didnt continue in my stream after 1st year. He got up and said, Sir number 36 is absent. Then our lecturer looked in his register and announced the name..oo "Divya"(name changed) is absent.. hmm..The whole class was laughing but Guru sat down as if nothing had happenned..
Those were the beginning days of our Engineering and we sometimes used to forget our own roll numbers or be absentminded when our number was called...but this guy had remembered her roll number and I think he was missing her that day :P..
Believe me, now I dont remember what my roll number in class was when I was in 1st year Engineering, but I cant forget this roll number 36..I was just out of my PU and was very 'innocent'. This was the first sample of my college life I got.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
AA Dinagalu..(Reliving those days)
First of all, Thanks to Orkut for uniting some of the 5th class friends together again after almost 18-19 years. For me it was only till 5th standard I studied in Chethana English Medium School,Madhugiri. I had to move back to my native after that.Others were all localites and they continued in the same school.After that I lost touch with that school friends.
In my 2nd PU, I met one of my Chethana School friend Smitha Raj during our Mathematics tutions. That was it.And after that when I moved back to Bangalore, I found Smitha in one of the Orkut's communities and added her into my friend's list. I also recognised few of my Chethana friends in her friends list. But did not add them thinking that they may not be remembering me since I left that School very early. However, Rashmi got to know about me from Smitha and she had called me. It was really a very pleasant surprise for me that day. And later Mohan and Bhanu got added to my list.
So we planned for a short meet in Bangalore last year. It was only 4 of us then. Me, Smitha, Rashmi and Mohan.Bhanu was in Germany doing his M.S(Even now he is in Germany but doing his Doctorate). So only 4 of us met in Jayanagar 4th Block and chatted for sometime. Smitha was in a hurry cos she had to pack to move to the US with her hubby. Me and Rashmi went to her home with her and saw her wedding photoes.
After this Rajiv also called me after getting my number from Rashmi. He said we will again plan for a get together. However, we had to wait for a long time for it to happen. By then, Rajiv got married when I was still in Germany. It was because of this chethana school friend Bhanu, I could have a great time in Germany. Thanks to Orkut :).After I came back, again we were planning for a get together. And luckily this time Bhanu was also visiting India in June. So we all fixed up to meet on June 21st,2008 in Hallimane. Rajiv came along with his wife Navya, Chethana(yes, our one more friend) also came from Madhugiri for the meet, Abdul also joined us, Mohan, me and Rashmi. So all 8 of us had lunch in Hallimane and went to Rashmi's home to spend some time together.Chethana and Mohan could not come to Rashmi's place as they had some other work.I was really surprised that Rashmi's mom and brother remembered each one of us so clearly. Initially it took sometime for us to pick up the conversation. Everyone was thinking so much before talking.Then Rashmi brought out some of our school photoes( I didnt have any). When we were looking ourselves in the photoes, everyone started to pickup their old memories..after this we chatted and chatted for a long time reliving all our old scool days..
How these boys used to call me man-eater(I was the moniter of the class :P), how I used to walk in the class with a stick in my hand (Rajiv told me I used to beat them with the sticks :D),How Rashmi was seen always talking in the class (even now she does that :P).. Rajiv and Bhanu's endless pranks, how Abdul pronounced "Kamala" as "Kemala" then..Chethana's long hair..our school day dances..our school day makeup man who used to paint our faces after which everyone looked alike :P..how those cute little (THEN :D) Bhanu and Rajiv danced..our rank holder, Moniter badges..our drawing competitions..our teachers, especially our PT Sir,how he used to make us stand in one position(with our hands up..or stretched..etc.) for a long time on saturdays during our mass PE...his beatings if we got out of the positions..and then about our other friends whom we remembered after seeing the photoes..We really had superb fun seeing the pics.We all looked soooo cute in those pics from LKG and 2nd standard.Probably you will also find us cute..so putting those school photoes here.. Please click on them to view them in larger size.
Hey, My friends who know me, try to identify me in the pics. However, I will point out those whom I have met. And my Madhugiri friends, please try to identify our other friends.. :)..
Bhanu: Not in this LKG Pic..when asked, he said "LKG yaavonu oodhirodu?" (Who studied LKG..meaning He didnt study LKG :P).
Rajiv :From the top, 2nd row, extreme left.
Mohan : From the top, 2nd row, 5th boy from the right.
Abdul:Top row,5th boy from the right.
Chethana : She too did not study LKG..Direct UKG admission
Rashmi : Just behind our head master.
myself : top row, 2nd from the right.
In my 2nd PU, I met one of my Chethana School friend Smitha Raj during our Mathematics tutions. That was it.And after that when I moved back to Bangalore, I found Smitha in one of the Orkut's communities and added her into my friend's list. I also recognised few of my Chethana friends in her friends list. But did not add them thinking that they may not be remembering me since I left that School very early. However, Rashmi got to know about me from Smitha and she had called me. It was really a very pleasant surprise for me that day. And later Mohan and Bhanu got added to my list.
So we planned for a short meet in Bangalore last year. It was only 4 of us then. Me, Smitha, Rashmi and Mohan.Bhanu was in Germany doing his M.S(Even now he is in Germany but doing his Doctorate). So only 4 of us met in Jayanagar 4th Block and chatted for sometime. Smitha was in a hurry cos she had to pack to move to the US with her hubby. Me and Rashmi went to her home with her and saw her wedding photoes.
After this Rajiv also called me after getting my number from Rashmi. He said we will again plan for a get together. However, we had to wait for a long time for it to happen. By then, Rajiv got married when I was still in Germany. It was because of this chethana school friend Bhanu, I could have a great time in Germany. Thanks to Orkut :).After I came back, again we were planning for a get together. And luckily this time Bhanu was also visiting India in June. So we all fixed up to meet on June 21st,2008 in Hallimane. Rajiv came along with his wife Navya, Chethana(yes, our one more friend) also came from Madhugiri for the meet, Abdul also joined us, Mohan, me and Rashmi. So all 8 of us had lunch in Hallimane and went to Rashmi's home to spend some time together.Chethana and Mohan could not come to Rashmi's place as they had some other work.I was really surprised that Rashmi's mom and brother remembered each one of us so clearly. Initially it took sometime for us to pick up the conversation. Everyone was thinking so much before talking.Then Rashmi brought out some of our school photoes( I didnt have any). When we were looking ourselves in the photoes, everyone started to pickup their old memories..after this we chatted and chatted for a long time reliving all our old scool days..
How these boys used to call me man-eater(I was the moniter of the class :P), how I used to walk in the class with a stick in my hand (Rajiv told me I used to beat them with the sticks :D),How Rashmi was seen always talking in the class (even now she does that :P).. Rajiv and Bhanu's endless pranks, how Abdul pronounced "Kamala" as "Kemala" then..Chethana's long hair..our school day dances..our school day makeup man who used to paint our faces after which everyone looked alike :P..how those cute little (THEN :D) Bhanu and Rajiv danced..our rank holder, Moniter badges..our drawing competitions..our teachers, especially our PT Sir,how he used to make us stand in one position(with our hands up..or stretched..etc.) for a long time on saturdays during our mass PE...his beatings if we got out of the positions..and then about our other friends whom we remembered after seeing the photoes..We really had superb fun seeing the pics.We all looked soooo cute in those pics from LKG and 2nd standard.Probably you will also find us cute..so putting those school photoes here.. Please click on them to view them in larger size.
Hey, My friends who know me, try to identify me in the pics. However, I will point out those whom I have met. And my Madhugiri friends, please try to identify our other friends.. :)..
Bhanu: Not in this LKG Pic..when asked, he said "LKG yaavonu oodhirodu?" (Who studied LKG..meaning He didnt study LKG :P).Rajiv :From the top, 2nd row, extreme left.
Mohan : From the top, 2nd row, 5th boy from the right.
Abdul:Top row,5th boy from the right.
Chethana : She too did not study LKG..Direct UKG admission
Rashmi : Just behind our head master.
myself : top row, 2nd from the right.
Bhanu: Top row, 4th boy from right..standing like swami vivekananda..
Rajiv :Top Row, extreme right.
Mohan : From the top, 2nd row, Beside the girl.
Abdul: Standing beside Mohan
Chethana : Standing beside our Manjula miss's right.
Rashmi : The only girl standing in the 2nd row.
myself : In the girl's row, 2nd from the left
I am not present in this 7th std pic. One more friend Smitha Raj sitting on the bench, 3rd girl from right. you can identify the others :P
Updated the post after getting some comments about this post from my school friends when we were exchanging mails in group.
Mohan's comment was the ultimate..so putting only his comment here..simply copy-pasting it from his mail: Putting the english translation in brackets for his comments in kannada.
Leela : Blog thumba chennagidhe(Blog is very good)......Thanks for identifying me twice both in LKG and 2nd std photos ( as in ur blog).......but hege antha gothaglilla(but donno how)........FYI Leela, i joined chethana school from 3rd standard.
And now about how Bhanu ate his Roti and Sabji in Hallimane in German ishtyle :P..Eating Roti like pizza which was rolled up in his left hand..and eating sabji with the spoon. And I would want to share one thing about this thing: I remember this same Bhanu and his friend's were making fun when we saw some localites having roti sabji in this ishtyle in an Indian Restaraunt in Berlin. When I told Bhanu about it, he said..he was comfortable in eating this way!!! What would you say for this now???
PS: My chethana school friends..please help me in finding out who that boy is whom I have identified as Mohan.. :D..
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The word "Flirt"
I still have to complete 2 more parts about 'My Voyage to Deutschland". But that takes some time cos its going to be a little lengthy.
However, I could not suppress my urge to write this small post on this word "FLIRT", how I got introduced to this word for the first time, what did I first understand etc..
Yea, I studied in English Medium(long back :P), but there was not one book in our syllabus which had this word(or was I not aware?). So in school, it was out of question to know about this word. And I lived in an environment which was like my own world..school,play,music classes,friends..that was all my world. Had never heard of this word till my 8th standard.
Now, I had to move to Mysore for my 9th Standard to study in a very prestigious School. This school was so disciplined that we had not spoken to any boy in our class all through our high school. All my one year of 9th went just in getting adjusted to stay away from home, competing with the so called brilliant students there..etc..
I had got some very good friends in Mysore who were very good looking also :P..They used to use this "Flirt" word like "look he is trying to Flirt with me"(Node avnu nan jothe flirt maadakke nodtha idane). Even then I had ignored that word thinking that Flirting means eveteasing which was very common :D.I didn't even try to know what atleast my friends meant when they were using that word :P.I did want to think much about it. That was the level of my innocence (or ignorance?) then.
After my Highschool I had to move to Tumkur for my Pre-University. In PU also, I dont remember having used this word anywhere. It was just too innocent even then :P.
And now for my Engineering, I again joined a prestigious college in Tumkur itself. I had this unknown fear(even my parents :P) about Engineering colleges cos I had read in news papers about ragging. So, I didnt join the college Hostel instead joined a private hostel which was a little far from the college(to Tumkur standards). Now our college had students from all over the country. Sometimes had to interact with some of them, I used to visit my friends in the college hostel too..got to know people from many other places.. Now again..these girls used this word a lotttt!!! By this time, I had become less innocent :D.. Now I wanted to know what exactly this word meant(I was in first sem). So went to my Hostel which had people like me :P..opened the dictionary and started to search for the meaning of the word "FLURT"(I thought this was the spelling for this word :P) along with my room mates. I did not find any word like this.. I thought it might be a slang which people use and gave up searching.
But one day, I gave a chance to myself to try permutation/combination of the possible letters in the word. Haaaaa..here I got it.."FLIRT".I showed it to my room mates as well :D. And now I have forgotten the exact meaning which I had got from the dictionary :P, but I know what exactly it means :D..
And I have been using that word too frequently ... Heeehehehe :D..So..I am no more innocent :D..
However, I could not suppress my urge to write this small post on this word "FLIRT", how I got introduced to this word for the first time, what did I first understand etc..
Yea, I studied in English Medium(long back :P), but there was not one book in our syllabus which had this word(or was I not aware?). So in school, it was out of question to know about this word. And I lived in an environment which was like my own world..school,play,music classes,friends..that was all my world. Had never heard of this word till my 8th standard.
Now, I had to move to Mysore for my 9th Standard to study in a very prestigious School. This school was so disciplined that we had not spoken to any boy in our class all through our high school. All my one year of 9th went just in getting adjusted to stay away from home, competing with the so called brilliant students there..etc..
I had got some very good friends in Mysore who were very good looking also :P..They used to use this "Flirt" word like "look he is trying to Flirt with me"(Node avnu nan jothe flirt maadakke nodtha idane). Even then I had ignored that word thinking that Flirting means eveteasing which was very common :D.I didn't even try to know what atleast my friends meant when they were using that word :P.I did want to think much about it. That was the level of my innocence (or ignorance?) then.
After my Highschool I had to move to Tumkur for my Pre-University. In PU also, I dont remember having used this word anywhere. It was just too innocent even then :P.
And now for my Engineering, I again joined a prestigious college in Tumkur itself. I had this unknown fear(even my parents :P) about Engineering colleges cos I had read in news papers about ragging. So, I didnt join the college Hostel instead joined a private hostel which was a little far from the college(to Tumkur standards). Now our college had students from all over the country. Sometimes had to interact with some of them, I used to visit my friends in the college hostel too..got to know people from many other places.. Now again..these girls used this word a lotttt!!! By this time, I had become less innocent :D.. Now I wanted to know what exactly this word meant(I was in first sem). So went to my Hostel which had people like me :P..opened the dictionary and started to search for the meaning of the word "FLURT"(I thought this was the spelling for this word :P) along with my room mates. I did not find any word like this.. I thought it might be a slang which people use and gave up searching.
But one day, I gave a chance to myself to try permutation/combination of the possible letters in the word. Haaaaa..here I got it.."FLIRT".I showed it to my room mates as well :D. And now I have forgotten the exact meaning which I had got from the dictionary :P, but I know what exactly it means :D..
And I have been using that word too frequently ... Heeehehehe :D..So..I am no more innocent :D..
Saturday, May 17, 2008
My Voyage to Deustchland - Part V
Trip To Cologne and Hamburg
On one Weekend, myself and prasanna planned to go to Cologne, one of the ancient cities of Germany. It has an old Dom(church) which is a few centuries old, a chocolate musem and many othe museums, lot of bridges over the river Rhine and many more.
Bonn is another place which is close to Cologne which was the capital of Germany when Berlin wall still existed.Soon after we got down at the Hauptbahnhof, we went to the Dom which is adjacent to it.
We roamed in and around the Dom and also visited the Weinachtsmarkt(Christmas market) which was getting set up for Christmas beside the Dom. We also took some photoes of the beggars who were standing still like statues.
Since Prasanna had to do some shopping, we went towards "Saturn","C&A","Kaufhof". But he was not happy with the collections. This time, I directly went to the Kinder(Kids) section and got 2 more pullovers.For lunch we had Veg Doner from a Turkish shop and started towards the schocoladen(chocolate) Museum. We had got the printouts of the Cologne city map and we found it very easy to locate the places with the help of that map. We spent most of our time in the museum looking at the history of chocolate, preparation of chocolate etc. When we came out of the museum, it was 3.30PM and it was getting dark by then. We just started walking on the banks of the river Rhine. Took some photoes on the bank and the bridges.
Prasanna updated my GK by saying that it is the 2nd longest river in Europe after Thames.It was flowing very peacefully without any sound. I was really surprised looking at the river Rhine cos I am always used to Kaveri, Tunga-bhadra rivers which flow making melodious sounds(juLu juLu naada). Since there was no time left, we came back to the Hauptbahnhof to catch our train. However, we missed that train by just 1 minute and had to wait for the next train for another hour.
on one another weekend, I planned to go to Hamburg since my office junior colleagues Nagabhushan and Suresh were staying there. This time Prasanna did not accompany me as he had some training in stuttgart. By now, I was confident of travelling alone by train even if I had to change the trains in between. By now, the climate was getting really colder sometimes even below 0 degree and I was also prepared for that.My friends received me at the hauptbahnhof and we decided to first go to the place where the submarine was kept for exhibition. According to what they told, it was a Russian submarine that was used during World War II.
We went inside the submarine where almost all the machinery was exposed. Those 2 guys enjoyed it more cos they were able to understand so many things there since they were from Mechanical background. I was simply wondering about the technology at that time!!
After that we went to Langdensbreuke on river Elbe. There were so many huge ships. I was very impressed cos that was the first time I was seeing a ship. We took a ride on the boat for about an hour and was able to see the ships from very close.
It was amazing. It was really cold, but still we were enjoying the boat trip. The wind was blowing at a high speed that I was unable to balance myself on the floor. But it was fantastic!!After the boat trip, they took me to an Indian Restraunt (probably the name is Badhshah) which was managed by a Punjabi who was married to a German lady.His wife and kids were also there in the restraunt. It was really funny to watch the kids, who looked more like Germans, calling him as "baba" and their mom as "maa". We finally had chole batura there and moved towards Alster lake. There was weinachtsmarkt set up there also.
Roamed around there for sometime. When the climate becomes even more colder,my friends said, the entire lake would be frozen and people sometimes even played ice skating on it. Returned back to my Hotel t Round 9.30PM with loads of memories and photoes. But most of the photoes are all shaken cos our hands were shivering without gloves.
On one Weekend, myself and prasanna planned to go to Cologne, one of the ancient cities of Germany. It has an old Dom(church) which is a few centuries old, a chocolate musem and many othe museums, lot of bridges over the river Rhine and many more.
Bonn is another place which is close to Cologne which was the capital of Germany when Berlin wall still existed.Soon after we got down at the Hauptbahnhof, we went to the Dom which is adjacent to it.
We roamed in and around the Dom and also visited the Weinachtsmarkt(Christmas market) which was getting set up for Christmas beside the Dom. We also took some photoes of the beggars who were standing still like statues.
Since Prasanna had to do some shopping, we went towards "Saturn","C&A","Kaufhof". But he was not happy with the collections. This time, I directly went to the Kinder(Kids) section and got 2 more pullovers.For lunch we had Veg Doner from a Turkish shop and started towards the schocoladen(chocolate) Museum. We had got the printouts of the Cologne city map and we found it very easy to locate the places with the help of that map. We spent most of our time in the museum looking at the history of chocolate, preparation of chocolate etc. When we came out of the museum, it was 3.30PM and it was getting dark by then. We just started walking on the banks of the river Rhine. Took some photoes on the bank and the bridges.
Prasanna updated my GK by saying that it is the 2nd longest river in Europe after Thames.It was flowing very peacefully without any sound. I was really surprised looking at the river Rhine cos I am always used to Kaveri, Tunga-bhadra rivers which flow making melodious sounds(juLu juLu naada). Since there was no time left, we came back to the Hauptbahnhof to catch our train. However, we missed that train by just 1 minute and had to wait for the next train for another hour.
on one another weekend, I planned to go to Hamburg since my office junior colleagues Nagabhushan and Suresh were staying there. This time Prasanna did not accompany me as he had some training in stuttgart. By now, I was confident of travelling alone by train even if I had to change the trains in between. By now, the climate was getting really colder sometimes even below 0 degree and I was also prepared for that.My friends received me at the hauptbahnhof and we decided to first go to the place where the submarine was kept for exhibition. According to what they told, it was a Russian submarine that was used during World War II.
We went inside the submarine where almost all the machinery was exposed. Those 2 guys enjoyed it more cos they were able to understand so many things there since they were from Mechanical background. I was simply wondering about the technology at that time!!
After that we went to Langdensbreuke on river Elbe. There were so many huge ships. I was very impressed cos that was the first time I was seeing a ship. We took a ride on the boat for about an hour and was able to see the ships from very close.
It was amazing. It was really cold, but still we were enjoying the boat trip. The wind was blowing at a high speed that I was unable to balance myself on the floor. But it was fantastic!!After the boat trip, they took me to an Indian Restraunt (probably the name is Badhshah) which was managed by a Punjabi who was married to a German lady.His wife and kids were also there in the restraunt. It was really funny to watch the kids, who looked more like Germans, calling him as "baba" and their mom as "maa". We finally had chole batura there and moved towards Alster lake. There was weinachtsmarkt set up there also.
Roamed around there for sometime. When the climate becomes even more colder,my friends said, the entire lake would be frozen and people sometimes even played ice skating on it. Returned back to my Hotel t Round 9.30PM with loads of memories and photoes. But most of the photoes are all shaken cos our hands were shivering without gloves.
My Voyage to Deustchland - Part IV
Trip to Hannover
Next Weekend, planned to go to Hannover(pronounce it as Hanofer but I ususally made fun of it calling it as our Honnavar :P) where Bhanu's Friend (now my friend too) Vinod who was doing his post Doctoral stayed. By then I had learnt to check the timetables online and also to get the tickets from the automat.Now to Travel to Hannover I had to change 1 Train in Minden. Vinod explained to me about all this over the phone on Friday night. He sounded worried since I was new to this system. He said he would be waiting at the Hauptbahnhof(main railway station- By now I had learnt few German words :P).
So Saturday morning, I was at the Guetersloh Railway station. I could see some Indian faces there. One person who stood on my platform was talking to the other person at the opposite platform in Hindi. It was tough to find any Indian in this small town and I was happy to see these people.I went up to him and started talking. Here is the conversation :
Lee : Aap India se ho?
He : Haan.Lee : Even I am from India.
He :(Just a smile).
Lee : Where in India?
He : I am from Bangalore. (I was excited with joy when I heard this!!)
Lee : So you know Kannada!!!
He : Yea
Lee : Oh Houda!!! Nivu Bengaluravrena? (I was so happy to talk to someone in kannada there)He : Illa.. Nimge Belgaum antha gotha..nam native aa ooru..
Lee : Belgaum nam karnatakadalle ri irodu..gotha antha kelthiralri..
He : Illa kelavarige gothiralla adikke kelde..
Lee : hmm.. hogli bidi.. Nim hesru?
He : Prasanna..nimdu?
Lee : Leela
He : Nivu Guetersloh ge yavag bandri.. naa bandu just 3 days ashte
Lee : Naa Bandu 2 weeks aaythu.
Sari.. Shuruvaaythu nanna koretha.. When he didnt speak much, I asked him if I was boring him :P.. He said..he was basically reserved but he is enjoying listening to me :P..(paapa sikkakondbitru nan kayyalli).He had earlier stayed in Germany for a year. So he was familiar with the system.
That day he was travelling to Hamburg in the same route. So no tension for me.. :P. When he heard that it was just 2 weeks for me here, he was surprised and said " should really appreciate cos you are travelling alone in just 2 weeks!!". He also knew about the boredom in that small town and thats why he was also travelling to Hamburg to meet his friends. All along the way we spoke and later we exchanged our email IDs.I got down at Hannover and he continued to Hamburg. On the platform, Vinod was waiting for me. He looked worried cos he was confused with the train timing. He asked about my breakfast, but I had already had my big fat complimentary breakfast in the hotel itself (I used to have lots of cheese and butter in my breakfast to put on weight :P). So we went for shopping. Bhanu had suggested to get some pullovers and gloves since the days were getting really colder. Also at work, my colleagues used to shiver if I wore my usual T-Shirts, Tops which I carried from India. So decided to get some warm clothes. We were unable to get correct sized gloves/pullovers from the Damen(ladies) section. So Vinod took me to the Kids section where I got the perfect sized pullovers and gloves. Cant help it..People there are so huge when compared to us!!After Shopping, went to Vinod's place and had Indian Lunch. Then went to the famous park in Hannover. I started complaining and said our lalbaugh was anytime better than this. What I liked there was some small structures made of plants which looked like "eLu suthina Kote" and some white statues in between.
Roamed there for sometime, took photoes and then went to the old townhall of Hannover which the only left over after World War II.
Vinod also took me to his University and his workplace. The day was getting colder and colder and it was really unbearable for me. So Vinod asked me to wear the woollen cap that I had. But I had never worn a cap before,so was hesitating a bit. But The cold had taken its upper hand, I had to wear the cap for the first time in my life (Kadegoo topi haakkonde :P).
After having great time in Hannover, came back to my Hotel with loads of photoes and memories.
By the way, I forgot to mention about Hema. She did not want to accompany me anywhere cos her husband was worried about her and had asked not to venture out anywhere. Though she was staying there from 2 months, she was not aware of anything except the way to office and hotel. So I thought I will take her atleast to the next town Guetersloh over a weekend. We went and met the Hyderabad family, saw some movies on their laptop and came back home by evening. When she was talking to her husband, I could make out that he was angry. Though she had informed him, he was angry cos we were late. Instead of 6PM we had come in by 7PM.
But still another weekend we both went to Guetersloh cos she wanted to get a handicam. This time we came back early.The weekend after this, she had to return to India but she had not done the chocolate shopping. So she asked me to get some chocolates from Guetersloh after office. I went to Aldi(retail store) with Prasanna and got some very good chocolates for her.When I came back to the hotel by last bus at around 8.45PM, she looked worried as I was late and was relieved later. She had already enquired with the reception about me and was about to call Bhanu. She said she had spoken to her husband only for 2 minutes on phone unlike the usual routine thinking that I may call her anytime. Finally, She was happy to see all the varieties of chocolates I had got for her.
That Thursday, she left to India leaving me all alone in the Hotel.
Next Weekend, planned to go to Hannover(pronounce it as Hanofer but I ususally made fun of it calling it as our Honnavar :P) where Bhanu's Friend (now my friend too) Vinod who was doing his post Doctoral stayed. By then I had learnt to check the timetables online and also to get the tickets from the automat.Now to Travel to Hannover I had to change 1 Train in Minden. Vinod explained to me about all this over the phone on Friday night. He sounded worried since I was new to this system. He said he would be waiting at the Hauptbahnhof(main railway station- By now I had learnt few German words :P).
So Saturday morning, I was at the Guetersloh Railway station. I could see some Indian faces there. One person who stood on my platform was talking to the other person at the opposite platform in Hindi. It was tough to find any Indian in this small town and I was happy to see these people.I went up to him and started talking. Here is the conversation :
Lee : Aap India se ho?
He : Haan.Lee : Even I am from India.
He :(Just a smile).
Lee : Where in India?
He : I am from Bangalore. (I was excited with joy when I heard this!!)
Lee : So you know Kannada!!!
He : Yea
Lee : Oh Houda!!! Nivu Bengaluravrena? (I was so happy to talk to someone in kannada there)He : Illa.. Nimge Belgaum antha gotha..nam native aa ooru..
Lee : Belgaum nam karnatakadalle ri irodu..gotha antha kelthiralri..
He : Illa kelavarige gothiralla adikke kelde..
Lee : hmm.. hogli bidi.. Nim hesru?
He : Prasanna..nimdu?
Lee : Leela
He : Nivu Guetersloh ge yavag bandri.. naa bandu just 3 days ashte
Lee : Naa Bandu 2 weeks aaythu.
Sari.. Shuruvaaythu nanna koretha.. When he didnt speak much, I asked him if I was boring him :P.. He said..he was basically reserved but he is enjoying listening to me :P..(paapa sikkakondbitru nan kayyalli).He had earlier stayed in Germany for a year. So he was familiar with the system.
That day he was travelling to Hamburg in the same route. So no tension for me.. :P. When he heard that it was just 2 weeks for me here, he was surprised and said " should really appreciate cos you are travelling alone in just 2 weeks!!". He also knew about the boredom in that small town and thats why he was also travelling to Hamburg to meet his friends. All along the way we spoke and later we exchanged our email IDs.I got down at Hannover and he continued to Hamburg. On the platform, Vinod was waiting for me. He looked worried cos he was confused with the train timing. He asked about my breakfast, but I had already had my big fat complimentary breakfast in the hotel itself (I used to have lots of cheese and butter in my breakfast to put on weight :P). So we went for shopping. Bhanu had suggested to get some pullovers and gloves since the days were getting really colder. Also at work, my colleagues used to shiver if I wore my usual T-Shirts, Tops which I carried from India. So decided to get some warm clothes. We were unable to get correct sized gloves/pullovers from the Damen(ladies) section. So Vinod took me to the Kids section where I got the perfect sized pullovers and gloves. Cant help it..People there are so huge when compared to us!!After Shopping, went to Vinod's place and had Indian Lunch. Then went to the famous park in Hannover. I started complaining and said our lalbaugh was anytime better than this. What I liked there was some small structures made of plants which looked like "eLu suthina Kote" and some white statues in between.
Roamed there for sometime, took photoes and then went to the old townhall of Hannover which the only left over after World War II.
Vinod also took me to his University and his workplace. The day was getting colder and colder and it was really unbearable for me. So Vinod asked me to wear the woollen cap that I had. But I had never worn a cap before,so was hesitating a bit. But The cold had taken its upper hand, I had to wear the cap for the first time in my life (Kadegoo topi haakkonde :P).
After having great time in Hannover, came back to my Hotel with loads of photoes and memories.
By the way, I forgot to mention about Hema. She did not want to accompany me anywhere cos her husband was worried about her and had asked not to venture out anywhere. Though she was staying there from 2 months, she was not aware of anything except the way to office and hotel. So I thought I will take her atleast to the next town Guetersloh over a weekend. We went and met the Hyderabad family, saw some movies on their laptop and came back home by evening. When she was talking to her husband, I could make out that he was angry. Though she had informed him, he was angry cos we were late. Instead of 6PM we had come in by 7PM.
But still another weekend we both went to Guetersloh cos she wanted to get a handicam. This time we came back early.The weekend after this, she had to return to India but she had not done the chocolate shopping. So she asked me to get some chocolates from Guetersloh after office. I went to Aldi(retail store) with Prasanna and got some very good chocolates for her.When I came back to the hotel by last bus at around 8.45PM, she looked worried as I was late and was relieved later. She had already enquired with the reception about me and was about to call Bhanu. She said she had spoken to her husband only for 2 minutes on phone unlike the usual routine thinking that I may call her anytime. Finally, She was happy to see all the varieties of chocolates I had got for her.
That Thursday, she left to India leaving me all alone in the Hotel.
My Voyage to Deustchland - Part III
Now I have to mention about my School friend Bhanu, who is doing his doctorate in Germany. I should mention here that my stay in Germany was very comfortable and memorable because of this wonderful fellow. He stayed in Halle(Salle) which was around 400-500 Kms from Guetersloh where I stayed. He helped me whenever I felt like visiting other cities in Germany by asking his friends in those cities to guide me.For any doubts,instructions and even recipes he was always there to help me. Since everything was new to me and I was all alone after Hema left, I used to torture him by asking him the silliest questions possible.. :P.Next day friday,After having the complimentary breakfast in the hotel, I went to the office by Taxi which my Manager had already booked for me for few days. My Hotel was in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck and my office in Guetersloh with a distance of 16Kms. I was allocated a workstation which had German Operating System and Keyboard. Everything on my PC was in German!. And I have already mentioned that I didnt know a single word in German then. There was not much work on the first day. I emailed my brother and friends. I had got an email from Bhanu about when I will be coming to Germany. I had not got the time to inform him before starting to Germany. So now I emailed him my hotel number. My colleague took me to the cafetaria for lunch. I told him that I am a veggie and asked him to suggest me something. With his instructions I took some boiled rice, boiled vegetables and then I was looking for some sambar kind of thing for rice. There was nothing like that.. Later I understood that I had to eat rice without mixing it with anything. Somehow finsihed that day's lunch and was thinking of getting my lunchbox from monday.
At the EOD, to shutdown my PC, I had to take the help of my colleague :P. He said they will arrange for an english OS in 2 days (how understanding!!) :).Came back to the Hotel. By then Hema had already returned and was waiting for me cos her office was at a walkable distance from the hotel.After all she also had got a company now. Now we had to cook for both of us. This was the first time I was trying cooking. Thanks to the farsightedness of my cloase friend Pooja who had packed some Maggi packets. Hema had got some vegetables over the weekend and I prepared Maggi with vegetables... Hurrayyy!!! It tasted really good.. After dinner, didnt know what to do. The TV was not tuned for english channels. So we had to watch German Programmes. By then, Hema's husband called (her daily routine) and she spent some time on phone. Soon after his call, I got a call from Bhanu. It was such relief for me. He could make calls from his mobile to any land line for free. So he told me to give missed call on his mobile whenever I wanted to talk to him so that he can call back.. :P.. What an irony!!! In India, my sister, brother, aunt and sometime my dad also gives missed call to me and I have to call back, But now I was in their shoes to give missed call :P.. So this became our daily routine till Hema was with me. Come back from office, cook together, eat together, Hema's call,then my call and then go back to sleep. After some days we both became experts in watching German channels with our mouths open. :D :P. We even watched the German versions of our "Dil ka Rishta" and "Dhoom 2". Germans are very interested in our Bollywood movies. Once a Turkish taxi driver had told me the names of Aishwarya Rai and Shahrukh Khan and said that Indian Movies are very colourful and with a smile he said, lot of emotions, love, more song and dance and a little movie. :P(That taxi driver knew a little english).
I very badly needed some rest because of jetlag and bad body ache. So saturday we did some shopping and that weekend took rest. I got a plastic lunch box for 3 Euro!!!!! I think that was basically designed for carrying dry food because the lid was very loose :P. But could not help. That was all I could get in that shop. After coming to India I showed that to my Mom and said it costed around 160Rs. She was close to unconsciousness :P. It was such a cheaptype box :P.The next week passed by and again there was a weekend. But this weekend I had to go to Bochum, a much bigger city closer to my place which had a Srilankan store and also one of Bhanu's friend Satish stayed there. So I got some Indian Grocery from there including Annapurna atta and a small chapathi maker(lattanige) for 5 Euro which was basically for kids to play(Adige aata :P..probably kids played pizza aata with that :P).
Next week went with new experiments in the kitchen. I prepared chapathi but they were a little rough since the pan was different from ours and I didnt know to adjust proper heat to it. Still my chapathis were edible. I think Hema was not used to Chapathis, but still she was also interested to eat them. I ate 2 and hema 1. Next Day morning Hema woke up with a complaint that she was not able to sleep whole night because she had stomach upset. I was worried. But I had carried some tablets and gave it to her. Later in the evening she said she had a tough time in office because there was no water in the toilet :P.. The other day she had complained about this water issue saying " In Chennai we have water problem, even then we use water. But water is so abundant here but still... " :P
By then I had met 3 people from Hyderabad in the bus stop. One of them had a family also there. Whenever I did not go to other cities, I used to visit this family on weekends.After some days I was confident of taking bus whenever it was convinient instead of Taxi.
At the EOD, to shutdown my PC, I had to take the help of my colleague :P. He said they will arrange for an english OS in 2 days (how understanding!!) :).Came back to the Hotel. By then Hema had already returned and was waiting for me cos her office was at a walkable distance from the hotel.After all she also had got a company now. Now we had to cook for both of us. This was the first time I was trying cooking. Thanks to the farsightedness of my cloase friend Pooja who had packed some Maggi packets. Hema had got some vegetables over the weekend and I prepared Maggi with vegetables... Hurrayyy!!! It tasted really good.. After dinner, didnt know what to do. The TV was not tuned for english channels. So we had to watch German Programmes. By then, Hema's husband called (her daily routine) and she spent some time on phone. Soon after his call, I got a call from Bhanu. It was such relief for me. He could make calls from his mobile to any land line for free. So he told me to give missed call on his mobile whenever I wanted to talk to him so that he can call back.. :P.. What an irony!!! In India, my sister, brother, aunt and sometime my dad also gives missed call to me and I have to call back, But now I was in their shoes to give missed call :P.. So this became our daily routine till Hema was with me. Come back from office, cook together, eat together, Hema's call,then my call and then go back to sleep. After some days we both became experts in watching German channels with our mouths open. :D :P. We even watched the German versions of our "Dil ka Rishta" and "Dhoom 2". Germans are very interested in our Bollywood movies. Once a Turkish taxi driver had told me the names of Aishwarya Rai and Shahrukh Khan and said that Indian Movies are very colourful and with a smile he said, lot of emotions, love, more song and dance and a little movie. :P(That taxi driver knew a little english).
I very badly needed some rest because of jetlag and bad body ache. So saturday we did some shopping and that weekend took rest. I got a plastic lunch box for 3 Euro!!!!! I think that was basically designed for carrying dry food because the lid was very loose :P. But could not help. That was all I could get in that shop. After coming to India I showed that to my Mom and said it costed around 160Rs. She was close to unconsciousness :P. It was such a cheaptype box :P.The next week passed by and again there was a weekend. But this weekend I had to go to Bochum, a much bigger city closer to my place which had a Srilankan store and also one of Bhanu's friend Satish stayed there. So I got some Indian Grocery from there including Annapurna atta and a small chapathi maker(lattanige) for 5 Euro which was basically for kids to play(Adige aata :P..probably kids played pizza aata with that :P).
Next week went with new experiments in the kitchen. I prepared chapathi but they were a little rough since the pan was different from ours and I didnt know to adjust proper heat to it. Still my chapathis were edible. I think Hema was not used to Chapathis, but still she was also interested to eat them. I ate 2 and hema 1. Next Day morning Hema woke up with a complaint that she was not able to sleep whole night because she had stomach upset. I was worried. But I had carried some tablets and gave it to her. Later in the evening she said she had a tough time in office because there was no water in the toilet :P.. The other day she had complained about this water issue saying " In Chennai we have water problem, even then we use water. But water is so abundant here but still... " :P
By then I had met 3 people from Hyderabad in the bus stop. One of them had a family also there. Whenever I did not go to other cities, I used to visit this family on weekends.After some days I was confident of taking bus whenever it was convinient instead of Taxi.
My Voyage to Deustchland - Part II
As soon as I stepped into the hotel at around 3.30PM with the luggage taking the help of my Taxi driver, I got a call from my Manager at the reception. The first thing that he asked me was why was I late!!!(I had missed my first train in the timetable sent by him due to my flight delay).
He said our co-ordinator would pick me up at around 4PM from the hotel and take me to the client location and introduce me to them. I asked him for 4.30PM, because I had still not entered my room.So, there was this challenge in front of me to get ready in just one hour including shifting to my room, unpacking etc..I was very consicious about the time sense that the Germans had. However,45 minutes passed away with just unpacking and things like that. So I gave up the idea of taking bath because I had still not explored the bathroom :P. I just freshened up, changed into some formals and before it was 2 minutes for 4.30, I got a call from the reception that my Co-ordinator was waiting for me. I was concerned that I had not bathed. So I looked into the mirror. I was looking pretty decent even without a shower :P. So came down to the reception with confidence :D.
Me and my co-ordinator got introduced to each other and we made a move towards the office. My office was 16Kms from my hotel. For the first time in my life I was in a car which was speeding at 180-200Km/Hr!!!! And I could still see other cars passing by ours!!! Our car was on the Autobahn (a dedicated expressway). Within 10-12 minutes we were at our office meeting the client. He coolly apologised for his bad English!! He showed me my workstation, took me around the office introducing me to everyone in team. He even showed me the restrooms telling me that HERR- was for men and DAMEN- was for women. He showed me the pantry and water bottle wending machine and other machines too. Water bottle machine was something different for me. To get a bottle, I had to insert 15cents. My clientside person said, water was free and we have to pay for the bottle. But there was one more machine which accepted empty bottles and gave us back 15 cents!! This kind of recycling arrangement really impressed me. I got introduced to the first thing in my way to understand why that country was very neat. After all this formal/Informal introduction at around 6.30, we were again back in the car to get back to my hotel room. I was eagerly looking forward for a drive at that speed again :P.
Once I entered my room , I remembered that I was all alone now. My manager had told me that there were other 2 associates from my company who are already staying in this Hotel and they would be accompanying me for next 15-20 days. But I had not met them yet.I had to wait for them. For the first time I was experiencing what loneliness was like.I had eaten something in the flight at 7AM and nothing else after that. There was no one asking about that. I had totally forgotten my hunger as I was busy right from the time I had entered the Country. I remembered, I had not called my parents(where was the time to do that?). On the table, there was an instruction card for using the phone. Luckily english version was also there. I tried following that. But somehow, I could not get connected. I felt I was far from everyone. For a moment, I was almost in tears!!After sometime, I heard a knock on my door. It was Hema, the other associate whom my manager had told.( there is nothing much to write about the other guy). I was a bit relieved. Then she took me to her room. Got introduced to each other. She was from Chennai but her mother tongue was same as mine with lot of tamil accent influence in it :-).After seeing an apple on her table, I came to know that I was hungry :P. I told her "Hotte hasitha idhe"(I am hungry). She smiled and told me to eat the apple and in the meantime she would cook some rice. She got a call from her husband. While she was talking to her husband, I gave her my brother's number and asked her to give it to her husband. After her call, my brother called me.Her room had 2 beds with a small kitchenette. My room didnt have kitchen in it. But I was supposed to stay in that room only for 4 days and after that I had shift to another room with a kitchen. That day I ate with her, went back to my room and slept alone. After half an hour, I called my Manager and said that I would be shifting to Hema's room since hers was a double room. He smiled and said OK and asked the co-ordinator to talk to the hotel staff about it in the morning.
By the end of the day ,I understood that the temperature was very low and I had to wear a jacket all the time when I am outside.
He said our co-ordinator would pick me up at around 4PM from the hotel and take me to the client location and introduce me to them. I asked him for 4.30PM, because I had still not entered my room.So, there was this challenge in front of me to get ready in just one hour including shifting to my room, unpacking etc..I was very consicious about the time sense that the Germans had. However,45 minutes passed away with just unpacking and things like that. So I gave up the idea of taking bath because I had still not explored the bathroom :P. I just freshened up, changed into some formals and before it was 2 minutes for 4.30, I got a call from the reception that my Co-ordinator was waiting for me. I was concerned that I had not bathed. So I looked into the mirror. I was looking pretty decent even without a shower :P. So came down to the reception with confidence :D.
Me and my co-ordinator got introduced to each other and we made a move towards the office. My office was 16Kms from my hotel. For the first time in my life I was in a car which was speeding at 180-200Km/Hr!!!! And I could still see other cars passing by ours!!! Our car was on the Autobahn (a dedicated expressway). Within 10-12 minutes we were at our office meeting the client. He coolly apologised for his bad English!! He showed me my workstation, took me around the office introducing me to everyone in team. He even showed me the restrooms telling me that HERR- was for men and DAMEN- was for women. He showed me the pantry and water bottle wending machine and other machines too. Water bottle machine was something different for me. To get a bottle, I had to insert 15cents. My clientside person said, water was free and we have to pay for the bottle. But there was one more machine which accepted empty bottles and gave us back 15 cents!! This kind of recycling arrangement really impressed me. I got introduced to the first thing in my way to understand why that country was very neat. After all this formal/Informal introduction at around 6.30, we were again back in the car to get back to my hotel room. I was eagerly looking forward for a drive at that speed again :P.
Once I entered my room , I remembered that I was all alone now. My manager had told me that there were other 2 associates from my company who are already staying in this Hotel and they would be accompanying me for next 15-20 days. But I had not met them yet.I had to wait for them. For the first time I was experiencing what loneliness was like.I had eaten something in the flight at 7AM and nothing else after that. There was no one asking about that. I had totally forgotten my hunger as I was busy right from the time I had entered the Country. I remembered, I had not called my parents(where was the time to do that?). On the table, there was an instruction card for using the phone. Luckily english version was also there. I tried following that. But somehow, I could not get connected. I felt I was far from everyone. For a moment, I was almost in tears!!After sometime, I heard a knock on my door. It was Hema, the other associate whom my manager had told.( there is nothing much to write about the other guy). I was a bit relieved. Then she took me to her room. Got introduced to each other. She was from Chennai but her mother tongue was same as mine with lot of tamil accent influence in it :-).After seeing an apple on her table, I came to know that I was hungry :P. I told her "Hotte hasitha idhe"(I am hungry). She smiled and told me to eat the apple and in the meantime she would cook some rice. She got a call from her husband. While she was talking to her husband, I gave her my brother's number and asked her to give it to her husband. After her call, my brother called me.Her room had 2 beds with a small kitchenette. My room didnt have kitchen in it. But I was supposed to stay in that room only for 4 days and after that I had shift to another room with a kitchen. That day I ate with her, went back to my room and slept alone. After half an hour, I called my Manager and said that I would be shifting to Hema's room since hers was a double room. He smiled and said OK and asked the co-ordinator to talk to the hotel staff about it in the morning.
By the end of the day ,I understood that the temperature was very low and I had to wear a jacket all the time when I am outside.
Friday, March 14, 2008
My Voyage to Deustchland - Part I
It all started with my telephonic interview with German client.The next day a mail from my manager was waiting for me in my mailbox which said that I had to fly to Germany asap. Since this was a new client, I would be the first person to go there. My Manager gave me 5 days time to fly. I had to run to and fro to office and home to get the necessary documents for the Visa. Our travel desk said, visa itself needs 5 working days. So I was thinking I would be flying over the weekend and had some shopping still waiting for the Nth moment.My Visa came on Wednesday and I was still not prepared because I did not know when I would be exactly getting the Visa. My Manager asked me to fly on the same night. Nothing was prepared, no packing was done, still shopping was pending. I started panicing. However all this worked out with the help of my Brother, My sister and my close friend. I still cant think anything about what I would have done without them on that day.
Finally was in Bengaluru airport with my friends, my father and brother. I was carrying a checkin baggage and a cabin baggage. Thank God! I was not flying to the US. Else I should have carried 2 checkin baggages (later in this post,you will know why I said Thank God! It is a different thing that I could have carried a single checkin baggage to the US also :P).Boarded the flight at around 10.50PM after all the formalities in the airport with lot of apprehension.
My friends who had travelled earlier had warned me about claustrophobia. I was actually waiting to experience it. But nothing like that happenned at all. I was a little disappointed and started blaming my friends :P.
Safely landed ALL ALONE in Frankfurt airport at around 8am their time. I had changed the time in my watch in the flight itself. Now I had to take an other domestic flight to Dusseldorf. The gap to my connecting flight was just 1 hour. I had to clear the formalities there and run to the other gate.Those who have seen Frankfurt airport can imagine how difficult it would have been for a first timer like me to manage to reach another gate within 1 hour. I was running following the sign boards. Thank God! Many others were also running :P. Still I was 10 minutes late. I went and enquired at the counter and got to know the flight was 1 hour late. I was so much relieved.
Landed in Dusseldorf at around 11.30-12.00pm with my 2 baggages. Now the actual adventure of mine starts and now I got exposed to the importance of knowing Deustche(I did not know a single word in German ). Very few people knew English there. My client location is in North-west Germany, 150kms from Dusseldorf. My Manager had mailed me the train timetable from Dusseldorf to my location. Now I had to somehow go to the Railway station (It was airport railway station itself :P). I made use of the information center facility that was available in the airport. They told me to take the Skytrain. But did not properly understand why I should use it. I went there and stood looking at the Automat(ticket wending machine) understanding nothing. Everything was in Deutshe (english also was there but I didnt know about it :P). I asked an elderly person to help me out. He said 'No English'. God!!I had my train at 1.30. But I have to mention this "Germans are very Helpful". A lady voluteered in english and said she was going to the railway station by skytrain and she would take me to the ticket counter instead of automat. So I simply followed her to the counter, got the ticket from the counter. He asked me to punch the ticket before 5 minutes of the train arrival(for the ticket to be valid for 2 hours). Now where to punch?? I had to search for that punching machine (it was just beside me :P). wherever I go, I had to drag these 2 luggages with me (now you understood why i said i Thank God!). One more person there helped me in punching. He knew a little bit of English. So he started speaking to me. He said he was also taking the same train but going a little further than my place. I was really happy. He helped me to get my luggage into the train.Before travelling to Germany, I had asked my manager about how would I know about when the place has arrived. I was expecting him to tell me the previous station name. But he simply said, it is given in the timetable that the train will reach the place by 2.30 and I am sure at 2.30 you can simply get down at whatever place it stops. What a nice way to guide!!!Finally with the help of that person embarked the train. In the train, for every station there was announcement about the next station. I simply smiled at the way how my manager had guided me. But what he said was also true. Time management is simply awesome there. I enjoyed my train journey without blinking my eyes. The landscapes, the passing buildings, cities which looked like model cities, everything was so different for me. Beside the track, I noticed buildings on which some slogans were written, some bills were sticked, some advertisements. For a second I felt, at least this is similar to India :-).Finally reached my place and that co-passenger of mine helped me to get down the train with my luggage and wished me nice stay in Germany.
Now I had to get into the taxi towards my Hotel. In this small place, literally no one knew English. I was really in a foreign country. For the first time in my life, i felt like I was the odd man out there :P. I asked someone about the taxi. He said "keine English" (No English). I made a sad face. But I think he understood the word TAXI. He saw me and my luggage :P. He simply showed me the taxi stand and showed me the way to go out. To go to the taxi stand, I had to get down the stairs keeping my luggage on the slider. There was no lift or elevator in this small station. I started struggling with the luggage. That person came from behind, said something in German and simply picked my luggage and got my luggage down till the taxi stand,found me a Frau taxi driver(lady taxi driver) and told her something in German. Thankfully, that lady knew some words in English. I gave her the address and she drove me towards my Hotel. We were speaking all along the way in ENGLISH till we reached the Hotel.
Finally was in Bengaluru airport with my friends, my father and brother. I was carrying a checkin baggage and a cabin baggage. Thank God! I was not flying to the US. Else I should have carried 2 checkin baggages (later in this post,you will know why I said Thank God! It is a different thing that I could have carried a single checkin baggage to the US also :P).Boarded the flight at around 10.50PM after all the formalities in the airport with lot of apprehension.
My friends who had travelled earlier had warned me about claustrophobia. I was actually waiting to experience it. But nothing like that happenned at all. I was a little disappointed and started blaming my friends :P.
Safely landed ALL ALONE in Frankfurt airport at around 8am their time. I had changed the time in my watch in the flight itself. Now I had to take an other domestic flight to Dusseldorf. The gap to my connecting flight was just 1 hour. I had to clear the formalities there and run to the other gate.Those who have seen Frankfurt airport can imagine how difficult it would have been for a first timer like me to manage to reach another gate within 1 hour. I was running following the sign boards. Thank God! Many others were also running :P. Still I was 10 minutes late. I went and enquired at the counter and got to know the flight was 1 hour late. I was so much relieved.
Landed in Dusseldorf at around 11.30-12.00pm with my 2 baggages. Now the actual adventure of mine starts and now I got exposed to the importance of knowing Deustche(I did not know a single word in German ). Very few people knew English there. My client location is in North-west Germany, 150kms from Dusseldorf. My Manager had mailed me the train timetable from Dusseldorf to my location. Now I had to somehow go to the Railway station (It was airport railway station itself :P). I made use of the information center facility that was available in the airport. They told me to take the Skytrain. But did not properly understand why I should use it. I went there and stood looking at the Automat(ticket wending machine) understanding nothing. Everything was in Deutshe (english also was there but I didnt know about it :P). I asked an elderly person to help me out. He said 'No English'. God!!I had my train at 1.30. But I have to mention this "Germans are very Helpful". A lady voluteered in english and said she was going to the railway station by skytrain and she would take me to the ticket counter instead of automat. So I simply followed her to the counter, got the ticket from the counter. He asked me to punch the ticket before 5 minutes of the train arrival(for the ticket to be valid for 2 hours). Now where to punch?? I had to search for that punching machine (it was just beside me :P). wherever I go, I had to drag these 2 luggages with me (now you understood why i said i Thank God!). One more person there helped me in punching. He knew a little bit of English. So he started speaking to me. He said he was also taking the same train but going a little further than my place. I was really happy. He helped me to get my luggage into the train.Before travelling to Germany, I had asked my manager about how would I know about when the place has arrived. I was expecting him to tell me the previous station name. But he simply said, it is given in the timetable that the train will reach the place by 2.30 and I am sure at 2.30 you can simply get down at whatever place it stops. What a nice way to guide!!!Finally with the help of that person embarked the train. In the train, for every station there was announcement about the next station. I simply smiled at the way how my manager had guided me. But what he said was also true. Time management is simply awesome there. I enjoyed my train journey without blinking my eyes. The landscapes, the passing buildings, cities which looked like model cities, everything was so different for me. Beside the track, I noticed buildings on which some slogans were written, some bills were sticked, some advertisements. For a second I felt, at least this is similar to India :-).Finally reached my place and that co-passenger of mine helped me to get down the train with my luggage and wished me nice stay in Germany.
Now I had to get into the taxi towards my Hotel. In this small place, literally no one knew English. I was really in a foreign country. For the first time in my life, i felt like I was the odd man out there :P. I asked someone about the taxi. He said "keine English" (No English). I made a sad face. But I think he understood the word TAXI. He saw me and my luggage :P. He simply showed me the taxi stand and showed me the way to go out. To go to the taxi stand, I had to get down the stairs keeping my luggage on the slider. There was no lift or elevator in this small station. I started struggling with the luggage. That person came from behind, said something in German and simply picked my luggage and got my luggage down till the taxi stand,found me a Frau taxi driver(lady taxi driver) and told her something in German. Thankfully, that lady knew some words in English. I gave her the address and she drove me towards my Hotel. We were speaking all along the way in ENGLISH till we reached the Hotel.
Friday, January 25, 2008
My First encounter with Internet
When I was in engineering, most of my classmates were localites and especially girls were all from the same place. But most of the girls used to be in their own groups and always used to talk loudly during break. I had some good friends in my class. One fine day, when I was still in 1st sem, they were all talking about chatting and internet. I had some idea about internet, but I had never used it before. So I was listening with so much of interest about this wonder called internet. All that they were talking was about chatting. One of my classmates was telling about how she lied to a guy when he asked about her. The way she was explaining each and every line of her chat showed that she thoroughly had fun. That whole group was laughing loud.
Another day, one of my friend said that her brother (our senior in the same college) had opened an email account for her. I had heard these terms, but absolutely had no clue about using an email account. Since she was a bit close to me, I asked her, how is she going to use it? She said “ I don’t know, my brother said he had been to the internet center and opened an account for me. He said he will teach me sometime later”.
At that time there were hardly 2 or 3 browsing centers in the entire city and the price per hour was around 90-100 rupees. I wanted someone who can help me while browsing because I was not ready to waste so much money just to explore.
One day my one more good friend came to me and suggested that we will go for browsing (even this term was new: P). We decided that we will both share a single computer so that our budget won’t cross our limits. I was excited to see what this wonder is going to be.
So we both went to the browsing center which was near our college and asked for a computer for browsing. We asked that net center person for some help since we were very new. The first thing that person opened for us was MIRC. It took almost an hour for us to get adjusted to what was going on on the computer screen. Met a film actress from Philippines(that’s what she told us :P). In the beginning we asked her what she was doing. She seemed to be very annoyed and hurt, she said “ you don’t know me! I am an actress here”. Probably she might have thought she is world famous (Or was she just fooling us..) On that day in the browsing center we both did only chatting and the bill was around 200 rupees.
Then another day, we wanted to open an email account. We were walking towards the same browsing center. Suddenly I told my friend that it will be convenient for me if we go to a browsing center near my hostel. She asked me why. Then I said, “If I create the account near my hostel, it will be easy for me to go to that place whenever I want. Otherwise I have to come to this place each time”. My friend luckily didn’t laugh at me. She explained me what her brother (who was already a software engineer then) had explained her. That was also a big wonder for me when I got to know that we can open our account from any center and access it from somewhere else.
Everything has changed over this period of time (almost 8-9 years). Now even my cousin who is in 2nd class knows most of the things about computer and Internet browsing. Whenever I see him talking/asking about these things, I remember my first encounter and laugh alone.
Another day, one of my friend said that her brother (our senior in the same college) had opened an email account for her. I had heard these terms, but absolutely had no clue about using an email account. Since she was a bit close to me, I asked her, how is she going to use it? She said “ I don’t know, my brother said he had been to the internet center and opened an account for me. He said he will teach me sometime later”.
At that time there were hardly 2 or 3 browsing centers in the entire city and the price per hour was around 90-100 rupees. I wanted someone who can help me while browsing because I was not ready to waste so much money just to explore.
One day my one more good friend came to me and suggested that we will go for browsing (even this term was new: P). We decided that we will both share a single computer so that our budget won’t cross our limits. I was excited to see what this wonder is going to be.
So we both went to the browsing center which was near our college and asked for a computer for browsing. We asked that net center person for some help since we were very new. The first thing that person opened for us was MIRC. It took almost an hour for us to get adjusted to what was going on on the computer screen. Met a film actress from Philippines(that’s what she told us :P). In the beginning we asked her what she was doing. She seemed to be very annoyed and hurt, she said “ you don’t know me! I am an actress here”. Probably she might have thought she is world famous (Or was she just fooling us..) On that day in the browsing center we both did only chatting and the bill was around 200 rupees.
Then another day, we wanted to open an email account. We were walking towards the same browsing center. Suddenly I told my friend that it will be convenient for me if we go to a browsing center near my hostel. She asked me why. Then I said, “If I create the account near my hostel, it will be easy for me to go to that place whenever I want. Otherwise I have to come to this place each time”. My friend luckily didn’t laugh at me. She explained me what her brother (who was already a software engineer then) had explained her. That was also a big wonder for me when I got to know that we can open our account from any center and access it from somewhere else.
Everything has changed over this period of time (almost 8-9 years). Now even my cousin who is in 2nd class knows most of the things about computer and Internet browsing. Whenever I see him talking/asking about these things, I remember my first encounter and laugh alone.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Cargo Pants
The dictionary meaning of Cargo is load,shipment,goods,freight.
According to me probably the cargo pants are designed keeping this in mind with lots of pockets.
Trying to put some real uses of cargo pants.These are derived from personal experiences.
1. avoid carrying a small bag when shopping/travelling.
2. if you really want to avoid carrying a handbag, you can stuff in as many things as possible including a small purse, big mobile phone,comb,cosmetics,chocolates and many more things..(now guys dont worry, you can carry your wife/GF's things if you dont have enough things to stuff in the pockets :P)
3. With all the things on your body inside the cargo pockets, you need not have to worry about forgetting/losing your small bag or big mobile phone.
4. Ladies..If you really are bored of carrying a handbag everytime(atleast I feel bored), ask your BF/Hubby(if you dont have either, ask your brother/friend/father) to wear a cargo..simple..you can roam freely. Trust me..this is after seeing my friend's experience.
5. What do you think.. only obesity is a problem? Nope...people struggle to put on some weight. Such people can actually look a bit fatter than usual. It will be really good if the pockets are full(:P)
6. Last and the least(:P), you can be comfortable in them.
So far I have found the above points which are beneficial from Cargo Pants. You are most welcome to post some more which are left out here or if you find any of the points above are not correct.That will be really interesting.
According to me probably the cargo pants are designed keeping this in mind with lots of pockets.
Trying to put some real uses of cargo pants.These are derived from personal experiences.
1. avoid carrying a small bag when shopping/travelling.
2. if you really want to avoid carrying a handbag, you can stuff in as many things as possible including a small purse, big mobile phone,comb,cosmetics,chocolates and many more things..(now guys dont worry, you can carry your wife/GF's things if you dont have enough things to stuff in the pockets :P)
3. With all the things on your body inside the cargo pockets, you need not have to worry about forgetting/losing your small bag or big mobile phone.
4. Ladies..If you really are bored of carrying a handbag everytime(atleast I feel bored), ask your BF/Hubby(if you dont have either, ask your brother/friend/father) to wear a cargo..simple..you can roam freely. Trust me..this is after seeing my friend's experience.
5. What do you think.. only obesity is a problem? Nope...people struggle to put on some weight. Such people can actually look a bit fatter than usual. It will be really good if the pockets are full(:P)
6. Last and the least(:P), you can be comfortable in them.
So far I have found the above points which are beneficial from Cargo Pants. You are most welcome to post some more which are left out here or if you find any of the points above are not correct.That will be really interesting.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Me and Mysore
Mysore, according to me, is the heaven on earth. Everything about it is so special. Almost everything that happened during my 2 years of my stay in Mysore is a memorable event. I go nostalgic whenever I think of Mysore.
Any city will be more appealing if we like the people of that place. Mysoreans, according to me, are very hospitable. Though I was staying away from home, I never felt that way. Even now, if I find any mysorean, they are the same. They become my friend very easily(or I become their friend easily?).
As I said before, every moment is special. Trying to list down some of them which may seem very silly but still that nostalgia comes up when I think of them. Some incidents, I just remember I laugh at them.
I cant forget the daily routine of going to school with my best friend on bicycle from shankar matt road, in front of Banumayya’s college and then finally our school which was called the treasury of Ranks(ryankugala kanaja as it was called in newspapers).
Sanskrit class taught by NRM, was a combination of fun and studies. Sanskrit grammer is considered to be tough, but I still remember some grammer through his jokes.
Our science teacher with his ultimate scoldings in kannada is still unforgettable.
Each one of them had their own style…and I still remember most of it.
Those special coaching classes for 10th class students during summer vacation had left me worried..cos I was not a part of those classes L. My determination after that.. Pinning that first rank badge to my shirt with pride.. giving a sort of look to the people who turned to look at my badge …hahaha… what a fun.. !!
When I participated in handwriting competition, don’t know what happened, it was so bad(I actually got appreciation from my teachers in regular classes), I dint know that I also could write so badly(competition nalle hange aagbeka?).
The churmuri gaadi outside school….hmmmm..if I remember, even now my mouth starts watering..what a taste it had man!! Never found that taste anywhere till now..
My friend had this weird belief that if we see only one crow it is not a good sign. So we used to search for another crow if at all we saw a single crow. If we were unable to find, there was a guy in our class who was mischievous, notorious(that’s what we thought) and a bit dark. We consoled ourselves by seeing him.. :D..
Usually on Saturday we never went home directly. Go on a round trip on our cycles and then reach home by lunch time. On one such Saturday, my cycle(with me) had an accident with a kinetic Honda in ramakrishna circle. Funniest thing was, the cycle owner didn’t have the slightest injury, but sadly that Kinetic Honda owner was hurt and the cycle was damaged with most of the spokes broken. There was a huge crowd with traffic police also in the crowd. All sympathy towards the cycle owner though KH owner was hurt.. :P… heheeh..funny..
My Deepavali celebration at my friend’s home is one more thing I cant forget.
No Mysorean has hurt me till now..or is it that I haven’t come across any such people?
When I went for a trip to Mysore during my engineering days, I was soooo nostalgic that I became speechless for a while..i was very involved in associating my memories with each and every place I was seeing from the window. My college friends were very annoyed at my silence all of a sudden!!!
Call it whatever, nostalgia or nonsense, I like anything that is associated with Mysore like Mysore pak, Mysoru Mallige, Mysore Ananthswami , K.S Narsimhaswamy(for mysore mallige kavana sankalana), Mysore Silk Mysuru Dasara, Mysuru Aramane, Mysuru people everything..
There are lots and lots of things to write about my experience in Mysore. But I think it is enough here.
Any city will be more appealing if we like the people of that place. Mysoreans, according to me, are very hospitable. Though I was staying away from home, I never felt that way. Even now, if I find any mysorean, they are the same. They become my friend very easily(or I become their friend easily?).
As I said before, every moment is special. Trying to list down some of them which may seem very silly but still that nostalgia comes up when I think of them. Some incidents, I just remember I laugh at them.
I cant forget the daily routine of going to school with my best friend on bicycle from shankar matt road, in front of Banumayya’s college and then finally our school which was called the treasury of Ranks(ryankugala kanaja as it was called in newspapers).
Sanskrit class taught by NRM, was a combination of fun and studies. Sanskrit grammer is considered to be tough, but I still remember some grammer through his jokes.
Our science teacher with his ultimate scoldings in kannada is still unforgettable.
Each one of them had their own style…and I still remember most of it.
Those special coaching classes for 10th class students during summer vacation had left me worried..cos I was not a part of those classes L. My determination after that.. Pinning that first rank badge to my shirt with pride.. giving a sort of look to the people who turned to look at my badge …hahaha… what a fun.. !!
When I participated in handwriting competition, don’t know what happened, it was so bad(I actually got appreciation from my teachers in regular classes), I dint know that I also could write so badly(competition nalle hange aagbeka?).
The churmuri gaadi outside school….hmmmm..if I remember, even now my mouth starts watering..what a taste it had man!! Never found that taste anywhere till now..
My friend had this weird belief that if we see only one crow it is not a good sign. So we used to search for another crow if at all we saw a single crow. If we were unable to find, there was a guy in our class who was mischievous, notorious(that’s what we thought) and a bit dark. We consoled ourselves by seeing him.. :D..
Usually on Saturday we never went home directly. Go on a round trip on our cycles and then reach home by lunch time. On one such Saturday, my cycle(with me) had an accident with a kinetic Honda in ramakrishna circle. Funniest thing was, the cycle owner didn’t have the slightest injury, but sadly that Kinetic Honda owner was hurt and the cycle was damaged with most of the spokes broken. There was a huge crowd with traffic police also in the crowd. All sympathy towards the cycle owner though KH owner was hurt.. :P… heheeh..funny..
My Deepavali celebration at my friend’s home is one more thing I cant forget.
No Mysorean has hurt me till now..or is it that I haven’t come across any such people?
When I went for a trip to Mysore during my engineering days, I was soooo nostalgic that I became speechless for a while..i was very involved in associating my memories with each and every place I was seeing from the window. My college friends were very annoyed at my silence all of a sudden!!!
Call it whatever, nostalgia or nonsense, I like anything that is associated with Mysore like Mysore pak, Mysoru Mallige, Mysore Ananthswami , K.S Narsimhaswamy(for mysore mallige kavana sankalana), Mysore Silk Mysuru Dasara, Mysuru Aramane, Mysuru people everything..
There are lots and lots of things to write about my experience in Mysore. But I think it is enough here.
Modala Todala Nudi
Finally opened my own blog today!!!!
I had planned to write a blog since long time. But don’t know why I didn’t take the initiative to make a start. I had also got the tips from my friend about writing a blog. But probably I felt that I do not have anything interesting to blog. However, after reading so many blogs I got to know that very simple things can be put in a very interesting way.
I have not written any article so far except for the essay writings in school exams that too with preparations. So with a little nervousness, here is my first attempt in the direction of presenting things in an interesting way.
I always expect your valuable comments on my blog which will help me in writing really interesting posts.
With these forewords, launching my own blog!!!
I had planned to write a blog since long time. But don’t know why I didn’t take the initiative to make a start. I had also got the tips from my friend about writing a blog. But probably I felt that I do not have anything interesting to blog. However, after reading so many blogs I got to know that very simple things can be put in a very interesting way.
I have not written any article so far except for the essay writings in school exams that too with preparations. So with a little nervousness, here is my first attempt in the direction of presenting things in an interesting way.
I always expect your valuable comments on my blog which will help me in writing really interesting posts.
With these forewords, launching my own blog!!!
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