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.

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.

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.

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.