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.