Thursday, March 02, 2006
14/02/2006 Day 0 – McDonalds and ze German Features
Valentines day at bbay
Valentines day at dubai
From the moment I stepped into the Emirates flight EK405 from Dubai to FFT, I noticed a stark difference – the people were taller and fairer, the girls were markedly prettier and everyone (even the desis) seemed to have an insatiable thirst for orange juice!
I chatted with Mr. Fischer (Shell) in the flight and I got 2 learnings out of this. 1) I had a misconception of the Europeans being generally cold and “stiff upper lipped” 2) I identified the cool CAT shoes that I had to buy during my trip! As dad slept beside me in the flight I wondered - could it be possible that what I had written all over my “Cross cul” essays was actually working on me?
The maiden funny incident happened right outside the airport. I was in my shirt and jeans in the well heated airport and we had to go outside to catch a cab. Although I knew the temperature outside was -1, I had not expected it to be so cold when I stepped out of the airport. And like the first spikes of a cold shower, the cold hit me after a few seconds! Luckily, the car was about 10 meters away so I hastily ran to it and sat – making a mental note never to forget my jacket out in the open! – I had a new friend – Addie’s all weather jacket!
The cab driver turned out to be Paki and spoke fluent Urdu as his second language – German being his first! So I felt like I was more in Mumbai than in Fft. But one look at the speedometer and its reading (200 kmph) told you that something was wrong!
In Germany, any expressway is called Autobahn. I was always under the misconception that there’s this one backbone road called the Autobahn which connects the main cities. ( like the NH ). Nope – frankfurt to bad soden (pronounced baad soden with a deemphasis on the “d”) was just 30 kilometers and it is basically a suburb – like VT to malad. And this was also connected by the Autobahn (OK! its not a good idea drawing parallels as south Bbay IS connected to Malad by the Western Express HIGHWAY ). Anyway, I noticed the smooth roads, the fast cars, the ridiculous prices (30 euros for 30 kms) and the numerous graffiti on the way!
Hotel Concorde – Imagine National Electronics’ location outside Matunga Station and you can identify with Hotel Concorde – A Stones Throw away from the station. The room we had was nice and heated- hiding the subzero temperature outside. Actually the low temperature is quite comfortable- with just a sweater and a flannel jacket, I could handle the cold – I think I prefer it to the sweltering heat in my land. I’m also very proud of the insulation properties of lipids – something I have no scarcity of!
The Youth Brigade
Day 0 was my day with dad and his colleagues! We decided to make the most of our day since it would be impossible for them to take any time out of their busy schedule later. So after a quick shower and acclimatization to TP, we headed to FFT to check out the shopping area! (‘twas not possible to check out the night life as I was with a bunch of underage youth – as they would like to call themselves).
Honestly I don’t like shopping in malls. Execpt for their price advantage, the malls are the same everywhere! The same size advantage, retail in volumes, the same products, the same ignorance of the salesmen. What was different though, as anticipated, were the people! We were a minority! In the sea of white we were the small specks of dust! And the people seemed to have a strange custom - u have to kiss your girlfriend every time you are riding an escalator! maybe it was valentines day! – maybe I need a girlfriend!
So since we were in a mall which had everything- I decided to get dad to pick up a pendrive for himself! Gizmo Invasion – that’s the latest fad across the world. Its what makes such purchases a necessity to thrive in the geek social forums!:) It would be my musical sidekick for the rest of my journey!
After that we headed to an Indian restaurant (Indian SPICE – nothing less) through the professional red light district of Fft. Where we could eat some butter chicken, drink some beer, and see some more of our skin color! ( the food was good!)
Ze Indian Agent at the Huaptbahnhof (HBF)
On my way back to the HBF, I was accosted by a German youth who thought I was one of his long lost friends – and started an eloquent monologue – in German! Me being the nice chap, nodded at the appropriate moments and smiled my widest smile – hoping id be able to pull this off! But I guess he asked me some question and when he saw me smiling and nodding knowledgably when I was expected to answer, he realized his folly. He apologized hastily – in German – and made an exit! I knew then and there that my future as an Indian secret agent in Germany was bright!
Since it was valentines day and I had spent it in 3 countries – I decided to get flirty and wished the ticket collector a happy valentines day. Funny how authentic an authentic German cold stare looks! :)
-signout
ps: if you are still wondering what the hell Ronald has to do with this – their slogan ‘ im loving it’ encompasses in a nutshell my feeling of my first day in the western world!!!
Valentines day at bbay
Valentines day at dubai
From the moment I stepped into the Emirates flight EK405 from Dubai to FFT, I noticed a stark difference – the people were taller and fairer, the girls were markedly prettier and everyone (even the desis) seemed to have an insatiable thirst for orange juice!
I chatted with Mr. Fischer (Shell) in the flight and I got 2 learnings out of this. 1) I had a misconception of the Europeans being generally cold and “stiff upper lipped” 2) I identified the cool CAT shoes that I had to buy during my trip! As dad slept beside me in the flight I wondered - could it be possible that what I had written all over my “Cross cul” essays was actually working on me?
The maiden funny incident happened right outside the airport. I was in my shirt and jeans in the well heated airport and we had to go outside to catch a cab. Although I knew the temperature outside was -1, I had not expected it to be so cold when I stepped out of the airport. And like the first spikes of a cold shower, the cold hit me after a few seconds! Luckily, the car was about 10 meters away so I hastily ran to it and sat – making a mental note never to forget my jacket out in the open! – I had a new friend – Addie’s all weather jacket!
The cab driver turned out to be Paki and spoke fluent Urdu as his second language – German being his first! So I felt like I was more in Mumbai than in Fft. But one look at the speedometer and its reading (200 kmph) told you that something was wrong!
In Germany, any expressway is called Autobahn. I was always under the misconception that there’s this one backbone road called the Autobahn which connects the main cities. ( like the NH ). Nope – frankfurt to bad soden (pronounced baad soden with a deemphasis on the “d”) was just 30 kilometers and it is basically a suburb – like VT to malad. And this was also connected by the Autobahn (OK! its not a good idea drawing parallels as south Bbay IS connected to Malad by the Western Express HIGHWAY ). Anyway, I noticed the smooth roads, the fast cars, the ridiculous prices (30 euros for 30 kms) and the numerous graffiti on the way!
Hotel Concorde – Imagine National Electronics’ location outside Matunga Station and you can identify with Hotel Concorde – A Stones Throw away from the station. The room we had was nice and heated- hiding the subzero temperature outside. Actually the low temperature is quite comfortable- with just a sweater and a flannel jacket, I could handle the cold – I think I prefer it to the sweltering heat in my land. I’m also very proud of the insulation properties of lipids – something I have no scarcity of!
The Youth Brigade
Day 0 was my day with dad and his colleagues! We decided to make the most of our day since it would be impossible for them to take any time out of their busy schedule later. So after a quick shower and acclimatization to TP, we headed to FFT to check out the shopping area! (‘twas not possible to check out the night life as I was with a bunch of underage youth – as they would like to call themselves).
Honestly I don’t like shopping in malls. Execpt for their price advantage, the malls are the same everywhere! The same size advantage, retail in volumes, the same products, the same ignorance of the salesmen. What was different though, as anticipated, were the people! We were a minority! In the sea of white we were the small specks of dust! And the people seemed to have a strange custom - u have to kiss your girlfriend every time you are riding an escalator! maybe it was valentines day! – maybe I need a girlfriend!
So since we were in a mall which had everything- I decided to get dad to pick up a pendrive for himself! Gizmo Invasion – that’s the latest fad across the world. Its what makes such purchases a necessity to thrive in the geek social forums!:) It would be my musical sidekick for the rest of my journey!
After that we headed to an Indian restaurant (Indian SPICE – nothing less) through the professional red light district of Fft. Where we could eat some butter chicken, drink some beer, and see some more of our skin color! ( the food was good!)
Ze Indian Agent at the Huaptbahnhof (HBF)
On my way back to the HBF, I was accosted by a German youth who thought I was one of his long lost friends – and started an eloquent monologue – in German! Me being the nice chap, nodded at the appropriate moments and smiled my widest smile – hoping id be able to pull this off! But I guess he asked me some question and when he saw me smiling and nodding knowledgably when I was expected to answer, he realized his folly. He apologized hastily – in German – and made an exit! I knew then and there that my future as an Indian secret agent in Germany was bright!
Since it was valentines day and I had spent it in 3 countries – I decided to get flirty and wished the ticket collector a happy valentines day. Funny how authentic an authentic German cold stare looks! :)
-signout
ps: if you are still wondering what the hell Ronald has to do with this – their slogan ‘ im loving it’ encompasses in a nutshell my feeling of my first day in the western world!!!
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