About “The” trip - Finally!!!

It’s been a while that I am back from my whirlwind trip so have finally decided to stop being lazy and write about it.
My trip started with a bit of adventure. After packing, repacking and checking my checklist of things to carry umpteen times, I still managed to forget my cell phone at the hotel and remembered when I reached the airport. I couldn’t take a chance traveling without my second love hence I asked people at the hotel to send my cell phone by taxi to the airport and requested the airport authorities to wait for my cell phone to reach. I got the plane to wait for me, boarded the plane, and got someone at the airport manager to come and give me the cell phone in the plane. I thanked my stars that it was Skelleftea since I don’t think I could have pulled it of in any other city. Anyways here a quick snapshot of the trip.

Rome : I fell in love with the city!! The feet are killed by the walks, thanks to the cobble stoned roads, but walking is the best way to absorb all that Rome has to offer. Walking through the streets of Rome to me was like walking in a place 200 years old. Each building seems to talk to you and tell you stories of its own. It almost makes you want to go back in time and see how Rome was in its prime. You can spend weeks in Rome, but since we had just 2 days, we decided to see the most important monuments and started our sight seeing trip by visiting the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.
The Colosseum is an imposing structure, especially when you try and go back to when the gladiators would fight there. The Roman Forum which is right next to the Colosseum is basically the ruins of the old Rome. It’s magnificent to walk through all of it and just soak in the surroundings. The Pantheon is a beautiful monument too. It has been converted to a church now and I am sure mass there would be beautiful. Both these structures need to be visited during the day since they do not have any artificial lighting. My pick of Rome would be the Vatican Museum and St. Peters Cathedral. Apart from the religious importance it holds for me, the beauty of the place would mesmerize just about anyone. Especially the paintings at the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel would take anyone’s breathe away. The colours, detailing and the magnitude of the paintings on the walls and the ceiling are astounding when you think of the times they were painted in. It shows the passion and dedication that the artists had. It also shows the interest that the emperors of those times had in art, not to mention the money to fund it. The first thing that goes through your mind, when you see St. Peters is- is that a church?? The biggest church in the world is really big!! I attended the midnight mass on Christmas Eve and that’s an experience I will not forget – the church is beautiful under lights and it has a feel of a carnival before the Mass starts, not that I would want to repeat it, considering the crowd and the cold!!!
One of my “Rome moments” was sitting on the Spanish steps and listening to two Italians sing along with their guitars. I also realized that some of the more popular Hindi songs were lifted from Italian music!! Another one of my “Rome Moments” was sitting by the Trevi and seeing various people pose for pictures. I think we spent more than an hour there and had a good laugh
Rome reminds me of India in so many ways, the crazy traffic, small cute cars, the abundant use of two wheelers and the incessant loud chatter, maybe that’s why it worked its magic on me and it is one place I would want to go back again. I hope the coin that I threw in the Trevi works its magic….

Florence/Pisa: Florence is quite the opposite of Rome. It’s quaint, small and less crowded and very charming. To me however it’s a town which had some of the cutest streets and restaurants. We saw the Dome, which is the third largest church in the world. Again the architecture here was very different from the churches I had seen in Rome. We walked around the town savoring every bit of the place and looking through the windows of the all clothes stores (What can you expect of two girls). One observation – the Italians sure so have a sense of fashion!!
Florence can be combined with a visit to the leaning tower of Pisa since it is only an hour by train and definitely a must visit if you are in Italy. The leaning tower of Pisa is about a 20 minute walk from the station right through the town center and it truly is a wonder. You almost feel like it would fall on you any minute (it’s a wonder it hasn’t as yet). The work on the tower is worth a look, but what impressed me more was the cathedral next to the tower. It’s a beautiful church with some really delicate work done on the outside. I think in Italy I have completed my lifetime quota of visiting churches and yet each church had a completely different character.

Venice: Though Venice was very different from any other city I had seen, I was a bit disappointed by the city in itself. It highly possible because I had heard/read so much about the place so my expectations were hitting the roof. Having said that let me not take away from the city.
The charm of the city is the small streets where you will invariably get lost – no maps, direction sense would help you there. It is also nice to see how life goes about without cars and through the water. We saw some DHL people deliver couriers by water, also saw the water police, public transportation by water and even the post being delivered by boats!! St. Marco is beautiful and the pigeons there just really greedy for food :-)…We were in Venice right before the mask festival, so we got a chance to see the various colorful masks on display through the streets. I was amazed by the intricate work done on the masks; some of them even had Swarovski crystals on them. It made the whole place a lot more colorful. We also went to one of the islands close by, and thankfully enough it wasn’t as crowded.
My amusing story however is about a Indian- Canadian couple we met during dinner. They talked about bollywood, asked us what our opinion of the Abhi-Ash wedding was, and whether Shahrukh had back cancer etc etc etc. I think they were a wee bit disappointed that we weren’t all that updated…
Tips for Italy:
# Women please wear flats, and the most comfortable pair of shoes you can find. The cobblestones will really kill your feet.
# Take the tour to the Vatican Museum. It’s a little expensive, but worth it since the lines to enter are killing and you would want to know what to see and what not to.
# Be ready to spend much more in Venice. It is one of the most expensive cities in Italy and hence the prices are double as compared to the rest of the cities.
# Walk as much as possible, that’s how you would get to see the place much better
# Try talking in Bengali with the souvenir shop owners on the streets. Most of them are Bangladeshi and will give you a discount if you manage a bit of Bengali.
# Do not miss the yummy Italian food, whether it is the breakfast which consists of Chocolate croissant and coffee, or the yummy pastas and the pizzas along with some amazing Tiramisu not to mention the house wine. I think I need to stop now or else my mouth is going to start watering!!!

Amsterdam: The city is an eye-opener!! Drugs and sex is so out in the open that you wonder if it is such a big deal. The city sells on both of them, since most tourists go to Amsterdam to see the coffee shop and the red light area. Its quite a surprise to find the Dutch so open about subjects which are a taboo in any other country specially around Europe. I came back from my trip and discussed it with my Swede friends and they were shocked to say the least. I also had a rather interesting conversation with my Dutch colleague who told me why it’s all that open. According to him Dutch follow the law to the T. And if you ban narcotics, then it wouldn’t even be possible to use it in the hospital, hence its regulated. His explanation on prostitution as a business was that it happens everywhere, if it’s out in the open and made legal, at least these women have decent education, social security cover and a decent living – he does have a point there, doesn’t he? But apart from all the usual stuff, anyone visiting Amsterdam should definitely visit the Van Gogh museum. The museum has a collection from Van Gogh’s work from different stages of his life. His work leaves you confused in the end, since it varies so much from the beginning stages of his career to the end – its definitely a must see.

Berlin: We drove from Amsterdam to Berlin, and driving through Germany without the mention of the famed German roads and no speed limits. Just one word – awesome!!! You know when you get into Germany by the roads and the sudden speeding of the cars. We drove at and average of around 190 km/ph and we still had cars overtaking us at regular intervals. The view outside was beautiful too – from the flat Holland to the small hills in Germany, it was quite the contrast. Berlin in itself was an amalgamation of the old and the new. Its an extremely modern city with huge sky scrappers, but it also has the Brandenburg and a whole lot of history which goes along with it. The Reichstag is also worth a mention. I felt it was a little too beautiful to be a parliament house!! We saw it under lights and I think it just added to the beauty. Though Berlin is supposed to be the party capital of Europe we took a rain check on partying and settled for a good German dinner since all of us were just so exhausted and headed out the next day to London which was a 10 hr road trip.

London: The first two days in London were spent recharging all our exhausted batteries by lazing around and shopping!! And just went the relatives and friends thought that we would never head out to see London, Mona and I started the sight seeing once again. We started with the Buckingham Palace and quite frankly I don’t know what the big deal was about the changing of guards. I felt that the crowd in the Vatican was nothing compared to the one in front of the palace trying to catch a glimpse of the ceremony. From there we walked to the Trafalgar Square and visited the National Gallery. We did the whole touristy walk to the London eye, Big Ben and finally the Tower Bridge. At the risk of repeating myself the walk was really nice, though we had a really long walk trying to find a tube station – as usual we were lost!!! The next day started with a visit to Madam Tussads. We had fun looking at all the statutes and yes getting our pictures clicked there. From there the next trip was to The Lords – the Mecca of cricket lovers. The guide made the tour wonderful and interesting even for people who weren’t all that knowledgeable on cricket. Thanks to the impromptu trip to the Lords, we discovered Abbey Road and the famous crossing on the Beatles cover. I felt a bit silly clicking pictures while crossing that crossing and making the traffic wait – I am sure they are used to it though. I also liked Covent Garden a lot. The environment there was brilliant. The building had an old world feel to it. It had magicians, street musicians and whole lot of open restaurants – it was magic.

After a whole lot of traveling in the two weeks, I realized that I was looking forward to getting back to Skelleftea to my hotel and I knew that it in my heart I felt that it was home now. I also realized that though they don’t always show it, the Swedes are one of the friendliest and the most helpful people in Europe – well what to do, I have to be loyal to people who welcomed me and made me feel comfortable in an alien country.

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A fraction of a second – that’s all it takes…

… to change your life that is. You can plan all you want, but it does really just take a second to unravel all those plans. I realized that today

For all those wondering why I am philosophical – I was in an accident today. I have been in accidents before, two actually. But I don’t remember a thing of what happened in those accidents, I heard about what happened from people. This one however was different. I remember every moment of those few seconds clearly, and it’s a memory which will stay with me forever. I have heard people say that when death passes you, what you see is a flashback of your life and all your loved ones flash in front of your eyes. Well nothing like that happened to me. Weirdly enough, I watched everything happen as if I were watching a movie. My first thought was that I was wearing a seatbelt, so I was safe even if the car toppled unless of course I got trapped and the car exploded (watching too many movies does that to you). The second thought was to hold on to my SLR so that it doesn’t get damaged (I guess I love it a little too much). Even after the car came back into control, the only thing on my mind was to get out of the mess. I even went sightseeing, shopping and picture clicking after dropping of the car. And if anyone sees the pictures that we have clicked after the episode, they would never guess that we were in a car crash just hours before that. I guess all of our reactions would have been different if anything would have happened to any one of us. Thank God that nothing did and it was just the car which bore the brunt of it all.

Learnt some stuff today:

Miracles do happen and fate is not a “concept” – it does exist: it was nothing short of a miracle and maybe our fate, that though the car was at a 120 km/ph and we hit the divider resulting in the car going completely out of control for about 3-4 kms, all five of us came out of it without a scratch. In the previous two, it was just me who bore the brunt and the others were unscathed. This time fate was on my side too!!

People do care – just don’t show it: A couple of Swedish colleagues are our 911. They always bail us out of trouble. Until today I thought they did it just to be nice to some crazy Indians. But the concern and care that I sensed in their voice today, took me by surprise and a pleasant one at that. I cannot explain in words, what a comfort it was to realize that far away from family and friends, people geniunely cared. It was comforting to say the least.

Nagging is good : Today was the first day I didn’t nag my friend while he was driving. People say I am a control freak, which is why I chew someone’s brains out if I don’t trust his/her driving (which is almost always). I guess it’s my way of being in control. But today, I let it go and let him drive the way he wanted. Seeing the result…hmmm… well I am going to revert being a nag. Nagging is better than getting injured or killed!!!

Should always be dressed for the weather: Now this one is for my friend (he knows, and hence am not mentioning names :-)). We were waiting outside for assistance to come in a -15 degree C for an hour. And though we froze our jackets came through for us. I am sure without them we would have died of hypothermia, okay that’s exaggerating it a bit, but am not far away from the truth. So my dear friend always carry warm clothing with you - like someone says, there is a thin line between courage and stupidity, why cross it??

Retail therapy doesn’t help: I shopped after we sorted out stuff. And shopped not for necessities but for things which were not needed. I told my self that it was my way of dealing with things. Well it doesn’t work, and things do catch up with you. My mom tells me that I always have delayed reaction to traumatic experiences, and its only after around 8 hrs have passed is this experience beginning to sink in and I am a nervous wreck. In short – what a waste of money!!

I guess I have had enough of learning that I can take for one day and am off to try and do something to put my hyperactive mind to rest. For all the people behind the wheels – be extra careful, coz it does take just a second….

Ps: this was my second attempt to visit the IKEA store in Happaranda. The first one was when we landed there on one of the 3 days in a year that IKEA is shut, and well the second one is all over my blog… I’m all the more determined to break the jinx now

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Its official now - The winters are here

Skelleftea had its first proper snowfall today!

It was a pleasant surprise to wake up in the morning and find everything white... It reminded me of the time when I first came to this place sometime in Feb. I woke up a desi who hadn't seen the snow and ended up going for a nice long walk with him and my camera for company. His enthusiasm was infectious to say the least. I took some pictures of the snow and me in the snow (Something I didn't do even when I first came here). For a change, I resisted the temptation of practicing my photography skills and just let someone else take pictures of me... It also made me realise that I should myself a normal digicam to make it easy for people to take decent pictures of me ( The SLR gets a little too complicated for normal people!!)-- Any volunteers-- Donations are most welcome :-)

Skelleftea is back to the normal, dark days with the snow almost melting now...Today was a glimpse of the winter wonderland this place will turn into - hopefully sooner than later.....

Here's to the season of Winter Jackets, never ending nights and the subzero temperatures!!

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Just some random gibberish

It’s been a while since my last blog and have been meaning to write for a long time now, but just haven’t managed to find the time, energy and anything interesting to write about. Or like my friends say – maybe I finally have some work to do!!

Speaking of work - I have been enlightening the Swedish junta here on Swedish labor laws. The expression on their faces when they listen to their own laws is priceless!! It just got me wondering to how some people can manage a business without knowing where the money goes. I guess it’s my fault for having been here for this long and still manage to get shocked but such things. Let me just stop ranting about work right now, or this blog will go on forever…


What is it with Indian cricket fans all of a sudden- They have suddenly become all too aware and intelligent enough to relate monkey chants with racism!! Either that or it was Symonds’s imagination in Baroda and the second time, well after so much of hype in the media, how could the infamous Mumbai crowd resist?? Not that Australians should be the ones complaining about it considering their obsession with Muthiah Muralitharan was no less than racism. However I hope that what happened in Mumbai was not done with a racist mentality. Considering we are a society still obsessed with the fair skin, this incident could be a mirror of what our society is all about. We still have matrimonial adds by educated men stating that they want fair wives. How on earth is fair related to being a good life partner is something beyond understanding. It however doesn’t take away the credit from us to blend as easily despite being a country full of diversity, and this is why I hope that the incident was purely fun and not racist. India has an image of a good blend of different types of people and it’s good to keep it that way.

The other piece of news that caught my attention was the whole fiasco in Bangalore politics- A complete abuse of democracy!!! It was disgusting to see the “supposed leaders” of the country reduce themselves to clowns for power. I know expecting integrity from politicians is too much an expectation, but this kind of stooping low was dumb founding. It is high time that we change some bits of our constitution to make it an efficient democracy. First of all we should have a retirement age for politicians. Our corporate houses have a retirement age of 58, and we should follow the same for politicians too. We do not need leaders who have one foot in the grave, making any sort of policies for the country!! Secondly, similar to corporate houses, there should be a background check on all candidates, and people with any sort of criminal history should not be allowed to stand for elections. When we do not trust people with a murky background in business, how can we trust them to run the country? And lastly, we should have a bi-party system similar to the US – the problem of not having majority, coalitions being formed just for seats and not ideology and then pulling out for the flimsiest of the reasons will be solved. When I was growing up my parents always told me that I had no right to ask for freedom of choices if I didn’t behave responsibly. I guess the same applies for every sphere of life!!!

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The Young Guns of India

Yes this title is taken from one of my favourite movies, and like that movie, this blog is dedicated to the generation next or the Young India as its being termed now. A couple of days back I was reading the results of a survey on the youth in different parts of the world on a website. It mentioned that the Indian youth were the happiest, focused on work and the most optimistic about the future as compared to the youth of the rest of the world. The survey ironically was done by a Swedish agency.

Then a couple of days back the Indian cricket team won the world cup. Well the cricket team features yet again, but this time it’s not cynicism, but pure admiration for the way they won the cup. They were fearless, brave, calm and played like a team after a long time. It was pure joy to watch the semi-finals and the finals (courtesy the internet and cricinfo), though I didn’t think I would survive the heart attacks that I almost got!! It was more special since we put the Aussies at their place and a win against Pakistan is always special (looks like that record will take a while to break). The celebrations all across the country are warranted for, as the cup comes to us after 24 years, and no one really knows when the next time will be. It’s a pity that I am far away from all the fun in India, and have given up on explaining to the Swedes, the part that cricket plays in our lives!!

A lot has been said about Dhoni, and the team playing fearlessly, enjoying what they do and not being bogged down by the past etc, and I find no sense in repeating it here. To me it’s a reflection of how “Young India” is. And I see it everyday, especially now that I am here in Sweden and I can appreciate the difference between the youth of the two countries and hence two very different cultures. People here get surprised when my colleagues and I (all below 30) talk to them about various aspects of business and get involved in decision making. They cannot imagine how kids are sent for such important assignments, and get all the more bewildered when I tell them that it’s a common feature in the company to give responsibility to youngsters, more so because the average age of the employees of the company is around 26. That shocks them beyond belief!! Almost all of them who have visited India talk of the young people there, how educated they are, and how they are willing to stretch, and how seriously they take their careers, this apart from complaining about the traffic there!! While it’s nothing unusual for me; after living here, I can understand why it shocks them. Most people here start taking their careers seriously only after they turn 30 or more. And even when people work, the attitude to work is very different from what it is in India. Here work is as aptly put by a Swedish colleague, a method to sustain their hobbies; very different from India, where it’s a social symbol, a means to a good living and a lot more…. Obviously when these people meet 22 year olds who know exactly what they want, and are prepared to work hard and take all possible chances to get there, they do a complete somersault!!

While at one hand when I look around here, I feel these people here are lucky not to have as many people as we have in India making their lives easier and more content, on the other hand I feel I am lucky to be born in India in this era. Its good to be a part of the club termed as an achiever, fearless and willing to go all the way!! It’s possible that all this due to the excessive competition that we face from childhood that makes us aggressive and give our all out to win. Maybe the fact that “if not me, then someone else is going to take my place”, or maybe its only because we live in a society where education, the kind of work someone does, the kind of money someone earns decides his or her social standing that propels us to give it our best and not fear from taking risks to win.

Whatever the reasons are, I feel it will do us good in the long run. Its already proved by the Indian economy doing so well, the rupee rising, the sensex being around the 17K mark, a lot of Indians abroad wanting to get back, some Swedish colleagues of mine expressing interest to work in India and now even with us doing so well in Hockey, soccer and winning the world cup!!

PS: I am aware of the contradictions in the previous blog and this one on Indian cricket… cannot help it, I am the original fickle Indian cricket fan!! Also wanted to spew venom against that statement made by Shoaib Mallik, but then let it pass, since its either a reflection of his poor English, or ignorance or pathetic thinking - in any case, completely unworthy of any comment.

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An Eternal Optimist

This is a story about a friend who believes that the Indian cricket team can do no wrong…if the team bats miserably – the pitch was bad, how could they help it, the bowlers will surely do a good job and win the match for us …oops they got hit all over the place – poor guys, some of them were suffering from injuries but still played, fielding is bad – they try but somehow cannot seem to see the ball due to bad lighting… when he cannot convince himself longer, he also puts the blame on Dawood Ibrahim and his devious methods of earning a quick buck through cricket!!! This is a cycle that goes on and on, but my friend doesn’t lose faith and still believes that Indian cricket team is the best…

And best it is…I mean who can refute the fact that its one of the best batting line ups on paper, it is another matter that this famed line-up chokes on most of the crucial games …Bowling is an area that India has always been weak in, but when we get a decent fast bowler, in the hope of creating a Kapil Dev, we ensure that he forgets how to bowl too…then there are this list of fast bowlers, medium pacers, spinners that I cannot seem to remember because they keep flitting in and out of the team…some of them we remember more for their in-field behavior as compared to their performance…but then whatever catches attention right? My friend tells me it is because we want to develop the second line of talent that we never seem to have a permanent team, a permanent opening pair I guess is too much to ask for… how does it matter if we lose a million matches in the name of developing talent! Fielding is something I don’t even want to start with.. I think Indian fielding has been a subject of a million jokes and was even a successful ad campaign for a washing powder brand, need I say more….but despite all this, this eternally optimistic friend of mine bought a subscription to watch the match online, went to office to watch the match with a LAN connection on a big screen, hooting for India to win…. Just to come back moping yet again!! But like I said the cycle repeats over and over again, so this friend is disappointed that the wireless connection does not work at the airport, is secretly thrilled that the flight is delayed and there is trouble with our tickets just so that he could stay a little longer at the airport and call home in India to check on the scores of the match between India and Pakistan in the 20-20 world cup… I am hoping for his sake and the sake of a million others like him that India at least keep this record of beating Pakistan in the world cup matches… It’s the Indian team – you never know… they love breaking these type of records!!

I guess it’s just too much to ask a team of 12 players to carry the hope and expectations of a billion people… I guess it’s too much to ask of them to perform well…at least to make us feel that they tried their best… but then again I guess its not too much considering all the money they make out of the sponsorship that they get – all thanks to the expectations of the very same billion people…

Today the captain of the Indian team has resigned, we are a team without both a captain and a coach…My friend says, things cannot get worse than this…we have to go upwards at least now.. I thought we already hit rock bottom when we lost to Bangladesh and Srilanka, didn’t make it to the Super eight and the team winning against Bangladesh in Bangladesh was making news!… Oh but then I forget my friend is an eternally optimistic Indian cricket fan…

PS: we reached Skelleftea and got to know that India finally managed to win the tie breaker...never mind that after reducing Pakistan for 59/5 in the 11th over there should not have been left a scope for a tie breaker in the first place…the good news my friend tells me is that they managed to keep this one record intact – at least for now…..

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Contradictions Galore

A new Indian, or desi as we call ourselves here, has come to Skelleftea recently, and as always, I treated (read dragged) him to my famous 5 km walk by the river, on our walk he threw a wrapper on the road… and this became the topic of discussion on the dinner table… how conscious are we as nation towards cleanliness of our environment??

The answer comes easy to all of us, since we do walk/drive on streets with out eyes wide open – its there for all to see!! It’s amazing how we Indians generally insist on keeping our houses spic and span, but don’t follow the same rules when it comes to the streets…..most of us do not think twice before throwing something on the streets without a care for what will become of it, how unhygienic it is, or what impression it would create on the minds of foreigners coming to visit one of the fastest growing economy...we don’t care since its not our house getting dirty!!!

One major excuse that I get to hear whenever this comes up is that there is a lack of infrastructure (read sufficient dustbins), but come on guys, how much of an effort is it, to keep the wrapper, or any other kind of garbage with you until you find a garbage can and then just dump it… its basically just a mindset issue… on my last visit to Cochin, the burning issue was the garbage disposal system, and I am not exaggerating but there was an ever-growing pile of plastics bags full of rubbish every 100 mtrs on the streets.. The whole city was stinking and there was a hue and cry created on this issue, which finally needed the intervention of the high court…well yes the blame was put on the municipal cooperation, but what do they do in a state where almost no land is owned by the government and everyone is ready to go on a strike for just about nothing….I saw some really well dressed people, living in beautiful big houses come early morning and throw their bags on the street … the question on my mind was that hadn’t they heard of the age old method of disposing waste - the decomposition pit!! You don’t really need a court to tell you something which is basic common sense…but then again common sense is not so common after all…

The amazing thing to see, is that these same very people who have no regard for the surroundings in India, become an epitome of following rules in every aspect when go abroad, so much so that they surpass that the locals living there ( my friend was an exception though)…the heartrending thing is that we have become so insensitive to the whole issue in India that we don’t even notice it as a problem …its only when you come abroad do you see a stark difference…. its not that the Swedes are extra clean, they are far from it….its there for anyone who wakes up and takes a walk early in the morning before the cleaning happens – there are beer bottles and wrappers everywhere. They have the advantage of being so scarcely populated for the place and the money they have that they can afford to look spic and span despite not being that… We don’t have that in India, so isn’t it as dutiful citizens our duty to keep it clean?? I know it’s a fairly basic issue but then shouldn’t we get the basics right before we aim for the stars??

PS: I know a lot of us are conscious about what we do.. this is targeted at the other 75% of the population

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