From Chai to Kaffe

Being from an army family and having traveled to different places in India, I always prided myself on being able to adjust quickly to any place. After all I shifted from Goa to Mathura and was equally happy in both places (people who have stayed in both these places would appreciate my sense of achievement better). So when I decided to go to Sweden that’s what I thought - How different could it be from India?

And well that was what struck me first when I landed here in Sweden – How different it is from India!! There is not one similarity between India and Sweden. Well no similarity is an understatement. It is safe to say that the two countries are opposite of each other in every possible way.

My life has changed in every possible way - from drinking strong, milky tea to having strong black coffee; from the various vibrant colours in India to the white, grey and black of Sweden; from people just about everywhere to actually hunting for people; from all the traffic jams to not crossing a single car for an hour while driving; from cursing yourself for being a pedestrian while trying to cross roads for nearly an hour to just walking across and making the car wait for you; from the famous summers of India to the harsh winters of Sweden, from the sun rising and setting on time to it either never rising or never setting; from the chatty, emotional, loud, inquisitive Indians to the reserved, calm, “we mind our own business” Swedes (except for when they are drunk); from “I have no time to eat because I have work”, to “ I need an hour for lunch, the world’s not going to end”, the list just goes on and on.

I have been here for almost three months now, and somehow this place still surprises me. I can safely say that I am still getting acclimatized and maybe I will continue to do so till the day I get back!