Got to Love The Swiss

8:13am : Colin drops me off at the Mountain View caltrain station

8:16am : I briskly walk towards the ticket vending machine

8:16am : I am interrupted by this graceful old man, wearing a hat, overcoat and gold-rim glasses, with a big suitcase on his left and his wife to his right.

“Exkhuse me, can I buy tickets for the airport from this machine?”

He asked a question, and I heard

“Oh, you look like one of them. Locals! Who spend half their life either waiting for the caltrain or on the caltrain. Maybe you know something about this overpriced Californian public transport system.”

On your day-5 in a fairly new place, being asked for help as if you were a local (although, I see how he could mistake me for a local – there a ton of Indians in the bay, a bit too much for me as well), is like an honor, is like a certification. I felt a sense a obligation and pride to help the man out. Emm and also, the fact that he was old and was with his wife and spoke in a strange language with her.

So, I tried helping them, the machine won’t accept the bills.

(cutting all the mundane details out > we move to a different vending machine) The train is expected at 8:23am

8:20am : I am third in the row to get my tickets. Old man doesn’t seem in a hurry at all. I wonder when his flight is leaving.

8:21am: Old man taps me on my back and shows me a woman trying to buy ticket from the same machine. Makes his point very clear that he wasn’t wasting anyone’s time, the machine is actually at fault. I calmly node in agreement

8:22am: We (myself, old man and wife) get our tickets and now we wait for the train.

“What language did you converse in earlier on?”

“French” …. “But we are NOT French”

“Oh, so you are Canadians ehh”

“Oh, no no, not at all. We are Swiss.”

It is that oh my God, I am so sorry moment. I can’t do much but just deflect my embarrassment by asking some other question…one of my favorite … “So you must know German as well”

“Man nodes, in pride. Naturlisch, Ich kann ja Deutwesch” (Offcourse, I speak German)

“Na ja, schweiz Deutch oder Hoch”(oh well, Swiss German or High-German)

He looks at me surprised and amused and leans back a little and proudly say “Bidas” (Both)

He mentions how he speaks a lot languages, how he is headed to Vegas for the weekend and so on.

8:23am

Train approaches and I ask, “Soll ich mit dem gepack hilfen?” (Should I help you with the bags)

Perhaps I should have said “Darf Ich?” (May I) or “Lass mich hilfen” (allow me to help you)

Anyways, he respectfully denies help. And as the train approaches, puts a hand on my shoulder and whispers

“Wir sind schon Alt aber noch nicht so alt” and Laughs, while tapping my back

“We are already old but not so old”

Neo

Recycle

Up until a century ago, the word didn’t even exist. Even if it did, I wonder how many were aware of its meaning. And then slowly it gained momentum. Earlier on it was a fad, crazy hippies and poets believed in recycling and rest just made fun of them. And now, let us just say masses are taking it seriously or at least trying to.

The whole concept of Recycling is based off of a fact that resources are limited and they will run out sooner rather than later. Therefore, recycle used articles in order to conserve the restricted natural resources.

I say why not apply the fundamental to our emotions. Let us recycle. Let us recycle those emotions for more than their worth to make the best out of what life has thrown at us. If in some strange philosophical way it is true that each heart has a certain number of beats assigned to it before it stops, what is to stop us from concluding that human mind is programmed only to feel a certain kind and number of emotions. Say n and then..what happens after that…

How often have you felt betrayed, cheated, annoyed, helpless, frustrated, scared, worried, beat….. and how often have you felt victorious, thrilled, charged, excited, motivated, doubtless, satisfied, contend, happy. Why not recycle our emotions for more than what they are worth. I know you can’t make a premium bond paper out of a trash of newspaper material. However, shouldn’t it be possible to go from frustration to calm, from neutral to contend and from emptiness to a smile?

Why don’t we recycle? Why can’t we recycle?

Neo

In Retrospect ...

“Dude, I learned Corp Finance in retrospect. Straining my brains to recollect what Professor Shockley said or what gestures did he use to elaborate this.”

“Yup, it used to be great back when I was working for you guys.”

“It was just the last week; we sat out here on the cool breeze starring at the Pacific.”

There are hundred more of such sentences that I’ve said and perhaps thousand more that I haven’t in the past few days. Sometimes I get a feeling that my life might be going from best to worse as I only tend to come across things that aren’t wee bit less desirable than the ones I passed.

Or, my life is at a pace where I only tend to truly appreciate things in the rear-view mirror and while I’m at it, new things are just passing me by.

Or, I guess my life is just same old plain vanilla and only when I relive it through selective memories, I pep it up with some chocolate sauce, orange flavored wafer-sticks laid out on silverware

Or, something wrong with my wiring up in my head. Wherein, I’m addicted, every now and then to escape from my present I stray off into wishful past where I can manipulate things a little or maybe more.

A perceptive friend brought it to my attention that I need to stop feeling too sorry for myself, suck it up and get a move on. I quickly swallowed rest of my wishful memories and stories, quickly agreed with my friend and thanked my friend for the advice.

I truly appreciate the advice…..in retrospect.

But I really want to fix (if something is wrong), won’t I need to go back in the past to find the root of it?

Neo

Sprinklers

These tiny little nozzles that spring out of the ground at their preset times and circle around sprinkling water to maintain the greens, continue to amuse me.

I’ve passed them on the side of the walkway while running in the morning and enjoyed whatever little cool sprinkling of water-drops they had to offer. There have been times where I’ve walked out well dressed for an occasion and dodged them to keep my clothes dry.

At night or early morning, depending on how you perceive it – I’ve stumbled on them. Just the other night walking back from some place, wobbly, tipsy, floating through the walkway as I was making it back home, I just stood and starred at them in the background of tiny night-lamps that lid my way back home.

How I perceived these sprinklers just like the ones in my mind, sprinkling controlled drops of memories every now and then in my head. How those sprinkles had different impact on myself. Sometimes I enjoyed and embraced them, how sometimes I dodged the bitter memories and how I just stood there amused caressing some beautiful letdowns, how I cherished those butterflies in my stomach.

Except for those sprinklers have a schedule and ones in my mind, I’ve no control over.

Neo

Story So Far …

It wasn’t the long goodbye as I arrived at the Mumbai International Airport, only to find out that a bunch of Gujjus (and I meant at least a few hundreds) have come to see their five friends off. Gate ‘C’ of the international airport was more crowded than Dadar station platform (A local-train station in Mumbai) in the anticipation of Virar local.

Mom, dad, brother and my brother’s closest friend made their way to the airport and I didn’t have space, time or the peace of mind to talk to them before getting on the flight. I couldn’t help but remember the last time I left India for Germany, when my mom’s eyes were moist as I hugged her, dad with his ‘take care of yourself Son’ pat on the back and brother overjoyed as there will be no Big Brother around… at least I had the time to soak all of this in. This time around was the most hurried and stressful Goodbye. And I fear it will be some time before I see them again…

Silver-lining was that all my baggage got through without any additional charged and I came out see my folks for one more time. My joy and peace somehow reflected in their smiles as well. And once those glass doors automatically shut, I turned around and doubled up towards immigration counters.

After all the formalities, I found myself sitting in the cramped window seat of the Air France flight to Paris, the same one I must have taken a few years back to reach Germany. I tried but I couldn’t be as psyched as I would have liked to be.


..Morning touchdown at Charles D’Gaule Airport and I didn’t find myself stunned with the magnitude of the airport or amused by the French beauty. I walked around all over the airport while waiting for my connection to Boston. I realized that until Europe it was a familiar territory, beyond this point every inch of the space, ground and society was alien, was foreign. As my flight to Boston took off, the blinker started showing flight route over the Atlantic Ocean and my mind wondered in the exact opposite direction… Berlin, Blackforest, Mumbai, Hyderabad, B’lore, New Delhi.
It was a long and boring flight but eventually we saw the Boston skyline. I felt excited for a second as we descended over the by towards Logan international airport.
I had pictured this very moment in many different ways in my mind. I had thought of making it to the land of opportunities, making something out of myself, starting afresh, making it big and so on. However, all of these thoughts and feelings of excitement had abandoned me and all I was concerned was get my luggage, clear the customs and make it to the last connection. A week later I still think about it and feel, it is one of those brief moments in life that offer you more thrill as you wait behind the curtains rather than being at the front line of it.

After three flights, two bus rides and a cab ride, I finally made it to Z-1, Fountain Park – my new home.

Scattered furniture, stinking house, two strangers occupying it as stop gap arrangement, dusty and dirty room, toilet dirtier than public facilities greeted me with door flung open. Aakarsh walking up in his bermudas, with a widest smile on his face, promise of beer in his smile and joy of meeting a friend saved the day for me at the end of 35 hours journey.

Neo

Incidental

Downing the last sip of beer, Alan assured me; “Brotha, an airhostess, a model and a doctor. I will date them. And who knows when one might find their kind.”

“Air hostess?,Oh God Me Too. Why not. But, isn’t that being over ambitious even for you ?” – I said as I chugged the beer.

Kept the change back in my pocket, gulped a big one down and tried listening to what my friend was shouting in my ears. Drowning music, tiny smoke clouds floating over and lack of space and partner to dance… and I felt for n-th time, ‘Oh Yes, same old 10D. I might as well be listening to ‘Lemmon Tree’ – nothing ever happens.’

However, that evening went by a bit differently. Quite spontaneously but strangely I danced with her. After a while when we extended hands to formal introduce each other, it was only matter of putting two and two together for me to figure out that she is the Flight Attendant. Deductive logic used for some other discussion but here I was shaking legs to deafening music at a local club with her.

Now, from a spy to a postman, from an astronaut to a clerk, from a painter to a judge all are potential great human beings but share different Professions and hence share a different aura. And owing to Alan’s conversation, it felt reasonable to be thrilled about profession of the person I had just met.

There are a few times when you feel and act much younger than you are. You ought to remember those.

For what it’s worth, sitting on the pavement - drunk and hearing the personalized fasten your seat belts announcement was unique and will bring smile every time board flight.

It was only a while later at an after-party that I learned that she was also an interesting person that I would have like to meet again.

Neo

Keine Pause !

She is putting on the make up. Mascara, lip gloss and the pink lipstick, some gloss on the cheek and now come out the heart shaped danglers for her ear. Her hair tied back and nails painted pink, she reaches deep inside her bag and pulls out a costume and wig. It is a nurse’s costume and a red wig.

No it isn’t my one of my sex fantasies; she is getting dressed – front of my eyes, right across the aisle, here in a train bound to Karlsruhe, Germany.
Not the thing that was on top of my mind when I woke up two days back but hey I’m not complaining.

A couple of days back, minutes away from my 26th birthday I walked anonymously in the crowd, nursing myself and my drink as well. Come 12 O’clock nothing changed but I got a year older. Boom.

Made my way back to my apartment and passed out. Birth days have a way of making you feel special but old. I think the price is well paid. Made it to work, dressed in a shirt my friends bought me and hashed out plans to watch Iron Man 2 and make it in time for happy hours at TGIF. Turn of events (which I shall not delve in to) at work just bolstered the idea of having fun as soon and as much as I could.

Got hammered at TGIF, cruised to a theatre to watch Iron Man 2 and then back home to
drink some more and pack. I had a flight to catch in about 3 hours for Germany.
Roomie came down to see me off, offered that I should take one of his jackets and I obliged. Made it to the airport and found out that some of colleagues were travelling on the same flight. Well, it is always nice to see people you know and that too unexpectedly but there are times when you just want to be by yourself. At least I’d though about thinking something and the thought of not able to do that thinking was annoying me.

A lot ran through my mind, a year back I was outside the gates, seeing some one off on the same flight, the promise to board the same flight in a year, now boarding the same flight but for a different destination, touching down in Frankfurt and then making my way to Black Forest, to my friends and host family, watching the sunset from that glass roof of mine, beer binging, football and jogging in the forest, and enjoying German bread and cheese. Sunk in nostalgia, I downed my drink on board EK525 and tried getting as much sleep as I could enroute Dubai.

After bidding adieu to folks from my organization, I was truly by myself and kicked, because when those monster wheels come out for the second time from the belly of the Boeing, I would be where I really want to be. Deutschland.

After two plastic meals, three beers and 7 hours in the back of the flight between two hefty Germans, I was more than kicked to get rolling. I got through immigration control, took a shuttle to the train station and I was off to Wiesbaden. When the train got in, I wasn’t sure if she would be able to make it to pick me up. But she did. She was there, in a black jacket, short hair, excited, searching for me.

Meike, I had met her four years back in Germany and then a few years back in India. We were in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai at the same time but interestingly, we only managed to meet in Mumbai. I’m sure none thought of when we would meet next. What was so great about meeting again was that a lot has changed in and around but it was still very exciting to see her.

We spent the evening sitting on the balcony sipping German beer and catching up about what had passed by in the last year and a half. As the German summer draws closer evenings are stretched longer. It is simply priceless to enjoy the evening glow that normally lasts for half an hour, experience it stretch over a couple of hours. In a short while, evening gave way to cloudless night and led us to local pubs for some drinks and night life.

Like a kid in the sports shop, I wanted to see and experience as much as I could in as little time as I could. Eventually, we made our way back home by midnight.
And after two days of travelling, partying, absorbing, I finally took a pause.
Saying Goodbye to her this morning was equally dramatic, the train door closing automatically and both of struggling to keep it open so long as the wheels started rolling. Something inside you just shrinks and twists, when you say Goodbye without knowing when you shall meet the people you love again. It was the same feeling inside me.

Soon a few other swirling thoughts took over as the wheels started rolling. In addition to watching the mascara, lipstick, costume and wig come out, I was thinking of meeting my host family. And my mind was travelling faster to the destination than the fast paced Deutsche Bahn.