The Other Side of Paradise

Good morning.

Although it's 11 p.m. local time, which is certainly not morning. And yes, local time is now GMT+02:00, rather than being GMT+05:30, which I have always been used to. And all this simply means that yes, my flight didn't crash or get hijacked, that I'm alive, and that home is now Stockholm. For 130 days.

A long flight brought me here yesterday afternoon, and the best part about that was that I got to see the really big Frankfurt airport. And of course the sight of Europe from a few thousand feet above is pretty spectacualr. I don't know if I loved the pollutionlessness more or the cloud castles, but I pretty much spent a lot of time gazing out of the window, even if it meant staring in the darkness...

It STILL hasn't sunk in completely that I'm actually in another country where I need to stay and study and live for so many months, but yeah, I look out of the huge window of my huge room and all I see identifiable is the rainy cloud in the sky.

Scandinavia IS beautiful. This country sometimes looks a bit like a hill-station in India, but the similarity ends at the mountainous terrain, and perhaps the current weather. You don't have these buildings and infrastructure in India. You don't have so many open spaces in India. You have FAR more people in India. I have a feeling this place can survive so well primarily because there are such few people.

About pics, I don't think cluttering this blog with them is a good idea. Maybe I'd put them on flickr or something and give a link if anybody's interested.

I've spent some time settling down, in a week everything should be ok, but the long shopping trip today was as much fun as travelling anywhere here is, in neat public transportation that takes you to non-pronouncable places! Not cooked too much yet either, but doesn't appear a tough ask. I have a couple of Indians in nearby flats too, so that's pleasing. Basically it means it's all good, and I think I'm now waiting to experience life here at the routine level.

Some things feel weird though. Or at least strange because of the unfamiliarity.

Like travelling in buses 20 feet long that arrive exactly at mentioned time schedules.

Like getting used to traffic since everything is right-handed unlike India.

Like not being able to read road signs and posters because you don't understand the language. Feels like an illiterate.

Like people wearing sweaters with minis and stilettos(nice legs, for the record!), or three half-sleeve T-shirts one above the other.

Like people making out with their girlfriend in full public view without being stared at.(Shit! that's like AWESOME fun. )

Like everybody being nearly twice your height and volume.

Like buying a banana for Indian equivalent of 20 bucks per piece.

Like meeting people who smile and say "Hej" all the time and "tack (thanks!)" every second sentence.

Anyway, should get used to it in some time. Once it sinks in that all this is real.

Things look good as such, and yes I'm having my share of fun. I love the peace, the solitude, the beauty, but I do miss home. Home as in India, IIT. And my people. Rest, everything is uncertain. But that's life right...full of uncertainties. (Heisenberg is God!) Let's see what the next morning has in store.

My mind has plenty of random thoughts, andI expect to have a lot of time too, so expect more posts frequently.

Till then, adios.