travel

The times – they are achanging 10

This entry was posted in holiday personal travel on by (updated 2835 days ago)

It’s been quite some time since I posted here. I am back in India and it’s already going to be a month, since I am back. (Though I would continue updating FinnTimes). A month back, I had mentally thought about a number of things that would be different after being used to a different life for 5.5 months. Finally I am listing them down.

– Finally I would be able to drive after a gap of 5.5 months!
– I would also get leered at, something which I had gotten quite unused to.
– Finally I would be able to make some sense of the conversation happening around me (mostly).
– On the other hand, I wouldn’t be able to throw all caution to the winds and talk freely in Hindi, assuming at the time that no one else understood it.
– I would be able to get my hair cut and not burn a 115 Euro deep hole in my pocket!
– There would be some fragrances in the air (good and bad both), instead of an odourless environment.
– Finally I would be able to create a noise or generally be loud, without feeling guilty about it.
– I wouldn’t be able to go out late at night or alone :(..sigh.
– No mid night sun either 🙁
– There would be lots of home cooked food. Ok, I was cooking myself, but at least I wouldn’t have to cook for a change.
– I can not expect maps, information booklets, brochures at my beck and call at every place I visit.. sigh.
– I need to get rid of the habit of leaving things lying around in public places and expecting them to still be there when I am not looking.
– No more pets in all public transport or escalators or shops!
– Unfortunately, the short period of not seeing animals/ppl splattered on roads, comes to an end.
– I would finally spend in Rupees and reverse-condition my mind to feel happy with the Rupee to Euro conversion. Oh, 100 bucks? That’s not even 2 euros! Imagine what all I can buy within that!
– I can now get away with not following timings, not being punctual etc. :p.
– I can indulge in some late night shopping!
– I am apprehensive about tackling crowds, places and events like Pragati Maidan Trade fairs, etc.
– No more imported fruits and veggies in my diet. Mere desh kee dhartee sona ugle or ugle taazi sabji.
– Finally I can use a gas stove/grill instead of a hot plate. Ah, the joys of cooking with an instant temperature control!
– I can not expect insurance to cover every damn thing on earth, including things like damage caused by me to someone else’s property!
– I would miss saying “thank you” in multiple languages (changing quite frequently at that). I surely have had to suppress the urge to automatically utter “Kittos”.
– I can finally go to a beauty parlour without the risk of coming out eye brow less.
– I can finally watch some theatre (and understand the language) or just soak in some cultural experience.
– No more exquisite cakes, pastries, muffins, confectionary items at my beck and call :(.
– No more tracking the Euro’s progress in order to transfer money online. (This would happen only after the final umbilical cord called “submitting tax in Finland” is cut).
– No more looking out for events that the Indian community in Finland would indulge in.
– No more calculation of a 3.5 hour offset with the timezone. It’s the reverse now, actually speaking, but on a much lesser frequency.
– No more broadband :(. No more 5 hour skype calls, no more googletalk :(. Well, it’s possible here technically, but so far it’s not there in my life.
– Getting used to an English keyboard after a Finnish keyboard is BOUND to be difficult (it has been so far).
– No more globe trotting/checking out new destinations on weekends :(. Am going to be a koop mandoop (Frog in a well) now.
– No more of a relaxed lifestyle..sigh.. life is in the fast lane here.
– No more blondes in the view, no more looking out for ppl who possess Indian looks, no more trying to be friendly to such ppl, no more of “all things Indian, standing out or leaping out at me” whether in print, radio or TV.
– No more of learning Finnish, by watching sub titles on TV. I am surely gonna miss that.
– No more Finnish songs on radio :(. Sigh…
– No more sauna.
– Finally I would have some house help for cleaning, washing utensils etc.
– Now I would have to start thinking about petrol prices, after not thinking abt them all this while.
– Finally no one would assume that I am Spanish, Greek, Russian, Iranian and what not, instead of Indian!
– Onset of marriage season! Oh boy! Regular traffic jams and invitations everyday.
– Finally I would get tuned in to the Indian movie scene and media. No, it’s really futile trying it all through streaming.
– No more Euro salary 🙁
– No more BIG moon or sunset and stars at the same time in the sky. 🙁

All said and done, it’s great being back on the mother ship.


Homewards ho!

This entry was posted in personal travel on by

It’s time to say goodbye. To Helsinki, Finland which has been my home for the past 5 months. I take back with me, the most enriching experiences, not only of Finland but other places like Paris, Copenhagen, Basel, Arctic Circle, Stockholm etc. My plans for London got thwarted at the last moment due to visa problems. Unfortunately my time here has come to an end and I get back to the Delhi – Gurgaon routine soon. I will surely miss a whole lot of things including the frequent globe trotting that I have been indulging in. It’s my last week here now. On 19th November, I fly back to Delhi. Exactly 3 years back on this very date, I had landed in Tokyo and found myself amassed with a group of exactly similar looking, seemingly assembly line manufactured kind of ppl. Both my stints of working abroad have definitely given me a lot of variation not only with respect to India but also with respect to each other.

The next week shall be spent in finishing off the last bits of work for which I have been working rather late nights (hence no blogposts), and wrapping up the bits of my home here and trying to somehow stuff them into 20Kg of checkin baggage. I’ll also try to revisit the whole city one last time (especially since it looks different in christmas preparation time now), visit other cities in Finland and etch those memories into my mind. Inspite of wondering so many times in the past few months “What am I doing here in this corner of the world”, goodbyes are always difficult for me and would be this time too. I shall continue posting on FinnTimes even though I wouldn’t be here any longer. In fact for all I know I might be doing that even a year after getting back, there’s so much to write. My Paris trip, Copenhagen dash, Arctic circle stint and the Swtizerland trip would all surface there in some time. For those interested in reading about my Stockholm trip can read Cruise to Stockholm, Twilight in sunset and moonrise and A day in Gamla Stan.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye — Goodbye!
I’m glad to go, I cannot tell a lie
I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly


Of snowflakes and quick breaks

This entry was posted in holiday personal travel on by (updated 3589 days ago)

I have been powdered over. As I walk back from office, I can see white swirls all over my hair.. the whole place has that bluish tinge. The night is not black any more. It’s blue. It’s started snowing since Monday. Sigh..I am more of a summers person. I don’t get all mushy when snow falls. It’s the snow that does. I don’t get all excited seeing everything only in white, forget black & white. I need colour. If I had to see white flakes, I would just look at my own reflection in the mirror sans moisturiser. I don’t need lessons in skiing. Every day is a new lesson in the art of balance. It pays to know your own centre of gravity and of course your weight. Plus that weight of the groceries. Plus that weight on your mind. But it does feel nice to imagine that now I have the freedom to build those unearthly snowmen like Calvin. In a span of 4 months, I have seen spring, summer, rains, autumn and now snow too. Wow.

Actually speaking snow does make me feel nice and lucky also. When it reminds me of a skimpily-clad-Sonam or a baring-it-all Kimi Katkar or even a I’m-still-in-south-India ‘Chandni’ aka Sridevi, braving the snow during their respective scenes. It also gives me a sense of “making a mark”. Somehow when I walk along those deserted roads, with those swirly things dancing in my hair, I start identifying with
“tum samein kee ret par, chhodte chalo nishan, chhodte chalo nishaan;
Dekhti tumhe zameen, dekhta hai asmaan, dekhta hai asmaan”.

It’s time for some “art of balance” and hence I am off to Switzerland for a quick trip. Wish you all a happy, colourful, sparkling, joyous, prosperous, safe and if you desire – snowy – Diwali!!!


Sky watch 9

This entry was posted in travel on by (updated 2843 days ago)
When I came to Finland, the land of the midnight sun, 4 months back (yeah time sure flows by), all I could see was days and days on end, hardly ever night. The sun would be gleaming bright in our eyes beyond 10:30pm in the “night” and we would be sporting goggles. The “night” or rather a period of almost complete dimming of light (which never really resulted in a black night); in other words twilight, was barely 2 hours long from 1-3 am or so. Sleeping was a pain. Thick curtains was the only way out. Midnight in LaplandStill being the light sleeper that I am, I would wake up at 4am, 5am etc. only to discover that it was still “night”. The scientific term for this would be “white night“. It took me about a month and a half to see the nightsky at all. Civil twilight is supposed to last throughout summer in regions outside Arctic circle but above 60 degrees North. As a result, the nights are never dark and black. Whereas in India, immediately after sunset, the night takes over instantly, since the length of the twilight is heavily influenced by the lattitude. I had almost started to forget what stars in the night twinkled like. The first time I spotted a star here, which then appeared to be something bright perched on the top of a tree, it was *so* bright and twinkling, that I actually thought there was a sparking going on up there. I would regularly go out for late night walks all the time. At 12am I would set out and get a glimpse of the gradually darkening sky with its various hues. Something like that is unimaginable back home in India. Both geographically and socially. But then I had to be out. After all it was twilight.
It took me another couple of weeks, before I saw the moon out here. Again, the first time I saw it, I didn’t realise what I was looking at. It seemed to merge with the bright street lights at first. Suddenly I realised that this light had a slightly different shape and colour than the regular streetlight.By the moon and the stars and the sky Now I know why they call it a pie in the sky. The moon is BIG and with just that crescent which makes it appear as if someone has hung it out there. I could see why fairy tales depict the sun and the moon in the same frame, as if they coexist! I saw that it is exactly that way here…the sunset doesn’t exactly vanish into the black, inky darkness when the moon is already out with bright little stars. The whole sky seems to be divided into two – one having the aftereffects of a sunset, the other having a black night with a moonrise and twinkling stars.
The sun and the moon both, appear to follow slightly different paths than what we are used to (in India). The sun is never overhead. It cuts a low arc and is mostly near the horizon. Near the North pole, in fact, it is supposed to go around in a circle and never set actually (in the summers). Because of it being so close to the horizon, it’s *really* dazzling, though we are quite used to (in India), the sun being a pinkish-orange ball when it’s that close to the horizon. Again, the moon seems to oscillate up and down in the sky at least back home but not so here. It lies pretty low in the sky and never have I observed so far, the pronounced up and down oscillation (akin to a person nodding his head) in these parts of the world.
AnotherAurora Borealis phenomenon quite common around the Arctic circle is the Aurora Borealis or the Northern lights. So far, I have not been lucky enough to get a glimpse, though I have been monitoring solar activity on and off. Hopefully I shall see something when I go to the Arctic circle soon.
With time, of course the days started getting shorter (technically after the midsummer eve). About a month or so back, they reached normalcy (according to what I have been used to in India). Though, I noticed that the days were receding *quite* fast. Each day, the sunrise is about 3 minutes later and sunset, 3 minutes earlier. That would mean that on an average we are losing 6 minutes per day. That means that in a month, we would be short by 3 hours! It’s already quite weird to have a sunrise at 8:15am or so. Soon it would be as dark as night at 9am. *shudder*. I am used to seeing a bright moon in the sky at 5pm in the evening courtesy my stint in Japan, but am not used to it being dark in the mornings also. If one outstretches ones thumb and index finger to the maximum and takes them to be the length of the day and then joins them together gradually, it would depict the way the days are getting shorter and the nights are gaining in. Eventually, there would be no “day” left at the point where the thumb meets the index finger. Technically this would happen completely at the Arctic circle, not Helsinki. It seems there’re a lot of seasonal depression related ailments that happen in Scandinavian countries due to the “no light” factor. I hope to be out before the thumb meets the index finger!


A day in Gamla Stan (old town) 7

This entry was posted in holiday travel on by (updated 2841 days ago)
 
The next morning, by the time we woke up, we could see that we had already entered the archipelago of Sweden and the ship was just skirting around zillions of small little islands to reach Stockholm, the capital. After quickly freshening up, and grabbing a pizza slice yet again, we again rushed to the sun deck to catch a glimpse of the slightly different looking panorama. The buildings lookedApproaching Stockholm similar (to Finland) from a distance. As the port came closer, ppl rushed towards the exits. The cruise staff had taken pictures of everyone while entering the ship and had displayed them for ppl to make it theirs for an exhorbitant sum. Yet, we all indulged and took a copy each of the rather silly looking pictures because after all, one doesnt go to Stockholm on a cruise everyday. The large crowd did what was expected. Due to us being such a large no of ppl in the group (8), and each one being at a different location when the ship touched land, we all got separated for some time. Six of us managed to find each other outside at the Viking line terminal but two duds got so late, that we missed the bus tour which left from the terminal once a day. Eventually we took local transport (had already converted to local currency – Swedish Kronor – in Helsinki) to the city railway station. From there, we took an open top, double decker, hop on-hop off bus, the sorts that Shah Rukh Khan has crooned and kareened in, in many movies.
The open top, hop on-hop off bus
The plus point of these was that one could get off at any stop in between, visit the place and then hop on again into any of the later buses. It also had headphones for an individual audio tour in many languages, which gave a commentary about the various places being passed by. Thus, we passed by the cultural centre and Sweden house. We got down to see the famous Vasa Museum, which is a museum built around a ship. This ship was made in early 17th century and on the day of its maiden voyage, in all splendour, the ship sank, the moment it set sail (in 1628). A case of bad design it seems. The ship was salvaged in 1961 and a museum was built, after restoring the worlds only 17th century ship to what it would have looked like then. We were told that our exorbitant “hop on – hop off” bus ticket included free admission to almost all museums, but that was not the case. Thereafter the hop on – hop off bus got coined as the hop on, hop off and f**k off bus.
 
Eventually we checked out Vasa museum from outside. There was another museum nearby which we went to and then waited to hop on again, since we didnt have much time in Stockholm either. We passed by City hall, where the Nobel prize banquet is held every year, the opera and some theatres. We also passed by the open air museum (Skansen) and the amusement park – Grona Lund, where we were entitled to free rides (for sure this time). But since we didnt have time, we didn’t venture there. Next we got down at the Royal Palace, where we asked a rather stern looking guard when the “change of guard” would occur. Luckily we were just in time for that ceremony. We found some spots which provided a good view of the ceremony (yours truly being in front of a mob in full camerawoman style). The change of guard at the Royal PalaceThe “change of guard” was a typical formal, military affair and nice to watch. Immediately after the ceremony got over, the military band broke into ABBA’s “Dancing queen” much to our surprise! After the change of guard, the new guard at the entrance was a rather cute looking young chap, with whom yours truly got a picture clicked. Unfortunately he looked more like a stiff mannequin than a real human being. By the time we got free from this place, it was already past lunchtime and all of us wanted to grab some lunch. We again hopped on into the f**k off bus and got off at the stop no 9 (Sightseeing boats) and went to the Central station once more (stop 13), this time on foot. Everyone had something at Burger King with the exception of yours truly who had Thai food. After a sumptuous meal, we were barely left with just enough time to walk back to the Viking line terminal in time to board the ship on time. The hop bus would have taken a complete circle of the whole town and that would have been too late.
A narrow cobblestoned street
The best way to see a place is anyway peripatetic. So we gathered our maps and our bearings and walked our way to the ship. On the way back, we went by the narrow cobblestoned streets of Gamla Stan, saw the sparkling water all around and the various ships and tours available to the Viking village. I personally didn’t find much difference in Stockholm and Helsinki. The architecture seemed the same due to the Swedish influence in Finland. Only the signs were not bilingual but only in Swedish this time. The same brands and the same stores are in both places. I didn’t even feel as if I visited another country due to the seamless integration of EU. The only difference is that Sweden doesn’t use the Euro as its official currency, otherwise everything else seems the same. A few things reminded me of back home though. For some reason a lot of the crowd in the cruise consisted of Bangladeshis. Also, surprisingly there were tongas being used in Gamla Stan! One of my colleagues even distorted Gamla Stan to gamlistan and then to gulistan.
 

Here’s a nice bird’s eye view of Stockholm. It has overhead videos and is really like flying to that place.

After getting into the ship, once again it was some more of the sun deck The beautiful skyfollowed by some more music, dance and drinks, since it got quite cloudy instantly. There were lots of pets on board and I met a couple of them. Pendo and Jerry were two of the dogs I met. Pendo is an Alsatian, known as German Shepherd in this part of the world. The ship even had a pet’s corner. On the return trip, we had the tax free shopping to take care of. I bought loads of chocolates. We also had the karoake bar to try again. But this time again, by the time we got to the karaoke bar, the timings were already over. We went exploring the lower decks of the ship which were meant for the cars and other vehicles. Unfortunately, we were imagining them to be Taking a lift from the shipin some large yard kind of thing, but it wasnt like that. We couldn’t see anything except for endless rows of cabins. We also visited the Sauna centre and managed to take a peek in as it was closing down for the night. After partying for some part of the night, we retired slightly early as we had to get to our workplace, straight from the terminal the next day. The next morning, 8 weary travellers got off at the Viking Line terminal at Helsinki, tired, hungry and pleased.