Munich Vijayam !!!
Fore word
This narration is purely non fictitious, based on a real life incident (in the capacity of how I have lived it), and it is absolutely written form my perspective, my judgements and about my own feelings, so there is nothing right or wrong about it, in a word it is an opinion in my prerogative to express, with no intentions of hurting or pleasing anyone. This is truth as seen form Vani’s eyes. If any one has a difference in opinion, well go ahead and have one, every one deserves to have an opinion, isn’t it. If I have hurt any one, of course unintentionally, through these expressions, I thoroughly regret for my words. One might find words borrowed from other languages like Tamil, Hindi and German, not due to the insufficiency of words in English, but just to retain the authenticity of thoughts and expressions. Hope you have fun reading through as much I have enjoyed typing it.
The IDEÁ
Some fine day mmm…around the second week of September, my mobile screamed with Sundars’ name on its face, nothing important...we were just discussing trivialities as usual and he just prompted if it would be good idea to got to October fest in the third week of September, he asked me to talk with Paul and let him know, if both of us have the time for such a trip. Actually, Paul and me had already discussed this issue some time ago but I wasn’t even remotely interested…for various reasons though, not for the lack of interest but also for the lack of funds at that part of time….
But then….no plan could be made and disposed in style as Sundar does it I believe. So with Sundar on the drivers seat one could never put down or runaway from an offer, especially if he is initiating it…And as the saying goes, one thing leads to another…
The PLAN
After continuous summoning and due to severe lack of time, Mr.Sundaravelu Chengalvarayan Mitarbeiter of Nokia Groups, asked me to do the planning, since we were expecting to be a group of five, initially, we thought that taking a mitfahrer would be the best thing to do, when I mean best I mean grossly on monetary basis…soft on purse…well, comfort isn’t a student thing isn’t it?. It is only economy that matters.Since we were hunting for mitfahrer at the eleventh hour, it was seemingly impossible to find one, especially when we had “specifications”, yes we were looking for mitfahrer for three of us form Bremen or any where around.
Here I would want to introduce one famous personality, it is “namma DUDE alias Sam” avargal, doing masters in bio technology in a university in Bremen, yet another very sweet Tamil gal, (well here when I said “yet another ” one might wonder who is the first one, well no doubt, myself he he). Got introduced to her through namma Sridhar avargal (anbudan: Mr. Thirunelveli, Mohan etc. etc….)
We made calls after calls just hoping to catch hold of one mitfahrer, disproving my Student-Economy hypothesis. We thought and thought but still the wonder grew how such a small problem could carry all that we didn’t know (if this sentence made any sense, courtesy John Milton). Alas, we had reached the point where we had just exhausted our mitfahrer list we had, but in the process of working together from various cities of Germany (Dortmund, Köln, Emden also Bremen), over the phone (technology has improved very much), it struck to us that if we travelling in a group of five Deutsche bahn could be the best and the cheapest option, so we came with the idea that it is only 4 state group tickets that it would take for a group of 5 Desis (for the sake of economy) to reach “Munich Maanagaram”.
Now that we knew how to leave, it was up to our comforts to decide when to leave, the fact that we studied in various universities left us with diverse schedules (really doesn’t help when one is planning “together”), and each one of us were occupied with different issues, of course me and Paul being exceptions (some people are “vetti” you know, well this is a versatile Tamil word meaning “inert” or “jobless” or “idle”, well versatile that it is, it could mean a lot of things depending upon the context). So, namma Dude had some lectures, appointments, lab engagements and so we had palnned to leave to Köln on the 21st of September which was a Thursday from around 12.40 from Emden Bhanhof, and Dude was suppose to reach Emden around this time, so we took a NRW group state ticket and left for Köln.
Thirunelveli also had some appointment with his professor around 4 o clock in the evening, which left us with only some 8 to 9 hours to travel for that day with the state tickets, and this meant that if we would start that late from Köln that evening after 4 o clock we would have to break our journey some where in Hessen in the middle of the same night, half way through Hessen, and this also meant that we would have to take another Hessen ticket to continue the journey next day i.e., the Friday and the state ticket on the weekdays are only valid after 9 o clock….(if one doesn’t understand what last few sentences mean: ) this means a lot of confusion and trouble for people involved in planning.
20th September
We made calls after calls just hoping to catch hold of one mitfahrer, disproving my Student-Economy hypothesis. We thought and thought but still the wonder grew how such a small problem could carry all that we didn’t know (if this sentence made any sense, courtesy John Milton). Alas, we had reached the point where we had just exhausted our mitfahrer list we had, but in the process of working together from various cities of Germany (Dortmund, Köln, Emden also Bremen), over the phone (technology has improved very much), it struck to us that if we travelling in a group of five Deutsche bahn could be the best and the cheapest option, so we came with the idea that it is only 4 state group tickets that it would take for a group of 5 Desis (for the sake of economy) to reach “Munich Maanagaram”.
Now that we knew how to leave, it was up to our comforts to decide when to leave, the fact that we studied in various universities left us with diverse schedules (really doesn’t help when one is planning “together”), and each one of us were occupied with different issues, of course me and Paul being exceptions (some people are “vetti” you know, well this is a versatile Tamil word meaning “inert” or “jobless” or “idle”, well versatile that it is, it could mean a lot of things depending upon the context). So, namma Dude had some lectures, appointments, lab engagements and so we had palnned to leave to Köln on the 21st of September which was a Thursday from around 12.40 from Emden Bhanhof, and Dude was suppose to reach Emden around this time, so we took a NRW group state ticket and left for Köln.
Thirunelveli also had some appointment with his professor around 4 o clock in the evening, which left us with only some 8 to 9 hours to travel for that day with the state tickets, and this meant that if we would start that late from Köln that evening after 4 o clock we would have to break our journey some where in Hessen in the middle of the same night, half way through Hessen, and this also meant that we would have to take another Hessen ticket to continue the journey next day i.e., the Friday and the state ticket on the weekdays are only valid after 9 o clock….(if one doesn’t understand what last few sentences mean: ) this means a lot of confusion and trouble for people involved in planning.
20th September
Since, Sundar had a really tight schedule on the 19th and 20th, he really couldn’t take time off to look for the connections in the bahn. I spent my whole day at my school, with Sundar giving instructions, in front of the internet hunting for plans form DB that would fit all the above mentioned….and almost impossible specifications, then we concluded that it is almost impossible with so many commitments to leave to Munich on Thursday, cause even if we attempted to, it only seemed that it will be resource consuming….
So, we (Sundar and the rest of the team), concluded that the three of us (Dude, Paul and me) from Niedersachsen would reach Köln on the 21st to join Sundar and Sridhar; and then on the following day all of us would take train to Munich.
The MISSION
KÖLN Vijayam
I had got up in the morning; I had already made preparations for some food to munch on the way to Köln from Lidl the previous day. It was a bright day, quiet warm and pleasant, we were waiting for dude in Emden Hbf, around 12.30, it was the first time I was going to meet her, and there she arrived all perplexed, in Emden, wondering how we would achieve the mission. Initial exchanges of hallo and a small warm hug and then our next train to Münster was waiting in platform one in Emden…and then so we ran to the next train and Paul joined us a few minutes later in the train. So we were off to Münster, from where we had to take another RE to Dortmund to meet Sundar and since we had the whole day with us we planned that we would see Wuppertal, while Sridhar was busy with his appointment with his professor.
On the way to Münster dude and Paul had serious discussions about the German economy and tax, making comparison how the Indian counterpart is performing in the same fields. Dude had serious allegations against Germany’s Tax rules. They discussed, oh may be discussed is too light a word for all the efforts they made, not that economy or tax was one of their primary interest , neither of them were Economist nor Taxmongers; it seemed as if they weren’t obsessed with the conversation qua conversation, but instead like they were grappling with the critical issues of the day, but only the fact that they had nothing else to chew, and anyways what could two strangers who had met just hours ago argue about…., mundane topics of day to day life or any thing that spontaneously pops up during that particular moment may be, and I guess that’s what they were doing!! I tried to venture, initially into their argument but very soon kind of lost interest and rather became a passive participant….just listening to their conversations as my thoughts drifted me slowly into other big and small contemplations.
We changed in Münster, with Sundar messaging us every now and then according to the train travel plan. He had his own system of messaging like some kind of code, one missed call would mean one thing and two missed calls would mean another, had he been born some centuries ago he would have had a coding technique named behind him, for sure. Like Morse’s Code or Hammurabi’s Code there would have also been a Sundar’s Code, esoteric indeed, decipherable only by a privileged few. People, not to be surprised if one such code is on the way.
After a couple of “Umsteigen” (as the Germans call it), we reached Dortmund through Essen. Not to forget, since it was Ganesh Chathurthi on that day, we got to see quiet some Desi crowd in the Essen Bahnhof, all dressed up for some Procession due on that day. Could anyone wonder how eventful can an event (such as our trip) could get, well in Essen I received a “interview call” from,…guess from where….in München, it was an internship offer, the Boss said that we could meet up on Saturday over a Coffee (An Interview over a Coffee uhm (sigh), call it a “Date” I say, P.S: Depending if the Boss is good looking or not, lolz) wherein we could discuss further; strange coincidence, destiny, karma, whatever one calls it. Reached Dortmund around 16 o clock (also as Germans say it), had to wait for sundar for a couple of minutes and then as soon as he arrived had to run for the next train to Wuppertal, cause there was only one connection every hour.
Wuppertal, as the name suggests is a valley-city, vested with idyllic landscape and romantic views, one could feel something poetic about the city as one travels through the Schwebe Bahn (hold it people it only means a hanging winch) which connects the whole city; running through river, bisecting the view on the either side through the windows in the winch. What could be confusing is which side to concentrate and which one to leave, all directions being a fairy tale picture. A trip in the hanging winch and some photo sessions in the place of halt was all that we managed to accomplish, as night started falling we planned to leave to Köln, to meet Appointment-Sridhar (yeppa paarthaalum thesis, appointment nu asingama*!!!)
We were in Köln almost around 8 o clock in the evening, the Dome loomed at us as walked out of Köln’s Bahnhof (which is apparently claimed to be the most beautiful bahnhof in Germany at the mercy of the Dome), we sat in the flight of stairs in front of the dome, once again capturing the moments with our cameras, (bless this machine and the man who invented it - God bless the camera and its inventor and every one else in this world), Sridhar breezed himself into the group and joined us for a small photo session. Then we left to Sridhar’s room, as Sridhar narrated of his commitments the day after, yes Mr. Thirunelvei had another appointment the following day around 8 o clock, and our plan was that we would leave around 9.10 from Köln to Siegen, but he suggested that we should leave to Bahnhof on time and that he would finish the meeting and join us at the Bahnhof, on time (andha “on time” uh note pannungappa*)!!!! Well what happened the following day was history….
At Sridhar’s place, that night, Sundar made some yummy food, chicken curry with rice as dude and Paul talked over a wine, a fabulous conversation which rendered us difficult to eat, a lot of wine over the food spells “fun” isn’t it…so much of laughter that we had to give up eating. After the dinner we went over for a small stroll in the streets of Köln, as Dude beckoned the fellows for a “perfume”, and manifested that “A perfume bottle” is what would make an ideal gift on her birthday. Then we returned home, called it a day!
The Day
It was the 22nd, the day – our trysts with destiny (well people, if you are looking for an example sentence for an exaggeration you can re-borrow this already-borrowed expression)!!! I was the first one to wake up, had no options....girl syndrome, girls need time; and then dude followed and then of course boys, then had to run for the bus, some how managed on time then an U-bhan, then we hit the Bahnhof, we made it on time for the train at 9.10 to Siegen but Mr. Thirunelveli was not there yet!!!
Well well, Sridhar did arrive but only some 50 minutes too early for the same train one hour later. So this meant change of plans and all the time spent the previous day for the plan was in vain, and unfortunately this time we were at the mercy of the ticket automat and Deutsche Bahn information centre, there was a long queue, we waited and our turn came, we had to make sure that our next connections also required only 3 state tickets but hell with the people working in DB, only discovered that the local geography of the DB staffs sucked, they only gave us wrong information, we had barely 40minutes for the next train, tension was rising, we had a lot to think about, meanwhile Paul and Dude, who had no idea of what was going on (so now you know why ignorance is bliss), were busy visiting Kölner Dome again for another shooting session.
Then we decided that we would take the next train to Siegen, no matter how it goes and we should decide the rest of the journey on our way to Siegen. Thus we were digging the ticket machine, but we could only buy the NRW and Bayern State ticket, and on enquiry we found that the state Hessen enjoys a special privilege and its state tickets could be bought only in the train. For all these tamashaas and running around it was almost time for the next train so we hurried to platform and finally boarded the train.
In the train we enquired the Ticket Controller, he assured that this train only travel through the state of Hessen, with a sigh of relief we continued to travel and changed our destination to Gießen which was the final destination of the train. We also the bought the special Hessen state ticket in the train, but, trust me, the ticket didn’t look any special. We changed in Fulda (the Place, Sridhar claimed, his lab-specimens came from) to reach Frankfurt, the train journey from Fulda to Frankfurt was breadth taking, the landscape was awesome, at least for some one who had spent almost the her entire stay in northern Deutschland where the landscape is primarily flat with no hilly features, and to add to the alluring views of the mountains and divulging rivers was the fantastic weather - consummating the picture, well actually pretty hot and sunny for late summer, around 28° C, so it was a beautiful day and a more beautiful view : to see middle Deutschland while swaying to the rhythms of the DB!
We changed in Frankfurt, the city boasts itself of tall buildings, beaming at us like ogres, the amazment being that these ogres get beamed back, owing to their size and the magnificience they manage to generate an awe within us, well after a few moments in this cosmo city we continued our journey towards Wurzburg!!! We were travelling through Bayern, as an excitement ran through my entire self, the fact that I have never travelled this south of Germany, never been beyond Frankfurt. Could sense the aroma of Bavaria in the air….. (“Inhale”) mmmmmmmhhhuuuuu, one could dance to the music in their speech (personal opinion), the heavy “Bavarishce Dialekt”- the German equivalent for (aahn I think one could guess) “Bavarian Dialect”. We were travelling listening to music, talking, and doing various other stuffs (when I mean “stuffs”…..I mean “stuffs”, just wonder how versatile some words could get, if u don’t find the right word just say “stuffs”…so felt enlightened?...ok ok lemme continue)…
We landed in Wurzburg around some time in the evening, all of us were hungry, the fact that none of us had eaten much and were on the move from morning which didn’t leave us with much time to eat, but now we were confronted with the problem of “Time and Distance” (if this reminds of all those math problems you solved under “Time and Distance” chapter when u were in School, then I am sorry…get rid of the nostalgia….), well this time the problem was that we didn’t have much time to take the next connection, because the train in which we arrived Wurzburg arrived late by 15 to 20 minutes, so didn’t have much time to catch the next one. But Sundar- (the Nallavar (the Good), the Vallavar ( the Talented), the Naalum therinjavar (the Omniscient), the seeker of small wisdoms: an eternal question box, even the trivial matters)- said that he would grab some food from the nearby shop in the station and run back as quick as possible and that we should wait for him in the platform for the next connection, some agreed (the ones with Big appetite, names avoided for personal reasons he he ) and some didn’t (the ones with not so big hunger but rather time conscious, may be) and the remaining remained inert (may be were doubtful, they couldn’t speculate I guess).
Now that one is aware of the Problem…thus goes the question: With only some five minutes in hand…how much time will Sundar take to go to the nearest eating place in Wurzburg Station (which we had no idea in that moment how far or how close), if Sundar ran at the speed of……well, as fast as he could and then come back to the same platform to catch the train with us to Treuchtlingen. Brushing up your elementary math eh…however, still difficult to solve isn’t it? (If any one manages to find an answer, then you are a genius, but not as much as Sundar of course).
The answer to the above question is that:
Solution: Sundar would arrive one minute too late for the train, just to see the train leave right in front of his eyes (of course with some food in his hands, well this is totally irrelevant to the current situation). You think problem is solved but our Sundar thought otherwise, he looked devastated, cause this means change of plans and he had to inform the people in München also about the change. I couldn’t empathize with Sundar, if we miss one train there will be another, (Train, bus aur ladkiya………har 15 minutes ke baad ek aur aathey hain, agar jyaadha traffic na ho tho*: this is a Dialogue form a Bollywood Movie), for that reason no one could empathize with Sundar I guess, some were hungry some were merely not bothered to be upset. "Sundar juzz cool it man", were the kind of words which one could hear for next few minutes as Sundar sat sullen and sunken in the stairs of the platform. Finally, managed to get him back on track, then we checked out for the next train which was exactly an hour later, so we could use this time for hogging some food, there was no Mc.D close by so we went to have a Döner in the nearby Döner place, from where we could see one BIG office of E.ON, the company which finally accepted me, the one which got deceived okee okee these stories in some other blog….
Sundar didn’t want a Döner, so we said we would walk to the nearest Mc.D, but the NALLAVAR said that we could eat Döner so that we don’t get too far away from the station. And some how 45 minutes elapsed, munching, drinking and giggling away, we barely had 15 minutes, when the NALLAVAR (the GURU of Reverse Psychology: he always says yes to know and no to yes, the Saathapan: “Saathu!!! Saathu*!!!”, the Solo King : “Yenna oru solo yeden*”, the Plan maker : “This is the print out for that plan”), out of nowhere, wanted to go Mc.D, when there was hardly any time to run up till Mc.D, but we only had to say : FORGET IT!!!! SO he hogged on the half left Döner from Sridhar….reluctant to remain silent, but he had no choice, I guess.
After the gastronomical refuelling, the bunch of people felt revitalised, which was obvious form the obstreperous evening which ensued. The group of five became extremely noisy and full of life as it reached Treuchtlingen, partly because of food and partly because of the fact that we were getting closer to our destination. So noisy that we could have been alleged for being a public nuisance, cause we were blaring at the top our voices, as though wanting to bring the roof down. The noisy team reached Treuctlingen, and this was our last “Umsteigen”/ “Change”, so the famous five boarded their final train towards their destination, as excitement began to bank in each of us, we sang, we played, we spoke, we teased, we laughed , we made noise, in a nut shell we had “fun” – cherishing moments I would say………all our way to München, we even played Dumb charades, and our Sundar gave a live demo to what could be called a “Kummi”- a traditional folk dance of Tamil Nadu, actually an attempt to explain one of Sam’s numerous questions or rather doubts in Tamil language (these many questions she had, I presume, were primarily a result of ignorance more than interest!!!). Oh my god, one needs one million eyes to witness a performance of this calibre; am happy that I was among the fortunate few, it was such a treat, WoooooW. People, applause to our Vallavar- Sundar!!!!!
Javed called us as we were arriving in München, informing that they will be in the München Hbf on time, and as we landed could already witness glimpses of the merry making for the Oktoberfest, as men and women were dressed in their traditional costumes mostly partially and totally drunk. The most awaited moment came, we had landed- the group had set their foot in the city of Munich, cleansing the city of its sins (actually we needed some cleansing ourselves after travelling the whole day, before we could cleanse the city), but honestly, it seemed that the city only got a little more dirty on our arrival he he he...
It wasn’t really difficult for the five tired Desis to spot the three (not so tired Desis) waiting for us in the Bahnhof. In the Bahnhof was Javed - the Tamilar thalaivar*, Raji also another Tamil Gal, last but no ways the least our “Sandheep Mon” form Kottayaam –the Kottayam Express, the seeker of bigger knowledge, the epitome of substance, the exemplar of PhD (I really wonder if I will be ever forgiven on my dooms day for lies of such merit). After the initial exchange of hallos and handshakes, we were left to decide what we would do next, to go around or to eat (at Javed’s place), mans primitive instincts (for the search of food) won again, so Javed’s Room was “the destination-next”.
So, we (Sundar and the rest of the team), concluded that the three of us (Dude, Paul and me) from Niedersachsen would reach Köln on the 21st to join Sundar and Sridhar; and then on the following day all of us would take train to Munich.
The MISSION
KÖLN Vijayam
I had got up in the morning; I had already made preparations for some food to munch on the way to Köln from Lidl the previous day. It was a bright day, quiet warm and pleasant, we were waiting for dude in Emden Hbf, around 12.30, it was the first time I was going to meet her, and there she arrived all perplexed, in Emden, wondering how we would achieve the mission. Initial exchanges of hallo and a small warm hug and then our next train to Münster was waiting in platform one in Emden…and then so we ran to the next train and Paul joined us a few minutes later in the train. So we were off to Münster, from where we had to take another RE to Dortmund to meet Sundar and since we had the whole day with us we planned that we would see Wuppertal, while Sridhar was busy with his appointment with his professor.
On the way to Münster dude and Paul had serious discussions about the German economy and tax, making comparison how the Indian counterpart is performing in the same fields. Dude had serious allegations against Germany’s Tax rules. They discussed, oh may be discussed is too light a word for all the efforts they made, not that economy or tax was one of their primary interest , neither of them were Economist nor Taxmongers; it seemed as if they weren’t obsessed with the conversation qua conversation, but instead like they were grappling with the critical issues of the day, but only the fact that they had nothing else to chew, and anyways what could two strangers who had met just hours ago argue about…., mundane topics of day to day life or any thing that spontaneously pops up during that particular moment may be, and I guess that’s what they were doing!! I tried to venture, initially into their argument but very soon kind of lost interest and rather became a passive participant….just listening to their conversations as my thoughts drifted me slowly into other big and small contemplations.
We changed in Münster, with Sundar messaging us every now and then according to the train travel plan. He had his own system of messaging like some kind of code, one missed call would mean one thing and two missed calls would mean another, had he been born some centuries ago he would have had a coding technique named behind him, for sure. Like Morse’s Code or Hammurabi’s Code there would have also been a Sundar’s Code, esoteric indeed, decipherable only by a privileged few. People, not to be surprised if one such code is on the way.
After a couple of “Umsteigen” (as the Germans call it), we reached Dortmund through Essen. Not to forget, since it was Ganesh Chathurthi on that day, we got to see quiet some Desi crowd in the Essen Bahnhof, all dressed up for some Procession due on that day. Could anyone wonder how eventful can an event (such as our trip) could get, well in Essen I received a “interview call” from,…guess from where….in München, it was an internship offer, the Boss said that we could meet up on Saturday over a Coffee (An Interview over a Coffee uhm (sigh), call it a “Date” I say, P.S: Depending if the Boss is good looking or not, lolz) wherein we could discuss further; strange coincidence, destiny, karma, whatever one calls it. Reached Dortmund around 16 o clock (also as Germans say it), had to wait for sundar for a couple of minutes and then as soon as he arrived had to run for the next train to Wuppertal, cause there was only one connection every hour.
Wuppertal, as the name suggests is a valley-city, vested with idyllic landscape and romantic views, one could feel something poetic about the city as one travels through the Schwebe Bahn (hold it people it only means a hanging winch) which connects the whole city; running through river, bisecting the view on the either side through the windows in the winch. What could be confusing is which side to concentrate and which one to leave, all directions being a fairy tale picture. A trip in the hanging winch and some photo sessions in the place of halt was all that we managed to accomplish, as night started falling we planned to leave to Köln, to meet Appointment-Sridhar (yeppa paarthaalum thesis, appointment nu asingama*!!!)
We were in Köln almost around 8 o clock in the evening, the Dome loomed at us as walked out of Köln’s Bahnhof (which is apparently claimed to be the most beautiful bahnhof in Germany at the mercy of the Dome), we sat in the flight of stairs in front of the dome, once again capturing the moments with our cameras, (bless this machine and the man who invented it - God bless the camera and its inventor and every one else in this world), Sridhar breezed himself into the group and joined us for a small photo session. Then we left to Sridhar’s room, as Sridhar narrated of his commitments the day after, yes Mr. Thirunelvei had another appointment the following day around 8 o clock, and our plan was that we would leave around 9.10 from Köln to Siegen, but he suggested that we should leave to Bahnhof on time and that he would finish the meeting and join us at the Bahnhof, on time (andha “on time” uh note pannungappa*)!!!! Well what happened the following day was history….
At Sridhar’s place, that night, Sundar made some yummy food, chicken curry with rice as dude and Paul talked over a wine, a fabulous conversation which rendered us difficult to eat, a lot of wine over the food spells “fun” isn’t it…so much of laughter that we had to give up eating. After the dinner we went over for a small stroll in the streets of Köln, as Dude beckoned the fellows for a “perfume”, and manifested that “A perfume bottle” is what would make an ideal gift on her birthday. Then we returned home, called it a day!
The Day
It was the 22nd, the day – our trysts with destiny (well people, if you are looking for an example sentence for an exaggeration you can re-borrow this already-borrowed expression)!!! I was the first one to wake up, had no options....girl syndrome, girls need time; and then dude followed and then of course boys, then had to run for the bus, some how managed on time then an U-bhan, then we hit the Bahnhof, we made it on time for the train at 9.10 to Siegen but Mr. Thirunelveli was not there yet!!!
Well well, Sridhar did arrive but only some 50 minutes too early for the same train one hour later. So this meant change of plans and all the time spent the previous day for the plan was in vain, and unfortunately this time we were at the mercy of the ticket automat and Deutsche Bahn information centre, there was a long queue, we waited and our turn came, we had to make sure that our next connections also required only 3 state tickets but hell with the people working in DB, only discovered that the local geography of the DB staffs sucked, they only gave us wrong information, we had barely 40minutes for the next train, tension was rising, we had a lot to think about, meanwhile Paul and Dude, who had no idea of what was going on (so now you know why ignorance is bliss), were busy visiting Kölner Dome again for another shooting session.
Then we decided that we would take the next train to Siegen, no matter how it goes and we should decide the rest of the journey on our way to Siegen. Thus we were digging the ticket machine, but we could only buy the NRW and Bayern State ticket, and on enquiry we found that the state Hessen enjoys a special privilege and its state tickets could be bought only in the train. For all these tamashaas and running around it was almost time for the next train so we hurried to platform and finally boarded the train.
In the train we enquired the Ticket Controller, he assured that this train only travel through the state of Hessen, with a sigh of relief we continued to travel and changed our destination to Gießen which was the final destination of the train. We also the bought the special Hessen state ticket in the train, but, trust me, the ticket didn’t look any special. We changed in Fulda (the Place, Sridhar claimed, his lab-specimens came from) to reach Frankfurt, the train journey from Fulda to Frankfurt was breadth taking, the landscape was awesome, at least for some one who had spent almost the her entire stay in northern Deutschland where the landscape is primarily flat with no hilly features, and to add to the alluring views of the mountains and divulging rivers was the fantastic weather - consummating the picture, well actually pretty hot and sunny for late summer, around 28° C, so it was a beautiful day and a more beautiful view : to see middle Deutschland while swaying to the rhythms of the DB!
We changed in Frankfurt, the city boasts itself of tall buildings, beaming at us like ogres, the amazment being that these ogres get beamed back, owing to their size and the magnificience they manage to generate an awe within us, well after a few moments in this cosmo city we continued our journey towards Wurzburg!!! We were travelling through Bayern, as an excitement ran through my entire self, the fact that I have never travelled this south of Germany, never been beyond Frankfurt. Could sense the aroma of Bavaria in the air….. (“Inhale”) mmmmmmmhhhuuuuu, one could dance to the music in their speech (personal opinion), the heavy “Bavarishce Dialekt”- the German equivalent for (aahn I think one could guess) “Bavarian Dialect”. We were travelling listening to music, talking, and doing various other stuffs (when I mean “stuffs”…..I mean “stuffs”, just wonder how versatile some words could get, if u don’t find the right word just say “stuffs”…so felt enlightened?...ok ok lemme continue)…
We landed in Wurzburg around some time in the evening, all of us were hungry, the fact that none of us had eaten much and were on the move from morning which didn’t leave us with much time to eat, but now we were confronted with the problem of “Time and Distance” (if this reminds of all those math problems you solved under “Time and Distance” chapter when u were in School, then I am sorry…get rid of the nostalgia….), well this time the problem was that we didn’t have much time to take the next connection, because the train in which we arrived Wurzburg arrived late by 15 to 20 minutes, so didn’t have much time to catch the next one. But Sundar- (the Nallavar (the Good), the Vallavar ( the Talented), the Naalum therinjavar (the Omniscient), the seeker of small wisdoms: an eternal question box, even the trivial matters)- said that he would grab some food from the nearby shop in the station and run back as quick as possible and that we should wait for him in the platform for the next connection, some agreed (the ones with Big appetite, names avoided for personal reasons he he ) and some didn’t (the ones with not so big hunger but rather time conscious, may be) and the remaining remained inert (may be were doubtful, they couldn’t speculate I guess).
Now that one is aware of the Problem…thus goes the question: With only some five minutes in hand…how much time will Sundar take to go to the nearest eating place in Wurzburg Station (which we had no idea in that moment how far or how close), if Sundar ran at the speed of……well, as fast as he could and then come back to the same platform to catch the train with us to Treuchtlingen. Brushing up your elementary math eh…however, still difficult to solve isn’t it? (If any one manages to find an answer, then you are a genius, but not as much as Sundar of course).
The answer to the above question is that:
Solution: Sundar would arrive one minute too late for the train, just to see the train leave right in front of his eyes (of course with some food in his hands, well this is totally irrelevant to the current situation). You think problem is solved but our Sundar thought otherwise, he looked devastated, cause this means change of plans and he had to inform the people in München also about the change. I couldn’t empathize with Sundar, if we miss one train there will be another, (Train, bus aur ladkiya………har 15 minutes ke baad ek aur aathey hain, agar jyaadha traffic na ho tho*: this is a Dialogue form a Bollywood Movie), for that reason no one could empathize with Sundar I guess, some were hungry some were merely not bothered to be upset. "Sundar juzz cool it man", were the kind of words which one could hear for next few minutes as Sundar sat sullen and sunken in the stairs of the platform. Finally, managed to get him back on track, then we checked out for the next train which was exactly an hour later, so we could use this time for hogging some food, there was no Mc.D close by so we went to have a Döner in the nearby Döner place, from where we could see one BIG office of E.ON, the company which finally accepted me, the one which got deceived okee okee these stories in some other blog….
Sundar didn’t want a Döner, so we said we would walk to the nearest Mc.D, but the NALLAVAR said that we could eat Döner so that we don’t get too far away from the station. And some how 45 minutes elapsed, munching, drinking and giggling away, we barely had 15 minutes, when the NALLAVAR (the GURU of Reverse Psychology: he always says yes to know and no to yes, the Saathapan: “Saathu!!! Saathu*!!!”, the Solo King : “Yenna oru solo yeden*”, the Plan maker : “This is the print out for that plan”), out of nowhere, wanted to go Mc.D, when there was hardly any time to run up till Mc.D, but we only had to say : FORGET IT!!!! SO he hogged on the half left Döner from Sridhar….reluctant to remain silent, but he had no choice, I guess.
After the gastronomical refuelling, the bunch of people felt revitalised, which was obvious form the obstreperous evening which ensued. The group of five became extremely noisy and full of life as it reached Treuchtlingen, partly because of food and partly because of the fact that we were getting closer to our destination. So noisy that we could have been alleged for being a public nuisance, cause we were blaring at the top our voices, as though wanting to bring the roof down. The noisy team reached Treuctlingen, and this was our last “Umsteigen”/ “Change”, so the famous five boarded their final train towards their destination, as excitement began to bank in each of us, we sang, we played, we spoke, we teased, we laughed , we made noise, in a nut shell we had “fun” – cherishing moments I would say………all our way to München, we even played Dumb charades, and our Sundar gave a live demo to what could be called a “Kummi”- a traditional folk dance of Tamil Nadu, actually an attempt to explain one of Sam’s numerous questions or rather doubts in Tamil language (these many questions she had, I presume, were primarily a result of ignorance more than interest!!!). Oh my god, one needs one million eyes to witness a performance of this calibre; am happy that I was among the fortunate few, it was such a treat, WoooooW. People, applause to our Vallavar- Sundar!!!!!
Javed called us as we were arriving in München, informing that they will be in the München Hbf on time, and as we landed could already witness glimpses of the merry making for the Oktoberfest, as men and women were dressed in their traditional costumes mostly partially and totally drunk. The most awaited moment came, we had landed- the group had set their foot in the city of Munich, cleansing the city of its sins (actually we needed some cleansing ourselves after travelling the whole day, before we could cleanse the city), but honestly, it seemed that the city only got a little more dirty on our arrival he he he...
It wasn’t really difficult for the five tired Desis to spot the three (not so tired Desis) waiting for us in the Bahnhof. In the Bahnhof was Javed - the Tamilar thalaivar*, Raji also another Tamil Gal, last but no ways the least our “Sandheep Mon” form Kottayaam –the Kottayam Express, the seeker of bigger knowledge, the epitome of substance, the exemplar of PhD (I really wonder if I will be ever forgiven on my dooms day for lies of such merit). After the initial exchange of hallos and handshakes, we were left to decide what we would do next, to go around or to eat (at Javed’s place), mans primitive instincts (for the search of food) won again, so Javed’s Room was “the destination-next”.
Never had an idea that Javed was such a culinary expert, untill his chicken curry hit our taste buds (well, am sure, the group who hogged would agree with me!!), some palatable food, and then we sat for a small round of talk; the group of five strangers now a group of eight strangers. Well, what is interesting is the behaviour of a group of strangers, it could be a topic of research for a Psychology student, not all of us were strangers to each other but most of us were strangers to each other. We spoke things together for a few minutes then we would laugh and then there would be a dead silence for few minutes in between these laughters and discussions with each of us staring at each other, wondering how and who would start the next conversation. Our Sandeep Mon spoke most of the time, at some places succeeded to express and at some places failed to impress, then our sundar also spoke, all of us took our turns to talk, but most of our jokes were aimed at Sam (poor gal but she managed- she is verbally talented as well), and our Paul seemed not so interested in the conversation, took rather interest in a toy lying around and went about fixing it, totally indifferent to the conversations. I forgot to mention something, Sridhar got baptized for a second time, courtesy Javed (Proving, on regular basis, that he is a Thalaivar), Sridhar was called Mohan, for some reason Javed presumed thats how Sridhar was called (well, I personally think Mohan also sounds good….or may be too good for Sridhar…lol)…
Then we all decided to wind up for the day, Sundar and Sridhar stayed at Javed’s Place, Dude and me were to sleep at Raji’s place, and Paul at Sandheep’s Place. As soon as we got to Raji’s Place we showered (of course seperately), little later I had a chance to taste a Bavarian dessert (courtesy Raji’s neighbour) then the three girls went to sleep.
The following day we had breakfast at Sandeep’s place, he had the patience and the virtue of making us break fast (Long live Sandeep!!!), then we left to join Javed and the rest of the crowd in the city. The plan was to see some city in the morning and then to go to the fest in the evening. So we sent sight seeing, around the city, at the mercy of Sandheep-the-guide, who enlightened us about the histories and the geographies and the things in between. We started by taking few pictures, around the city then we went for a small coffee in the morning, but I had to trouble Raji, cause I needed some help, then we just saw through that everything was fine….
Then we did some “Stadtrundfahren / travelling around the city”, we saw a palace of the king of Munich (well its all history now), then we went to Englischer Garten, a huge piece of garden in the middle of the city, so much of green in the heart of a city buzzing with commercial activities. Englischer Garten reminded me a lot of Emden’s Forest and loads of other memories that goes along with it, what was interesting was there was a river flowing through, have no idea how it is called, and the currents were swift at the beginning of a bridge, and there were some men surfing in the current, smszing I thought, while Sandheep was busy narrating the myths and legends of the place.
From Englischer Garten we went further into the city, into the “Stadt”- the City Centre, loads of crowd, there was festive mood in the air, as we walked through the streets of München, capturing memories into our senses. The Rathhaus- the Town hall (our Desi Counterpart could be The Rippon Building in Chennai, I don’t know how the town halls are called elsewhere in India) of München was FANTSTIC, its architecture, it size, its shape etc…were amazing, the pink flowers on it were looking like bouquets presented to the happy statues which lined the building. It was a beautiful sight, adding fun was the roaring crowd. Well, what could be more exciting for an Indian, living away from home who had grown up with crowd around him his entire life. Not to forget the three lucky lions in the city, if one makes a wish and touch there mouths (I guess, rather, as far as I remember) it is supposed to become true, ehm…. I didn’t make any particular wishes, but some in the group did; it is not the difference between belief and non belief but the difference between being interested and not being interested. One more thing there were loads of lions around the city, call it a pride, but of fake ones of course….statue, effigies, balloons etc….so many of them that if only München had been discovered by an Indian Maharaja few centuries ago, looking like this, he would have called the city Singapore II*.
Then we had a small (it could be called lunch) lunch at the McDonalds, which was crowded as usual, where I still remember the “say please” incident, I subjected Sandheep to , almost taking him on his nerves. Later we went to visit the Olympiad Park, another breath taking architecture but this time, a modern architecture.
Then we had a small (it could be called lunch) lunch at the McDonalds, which was crowded as usual, where I still remember the “say please” incident, I subjected Sandheep to , almost taking him on his nerves. Later we went to visit the Olympiad Park, another breath taking architecture but this time, a modern architecture.
Then we sat at a place beside the Olympiad Park, as the day got a little hotter, arguing where we should go next, every one had a plan of their own. Then it was decided that all of us go to the Bier fest, straight away.
On our way to the bier fest, sundar was narrating jokes from movies which failed to invoke laughter, a littel later when we boarded the bahn there was a small, misunderstanding kind of tiff, between Dude and Sandeep. I think one such thing is bound to happen between two people, if the group is a one with varying personalities, which we were, and with different temperaments.
There we were, in the bier fest….going around the place, reminded me of the Local trade fare in Chennai, but of course with too many obvious differences (this goes without saying), the European crowd all dressed up in traditionally attires and of course the beer tents spilling barrels and barrels of beer, and the mob waiting outside in queues to get into one of these tents. This doesn’t mean that there weren’t any Indian crowd there; there were loads of them, most of them presumably students like us or families who had settled here but could also spot few Indians who had flown from various other parts of the world for the fest. As a part of the festivities were also the traditional merry-go-rounds, and giant wheels and also modern roller coasters and water games, not to forget the variety of eat outs, selling a form of brötchen- suppose to be a speciality of the Oktober fest, well I don’t know how it is called…and also selling other forms of eatables.
We tried to cruise into one of those tents; but could manage to, so a little disappointed, Javed, Raji, Sandeep, Dude and me went for a ride on one of those roller coasters, cost us full 6 euros, some adrenaline pumping - but it was too small a ride for a miniscule of adrenaline. Having found that an entry into one of those tents was beyond possibility we left to find some other place to have a beer, it was a nice open Beer Garden, with music being played all of us had a beer, for the heck of it, and spoke and discussed and argued and talked…. (I think you got what I am trying to say)……
We tried to cruise into one of those tents; but could manage to, so a little disappointed, Javed, Raji, Sandeep, Dude and me went for a ride on one of those roller coasters, cost us full 6 euros, some adrenaline pumping - but it was too small a ride for a miniscule of adrenaline. Having found that an entry into one of those tents was beyond possibility we left to find some other place to have a beer, it was a nice open Beer Garden, with music being played all of us had a beer, for the heck of it, and spoke and discussed and argued and talked…. (I think you got what I am trying to say)……
Then we went back to our respective sleeping places, like the day before, and slept quick, we were tired of course, or at least I was and also the alcohol had an effect I think (mm though mine was a non alcoholic beer), we had to sleep because, we had to get up early in the morning to travel from the south to the north of Germany, ya the time had for München was over. So we got up as early as 4 o clock in the morning and left München bidding goodbye too the entire lovable team in München, Long live Münchenvaasis….
We returned in a different route with a Wochenende Ticket, all were tired, some due to travelling , some due less sleep, some due to more alcohol, and some due to various other reasons, we travelled through Kassel in a bus on our way back, there was a small Inscription on one of there Zug which read from the famous Folk lore of Raponzel, our Dude almost revered that the story took place in that town, mmm well it could be, who knows…or at least I did not , nevertheless Dude was sure.
Hmm, nothing more important on our way back, except the fatigue, The two Gentlemen from NRW accompanied us till Rheine, so that they could use the same ticket back to Dortmund and Köln and we proceeded to our Places with our semester tickets from Rheine. We reached home around late 8 in the evening, Dude broke at my place to leave early in the morning the next day, and I took the chance to cook them a really HOT supper that night that neither of us will forget. So ladies and gentlemen this was “our fun trip” to Munich leaving loads of cherishable memories inside our skulls, thanks to all those souls who made this event possible. People, We ROCKED!!!
P.S:
Namma = (Tamil) Our
Avargal = (Tamil) it is a suffix used after names to express Respect. (But here used to express Sarcasm! : p)
Vijayam = (Tamil) Arrival
Anbudan = (Tamil) With Love!
Thirunelveli = name of a District in Tamil Nadu in India, but apparently also Second name of Sridhar, therefore Sridhar = Thirunelveli = Mohan = etc etc …….
Dude = Sam = Samantha
Maanagaram = (Tamil) A Big City
Yeppa paarthaalum thesis appointment nu asingama = Always busy with thesis and appointments, sick! (Tamil)
Andha “on time” uh note pannungappa = please note that “on time” (Tamil)
“Saathu!!! Saathu” = the coolest way of telling SHUT UP (Tamil)
“Yenna oru solo yeden” = Please take a picture of mine (Tamil)
Tamilar Thalaivar =Leader of the Tamil Community
Münchenvaasis = the People of München (Tamil)
Ganesh Chathurthi = A Hindu Festival, towards Lord Ganesh.
Tamaashas = Madness, confusion, fun (Hindi)
Desi = An individual or any thing or style belonging to the subcontinent (Hindi),
Train, bus aur ladkiya………har 15 minutes ke baad ek aur aathey hain, agar jyaadha traffic na ho tho = Train, bus and girls will come again once every 15 minutes, but only if there are no traffic jams. (Hindi)
Singapore II = centuries ago when Raja Raja - the king form the Chola Dynasty Discovered Singapore (the group of Java and Sumatra Islands), he named it Singapore because he saws prides of Lions walking the land, “Singam” being Lions in Tamil.
Köln = Cologne, a city in Germany
Deutschland = Germany
München = Munich
Umsteigen = to change during travel (D)
Bahnhof = Railway station (D)
Hbf = Hauptbhanhof = Central Railway Station (D)
Bahn = Zug = Train (D)
U-Bhan = Underground train (D)
DB = Deutschebahn = the German Railway (D)
Wochenende= Week end
Hmm, nothing more important on our way back, except the fatigue, The two Gentlemen from NRW accompanied us till Rheine, so that they could use the same ticket back to Dortmund and Köln and we proceeded to our Places with our semester tickets from Rheine. We reached home around late 8 in the evening, Dude broke at my place to leave early in the morning the next day, and I took the chance to cook them a really HOT supper that night that neither of us will forget. So ladies and gentlemen this was “our fun trip” to Munich leaving loads of cherishable memories inside our skulls, thanks to all those souls who made this event possible. People, We ROCKED!!!
P.S:
Namma = (Tamil) Our
Avargal = (Tamil) it is a suffix used after names to express Respect. (But here used to express Sarcasm! : p)
Vijayam = (Tamil) Arrival
Anbudan = (Tamil) With Love!
Thirunelveli = name of a District in Tamil Nadu in India, but apparently also Second name of Sridhar, therefore Sridhar = Thirunelveli = Mohan = etc etc …….
Dude = Sam = Samantha
Maanagaram = (Tamil) A Big City
Yeppa paarthaalum thesis appointment nu asingama = Always busy with thesis and appointments, sick! (Tamil)
Andha “on time” uh note pannungappa = please note that “on time” (Tamil)
“Saathu!!! Saathu” = the coolest way of telling SHUT UP (Tamil)
“Yenna oru solo yeden” = Please take a picture of mine (Tamil)
Tamilar Thalaivar =Leader of the Tamil Community
Münchenvaasis = the People of München (Tamil)
Ganesh Chathurthi = A Hindu Festival, towards Lord Ganesh.
Tamaashas = Madness, confusion, fun (Hindi)
Desi = An individual or any thing or style belonging to the subcontinent (Hindi),
Train, bus aur ladkiya………har 15 minutes ke baad ek aur aathey hain, agar jyaadha traffic na ho tho = Train, bus and girls will come again once every 15 minutes, but only if there are no traffic jams. (Hindi)
Singapore II = centuries ago when Raja Raja - the king form the Chola Dynasty Discovered Singapore (the group of Java and Sumatra Islands), he named it Singapore because he saws prides of Lions walking the land, “Singam” being Lions in Tamil.
Köln = Cologne, a city in Germany
Deutschland = Germany
München = Munich
Umsteigen = to change during travel (D)
Bahnhof = Railway station (D)
Hbf = Hauptbhanhof = Central Railway Station (D)
Bahn = Zug = Train (D)
U-Bhan = Underground train (D)
DB = Deutschebahn = the German Railway (D)
Wochenende= Week end
Comments
appadiye appetu,jutees,waitesee yellam add pannunga
continue writing
regards.