closing thoughts

Well, if you think about it, there is nothing extra that this section of the blog is going to tell u, or anything useful, for that matter of fact. But then, given that I initially set out to pen down my thoughts and impressions of these three months, we lost, regained and lost that perspective again through the cruise of this blog. It is probably fitting that this blog should come at the end of a year illustrious by my standards, and at the end of which I stand at crossroads of my life. But anyway, so much for some other day, in here I will try to sum up what I originally set out for.

I have tried to make this blog an enjoyable reading, though there is no way for me to know that (not that I care, but anyway). This covers mainly the stuff that was great for me, mainly in its uniqueness. What it so conveniently ignores is the great time we had in Munich itself. We had a wonderful fella for a flat mate, and we had great amount of fun together, even in the most mundane of acts. What I could no way have put in here, except for this blog, was those amazing (well, it did not look like it at that time :-))hours in the kitchen, with “the black album” blaring the background. There is no mention of the kind of routined mornings we had, corrected to the minute. The everyday bhasad on getting up, cramming our breakfast while listening to Reckless (Bryan Adams), and how antenna bayern became an important part of our lives, given the scarcity of English once we were out of the office. The office work itself was no less fun. I kind of looked forward to Mondays, quite against the general opinion, mainly because I got to check my mails, and correspond with people. The work in itself was not a big deal, but it never deterred the fun. The office lunches, which I just somehow was able to get past through my throat, the escapades in the cold night after smuggling Domnic’s bike out of the house, the soccer games (yes!!) at Ost Park, even the loiter about the streets, devoid of any care or worry in the world – well, now that I think of it, there is little that did not feel good.

Perhaps the best part of the entire trip was the kind of perspective it gave me, although that may not be the most appropriate word here. Not only a perspective about the world in general, about other people, other cultures, but also about the ‘other’ sex, which, I think was all a part of the learning process. After all, isn’t that the aim of every pursuit, the enhancement of faculties, and development of a perspective? To that end, perhaps these were one of better three months of a learning period that I enjoyed.

There was never supposed to be anything special about the last week, and although there was the thrill of going back home, of showing stuff to family and friends, but then, I would be lying if I said I was not heavy at heart. The week went on with some last minute work, and a disco as well (we had a hearty laugh at teja’s expense, ask him :-)), and my last day Sektparty, where the scene was kinda emotional. It may not have been so much, but, well, I myself was, so perhaps that is what makes me think so. It really felt good when almost everyone asked me about what my future plans where, and whether I would like to come back, and that it was nice to have me there. I normally don’t care, but this time somehow I did, perhaps because these people were so helpful right from there start, and having them around was a great help. The grill party at the house of my guide was yet another not-so-tourist experience which was really memorable.


Saturday shopping and roaming alone in the streets of Munich was not a big help, with rain pelting down, and reminding me of the day when we came here. Why, the appearance was not really different, with soggy, bleak and cold all around, except that the excitement was converted to a resignation-of-the-inevitable kind of feeling. Sunday was planned as the last meeting between me and Mudit, at the Deutsche Museum, but the dumbass that I m, I never woke up in time for the scheduled meeting, and although I spent Sunday there, I never ran into him. All the thoughts that I had that day while returning was, why, this is the last time I m seeing Marienplatz, and the last time that I m boarding an S-Bahn, and the last time that I m taking a U2.

Monday was no less bleak, and the entire day was spent packing. Well, not entirely, as our house owner had come over to settle the bill, and Domnic had returned from his weekend, plus we had to run back and forth to get a good bouquet for Frau Lutz, our housekeeper all these days, who took so good care of us, left us gifts, and did our work, without once ever asking anything, in fact, not even showing her face (she used to come after we had left for office, and what we found after returning was pressed clothes, tucked in beds, and washed supper table). A good old taxi (Mercedes make) escorted us to the U-Bahn station, just as one had escorted us out of another one. Somehow, I couldn’t help but feel that somewhere my mind was playing games with me, by repeating the scenes, even the weather, from my first day in an unknown land. Not that it helped the departure, set as it was amidst silent brooding, but then, perhaps that is the way it was always contrived to be! We called up Domnic for one last time from the airport, using up the last of what was remaining of our last calling card. We ran into some of our friends, although that was not really what soothed me the most at that moment. It was getting dark by the time the plane started its run, to the moment of lift-off, breaking my last contact with foreign soil, as if signaling a weary end to an exhausting day. It doesn’t matter if ever I get a chance to go there again, it doesn’t matter if ever I have more resources at my disposal, this trip will always occupy a special place. Rest assured, it can never be the same, two 20 yr olds, without food, water, or a place to stay, in short, devoid of anything but enthusiasm, and the inquisitiveness of a 4-yr old kid confused in a shopping mall, lost in translation.

Mio avventura a Italia!!

Fresh and enthusiastic with the trip from last weekend, and disappointed with our plans of Switzerland not materializing, we were left with only one possible venture for the last weekend, Italy. As it turned out, Teja was not interested, disappointed as he was with his “plans” not materializing in Amsterdam :-), so it was left to the two of us now. Turned out that a friend of Mudit’s from Nuremberg (also from iitd) was interested, so he hopped along with us.

Now, since this was the last weekend out, and we were all but burned out from all this running, we decided not to worry about the tickets a lot, and that we should go by whatever way we found, not bothering to check if cheaper routes were available. And so this time we chose traveling by train. And we had decided to make it a 3-day weekend. The idea was to spend 2 days in Rome, and for a day, maybe Florence and Pisa. Well, we had no inkling of what was about to come, and how every bit of the plan was about to go awry.

So, it was back to the same rush at Munich HBF, with the train leaving at 9. The train was, as usual, empty, so we could stretch ourselves out. The route was through Austria, and, guess what, Werfen station as well. Yes! The same place where I had spent the 5 most serene, yet beautiful minutes of the whole three months. The castle loomed from somewhere behind, and bathed in an orange glow, looked an eerily beautiful object high above the general plain. How I wished I could spend 5 more minutes there!

Okay, so far things were going fine, which was a surprise, because we were used to bhasad, and things going awry on our weekends. We were not disappointed this time as well, because when I woke up next morning around 9, the time we were supposed to reach Rome, we found that we had not even reached Bologna, and Rome was a further four hours away!! Talk of Indian trains being late, huh? Some quick discussions followed, and stepping out at Firenze(Florence) seemed the only way to save time (and as it turned out, 40 euros as well). So we got down at Florence around 10:30 or so, and went around the city. It is again a small city, and the major sights are within close proximity. The big thing is, Florence was the home for Renaissance, and the place where great artists like Michaelangelo, and to some extent, da Vinci flourished. Obviously, it is most famous for it’s museums, more than anything else, along with Il Duomo, and Ponte Vecchio, among other things. We did not give ourselves the luxury of going into the museums, but we did climb the dome at Piazza Duomo, and man! What a beautiful scene it was all from up there! Red-tiled roofs, so characteristic of Italy (we observed the same thing in Venice as well), and small lanes, with roads barely visible, smoke rising from the corner, and hills all around the place. U couldn’t compare it with what we saw from atop the Eiffel Tower, but then again, each place has something unique to offer, and each should be viewed in its own light, right?

Coming down from the Dome, we next went to Piazza della Spagna, another Piazza, which, btw, has nothing to do with Pizza, where reproductions of many famous sculptures can be seen. This was another famous spot of Florence as could be seen by the number of chinks clicking along (who, btw, I had grown frustrated of, seeing them everywhere with there chaapu cameras). The next stop was Ponte Vecchio, a very old bridge, lined with goldsmith shops! Needless to say, the items were shit expensive, but then this bridge is unique in the family of bridges, and that is why so many people throng this place. We were running out of time by now, and so we decided to move back, caught something to eat, and also the best ice-cream of my life, and caught the next train to Pisa.

As I had mentioned somewhere earlier in this blog, Italy is the type of country which will remind u so much of India, with broken streets, thatched huts, people pissing on roadsides, a general carefree air without much ado about breaking rules, pretty girls (and unimaginably so) and generally cheap trains, quite unlike other European countries. But that was what I had concluded the last time. This time, my notion was further substantiated by the extreme heat and humidity (which, till now, I had forgotten, so thanks to Italy, I was reminded of what it would be like when I get back home), and with the availability of water taps just about everywhere. Again, so unlike other countries, where water was much scarce, and the only way to get it if u r not carrying it with u, is to buy it. As it turned out later, this was a major saving grace in the heat of Italy.

Our next stop was Pisa, one hour from Florence. Pisa is, well, I guess everybody has heard its name, but I would be doubtless surprised if there is something else that u have heard about Pisa other than the Leaning Tower, and Galileo, which btw, are also connected. As it turned out, the place had nothing else to offer, other than these two. Fully aware of this fact, we made our way straight to the Leaning Tower, which turned out to be a half an hour walk from the station. The place was, as expected crowded, but there was a lot of place around the tower, and so did not seem so. In fact, the tower, and an adjoining cathedral form the hub of all tourism that touches Pisa. The most interesting part was, well, everyone knows that the tower is leaning, but when u see it, u invariably exclaim, “man! It does lean!!” And that lean is no mean figure; I was actually surprised that the tower is still standing, given its huge tilt.

So that was all we did there, took some snaps, tried some poses, and then took some more snaps. Since there was nothing more to do, and we had a few minutes to kill, we just sat down on the park alongside. By this time, plans were forming and reforming (what with our lost 4 hrs, we had to somehow make up for them!), and eventually the two iitd-ites concluded that they would spend Sunday in Venice, and I decided to leave alone southwards. As it turned out later, that was responsible for perhaps my most daring escapade ever in an unknown city.

I left Pisa and the other two guys around 5 in the evening to Florence. The reason I did this, was simply because taking a train from Florence (it being on the route of my journey from Munich to Rome) would not cost me anything, provided I took a train the same day. So I reached Florence around 7, had something to eat, hung around the station without much to do. The last train to Rome was at 9, and it would land me around 1. I tried to sleep a little, but could not, mainly because I was not feeling like, and secondly, because I was alone for the first time in a new country, all on my own. Atleast on the previous occasions, Teja had been with me, but not this time. So, as the train chugged along, I sat alone, admiring the night scenes, and my solitude, to a certain extent.

Right. So train landed right on time. And since I had around 4 hours with me, I decided to sleep at the station itself. Of course, this was before I was told that Rome is a highly unsafe city, especially around Roma Termini. The station wore a deserted look at 1, and I somehow found a place outside the station (stupid as I was to get out) and tried to sleep. But that again, was a novelty, with prowlers moving along, and a general air of blithe unconcern for safety. On one occasion I woke up suddenly to find two guys leaning over me, and feeling my pockets!! Anyway, I was more than happy when the night was over, and got on the train to Naples, which was not due for another half an hour. Why so? To complete my sleep, why else? I got off at Naples, after the two hour long journey, and straightaway went off to check the next train to Pompeii. Well, it turned out that there was an error on my part, in decoding my traveling scheme to and fro Pompeii (this is when being alone sucks!), and ended up buying tickets worth more than I needed. Although it did not really concern me much, as the trains in Italy, as has been pointed out, are much cheaper.

The ride from Naples to Pompeii was not short either, and for most part, we were chugging along the bank of the Mediterranean Sea, and with a sweet morning seaside breeze and a beautiful, well, there was not much more than I could ask for, could i?
So I got off at Pompeii and made my way to the famous ruins.

U know, Pompeii has ruins of the most amazing kind. It was much better preserved that the Roman ruins for one thing. There are these amazing pictures, and structures standing, and looking at them, u wouldn’t believe that they are close to 2000 years old! I had no idea that volcanic ash could preserve stuff for so long, and so well. All the 4 hours that I spent there (man! It is huge) every new artifact amazed me even more. The one bad thing was that the heat and humidity by now were intolerable, and moreover I did not much to eat, upon me. So even though there was room for more exploring, I decided to call it off around 3pm, and headed out, had a pizza (what else do u eat when u r in Italy :-)), and then decided to move on to Sorrento and to Amalfi. Well, this turned out to be a stupid move on my part, as these places were much farther than I had anticipated, so by the time I arrived at Sorrento, I was really tired, and in no mood to take that half hour ride to Amalfi. Already tired from not being able to sleep the previous night, I decided to call it a day, and come back to Rome, via Naples. So back again the circum-Vesuvius train. The train ride from Naples to Rome was again a good one, except for the fact that it was crowded Indian-esquely. But since I had the window seat (and a hot latino sitting in front of me), I did not bother myself much other than the “sights”.

So back to Rome and this was the second time that I was in Rome in the night hours. It was around 9 in the evening, and having no idea of what was about to come, I coolly grabbed something to eat, took a ticket for the next day’s travel, and decided to set off for “Camping Roma”, the place I had been recommended to spend the night at. The troubles started when I got off at Cornelia station. It turned out that this was over 40 minutes walk, and not 10 minutes as I was told (sigh!), and, okay, here’s a question. How bad do u think can things be in an unknown land at 11 in the night? Yes, u probably guessed it right – it was close to midnight, and I was sitting on the bus stop, fighting hard to think, as I had just been told that there was no place to stay in “Camping Roma”. Thankfully, there was also an Italian guy who chatted along, and when the bus did not come, we decided to move on foot. I told him of my situation, and although poor guy had to wake up early for work tomorrow, he was still kind enough to take me to Ottaviano, and told me that there would be lots of Bed-and-Breakfasts around. The final nail in the coffin was dug when I checked in one of them (mind u it was close to 2 in the morning now), only to be told that the rates for a night were 50 euros!! Tired as I was, there was no way I could have dished so much. Having decided that I have had enough, I walked to a nearby bench, and just sat down for a break. And before I knew, it was morning, and I found the right side of my body stiff with sleeping on the wooden park bench!!

Somehow I felt more refreshed in the morning that I expected myself to be, and went off to the Vatican Museum, which was my agreed meeting point with the iitd people. And sure enough, they were there in the queue, which was easily more than a mile long, so it was not much of a pain. The thoughts of spending 2 days in Rome were aborted long ago, and as the line moved up, we quickly decided upon which places to see, and had them ready on the map. These guys were nowhere half as good navigators as Teja was, so I had to do this job. Pretty soon, we found ourselves inside the Vatican Museum, whose most famous exhibit is the Sistine Chapel. But there was more to it, with sculptures, art forms, tapestries, and even maps of a bygone era. Although frankly we were not that interested, tired that we were of seeing museums, and moreover this being the last weekend, there was a forlorn feeling as we moved along from one room to another. I also bought a guide inside the museum, usually just to look up when we ran into a famous piece of art. We came out of the museum around noon, and the next stop was, pretty obviously, the St. Peter’s Basilica. This was easily one of the most famous evidences of the limits of creativity that a man can possibly set. With an amazing history, not altogether an un-gruesome one, and fascinating facts and snippets (these we were told by a student guide, who was offering his services for free. He took us around the Basilica, and needless to say, for the next hour, we listened, rapt, and only broke the silence for oohs, aahs and wows), this place is a must see for anyone who plans a trip to Europe. I was sad for Teja who had to miss it, but anyway. We went around the Basilica, and the central piazza, got Vatican City stamps for us. The only dent was that the other two dumbasses with me did not seem interested in going up the dome, so there was nothing much that I alone could have done about it. We next went off to the Colloseum, another marvelous piece of architecture by the Romans. Frankly, I was not very impressed, as I still had my mind on the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, but it was clear for everyone who cared to see, that for a building 2000 years old, this was as massive, as it was an example of technical skills by those who made it. Not very interested this time in following tour guides around, we came out a few snaps later. We headed along the Fora Imperiali, the famous street that Mussolini had built, to Piazza Venezia, which had a national building of some sort, with the Italian flag flying, and with armed policemen around. The dome was still pretty much in my mind, and I decided to take a shot at it, although it was pretty late. We decided to meet at Piazza Navona, another famous spot with three fountains. Just as luck would have it, it was after the closing time, and my wish of going up the dome stays a wish, for God knows how long. Dejected I walked back to Piazza Navona, where I ran into them, we spent some time there, and I bought a Nedved t-shirt for 10 euros (see! This thing would have cost atleast 15 in Germmany). There was not much remaining in our list, as it was also getting closer to our departure time. We picked up some stuff to eat, went to the Pantheon, where again we were late for an entry (not that we were desperate for one). The next halt was Fontana de Trevi, the fountain of wishes, and it was really really crowded. But then, we didn’t care; neither had we the time to care, nor the energies, nor the enthusiasm. We trudged back to the Fora Imperiali, took one last long look at the Colloseum, and a thriving, bustling Italy, and got into the Metro which was to take us back to Roma Termini. There wasn’t much time, and we didn’t entertain any second thoughts, and got into our trains soundlessly and forlornly, knowing well that this was the end to perhaps the best summer of my life. The train left on time, we didn’t speak much, just watched the fading lights of the city, which grew brighter by the moment, as it was getting pretty late. We slept off soundly, woken up quite a few times for a ticket and/or a passport check, indeed, more than what we had expected anyway. Munich was thankfully reached on time, so we could freshen up, and then catch our offices.