The Sweden Diaries - Part IV (The Copenhagen Chapter)

Caught the morning train over to Copenhagen this morning - a mere 1.5 hrs, and you're in the centre of the city. Nice quick ride (and scenic too!)

Had a hot-dog right outside the station - been ages since I had one, and couldn't resist it. It was wrapped and fried in bacon, and the mustard was excellent. The idea was to take a walk around the city, but no sooner had I started than I saw Hard Rock Cafe - right in front of me. Resistance was out of the question, and so I walked right in and grabbed a stool at the bar.
The girl at the counter happened to be Swedish (she was from Malmo); chatted for a bit, while I was having Bud.

Well, off I went to see what Copenhagen was all about. Walked through the city all the way down to the harbour;they have a pedestrian walkway that cuts right through and extends to the harbour. It was a lovely bright sunny day, and the entire population seemed to be up and about to enjoy the sunshine. They also have a nice canal and offer boat-rides to tourists. All along the canal are innumerable street-side cafes which serve some damn good food (and yes, beer).
Helped myself to filet-o'-fish and downed that with a glass of Carlsberg (which, by the way, seems to be omnipresent).

There are also a number of street-side artists who peddle their wares, and do various tricks to entertain the crowd; there were also a couple of guys dressed up as Red Indians, and playing live music (Aicha, by Khaled). Quite charming.

And then it was time to go back, and so I caught the train back to Malmo & on to Helsingborg, and am now back at my apartment; need a shower and a drink, in that order.

Ciao.

The Sweden Diaries - Part III

Yoohoo! I now have a contact number - bought a pre-paid SIM card for my phone on the way back from work and the whole thing was quite easy! The girl at the store explained everything quite nicely too.

With a sense of elation at being connected again, I made my way back and got down to the task of cooking a meal for myself. Since I'd bought rice and lentils (dal) the day before, I thought I'd content myself with a simple dal-chawal combo (rice and lentils for those not familiar with Indian food). I then got ambitious, and tried my hand at a fancy omelette as well.

At the risk of sounding rather immodest, let me say here that the whole thing turned out quite yummy - me and my stomach are at peace with the world, and typing this post as I lie on my bed is about the only thing that interests me right now.

Might go over to Denmark tomorrow (or Sunday) - haven't decided whether I should catch the ferry or make do with the train; depends on the weather and my level of laziness (lol).

By the way, I think I like Carlsberg better than Heineken (beer, for the ignorant).

Some of the things that I've forgotten to mention earlier:

The weather here is rather end-of-summer - not too cold, but a bit nippy nevertheless.

They don't use Euros over here, so had to get some forex and change to Kroner.

The cars are left-hand drive, and they drive like the Americans do - for those in India or the UK, that means the "wrong" side of the road (lol).

Too sleepy now - off to Denmark tomorrow. Will post once back.

The Sweden Diaries - Part II

My first day at work - the office is a short walk from where I stay, so that's good. Nice people, nice place.

Did my first bit of grocery shopping in the day - eggs and veggies, a few spices, a few beers; the only thing is, everything's written in Swedish, so at first, it's a bit tough to figure out what's what. Was too tired to cook though, so bought a ready-to-cook meal and ate that (guess what - it tasted good!)

Gonna try my hand at cooking tomorrow - let's see how that turns out to be.

The Sweden Diaries - Part I

So here I am - Helsingborg, Sweden. The southernmost part of (almost) the northernmost region of this planet.

The trip out of India was quite uneventful - a bit of turbulence on way to Delhi, an absolutely smooth-as-silk landing at Delhi airport (bless the pilot), a timely flight to France and an equally timely flight to Denmark. The nifty bit was crossing the Oresund in a train from Copenhagen to Helsingborg; the view as I crossed the ocean was positively breathtaking.

The apartment that I'm in is quite nice; a fully-equipped kitchen, a departmental store with almost everything right next door, comfy beds - not much more you can ask for. And on a clear day, the sea-view is lovely and you can actually see Denmark on the other side!

What surprised me, though, is the nature/attitude of the people here - they are amazingly helpful and polite - without exception (so far). It really goes a long way in alleviating the sense of detachment you have at times when you travel to other countries.

Well, not much more to write about at the moment - watch this space for more!

A return to writing

Well, just wanted to say that I'm back to posting...

Troubled

Khoon Chala

Kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala
Aankhon ke sheeshe mein utarne ko khoon chala
Badan se tapak kar, zameen se lipatkar
Galiyon se raston se ubharkar, umadkar
Naye rang bhar ne ko khoon chala khoon chala

Khuli-si chhot lekar, bari-si tich lekar ahista ahista
Sawaalon ki ungli, jawaabon ki mutthi
Sang lekar Khoon chala
Kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala

Kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala
Aankhon ke sheeshe mein utarne ko khoon chala
Badan se tapak kar, zameen se lipatkar
Galiyon se raston se ubharkar, umadkar
Naye rang bhar ne ko khoon chala khoon chala

A lilting melody, that wafts through the depths of your soul like the gentle caress of the western zephyr, soft as a dream.....this song touches you in so many ways at once...a touch of nostalgia, the flicker of unnamed memories, a shade of sadness, a hint of rebellion, and a small little flame of hope kindled almost without your knowing it.....

A.R.Rahman has delivered another masterpiece.

Those good ol' days...

Was at Nari's place the other day, and got to listen to Pink Floyd on an LP.....It was a quaint, old-worldly kind of feeling, to listen to those masters of music on an LP in this day and age of iPods and CDs and DVDs and ABCDs and what not.

And the sound warn't bad either !!!

(Also ended up listening to CCR after aeons (Credence Clearwater Revival for the uninitiated) - methinks I need to listen to more of these guys, cos they really sound good).

A toast to the good ol' days...cheers !

What I forgot to mention about my Delhi trip

The roads.

They are, quite simply, amazing. And the traffic, too, has improved. I'm not saying that there aren't snarls, or jams, or suchlike - but then, a day in the life of a metropolis (and the national capital at that), isn't quite complete without a few traffic holdups.

But when seen through the eyes of an ex-Delhiite like me - who moved to Bangalore 6 years ago, after having grown up seeing dug-up roads, ditches, potholes, pollution, et al - the new-look city is quite stunning. We've moved to Patparganj (after having lived in C.R. Park for more 'n a decade), but the drive home all the way from Dhaula Kuan to Patparganj across the river, was a matter of minutes !

(And then there's the Metro too...quietly working its busy way through the heart of the ever-burgeoning human mass that's Delhi, and growing as well. Got to know that the third corridor has been launched, and it certainly is an engineering and administrative marvel to have actually brought this project to see light of day.)

Sigh.......am back in B'lore, with the working day drawing to a close, and (not) looking forward to driving back home - a distance of 4 kms covered by car in never-less-than 15 minutes, and accompanied by the usual chaos of jams, potholes and a general feeling of despondency for B'lore's crumbling infrastructure.

Grrr.......

Tolkien's fantastic creation !

While on books, lemme just take this opportunity to doff mah hat to Senor Tolkien (yes, I am talking about the Lord of The Rings) - that is one helluva book he's written...

Correction, thats one hell of an entire world he's thought up ! I mean, the level of detail that's there in every aspect of the story almost makes you believe in the existence of Elves and Orcs and Hobbits and......I could go on and on...

I started the book a while ago, and I still haven't reached halfway - the book literally overwhelms you as you go along, and you end up losing yourself in an intricately woven web of incidents, situations and characters, written with a clarity that I do sincerely believe is unmatched in its genre.

And while on LoTR, let me also congratulate the movie-crew of the series - they've done a fantastic job trying to capture the essence of the novel in a limited span of a few minutes and still manage to induce a feeling of awe and thrill in their hearts.......I saw the movies before I read the novel, and I must say its definitely a better experience than with the Harry Potter series (of which I am an ardent fan nevertheless)...

"Three Men in a Boat"

Was reading "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome the other day (after a long, long time) - and was pleasantly surprised to find that I still love the book as much as I did the first time.

There's something timeless about the way its been written - a journey down the Thames interspersed with extremely well-grounded reflections of the author. The best thing about that book is that every time you read it, the thoughts expressed therein somehow seem to strike a chord in your heart - and the values that he talks about seem as pristine and priceless as ever.

A must-read for anyone who looks forward to some lazy reading on a languid day...