Sugar, wine and Trdelnik

Sugar rush. That is probably what made me enjoy the wine festival last night. Hosted in the quaint town of Pardubice, the place that feels like a second home already, this festival was something we all were looking forward to in the last few days. Yeah, there were not many wines to be tasted as I had imagined, nor a lot of varieties of food but the combination of the meat, fresh out of the grill, really nice music and interesting performances was enough to make this night one memorable affair so far. I must however mention this amazing sweet baked stuff I got addicted to. Trdelnik. Simple, sweet and a no-nonsense dish. In other words, if Trdelnik was a guy I would have dated him!

So I think I am slowly beginning to get the hang of this European life. For instance, a weekend neither existed for me nor my friends who have jobs with the oddest of work timings and weekly offs. Here, they take their weekends very seriously; in fact, the town becomes empty after Friday. One wonders where it is that they take off for the next two days. I have had only two weekends here so far but the lack of whatever it is that I did every weekend in Mumbai makes me feel sad. Because there is nothing really that you could do here on a weekend, unless you are in a group which in my case has not happened yet.

In a way it’s good for me I guess because after being trained for 5 days on how to think and why to think by Mr. D in the department of Philosophy, the rooms of which are my safe haven, it feels nice not to do anything on a weekend and catch up on the movies I missed. On my today’s list is Raanjhana and Ayaalum Njanum Thammil.

Coming back to the wine festival, yesterday at the venue I felt for the very first time a sense of surge. I cannot explain it. Probably it is how people here make you feel. Going to a gathering and talking to random strangers are something that the socially awkward me would have never done in Bombay. It feels quite easy to do all that here. It calls to the fore that aspect of your personality which is not overly guarded or inhibited. Because I am not used to making friends so instantly I guess I would have to wait to see if anything actually comes out of it. I am hoping it does because among the lovely people I spoke to yesterday there was this girl who was a hair stylist who promised to give me a hair cut at half the price and a gay couple. Which girl does not want a gay couple friends? Having them would sort out all wardrobe problems in your life right? Is it not what Sex and the City has taught us? I wouldn’t know, I have never seen it. But that seems to be one of the stereotypical ideas the annoying series is propagating.

My late night jaunts have come to an end. Not because it is not safe but because people here like turning in early, which is nice. And I was encouraged to do so by this guy O, whose job it is to make sure that we foreign students are taken care of, a job he probably takes too seriously.

Things in the second week are slowly falling into place. There seems to be a routine to everything now and God knows how much I wanted a daily routine. Those beer sessions in the evenings sometimes, the fetching of dinner late in the night and the cool breeze on the walk back- things just feel good right now J

First Impressions

So after months of planning, weeks of shopping, days of worrying, I finally braved myself into a brand new world. It was not an easy process. Not only was I sad about leaving my people and the city that had been my home for 8 years behind, my family and friends left no stone unturned to make sure that I would cry till my eyeballs dropped. Sappy things followed. There was a “scrap-book” made containing pictures and important memories of the last 8 years. There was quite a social gathering of family and friends who saw me off at the airport. And well, the unfortunate realisation that I am quite a sappy person who loved it all and secretly cried in the smaller-than-a-matchbox toilet on the plane to Turkey.

The moment I set my eyes on Prague (henceforth Praha) I knew that I had indeed come to a city of dreams. No, I did not see much of it but the little I saw was enough to make me dream of the days I would spend walking the streets of the city, feasting my eyes on some of the best historical treats the world could offer. But thanks to the umpteen number of perfume shops at Istanbul airport I had a migraine and all I wanted to do was sleep and not wake up for a couple of days.

I had finally arrived at Pardubice. There is only one word I can use to best describe it at the moment- peaceful. It slowly dawned on me, the realisation that sometimes even sitting at home and doing nothing in Bombay could be stressful- something which my best friend, Jane, said so often. It was not until I was removed from there that I felt calm enough to focus on something. So that is how it came about that I got ready to experience the European life the European way (whatever that means!).

There were a few things which I found funny at first. I don’t remember many of them but the first thing that comes to mind is how they pay their bills in restaurants when in a group. For someone who was used to splitting bills equally with everyone at the table this was quite unique. The waiter went to each and everyone at the table to tell them how much they individually had to pay. I began thinking how absurd this would be in Bombay but then there was really no point in comparing, things are the way they are, and do not necessarily require a reason.

Food and drinks! It’s weird; everything is so cheap here, yes, even by Indian standards. And the cheapest probably is alcohol. A simple strawberry shake costs twice as much as a glass of wine. And meat that comes in all shapes and sizes is a constant threat to my intention of losing a miniscule amount of weight in Europe. Thank God for the lovely weather that motivates one to take long long long walks.

Today marks the end of my first week in Pardubice and today I had my very first dose of European rain. Although there was no muck and although it looked beautiful it lacked something very vital that I always associate with rain- the scent of the earth- the kind that is in the air when it rains for the first time in India. And for the first time in days I missed Bombay. I stepped out later to hunt for dinner only to be stopped by two guys from Afghanistan and Iran whose only intention was to ask me “You India? Kaise ho? I love Bollywood... I love my India…come Kebab corner…I give you spicy food”. After profusely thanking them and deftly slipping away I had dinner after which I managed to do something I had always dreamt of. I walked a lonely road amidst the woods and after making sure that no one was around started singing loudly. Perfect end to a perfect day!

So that’s it for now. Ahoj!