Von Voyage !!!

At last, back with loads of experiences. To start with, at 8.30 pm, on 13th May, '05 I reached Netaji Subhashchandra Bose International Airport, with expectations, dreams, relatives to see me off, even an self-written poem, (which was composed by me on the occassion of my training). Anyway, I admit, the initial encounter with the "hawai-jahaj" was exciting. Specially when the plane took off. We got an window seat. I had a co-passenger who (most likely) happened from Singapore only. (I learnt a lot of important things from him ... like how to fasten the seat belts, what to do with the "combol" given to us. The most exciting part of the journey was the map (on the screen) which showed us the path of the airliner carrying us to Singapore. Singapore Airlines provides every passenger with a screen, where he/she can watch on-demand movies, can play vedio-games, or can listen to music. Monu fell fast asleep, leaving me to attain loud snoring sound of the ppl sleeping all around me in the dark.

Well, we reached Singapore Changi International Airport early in the morning. The airport is AWESOME. Such a big busy airport, fully-carpeted, and decorated with orchids, markets, small foutains, and what not. We mailed our friends, myself did a bit of orkutting too(there was free internet access in the airport). Next we went out for the free trip organized by the Singapore Airlines to Santosha island. The city is full of garden. Better to say, the city is itself in a large garden. Our next flight was at 2.05 pm. This was going to be the long-lasting one. 12.40 hrs long. We somehow managed a seat beside the window, (although we were not given window-seats, we managed that beacause of our nice, cute co-passengers(bandiyaan acchhi thi). We had the longest daytime in our whole life I believe. On 14th May we experienced daylight for about 25 hrs. (as we travelled from east to west). Our flight took us above India(Deccan, very near to Bangalore .... I was thinking of my frnds thr looking down at the clear map of India.....definitely, when the sky is clear, it looks like a map only). Looking at the
air-hostesses, gave a new thought. Perhaps, the dresses are bought first, and then the girls have been hired according to the specific measurements. How can women be so consistent in all aspects!!??$ ..... (same facial-features, similar manners, all were equal in height and all used to complete their sentences with "thank you".(just like full-stops of each sentence) Even I were infected by that behavior ... as Monu reported)

Franfurt airport is also very large. (2nd largest in Europe, only after Heathrow, I heard) Both Singapore and Frankfurt airport were very much well-labeled at all points, nobody (I believe even if one is drunk) would ever get lost. The flight(Lufthansa) to Cologne had nothing special in it. It reminded me of the trekkers of the Jharkand, which delays until the desired number of passengers are yet to arrive. Most ironically we found only 4-6 people (including all), engaged in attaining the airplane. Actually, the weather was bad and hence it delayed for half-an-hour. Anyway, AnupamDa and KingshukDa were there in the Köln/Bönn
Airport. We reached Achen at 2 am on 15th May. Last but not the least, I was fed-up with the milk-less sugar-less coffee served in Singapore Airlines and Frankfurt Airport.(imagine our plight!!!)

Aachen is a very nice place. The beauty lies in the greenery, the openness of people of the place, and all what we watch in foreign movies. We are staying in an apartment with our mentors as well. The apartment is in the center of the town. Aachen is such a small place that if anybody takes an walk for 30 mins, he/she is out of the town. People here go to Netherlands (a place called Vaals) for shopping. Even there is bus-service which takes people from Aachen to Vaals and Belgium. (I was fantasising of such bus-services between India and Bangladesh ... kash hote aise India mein bhi) I was said that density of Aachen in very high, almost comparable to West Bengal, but amazed to see none in the empty streets (strasse, german word) Well, abt the climate nothing more to say except it is abt 4 degree celsius in the morning of 10 am. People are fine. Mostly they are formal in nature, very hardworking, and knows to live life to the lee. They work very hard, play hard, make love hard, ...... and rest everything very hard (e.g. go out for a run in the snow etc). Everything is very big here in size. The vegetables, the peöple, the buses, the daytime (night falls at 10pm ) etc.

There are a lot Indians here. Mostly students undergoing their masters, Ph.Ds here. They gather each weekendat someone's place and have fun and some Indian delicacies as well.Our mentors are very apt in cooking. Me and Monu just run errands under their supervision. On the first day, (as it was a Sunday) all of their friends gathered in our place (in Bergstrasse). AnupamDa cooked chichen and polao, which were really very tasty. One thing put me in real awe. The Indians residing more than 4000 miles away talk mostly about their motherland, India.(They land up talking India, from whatsoever context u give them) That is simply great!!!

Well, as for me I am now learning 3 things at a time.LISA (my prime job), German language, Cooking. All at a time. Well, the place is quite cheap here so to compare with other places in Europe. Yesterday, I noticed 1 interesting thing. If anybody wants to propose any gal here, he cuts a full grown tree and then hangs some colorful papers into it, and then ties it up near the house of the girl.(well not always, but on a special occasion ..... surely give it a try on the coming rose day)

Knowing a bit German definitely helps, as less-educated people are not familiar with English. They have some strange sense politeness and good manners(and also pronunciations ... 's' is pronounced as 'z' ). Most of the mechanical things are automated here e.g. the doors of the trains & buses, the ticket-vending machines (it even returns balance in cents i.e. coins). The buses, the taxis, everything is manufactured by Mercedes company (in fact owning a Mercedes Benz in Germany carries no status).One more intersting thing, the jobless persons possesses better apartments than the employed ones.

There is a very high sense of discipline in this country. Peöple respects traffic lights, time, and labour. Young people changes their partners very often till 25, but stabilises after 25, usually (well they might marry after having even 3 children also ... doesn't matter anyway) Everything works so perfectly here. Lastly, never ever say that "Hitler was a great hero." or " I support Nazi philosophy." in Germany. You'll straight land up in jail. Choose! ('Bye' in German)