Saturday, March 10, 2007
about holding hands and kung fu moves!
I am sitting on my study table, trying hard to do what I am here to do, study! But its not the easiest thing to do when you have a big window in front of you, and you can see the most beautiful sunny day you have seen in a long time. I gaze outside, and see two kids play with each other. A girl and a boy. One minute they fight, the next they hug. The girl tries a little kung fu move, the guy steps aside to avoid her advance, she turns and tries again, this time she gets him. He hits back, she falls, he trips and falls on her. They stay like that for just an extra moment, she gets up and steps aside. I think she is hurt, but then in a flash she tries the whole act again. While all this is happening, there’s a young couple walking down the road, hand in hand, bright as the sun. They keep looking at the two kids all the while, and then look at each other just as they pass them. The girl is now running up the road, the boy follows her, behind the little house where I can’t see them anymore. The couple has also walked out of my window. Just for a moment, I wonder in how many wonderful ways love expresses itself. How magical it is that you can hold hands or play kung fu to express the same emotion!
Sunday, March 4, 2007
another incredible week
Just to round off my last post, I feel almost obliged to tell you about the awesome week I had. To start with, we went skateboarding instead of ice-skating on Sunday. It was raining through the weekend so Denis offered to give me snowboard lessons instead. So we took off for a town called Sion (the city bid for Winter Olympics 2010). I must admit snowboarding is a lot more fun than skiing. It’s a whole new world when you have both your feet fixed onto the same piece of wood (or composites!), and you don’t have to worry about them going off in different direction without any prior permission. And to top it all, we had a rather severe snowstorm there. But that didn’t deter us, or the many others who continued to ski and snowboard. So two new experiences in one day – snowboarding, and snowboarding in a snowstorm!
And then came the visit to the International Cycling Federation in Aigle on Friday. A short bus journey early in the morning, a few boring lectures to sit through, and then the highlight of the day. A chance to cycle on the Velodrome! The real thing! Think of people riding on sharp curves going up and down at speeds of 55 kmph. So you say its fun? Ok then… top this. You get onto a super light bike, your feet are kinda fixed to the pedals so you can’t suddenly decide to jump off, there are no brakes on the damn thing so you can’t slow down, the pedals are 100% engaged which means you can’t stop pedaling unless you are stationary, and the elevation of the wooden track is definitely more than 60 degrees on the two sharp sides! How in the heaven’s name does one stop? Go figure!
And then came the visit to the International Cycling Federation in Aigle on Friday. A short bus journey early in the morning, a few boring lectures to sit through, and then the highlight of the day. A chance to cycle on the Velodrome! The real thing! Think of people riding on sharp curves going up and down at speeds of 55 kmph. So you say its fun? Ok then… top this. You get onto a super light bike, your feet are kinda fixed to the pedals so you can’t suddenly decide to jump off, there are no brakes on the damn thing so you can’t slow down, the pedals are 100% engaged which means you can’t stop pedaling unless you are stationary, and the elevation of the wooden track is definitely more than 60 degrees on the two sharp sides! How in the heaven’s name does one stop? Go figure!
Friday, February 23, 2007
for the first time
We all live in our little comfort zones. We take solace in conformity. Often building walls that stand in the way of new thoughts and different living. So I thought of making a list of all the new things I have done or experienced over the past few weeks and months, just to assure myself it is safe. And I dare say they haven't had any visible impact on my life. I still eat, sleep and fart as much as I used to. So here goes -
- Took a three month break from work.
- Taught at the Delhi School of Advertising.
- Stepped out of the country on my own, knowing there would be nobody to receive me.
- Flew for 14 hours (with the help of a Boeing... if only...).
- Tried skiing on my third weekend here.
- Did Snow Walking, wearing special plastic shoes that make you look like a penguin.
- After walking like one for over two hours, had my first fondue.
- Saw a professor get up on the table and jump on it, to demonstrate physical laws.
- Sat on the first bench so I could watch him as closely as I could.
- Went to a pub located on the top floor of the main block of the university.
- Played football for the first time in fourteen years (Oh yes, this qualifies. At least in my book it does).
- And I haven't seen my angel for the last 4 weeks.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Lessons in Kinetic Friction!
At the start of the second week of class, we were taken on a whirlwind tour of application of physical laws to the world of sports. We discussed stuff from the basic Newton’s law of action and reaction, to some very interesting discussions on aerodynamics, float and air resistance. But the one that took the cake was kinetic friction. Not so much because of the theory itself, but because I would be exposed to its full glory in just five days from the date of the lecture.
It’s not that I have no prior exposure to kinetic friction. I still remember the day when after our evening lecture at the Aptech centre in Pusa Road, we decided to have a little dance party right there in the parking lot. So Aman put on his car stereo on full blast and opened up the boot of his Maruti 800. And there we were, dancing under the blue sky to the amusement of those who passed by. But the highlight of the day was how we kinda got obsessed with sliding on our knees. Though I had to make up a big story of how I slipped in the parking lot, coz we basically ended up with some really colourful jeans, it was quite a lot of fun; and if I may be allowed to take the liberty, I must say I did much better than some of the others. But here’s the problem, that was about 11 years back and the trick itself did not require any great skill. But you can’t say the same when it comes to skiing. With skiing, you are introduced to whole new level of kinetic force. And to the amusement of my friend Denis from Canada (Denis studies with us and incidentally is a professional snowboarder), I got my first real glimpse as to how this force can wreck havoc with your intentions.
Denis, Aditya and I traveled on the following Friday across the country to Arosa to watch the Snowboarding World Championships. While the event itself was to be staged over 9 days, we decided to go for the first weekend when the Men’s and Women’s Snowboard Cross championships were to take place. At the end of the first day of competition, we decided to finally try out doing some for ourselves. Since I saw Denis on his snowboard, I was quite fascinated and wanted to try out snowboarding myself. Thanx to some timely wisdom from Denis, who proposed I should first try and learn some basic tricks of balancing on snow coz one can hurt himself quite badly on a snowboard, I decided to pick up snow blades. Why snow blades? Simple, because they a smaller than skis, so you will probably not tangle yourself in them. And if you have done a bit of skating, I imagine you could try the typical skating movement of the feet pushing slightly towards outside alternatively. And I have done a bit of skating. A ‘bit’ coz while I could go straight quite rapidly, I never could figure out how to turn or stop. So I would stop eventually by falling! But snow the blades didn’t turn out friendly at all, and I was doing an impressive one fall in every three seconds of being vertical. Denis was most helpful and patient coz he continued to give me tips and help me stand up. He even went up and down with me on the small slope a few times on foot to make sure I don’t give up that easy. But I also suspect that he was as amused as he was helpful. Hell, he even took a video to share with everyone in class and you can hear him laughing behind the camera. And worse, he says he just can’t forget how I would actually slide backwards (obviously I didn’t mean to) with a look of doom on my face!
Had it not been for some good advise from Denis once again, my first shot at skiing would have ended at this tragic note. Denis noticed that I kept loosing balance and falling backwards. Aditya had quite finished with his skiing by then, so Denis suggested I try some skis, the real one, sine they are longer and may be able to support me from behind. By the grace of god, I finally managed to negotiate a small deal with kinetic friction. So after coming down the slope twice in considerably better mental and physical condition, I decided to call it quits for the day. So we headed back to our hotel. Denis kept looking at the video and the pictures and laughing right till he slept (hell he was laughing for quite a while even after we switched the lights off). And I resolved that I have to learn to ski well before I leave this beautiful country.
(Click the link for some more pictures, http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/tarunchow/SkiingInArosa)
It’s not that I have no prior exposure to kinetic friction. I still remember the day when after our evening lecture at the Aptech centre in Pusa Road, we decided to have a little dance party right there in the parking lot. So Aman put on his car stereo on full blast and opened up the boot of his Maruti 800. And there we were, dancing under the blue sky to the amusement of those who passed by. But the highlight of the day was how we kinda got obsessed with sliding on our knees. Though I had to make up a big story of how I slipped in the parking lot, coz we basically ended up with some really colourful jeans, it was quite a lot of fun; and if I may be allowed to take the liberty, I must say I did much better than some of the others. But here’s the problem, that was about 11 years back and the trick itself did not require any great skill. But you can’t say the same when it comes to skiing. With skiing, you are introduced to whole new level of kinetic force. And to the amusement of my friend Denis from Canada (Denis studies with us and incidentally is a professional snowboarder), I got my first real glimpse as to how this force can wreck havoc with your intentions.
Denis, Aditya and I traveled on the following Friday across the country to Arosa to watch the Snowboarding World Championships. While the event itself was to be staged over 9 days, we decided to go for the first weekend when the Men’s and Women’s Snowboard Cross championships were to take place. At the end of the first day of competition, we decided to finally try out doing some for ourselves. Since I saw Denis on his snowboard, I was quite fascinated and wanted to try out snowboarding myself. Thanx to some timely wisdom from Denis, who proposed I should first try and learn some basic tricks of balancing on snow coz one can hurt himself quite badly on a snowboard, I decided to pick up snow blades. Why snow blades? Simple, because they a smaller than skis, so you will probably not tangle yourself in them. And if you have done a bit of skating, I imagine you could try the typical skating movement of the feet pushing slightly towards outside alternatively. And I have done a bit of skating. A ‘bit’ coz while I could go straight quite rapidly, I never could figure out how to turn or stop. So I would stop eventually by falling! But snow the blades didn’t turn out friendly at all, and I was doing an impressive one fall in every three seconds of being vertical. Denis was most helpful and patient coz he continued to give me tips and help me stand up. He even went up and down with me on the small slope a few times on foot to make sure I don’t give up that easy. But I also suspect that he was as amused as he was helpful. Hell, he even took a video to share with everyone in class and you can hear him laughing behind the camera. And worse, he says he just can’t forget how I would actually slide backwards (obviously I didn’t mean to) with a look of doom on my face!
Had it not been for some good advise from Denis once again, my first shot at skiing would have ended at this tragic note. Denis noticed that I kept loosing balance and falling backwards. Aditya had quite finished with his skiing by then, so Denis suggested I try some skis, the real one, sine they are longer and may be able to support me from behind. By the grace of god, I finally managed to negotiate a small deal with kinetic friction. So after coming down the slope twice in considerably better mental and physical condition, I decided to call it quits for the day. So we headed back to our hotel. Denis kept looking at the video and the pictures and laughing right till he slept (hell he was laughing for quite a while even after we switched the lights off). And I resolved that I have to learn to ski well before I leave this beautiful country.
(Click the link for some more pictures, http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/tarunchow/SkiingInArosa)
Monday, January 22, 2007
An Evening with Rock Legend
A short trip to the east from here is the town of Montreux. Situated at the foot of the Alps, it offers some of the most breath-taking sights of the Lake Geneva. For the lens-enthusiasts, it’s a dream come true. Travel a little distance up in the mountains, and they say you can see the entire Lake Geneva. We couldn’t really do that this time around, but there will be plenty more chance.
What makes Montreux really special is its culture in music and its association with two rock legends. Deep Purple made the town famous with their song “Smoke on the Water”, which tells the events of 1971, when a Frank Zappa fan with a flare gun set the Montreux Casino on fire. Don’t worry, the casino was rebuilt and is in a fantastic condition now, we saw it! The song goes something like this…
“We all came out to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline / To make records with a mobile - We didn't have much time / Frank Zappa & the Mothers were at the best place around / But some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground / Smoke on the water, fire in the sky”
The second rock legend associated with this little town is none other than Freddie Mercury of the band Queen. The band recorded an album in 1978 in Montreux. Apparently, Freddie so was taken in by the beauty of the town, that he bought an apartment overlooking Lake Geneva. The band later bought the Mountain Studios, where they recorded their later works including the final works of Freddie in the album Made in Heaven, released much later by the remaining member of the band. In 1996, a bronze statue was erected facing the lake as a tribute to the legendry singer.
The town also hosts the famous Montreux Jazz Festival every year in the month of July every year. What started as purely a jazz festival in 1967 has expanded over time to include every imaginable music style. The repertoire of musicians that have played at the festival over the years includes the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Zappa (of course!), Queen, Van Morrison, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, BB King, Ray Charles, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Keith Jarret, Miles Davis, Santana, Steve Miller Band and many more. The festival today stretches over two weeks of absolute delight. So that’s gonna be one more trip for me surely.
(Check out the pictures we clicked. All pictures courtesy my dear friend Aditya. Check the following link for more pictures - http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/tarunchow/MontreuxJan07)
What makes Montreux really special is its culture in music and its association with two rock legends. Deep Purple made the town famous with their song “Smoke on the Water”, which tells the events of 1971, when a Frank Zappa fan with a flare gun set the Montreux Casino on fire. Don’t worry, the casino was rebuilt and is in a fantastic condition now, we saw it! The song goes something like this…
“We all came out to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline / To make records with a mobile - We didn't have much time / Frank Zappa & the Mothers were at the best place around / But some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground / Smoke on the water, fire in the sky”
The second rock legend associated with this little town is none other than Freddie Mercury of the band Queen. The band recorded an album in 1978 in Montreux. Apparently, Freddie so was taken in by the beauty of the town, that he bought an apartment overlooking Lake Geneva. The band later bought the Mountain Studios, where they recorded their later works including the final works of Freddie in the album Made in Heaven, released much later by the remaining member of the band. In 1996, a bronze statue was erected facing the lake as a tribute to the legendry singer.
The town also hosts the famous Montreux Jazz Festival every year in the month of July every year. What started as purely a jazz festival in 1967 has expanded over time to include every imaginable music style. The repertoire of musicians that have played at the festival over the years includes the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Zappa (of course!), Queen, Van Morrison, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, BB King, Ray Charles, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Keith Jarret, Miles Davis, Santana, Steve Miller Band and many more. The festival today stretches over two weeks of absolute delight. So that’s gonna be one more trip for me surely.
(Check out the pictures we clicked. All pictures courtesy my dear friend Aditya. Check the following link for more pictures - http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/tarunchow/MontreuxJan07)
Sunday, January 21, 2007
My room
On second thought (which has unexpectedly decided to pop out of thin air after a gap of about 24 hours), I have decided that I will indeed try and describe my room. See, I was looking at the picture again and realized that it’s not very easy to define depth for the viewer in this limited two-dimensional medium. So here goes…
The room must be about 15ft by 8ft. Don’t start to make any mental pictures just yet, coz this includes the bathroom. There is a study table that is quite big and sufficient for a student with my academic intents. There is a small drawer cabinet to keep your files and mostly things that u never know where to keep. (This is almost tempting me to tell you my theory on drawers and all that you can tell about people just by looking into their drawers. But that can wait for another day.) I am actually contemplating if the lower drawer, which is quite big in reality, should be used for dirty clothes. But I guess I will decide about that when the chair-back cannot balance any more clothes on it. The cupboards are actually quite nice and can store a lot of stuff. Especially given the size of the whole room, I think someone has done a pretty good job with them. It’s the fridge that I haven’t quite been able to explain to myself. In my opinion, it should be strong contender for the International Design Award for Ergonomical Errors! The door isn’t tall enough for the lifeline of student living, the 2L Pepsi bottle. And if u put a box the size of half a kilogram of barfi on the inside shelf, the damn thing refuses to close altogether. The shelves themselves are only two in number and have a width that can put a measuring scale to shame (you know the plastic ones we had back in nursery school). There is obviously no freezer. And possibly at under 5 ltrs (I’m being kind coz I’m pretty damn sure it is no more than 0.5 ltrs.), it is the smallest ‘cabinet’ I have ever laid my eyes on.
Next is the most prominent furniture in the room, the bed. Beds always made me wonder what it is about them. You could take two exactly similar people in height, weight, creed, colour, religion, nationality, and any other criteria that you might find relevant, and give them two exactly same beds. Leave them for a few couple of weeks to sleep on them. Exchange the beds now and make a video of the night. Trust me you will end up with a movie Mr. Bean would have loved to act in! Anyway, the bed here can be qualified as comfortable as long as you are lying in one direction. I can bet my ass that our good friend Manish Bhatt could cover the full width if he as much as lay down straight with his two ‘muscular’ arms on either side! Which gives a person of my ‘lean’ physique just enough space to be able to shuffle in a series of synchronized movements and turn myself over and still be on the bed. The whole process requires the highest level of precision, comparable to that of an Olympic gold medalist in artistic gymnastics. And talking of artistic gymnastics, have you ever wondered how makers of the television commercials for Hamam soap have over the years managed to maintain the sanctity of the bathing man, covered all over with so much lather that you can’t tell if it is the same person from the rest of the commercial, frantically rubbing all over his upper body with a big smile as if he had just had the most satisfying sex ever after Adam & Eve. Well don’t even try it in the shower in my room if you ever come visiting! You could land yourself some serious injuries in trying to mock the most ‘satisfying’ shower sold to us by the dream merchants. And for the last warning before I close, just be careful when you bend down to rinse after you brush sleepily in the mornings. You have a margin of error of 5mm, a little closer and you will bring down the cabinet on top, a little further and you could be spitting on your feet!
The room must be about 15ft by 8ft. Don’t start to make any mental pictures just yet, coz this includes the bathroom. There is a study table that is quite big and sufficient for a student with my academic intents. There is a small drawer cabinet to keep your files and mostly things that u never know where to keep. (This is almost tempting me to tell you my theory on drawers and all that you can tell about people just by looking into their drawers. But that can wait for another day.) I am actually contemplating if the lower drawer, which is quite big in reality, should be used for dirty clothes. But I guess I will decide about that when the chair-back cannot balance any more clothes on it. The cupboards are actually quite nice and can store a lot of stuff. Especially given the size of the whole room, I think someone has done a pretty good job with them. It’s the fridge that I haven’t quite been able to explain to myself. In my opinion, it should be strong contender for the International Design Award for Ergonomical Errors! The door isn’t tall enough for the lifeline of student living, the 2L Pepsi bottle. And if u put a box the size of half a kilogram of barfi on the inside shelf, the damn thing refuses to close altogether. The shelves themselves are only two in number and have a width that can put a measuring scale to shame (you know the plastic ones we had back in nursery school). There is obviously no freezer. And possibly at under 5 ltrs (I’m being kind coz I’m pretty damn sure it is no more than 0.5 ltrs.), it is the smallest ‘cabinet’ I have ever laid my eyes on.
Next is the most prominent furniture in the room, the bed. Beds always made me wonder what it is about them. You could take two exactly similar people in height, weight, creed, colour, religion, nationality, and any other criteria that you might find relevant, and give them two exactly same beds. Leave them for a few couple of weeks to sleep on them. Exchange the beds now and make a video of the night. Trust me you will end up with a movie Mr. Bean would have loved to act in! Anyway, the bed here can be qualified as comfortable as long as you are lying in one direction. I can bet my ass that our good friend Manish Bhatt could cover the full width if he as much as lay down straight with his two ‘muscular’ arms on either side! Which gives a person of my ‘lean’ physique just enough space to be able to shuffle in a series of synchronized movements and turn myself over and still be on the bed. The whole process requires the highest level of precision, comparable to that of an Olympic gold medalist in artistic gymnastics. And talking of artistic gymnastics, have you ever wondered how makers of the television commercials for Hamam soap have over the years managed to maintain the sanctity of the bathing man, covered all over with so much lather that you can’t tell if it is the same person from the rest of the commercial, frantically rubbing all over his upper body with a big smile as if he had just had the most satisfying sex ever after Adam & Eve. Well don’t even try it in the shower in my room if you ever come visiting! You could land yourself some serious injuries in trying to mock the most ‘satisfying’ shower sold to us by the dream merchants. And for the last warning before I close, just be careful when you bend down to rinse after you brush sleepily in the mornings. You have a margin of error of 5mm, a little closer and you will bring down the cabinet on top, a little further and you could be spitting on your feet!
Am I really in heaven?
In Geneva finally… and the first thing that I notice is that its really not as cold as most people made it out to be, including ‘Google GOD’! It’s kinda pleasant really. The temperature is probably in the range of 2 to 4 degree celcius. And of course everything is heated, so you don’t quite feel whatever cold there is. Probably when I get to Lausanne…
So I take the train to Lausanne. Feeling all lonely and rather depressed for actually having left everything that ever mattered back home, I am also all anticipation for seeing the lovely countryside that I have always imagined Switzerland to be. It’s not that easy to concentrate on passing fields when you have just spent the last 16 hours flying. Actually, 10 hours flying and 6 more sitting around and waiting in lines at the various airports you have just visited. I am struggling to keep myself awake. Which is generally the case with me whenever things start moving, car, bike, airplane, train… heck anything, and your body starts to gyrate in a rhythmic to and fro movement. Freud had it right, it all has to do with those formative years. Did I ever tell you that when my brother and I were very young, 2 or 3 probably, it wasn’t always easy to put two kids to sleep together given that we were just a year apart and demanded equal pampering. So how did our parents manage? Simple. They took us both and took us on a scooter ride. And sure enough, we were both deep in sleep in record time. And this worked even in the extreme Kota cold, which the discerning reader will know is about as much as what is described above.
But hell, what is a Freud in front of the beauty of Switzerland. So I try my very best to defy the Freudian truth. And I almost managed to do so too! Just that I was in Lausanne before I could realize the train is moving. Don’t blame me! The last time I traveled in train was from the silicon valley of India to the capital. It takes 42 hours in scheduled time and a couple more coz someone surely pulls the chain in between, which generally results in a big argument between the TT and the supposed ‘culprit’ whether it was legal to pull or not. And the legitimacy of the said action is determined more by the physique of the errant in question. I could have left my whole family back in the last station and still paid heavily for it, and possibly got locked up for a day too! So with that in the back of my head, I am looking forward to some peaceful scenic gazing. The train moves out of Geneva city, which takes a few minutes. In a couple of minutes the TT is here to check. I am waiting to see if anyone pulls on the chain! (Hell, where is the chain anyway? I should make sure I find it.) The scene is beginning to get greener outside. And then we move into another station and pass right through it. My eyes are trying hard to defeat my resolve. Hey, did I just fall asleep? Nah… I ’aint that easy! Oh, another station and we pass right through again. Hmmmmmmmm… Zzzzzzzzzzz (ooops)! Ah, things are indeed getting pretty outside. Hmmmmmm… What, another station? Are they really so close to each other or am I missing something here? What??? Lausanne?????????? Already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that brought my first rail journey through the Alps to a tragic end.
The whole thing took under forty minutes. About the time the TT would have taken to get out and find the culprit who pulled the chain. And here I was, at my destination already. So I grudgingly pick up my heavy luggage again and start walking out of the station, mumbling abuses within myself. A taxi looked like to be the best option. And given that a lot of them are Mercs, it should be worth it. But it was as if the lord of disappointment had decided to have a field day on me. Even my taxi ride was over in precisely four and a half minute. And that’s not all… what is that Hindi expression, “Jale pe namak”? I had to pay 15 swiss francs for my promiscuity with the dream machine (for the uninitiated, a swiss franc is around 39 rupees!). Never again!
But the best was still to come. For long I have joked about living in this imaginary ‘pipe’ every time we talked about going to new places. Guess I finally got mine. There is nothing more to say. Here’s a picture. I have no words except that I pay 504 francs for this, and that my first reaction on entering the room was “what the f*** have I got myself into”!
So I take the train to Lausanne. Feeling all lonely and rather depressed for actually having left everything that ever mattered back home, I am also all anticipation for seeing the lovely countryside that I have always imagined Switzerland to be. It’s not that easy to concentrate on passing fields when you have just spent the last 16 hours flying. Actually, 10 hours flying and 6 more sitting around and waiting in lines at the various airports you have just visited. I am struggling to keep myself awake. Which is generally the case with me whenever things start moving, car, bike, airplane, train… heck anything, and your body starts to gyrate in a rhythmic to and fro movement. Freud had it right, it all has to do with those formative years. Did I ever tell you that when my brother and I were very young, 2 or 3 probably, it wasn’t always easy to put two kids to sleep together given that we were just a year apart and demanded equal pampering. So how did our parents manage? Simple. They took us both and took us on a scooter ride. And sure enough, we were both deep in sleep in record time. And this worked even in the extreme Kota cold, which the discerning reader will know is about as much as what is described above.
But hell, what is a Freud in front of the beauty of Switzerland. So I try my very best to defy the Freudian truth. And I almost managed to do so too! Just that I was in Lausanne before I could realize the train is moving. Don’t blame me! The last time I traveled in train was from the silicon valley of India to the capital. It takes 42 hours in scheduled time and a couple more coz someone surely pulls the chain in between, which generally results in a big argument between the TT and the supposed ‘culprit’ whether it was legal to pull or not. And the legitimacy of the said action is determined more by the physique of the errant in question. I could have left my whole family back in the last station and still paid heavily for it, and possibly got locked up for a day too! So with that in the back of my head, I am looking forward to some peaceful scenic gazing. The train moves out of Geneva city, which takes a few minutes. In a couple of minutes the TT is here to check. I am waiting to see if anyone pulls on the chain! (Hell, where is the chain anyway? I should make sure I find it.) The scene is beginning to get greener outside. And then we move into another station and pass right through it. My eyes are trying hard to defeat my resolve. Hey, did I just fall asleep? Nah… I ’aint that easy! Oh, another station and we pass right through again. Hmmmmmmmm… Zzzzzzzzzzz (ooops)! Ah, things are indeed getting pretty outside. Hmmmmmm… What, another station? Are they really so close to each other or am I missing something here? What??? Lausanne?????????? Already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that brought my first rail journey through the Alps to a tragic end.
The whole thing took under forty minutes. About the time the TT would have taken to get out and find the culprit who pulled the chain. And here I was, at my destination already. So I grudgingly pick up my heavy luggage again and start walking out of the station, mumbling abuses within myself. A taxi looked like to be the best option. And given that a lot of them are Mercs, it should be worth it. But it was as if the lord of disappointment had decided to have a field day on me. Even my taxi ride was over in precisely four and a half minute. And that’s not all… what is that Hindi expression, “Jale pe namak”? I had to pay 15 swiss francs for my promiscuity with the dream machine (for the uninitiated, a swiss franc is around 39 rupees!). Never again!
But the best was still to come. For long I have joked about living in this imaginary ‘pipe’ every time we talked about going to new places. Guess I finally got mine. There is nothing more to say. Here’s a picture. I have no words except that I pay 504 francs for this, and that my first reaction on entering the room was “what the f*** have I got myself into”!
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