Red, White and Blue - Part 3

I am a vegetarian and this can be quite a trouble while traveling. Sometimes, it is hard to find a good place to eat specially when I prefer fresh food over processed food like burgers etc. So, while looking for a restaurant around the area of our hotel, I encountered a place where I observed that there was a big line to order food. I remembered a saying by one of my uncles back in India that while deciding between two places to eat, always go where you see more people. At least the food you get there will be fresh. Thinking of applying that technique I decided to check out that place named Chipotle. It was a Mexican fast food joint but not very high end. I saw the menu on the wall and amongst many other things in the list, I saw Burrito. I knew what it was and always wanted to try it. Since I had always read that there are a lot of Mexicans living in US, so I thought it could be something more authentic than what we find in Germany. The guy standing in front of me ordered a Burrito bowl where one had the option to select from a number of things to be added on top of a bowl of rice. I preferred to have that over a normal Burrito since it looked pretty tempting. I got red beans and other vegetables on my rice and randomly asked to put the mint sauce on top. The quantity was quite a lot compared to the price. I tasted a spoon of the rice with that sauce and it really hit me hard. It was amazing specially the sauce. It was made with mint, a lot of chillies and had a tangy taste to it. I devoured that bowl in no time. I left that place pretty satisfied for a cup of coffee. As they say that the route to a man’s heart is through is stomach, the US was continuously winning his brownie points over me (specially after the shopping streak).

After the work week, on Friday my boss took a flight back home and I had planned to visit my mom’s sister and her family in Houston for the weekend. Unfortunately, I did not had more time to see D.C. since after going back to Germany, I had my flight to India from there on Tuesday. I had already booked them long time back for my vacations before the US trip had finalized. Anyways, I took my flight from D.C to Houston which was via Chicago on Friday afternoon. The plan was to reach Houston on Friday night. But after reaching Chicago, I found out that the flight to Houston was cancelled because unexpectedly it had snowed in Houston and since it is not normal for them, their airport had no means to clear the ice and make it safe for flights to land. So much for technology rich US, I thought to myself. Their airport can’t even handle snow? And to my horror, the next available flight was next morning. I had to spend the night at the airport. It did not made much sense to leave the airport for a hotel for few hours and then go through the security checks again. Moreover, I could not take my luggage since it was still with the airline people. The airline people arranged some make shift beds for us for the night. Incidentally, I met a nice Mexican couple and a pretty American girl (lets call her AG) also in the area from my flight. Since all of us were going through the same plight of spending the night at the airport, we developed a mutual pity for each other which slowly turned into friendship. We had rounds of snacks and drinks all through the night. They were very warm people and I am still in touch with them. I realized after all, US is really not that bad a place as I thought.

The next morning did not came with good news. The first flight was already full so we did not had the chance to board it. Thus, we had to wait for the next and just hope that it had a few free seats. If not, the next flight after that was in the evening. In the meantime, AG told us that we are allowed to take a detour. This means that we could take a flight to a less busy airport and then take a flight from there to Houston rather than waiting the whole day for a free seat. I tried to ask for possible combinations from few officials of my airlines but no one was helpful. AG was pretty clever and knew her way around airports. She then took me with her to take a round and check out all the gates and information counters to spot the right official. I could not believe her precision in spotting the right person. Bang, she went straight to her target and got all the information regarding the possible connections. Unfortunately, there was just one place free on one such connection. I asked her to take it and I would wait for the regular next flight. Who knows, maybe I get lucky to find a free seat on it. So, I wished her good luck in life before saying goodbye to her and then came back to the Mexican couple. We all got lucky to find enough free places on the next flight thus saving us the day. But the experience left me feeling happy to meet such nice people and being so open and friendly to a total stranger like me.

Again on the flight from Chicago to Houston, a guy sitting next to me got quite friendly with me. Usually, in Germany people are not so open sometimes to start up a conversation. I think sometimes it has to do with the culture and lack of English speaking skills that they shy off. But this guy had a nice chit chat with me. He was quite happy and curious to know my experiences both in Germany and in the US since both of them were foreign land for me. He wanted to draw some parallels and contrasts between the two places. So, I had a pretty good conversation with him. At the end, I asked him a question I always wanted to ask an average US citizen. After all that is happening in the world, is he still proud to call himself American? To my surprise he gave a pretty blunt and honest answer. He said he was proud to be an American, no doubts about it and America is a great place to live but at the same time he said he did not liked many of the policies of his government. He gave me many examples and I could not be more impressed and satisfied by his answer.

So, all in all this trip was a pretty good learning experience for me. I got to see a new land where most of the people of my homeland want to end up one day. I saw the complete contrast that exists between US and Europe. Both the places are quite distinct in their existence and way of life even though both are called Western developed nations. Everything from cars, to houses, to public transport, to food, the people were quite distinct between the two continents. To summarize it all, this trip served as an eye opener for me since I had quite a different perception of this place. In the end all I can say is that it is a great place with great people but its politicians and its media has really dented its image all over the world. I hope this gets changed in the future.

Red, White and Blue - Part 2

So, I was finally on the flight to Washington D.C. from Frankfurt. I was getting goose bumps all through the flight about the fate which awaits me at the airport. I shared my anxiety with my boss and he joked that in case things happen as I was expecting, then he will take the taxi to the hotel and I can come later. It can take pretty long sometimes with the screenings, he said. His joke did not helped at all and finally I was at the D.C. airport. I could see long lines at the security check. People were being asked to even remove their shoes. Usually, that hardly happens at European airports. After getting through the regular patting, I was quite happy that all is well. But then I saw the immigration check. People were getting selected randomly for additional screening. I saw a family of four, father, mother, two kids around 5-6 years of age, being asked to get out of the line for special screening. I even saw an elderly couple being asked to step out of the line. I gave up my hopes after seeing that. How can a weird looking brown guy score over that? Still, trying to convince myself how bad it can be, I went ahead and stood in front of a 7 foot tall officer. He asked me if this was my first trip. I said, yes. He asked me if I was here for a business trip. I said, yes. He then raised his hands and stamped my passport. Expecting a denial of entry, I thought it is time to take back a flight back to where I came from. But all I heard was, Welcome to Washington, Mr. XYZ. Have a nice stay. He said it with a fake smile. He handed over my passport and said, Next! I was puzzled and still not convinced that I was through. What?? Just two questions?? No special screening?? No trouble making?? That quick?? I could not believe my luck and so did my boss standing at the other end. Unfortunately, we will have to take the same taxi, he joked. Unbelievable, I said to him still trying to recover from the fact that I am standing freely on a place which I dreaded the most. Congratulations to me!

As I was slowly getting back to my senses, I observed the place a bit old and dirty comparing it to my city in Germany. My next comparison was cars. Cars with huge hoods. I was surprised that I never noticed it in their movies but the American cars were really huge particularly at the hood. So much for engine design, I said to myself. Moreover in a country where there is speed limits on their highways, what use are those huge engines. It felt nice to think of going without speed limits on the Autobahn in Germany, where I live. We went to our hotel, which was a normal, nothing-fancy-about-it hotel but still I found it to be HUGE comparing it to hotel rooms in Europe. It had 2 TVs, one for the bedroom and one for the lounge. Wowww, I said, no wonder everyone wants to get into US. Everything was SUPER SIZE.

We had planned to reach the States on a weekend as my boss wanted to do some shopping. Now, I must tell you that amongst few things I hate to do, one of them is shopping. I don’t usually have patience to go through it. Moreover, I buy only when I need. But I did not mind to join him for shopping. So, as planned we took our already book rental car and went to an Outlet Center the next day which had every known brand that I could think of. I think it was one of the most memorable days of my life. Never in my life had I shopped to that extent. I simply could not control myself. Everything was so insanely cheap and after calculating the currency exchange from dollars to euros, it came out even cheaper. I shopped like crazy and the only thing which tried to put brakes on me was the weight limit on my flight back to Germany. My boss knew exactly what he had planned and so he had already brought less stuff with him from home. I could not shop as much as him but for my standards it was the biggest purchase ever in my life on a single day, not just for me but also for my near and dear ones. I had already started loving the US of A. I promised myself that the next time I come here; I will only bring a small hand luggage with one pair of extra clothes. I will even buy a new suitcase here and then stuff it with the maximum limit allowed to carry back. A photo of the mad shopping day:

The complete week we were busy with work and hardly got time to see D.C. Since it was November and the days were short, whatever we saw was in the evening, in dark. It was pretty windy in the evenings making it even more cold. What struck me while walking along the streets of Washington when we used to go out of dinner was the poverty. There were many homeless poor people that I could not believe myself. I even saw a van from a charity stopping over to give free food to those poor people. It was odd for me since I never saw so many people sleeping on streets in Germany or even other countries in Europe. Yes, there is poverty in Europe but not as many people sleep on streets. I was surprised that a country which boast of being the superpower and one of the most advanced places could not even take care of its own people? What difference there is there then between the US and India in this respect?

Contemplating on those thoughts, not being able to understand the world I live in and looking for a nice place to eat, I accidentally discovered a great eating place, Chipotle. 

Red, White and Blue - Part 1

Yesterday, I was watching this video, when I thought of writing my experience traveling to The Land of Opportunities, i.e. The United States of Ambrikkkka.

I had never liked the idea of visiting the US of A. I don’t know why but I had always dreaded going there. Maybe because I see a lot of Hollywood movies where people are picked up at airports by some suited officials and then they disappear only later to be found at some government detention center. I had a kind of phobia of that place. My friends tell me that I over react and ask me to look at all those hundreds of Indians making big bucks in the Silicon Valley. Did anything happen to them? The answer is, No! They always insist it is the safest place of earth. I think otherwise. You never know when shit is going to fall on your head after hitting a tall building, if you know what I mean. And not matter how many people argue that this video is fake, I had always been skeptical about the people who live there.

But one fine day, my boss asked me to assist him on a work related trip to the land of Uncle Sam. I tried to find an excuse of being too busy and asked him to take my colleague instead. But he insisted and asked me to prepare for some presentations which he wanted me to deliver there. There was no way out. I had to go. With a heavy heart, I started with the first step of applying for a visa. I had to fill some forms, collect a load of documents and finally had to go for a visa interview in Frankfurt. I picked the first available time of the day at 8 a.m. When I reached the Embassy, there was already a big waiting line outside the main gate. I was pretty surprised since I had picked up the first slot and was before time but still a long queue. I also went and stood in the line only to find out that all these people were also for the first time slot. So much for people management. I waited for my turn to get inside where I entered a huge hall after a thorough security check. The hall was already full of people waiting for their interview. I was amazed at this arrangement. Usually in Germany, an interview at 8 a.m. means IT IS AT 8 A.M. I saw a middle aged German guy who was shocked seeing the same and started arguing with an official that why should he wait when his appointment was at 8 a.m.? Quite furiously he left the hall and the building spitting abuses. Wow, I said to myself and took a seat in the hall. My turn came at 11.45, after waiting for more than 3 hours! The visa officer, after asking me weird questions, told me that she had some problem with my second name. She will have to put me on further processing, which means a special screening which could take anything from 4 weeks to 6 months. I was delighted to hear that because this meant most probably my trip will be cancelled due to delays. What could be more fun than a company paid trip to Frankfurt on a Friday and then visit my friend in the same town to spend the weekend there? Ahhh … complete bliss! On Monday, I gave this delightful news to my boss who did not seemed very impressed. He asked me to prepare the slides and give them to another guy who would go with him instead. Perfect, I thought!

But life does not always go as planned. Three weeks after my interview, my administrative department got back my passport with the stamped visa. All hell broke loose when my boss asked me to prepare again for the trip. This time there was not way out. I started preparing for the trip. I started getting anxious and searched various online Forums on how to behave at US airports. I tried to prepare myself mentally for all the different things that could happen there right from the strip search to being locked in an unknown detention center.

Rest of the story in the next part !

The Stranger

I am a big fan of Persian art and culture. Sometimes, I find it very close to the North Indian style of living. But what fascinates me the most is their literature. There are many well known names in Persian poetry and amongst poets like Hafez, Ferdowsi, Khayyam, Saadi and Rumi, I am the most impressed by the writings of Hafez. The philosophy in his poems is really impressive and at times just pierces through the heart of the reader. After reading a lot of the above writers’ translated versions, I decided one day to learn Farsi myself so that I am not lost in translation. Sometimes the gist of an idea looses its correct force and target during translation. Reading first hand gives you a better understanding and you are not left under the influence of the translator’s interpretation but rather develop your own interpretations. This helps you to better understand the author’s ideas rather than following something totally blindly.

Anyways, this post is not about Persian literature but about an incident which happened few years back. I had moved to a new apartment after I got my first job in Germany and thus had to shop for some furniture. I decided to go to IKEA on a Saturday for the same which was quite out of the city. I picked all what I needed and then asked the IKEA home delivery service to deliver it to my place. There were a few things which I needed urgently so I thought I will carry them myself and the rest could come later by the delivery service since it would take about a week for the delivery. Now, the IKEA center where I went was quite a distance from the tram station. There was a bus service which I had taken to reach from the station to IKEA. Since it was a Saturday, the frequency of the bus service was less. On my way back I found that I would have to wait for the bus for around an hour. I decided to walk to the station instead. I liked walking and was quite used to it so I did not even thought about a Taxi. I started marching towards the station on foot with some pieces of furniture in my hands.

Unfortunately, I had underestimated the distance and the weight of the stuff I was carrying. I kept juggling the weight of the furniture between both my hands while walking. After about half the way, I decided to stop, put down the weight and catch my breath. After a few minutes, I started again towards my destination. A few steps later, I was struggling to hold the packet I was carrying. It started getting tougher and tougher specially because there was no proper grip and the packet kept slipping from my hands. I thought of calling a Taxi but then felt embarrassed that I have already walked half the way and just to finish the last leg of about 700 meters it does not make sense to call a Taxi. Moreover, my ego started kicking in that a young guy like me can’t carry his stuff? What a looser I am when I am willing to give up half the way. I kept going further but now I was stopping after every few steps to keep the packet down to ease my muscles. The going was really getting tough but I was not willing to give up. Yes, I am stubborn. While stopping and taking regular rest breaks, I started noticing that a lot of people in nice cars passed by me, some even laughing at me. But no one stopped to give a helping hand. I was also not expecting that to happen in a foreign land. Why would anyone in his right senses stop in the middle of nowhere to help a guy who made the wrong decision to carry heavy packets on foot for such a long distance? I deserved it.

500 meters before my destination, I had started to give up. I could not take it any more. I stopped, I was out of breath, my hands were shaking and I was sweating profusely. I started feeling ashamed of myself. Just then when I was about to give all hopes, a small old car passing by me stopped a few steps ahead from where I stood. A middle aged guy came out of the car and asked me, Where are you going, do you need help? I told him I am trying to reach the tram station. He said he could take me there. I was a bit surprised and bit skeptical as to why would a total stranger help me? But I said yes to him and he helped me put my stuff at the back of his car and we drove off. He asked me if I was from India. I said yes and asked him where was he from. He said a small place near Tehran in Iran. I was quite overwhelmed by his modesty and helping nature. I tried to talk with him in my broken Farsi. But after seeing me struggling with Farsi he switched and then we talked in German. After a small chit chat he dropped me off at the tram station. I asked him that why did he stopped to help me. He said he noticed me walking on his way to IKEA and then on his return he saw me struggling with heavy stuff. Seeing that I was not too convinced with his reason he said, he knows how it feels to be in a foreign land. I thanked him from the bottom of my heart. He said Khuda Hafiz to me and left. I was so overwhelmed by the whole situation that I did not even asked his contact details. Maybe I might never see him again in my life but whenever I remember that incident, I always pray to God that bless him with more strength to always keep helping the needy. Whenever I start giving up on humanity, something or the other happens which restores my faith back in humankind. Someone once rightly told me that this world would have been destroyed by bad men long back but just because of the integrity and strength of a few good men that this world is still holding up. I wish that their tribe increase!           

Movie Confessions contd....

In continuation of the foreign film recommendations which I started last time here, I would like to share two more films very close to me.

Let the Right One In (Lat den rätte comma in - Sweden)

I have always been a big fan of vampires or I would say vampire movies since I was a kid. I must have seen too many of them. The recent Twilight series did not really impressed me since it was too mushy and over dramatic for me. I don’t know how did it managed to build up such a fan following. Anyways, I am not here to discuss that but another vampire movie which just blew me off with its simplicity. I like things simple and straight and not beating around the bush to prove your point thus this movie impressed me beyond expectations. It does not have too many characters and is set in the backdrop of Nordic winters, dark and snowy. The two main characters of the movie are the two teenagers, a boy named Oskar and a girl named Eli. The boy is more of a friendless loner living with his mother in a multi apartment building and if often bullied in the school. The girl is a new neighbour who just moved in. The movie beautifully portrays the feelings and emotions of both these characters. They form a bond between them, a strange one though as the girl turns out to have lived as a blood drinker. She eventually even becomes the guy’s saviour from the bullies. Oskar slowly realises who Eli eventually is but never overreacts. His feelings and emotions do not change for Eli and I think this creates a lot of attraction for Eli towards Oskar. The movie does not have a lot of gore but depicts the emotions of both the characters and even go on proving that they can also exist together in harmony. It is the chemistry between both these characters and the events which unfold with them which make me recommend this movie.       

Incendies (Incendies - Canadian, French)

If you like strong and bold movies, movies which leave a mark on you, movies with a substance, then I would highly recommend you this movie. As the movie ended, I went a little numb in my head. I was overwhelmed by emotions of sorrow and grief but quickly that turned into joy and happiness, that this is called a movie. This is how storytelling should actually be, gripping. I felt very content after finishing the movie. So, the movie is about twins, Jeanne and Simon who are asked to go to Middle East as per the will of their dead mother, Nawal Marwan to find their roots and more importantly their father. Simon gets upset listening to the unconventional points mentioned by their mother in the will and refuses to follow all of them. But Jeanne for some reasons leaves alone to find the truth. The movie then starts moving back and forth between the flash back story of Nawal and the journey of Jeanne. Slowly, things start to unfold and there comes one surprise after the other leaving the audience in awe. The director does a great job of always keeping the characters in his control through all the twists and turns, never letting the story out of context. The movie begins as a journey ends up leaving both the characters and its audience a bit shaken. A must see for movie lovers.