From Jatland to Germany- Tale of a lost cow!

I was born in Panipat (Haryana), the place has been famous for three epic battles that have been fought on its soil. And the state of Haryana is the leading state in the cow belt – I refer to it so as the people here love their cows more than their daughters, after all cows give milk! The state has been in news for the past few years for its people’s superhuman feats of removing railway tracks or burning petrol pumps either for reservation or to show solidarity with a rapist Godman masquerading as everyone’s ‘father’. But that is a story for another time.

So my journey of life began on a fine evening when my mother bogged down by household chores sought to ignore her labour pain until she could not any more. She asked her mother-in-law – my grandmother - to take her to hospital. Even before the cycle rickshaw could take my mother to a hospital, the impatient me forced myself out in the world. The rickshaw ride marked my first travel journey! Since then I have been traveling across India all thanks to my father’s job with the Indian Air Force (IAF).

I have been well traveled within India, but the time when your passport loses its virginity is always a special one. My first sojourn outside India was for higher education to Germany, for Indian allured by the charms of London and America, the choice was unfathomable. Born in the great lands of Panipat and having worked for better part of my career in Delhi, I thought I can survive anything that Germany can throw at me.

The officials at the German scholarship office gave me a list of do’s and dont's (Germans can give serious competition to Indian bureaucracy when it comes to rules). On top of it was – Do not carry a pressure cooker! For an Indian pressure cooker is a lifeline and even though it is a developed country do not trust anyone!!!

With these tips I embarked on Aeroflot flight to Frankfurt via Moscow. In terms of courtesy Aeroflot cabin crew sometimes outdo even the Air India’s crew. But only thing that guided my decision was the 62 kgs of luggage allowed on board and like a conscientious Indian I needed to stock up my pantry supply lest I die of hunger in a foreign land. I landed in Frankfurt with my orange boots (the closest I got to saffron ever!) and a jacket in the month of April, thinking it to be summer month. Taking the gift of colonisation – English – for granted I thought Germany by virtue of being closer of England would have better English speakers and hence yours truly did not even bother to learn few words of German. Anyway, Frankfurt was freezing, the coldest I have felt in my life and roads were empty. The scene was straight out of the Hollywood flick “I am Legend” I was seriously thinking on the possibility of a plague killing all the Germans!

With 'the most kissed Girl' in the world in Gottingen! Tradition is that after completing their PhD's students have to come and kiss the girl called Gänseliese or the girl with the Goose

Somehow, I managed to reach the Bahnhof (the railway station in German) and an English-speaker voluntarily helped me with my two gigantic suitcases! He put my luggage at the beginning of the carriage; asked me to take seat in one of the cabin and went away to take his seat. I wanted to trust him, but then there were those words of caution!! Reluctantly I went to my seat but only to make quick returns to check on my luggage. So what if the train has been running on 280 kmph – you cannot trust no one!

Later in Frankfurt!

When the train stopped at my destination Göttingen, my new found friend – an Iranian - came back to help me. He took my luggage without asking; took me to taxi stand and stopped in front of a Mercedes. Incredulous I asked him: “Where can I get cheap taxi.” He gave me a look as if I was speaking Greek! Red-faced I sat in the taxi and even the atheist in me started praying that the bill should not be more than 1000 Euros, I had in my pocket (Concept of Purchasing Power Parity was still alien to me)! It was later during my stay, I realised Volkswagen and Mercedes are same to Germans as Tata and Maruti are to us!

After 18 hours of being in transit I reached my hostel room. But being a Sunday evening almost all the market had closed down. I wanted water desperately, and was asking the rare souls I could find- “Where can I find water?” I asked an old woman dressed pretty in pink from head-to-toe. One look at me and her face was turned pale as if she spotted Hitler! (Well it is not polite to take the name in Germany). She did not understand what I was saying, but I somehow managed to find supermarket and got four large bottles of water. One gulp and I spattered all of it! It was soda water! For some queer reason Germans like to drink water with fizz!!!

I found a Subway and got a small bottle of water for 8 Euros! In total that day I had spent 10 Euros to quench my thirst only to find out it is perfectly fine to drink tap water in Deutschland! It was waste of the precious euros as beer is cheaper than bottled water! Now that is what I call getting my priorities right! Finally, tired and exhausted I called the first day in Germany off by hitting the bed!