I am Write!

while I still work on my report, I had this orkut scrappy conversation with a senior from H7, Aditya Bhakta (suppandi is my alias for the time-bieng :D ):

Aditya: Hey there... How are you? By the look of it, you are one person (I know) whoze globetrotting like anything! . Sahi hain. Howz it going waise?
And, Suppandi is great. Reminds me of childhood days, when he appeared in Tinkle

Suppandi: masti hai sir! having a ball of a time here in germany... with football world cup and all thodi lucky rahe hum.. ek saal ki chutti mili and luck ne favor kiya
suppandi is fun sab logon ko kuch na kuch yaad toh dilata hai
aap sunao.. kahan ho?

Aditya: Great, nice to hear tht you're having fun. And ya, I totally believe in LUCK re... It makes you or breaks you. Hain naa!
Philhaal to main Pune mein hoon. Just quit my job, may join a startup...

Suppandi: well luck could be seen in todays netherlands vs portugal game! holland was surely unlucky today
what's with startups? i see most of iitians going into joining startups. aisa kyon?

Aditya: Well my take on it is this... The nature of a job in a big name is well defined so to say. Now what this 'being well defined' does is that you need to work while remaining within those frameworks. There are set rules and way of conduct etc. which for a business is a normal routine. Most often these conditions are not what an IITian wants. Therez no creativity to explore oneself. Within a limit, for a business the individual benifits are OKAY; but not if those are to digress from its main goal - which undoubtedly is PROFIT.
In short, WE require a more challenging work.

Suppandi: hmm... always thought the same. never felt that the well-settled industry could ever cater to the needs of an iitian when it came to creativity. there are "procedures" for everythings, and sometime sooner or later i guess this gets to an iitian for being too much of paper work, and no real work. what say?

Aditya: Yeah, almost there... But those who do carry on, I believe, more often than not - suppress this creativity 'keeda' of theirs for whateva reason. Lets see how far this keeda takes me. Its more paying and comfy to do a managerial kinda job, which btw is more creative than most entry level positions that a undergrad frm IIT gets, and such positions are reached with a long work ex. MBA is a shorter route to it. Most of the IITians are therefore going for it, I think. Also a CSE or EE undergrad frm IIT has more job-satisfaction. Rest branches maaro haath, idhar udhar. I think MONEY rules the roost!

Suppandi: fuck! u seriously underlined the main thoughts that i was fighting for in a discussion with a punter here. I was trying to explain a german the main concept of iitians not necessarly working in core jobs, and why we would run away to do MBAs to get more money
and yeah, i agree, a CSE or an EE grad gets more satisfaction, coz their core jobs are well paid, and also creative at the same time. for us, as fresh grads, either its well paid, or creative. we somehow dont get the balance between the 2. and the only way we see is out is the managerial post, achievable easily thu the MBA thing.

Aditya: Yup. And the main thing is that, the attitude that we have out here in India. Therez more of peer and social pressure. Therez more of a comparison between ppl around you- subconsciously for most. IIT makes a huge effort to take us away frm this line of thinking (thats why IIT's are great according to me), but even then it does not change. Give a thought to this: If the same guy with whom you stayed for 4 yrs, earns more than you do (with the same effort as you did - comparing across depts. is difficult though) you are bound to run behing MONEY. The things are not as flexible as out there in Europe/US etc. They have a different mentality. More of risk taking and follow-the-dream kinda thing. I can realise tht the German u're trying to talk it out with, may not be able to understand this.

Suppandi: oh my god! sahi! i put the mentality of indians and the effect of peer and social groups around us as a major reason, and many indians too opposed this idea! cool man! i just got a supporter for my ideas
i guess its just that when in school we are told, "iit mein ho jaye, life peace ho jayegi" and then once out of iit, we don't really get that 'peace'. that's a major setback. and then when the 100 rank above u, EE punter lives a life full of money and satisfaction, one does wonder where has he gone wrong and the EE person right. And out here, there are people willing to have startups in chemical engg, and all, and back in india, one would not think of it. also, the core jobs here are a little more challenging, atleast as per what i am told by the experiences of MS students whom i work with.

Aditya: Yeah. Wavelengths matched --> Resonance observed.
Well, its better not to remain in that negative frame of mind. I believe there are no shortcuts to life. Luck no doubt is the major player in life (I think you too believe that - your 'about me:' says so... I truly loved that sentence!), but Fortune favours the brave. You need to work!

Suppandi: fortune sure does favor the brave! no shortcuts in life... tell me that. I have to submit my 1st draft of report tomorrow morning, and am still working on my lit survey i am surely working

Before I write anything, here's a mail excerpt of my conversation with my guide yesterday:

Places have been ****ed because they reveal things about my setup, which I may not be allowed.

I guess the above mail explains what is pissing me off. Report writing sucks. Qutub and his 2nd year roomie, Rai face the same task, I see. But I have to also blog my experiences of BeNeHam (BeNeLux = Belgium + Netherlands + Luxembourg, I went to BeNe + Hamburg, so BeNeHam). So here it goes.

Today, after about 2 years the movie Eurotrip rocked the famous IITs of India, almost all IITians have had a differnt perspective to foreign internships, specially when it comes to interning in Europe. This report speaks about a 3 day trip of a less known individual Aashish Vishnoi, who was in the land known for chocolates, sex, and sex. Yes, that would be Brussels, best chocolates ever; Sex, Amsterdam is the sex capital of the world (Cooper Harris, Eurotrip, 2004) and Hamburg, the second capital of sex, after Amsterdam (Bhut Bharat Kumar, the gujju who sits behind me, Max Plank Institute, Magdeburg, 2006).

With just 5 hours from Brussels, 7 from Amsterdam, and 3 from Hamburg, these places were sureshot visiting locales for a person working in a small town called Magdeburg, Germany.

After seeing the fun experienced by Scott Thomas, Cooper Harris, Jenny and Jaime on the much acclaimed Eurotrip that was undertaken by Scott to successfully get a girlfriend Mieke a german hot blonde, whom Scott mistakes to be a dumbwitted man, one was very much interested to see and experience the same. Also, with first hand experiences from 3rd yearites like Akhil, Nitin Ashok, Er. Nitin Gupta, and pressure from lots of seniors, and friends to visit the place, I embarked on the decision to just do it. Ham came into picture with Akhil, Jassi and I being successful in getting tickets for the Ukraine vs. Saudi World cup football league match. Details can be read in my previous post, here (I am Write! Aashish Vishnoi, 2006).

Known as the un-official capital of the European Union, or EU, it is also famous for the chocolates, and the Manneken Pis.

As if the flag of the city doesn't say it all (Figure 1.1) Amsterdam is the capital of Netherlands, and also SEX. It has been a must visit place for most people for the red light district, and for the window shopping that happens at night.

Figure 1.1 : Flag of Amsterdam (Wikipedia.org, 2006)

With nothing in common in the flag with Amsterdam, but the red, Hamburg plays it safe when it comes to the sex part. But don't be fooled, because this is just an illusion. Hamburg, a port city of erstwhile West Germany, is second only to the leader, Amsterdam, when it comes to sex (Bhut Bharat Kumar, the gujju punter who sits behind me, Max Plank Institute, Magdeburg, 2006). It is known as the porn capital of Germany, and lots more.

With I having decided to go to BeNeLux minus Lux since a long time, and with the weekend decided, I asked Kannad, Onkar, Sumedh, Pursha and Sarmistha if they would be interested in joining forces. Kannad and Sarmistha agreed without much asay. Grateful to them. Nitin Gupta (NG, from now on) buzzed a day or two before the trip that he may "surprise" us at the Brussels Midi station! Not much of a surprise I guess, since we were waiting for him there :) Neha joined in coz NG doesn't really go without her. :P

I got a reservation for a night train to Brussels from Wolfsburg, that went through Bielefeld, Kannad's place of residence, so that we two could go together.

I had also fixed up with Nitin Ashok on acco for the 5 of us at his place, Leiden, not more than 30 minutes by train from Amsterdam.

3.1 The Stations

Both aboard, the train delivered us safely and soundly to Brussels Midi (or Zuid as it's called) at 7.09, and we went around the station looking at what to do for the next 2 hours. We looked at the arrival boards, and were amazed to see that the trains system in BeNeLux doesn't refer by train numbers, but by 3 tags: Station of start, Time of Departure, Type of train. What I had noted down was the time of arrival, and the train numbers. It was sorted out, luckily with the train numbers including what train type it was. The 2 hours that we waited, we took in a sandwich apiece, and a cup of soup, for 3.70 €.

With NG, Neha and Sam located, loaded with 4 maps of the place, we caught a train to Brussels Centraal (around which all the sightseeing is to be done).

3.2 The Town Square

Once out of the station, we walked to the town square. I guess that's all to see out there. A place surrounded by old-age buildings from all sides, the square was filled with lavender plants (Figure 3.1), and a bunch of people were making distilling lavender oil (Figure 3.2) from the plant for people to have a look at. I don't really know what they were selling though, the oil or the plant. We did go and have a check at the place, on as to what was going on.


3.3 Mannekan Pis and Chocolates

Constant thing that was on was window shopping by the girls, and hogging of chocolates to taste by the boys :) Kannad and I spotted some interesting purses for the ladies (Figure 3.3). Neha and Sam insisted on the seeing of Mannekan Pis, so we, guided by our supervisor for this trip NG, embarked on the route. The lane (or the road) from the square to the statue (or fountain) was loaded with chocolate shops, and this slowed our walk due to obvious reasons. We managed to find a shop owned by chinkis who sold chocolates cheap (or as we thought), and also the statue fountain of Mannekan Pis (Figure 3.4).

Figure 3.3 : Some design of purses I guess.

Figure 3.4 : Mannekan Pis

Figure 3.5 : The Organ Instrument at the Cathedral (Photo Courtsey Sarmistha Pal).

3.4 Cathedral and more Chocolates

NG was hell bent on taking us to a cathedral and even though most of us relented, we did end up going where the guide took us. A look around the cathedral showed us a huge organ instrument (Figure 3.5) which played, and nothing more. After a few shots, here and there, we were to be told by Neha that there stood a shop, by the name of Marcolini, at 39 Place du Grand Sablon. Arguably the best belgian chocolates (Wikitravel.org, 2006). Reaching the place, we were kind of shocked at the prices of the chocolates. At the end of the day, Sam and I bought a 4 € bar of 85% chocolate for ourselves, and one for Onkar too.

Fianlly, we came back to the chinki shop to buy chocolates, ended up buying some worth 27 €! Sam bought chocolates worth 37.5 €!!!

3.5 Conclusion

A run to the train at 4.30 PM, we boarded the IC to Amsterdam. Kannad, Sam and I took the detour to Leiden to dump our bags, while NG and Neha went ahead to Amsterdam.

Figure 4.3 : Another shot (Photo Courtsey Neha).

Figure 4.4 : Julia Roberts (Photo Courtsey Neha).

4.5 Canal Ride

We ran our way to the start point, from where the boat left 10 min late. A ride along the canals, it was a wonderful experience! (Figures 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8) At precise 4.30 PM we were brought at the start point, and we took a tram back to the centraal station. Sam and Kannad left on the same train, and NG, Neha and I looked around the city to buy a few souvenirs.






4.6 Conclusion

I left the couple at around 8, caught my train to Leiden. Got down and walked the way back to the house. Nitin had made some rice-potato pulao, so it wasn't a bad night. He offerred me his bed, and with a 5 AM alarm, we went to sleep at around 12. At 5, I got up, took a bath (!!!) and walked the way to the station to catch my train to Hamburg. I did see quite a few horses in the morning, that are worth a mention. (Figure 4.9).

Yeah. That's what I am done with in my report. I now for sure know why my guide (not me!) was motivated to a project on this subject. A subject I hardly understand, and even lesser, care about :P But then he pays for my trips across Europe, and so its good enough :)

Last night, I sat in office for a little more than 3 hours, from 10 to 1. Working on the motivation and the introduction of my report. Done with the motivation, I have scrapped the intro part 3 times in a row now. I write 3-4 paras, and then delete is what I press. Not impressed with what I have been writing. Will start work again soon.

Other than that, I washed clothes today. And as almost all men, I mixed my colors and my whites. Result? I have a gradient of red in my inner wear, and hankerchiefs. (Yes yes.. read it Pink, and light red :( ) Now I shall have to bleach them when I get back to India. And till then, keep them inside my pants. No showing around what I wear. Bloody hell. Why GOD Why?? Why me???

For all that Onkar, Sumedh and I discuss on the lunch table, dinner table, the corridors of MPI, the streets of Magdeburg, on the phone, and in the lift has had just one source : CNN. With all channels in german, but for the good ol' CNN, we are found watching the news for most part of our stay in the room. And then we discuss: did u see this? did u see that? That news reader is kinda hot. OOOOh!!! What time is she on? 8 AM. naah! Too early for me. What also at 2 in the night? Kwel! I'll check her out. And then back to what's happenning in Sudan, or the US playing with Iraq. No mention of Cricket, be it CNN World, or CNN Asia that we watch. CNN Europe is filled with useless news, other than that football hightlights.

A few months back I found it kinda shady when the "rich and pompus" talked about world(y) issues like Iraq, the US president, the Indian Markets, the Australian beaches, all this sitting in an English house, over some Brazillian coffee. And while they discussed such important topics, they didn't see their families breaking into pieces, their company's future doomed, and they turing into paupers in a few years down the line. But now that I do the same, I guess its not about "not thinking about personal stuff" but with too much time at hand, one does kinda start "worrying" about the world eh? :)

Last weekend I was in Munich. I went there with a 40 € ticket, and 4 € in my pocket. Pursha was supposed to meet me at the station, and we were supposed to go to a fairytale castle, meet with Sarmistha, and then back to Munich for football fever and night life. Pursha didn't show up, I roamed the city alone, till about 2 in the afti, calling Pursha and Sarmistha simultaneously. Sam picked all of my calls, Pursha none. Finally Sam bailed me out of my peril, and met up with me at Füssen. We came back to Munich, and went to the Olympiazentrum to catch the Argentina match on the big screen. Slept at the station, with just one plan in mind : to visit Dachau, the Nazi Concentration Camp on Sunday.

Once there, on an empty stomach, at 9 in the morning, we realised how much a gloomy cloudy day would change the impact of this place, with torn down grey buildings, barren land, and meticulously planted trees. I was glad it was a day with a bright sun, and no cloud in sight. After entereing every small establishment in the camp, I'd come out happily to take the sun shining on me. It was a nice feeling :) 2 hours in that place, and we were looking for food at almost every corner of the town.

Back from Dachau, still hungry, we 2 headed off to the BMW museum at the Olympic Park. A 30 min gujju shoot, taking pics of all cars, reading info of only a few, we were back at the Munich station. In between, I was made to gulp down more than 500 ml of beer, with in a few minutes, coz Sarmistha wanted a 1 L beer mug, and she had already given 5.6 € for the beer in it, and 2 € as a deposit. With a beer mug in hand and a few burgers, Sarmistha took the 2.36 connection to her place, while I took the last possible 2.44 PM connection to Magdeburg. Reached home after 12 midnight. Slept, overslept. Woke up at 11 AM. Forgot to put the alarm on. Was to meet guide at 9. Met him in the corridor at 2, he said we should meet on Tuesday at 10.30. No mention of the missed meeting. He added that he came late to office coz his car broke down. Lovely, i thought! :P

Have done some work over the past 2 days. A few X-Ray Diffraction readings, and a few samples prepared for centrifugation. Now I am a master in preparing micro-emulsions too. But I shall not talk of work out here. I dont talk of work anywhere :)

Yesterday, Akhil gave me a surpirse scrap.

Akhil: WE´re GOIN TO THE WORLD CUP
atch #32: Saudi Arabia - Ukraine, Hamburg, 19.06.2006
WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..........Its the time to party

Akhil: F@$"!ing shit Man .......

Yeah, yeah. One can get the essence. We are going to see a world cup match live in the stadium, with the most expensive seats in town. a whopping 105 € a place. Now don't start giving fundaes, on what stupid match is this. We got a ticket after a wait of more than 2 months in the wait list. For a person like us, all matches are great. Its the atmosphere that is worth being in. :)

When I told my guide that I would like to have monday off, coz I have a World Cup ticket, he was "Bloody hell! You have a world cup ticket :O:O:O Congratulations." And then the person across the table shook my hand too. Guide says, you have a valid reason to take the monday off. A WC ticket is good enough for a holiday in all of the world. :)

For today and tomorrow, my complete research group has gone to some other Max Plank, where my group head gives a lecture, in German. Also, the MPI there has prepared some laser tech, that only MPI junta can see. My guide's gone too, so I have been asked to do a few experiments, and work on my report :P haah!

aaaaaah! well, now that the next weekend arrives, I should jot down what I did over the past weekend :) A long weekend, starting Thursday, most people bunked Friday making it a 4 day no show. I decided to bunk Monday too, but then work on Thursday, keeping it a 4 day weekend. What I was to take in later was that my supervisor left for a 12 day family holiday on Thursday, and so I had no motivation to work on a day that had attendance lower than a regular weekend Saturday.

Not working, chatting, orkutting, mailing, and making pasta was how I spent my Thursday. I washed clothes for 2 €, and dried them for another 1 €. Finally, I packed my bags, and went to the train station to catch my 19.42 connection to Wolfsburg, where I would get my City Night Line for Basel SBB, Switzerland. The wait at Wolfsburg station, 2 straight hours in the cold, weren't great, but that was to be done to save some 10 odd euros, which were very much required, as I am being paid an amount that would be given to a beggar who'd not be doing anything but sitting idle throughout the day. Well, that's Germany for you.

Aboard on the train, I had my ticket checked at around 12, and then off to sleep. Was woken by Swiss customs officers some 30 minutes before we reached Basel, to check my passport. As usual, the passport snap was desperately compared to my face, and the amount of missing hair was much pondered on. But then that's something I have to bear for another 5 years, before my passport expires :) Into Basel, I changed over to a train for Bien, and then onto a train to Geneve (Geneva for non-Europeans) Scheduled Arrival: 10.47 AM. NG was supposed to be waiting for me at the platform. It so happenned that I dozed of at around 10, and then got up with a start while the train was at some station. A conversation between a woman behind me and me went like this:

I: where are we?
She: Geneve.
I: Geneve?
She: Yes
(I pull my bag, my jacket, and make a run for it)
She: (calls back)It's not Geneve Airport.
I: (a desperate reply, so that I can hurry getting down from the train) I was supposed to get down here :P

She looks stunned, but then who cares ;)

Down the train, I meet NG, who was desperately searching for me from one end of the train to the other :P He would have borded the train incase I wouldn't have gotten down :D Into Geneve, we ran into a group of 3rd yearites interning at EPFL. NG and I had just 10 SCF in his pocket, other than loads of Euros, decided to borrow some of this pack. 10 SCF on, we headed off to the tourist information office. Strange but true, the [i] is not near the station, but somewhere in the city, to where NG knew the way. (thankfully!)

Taking a map, and some instructions later, we went to see the Highest water fountain in the world. The water goes up some 140 metres! A few pics of the fountain, a few of the ducks that swam the lake Geneve, and then NG kept wondering where the flowerclock was. We looked, and looked, and looked. Then we gave up and went ahead towards the old city. I was keen to have a look at the cathedral (it sure was a letdown) and the rulers of the Reformation that are set in stone, not far from the cathedral. NG disclosed that he had half a bottle of red wine (or was that white?) and we both took in a few sips on an empty stomach, right in front of the The rulers of the Reformation :) A few pics here and there, we walked (read trecked the steep slopes) our way to the other side of the lake, to where stood the Red Cross Museum and the United Nations building. Somehow NG knew all the ways in this city, and that was kind of good. Some more pics, and we decide NOT to enter the museums in each of these buildings. Some 10 SCF and 5 SCF each. We took a break at the lawns of the Red Cross Hospital, and then went all the way back to the station, so that NG could find some possible connection to Paris from Monaco/Nice for the race day.





At the station, after more than 40 minutes of trying with the person at the counter, NG finally found a train that would get him to Paris in the morning of the Monday that followed, and not in the night, as previously scheduled. He was extremely relieved getting back to office on time :)

We caughtup with Sarmistha at the Geneve station, and the 3 of us boarded the 16.21 train to Lyon Part Dieu. In Lyon, with about 30 minutes to spare, we ran around the station trying to jugaado something to eat, and drink. NG confidently said he'll get something, and ran up somewhere. While Sarmistha and I looked for him, we bought a huge loaf of sweet bread, 3 €, and then found NG with a packet in hand. Few chocolates, marshmellows, and some nutties. 2 € :P:P Lovely buy. Pondering whether we should buy a bottle of wine (prettz cheap: just 5 € a bottle) or not, we took a bottle of juice, and 2 of water. Hurrying onto the platform with some 3 minutes to go, we climbed on the wrong one, then came hurrying down, and get onto the right platform. No, we didn't miss the train. We caught it with more than a minute to spare :)

Onto the train, we ate the food, drank the drinks, and tried to decide where to alight: Antibes (the staion near which stays Chinmay), or Nice, as planned. Then came up another option: Cannes, and with the film festival, it was the best bet. At around 11 in the night we got down, found a map from somewhere, a train timetable for getting to Nice, and some directions as to where was the beach, and where was the film festival. Both in the same direction. I somehow always had the idea that such places have casinos, and they are the best bet for dumping luggage. We did this quite often when in Sydney :) And as expected, this city did have a casino, next to the blue carpet. We entered the casino, dumped our bags, and had a look around the slot machine room. NG and I wanted to try our hands at cards, and as we moved towards the cards room, we were "shooed" away with the gatekeeper saying something in French. We tried again, and we shooed once more, only to learn that sport shoes weren't allowed inside the room. Some fundaes for sure!

Dejected, and hungry, We looked for some place to eat, and as expected, NG found an Ice-Cream Parlour! We saw this board that said:
1 scoop: 2.0 €
2 scoop: 2.5 €
3 scoop: 3.0 €
And I was happy that the 3 of us would have a scoop each in a personalised cone for just 3 EUR. But to my utter dismay, it was 3 scoops in one cone/ cup :) We ordered 3, one of each person's liking: kiwi, mango, and green apple. The woman at the counter asked us where were we from, and we said "India" :) She claimed to have been in India, and named places that even we haven't visited as yet. Then she showed us the cup with 3 scoops, a biscuit and a spoon. Asks: Is this good? Or one more spoon? We say 3 :) She smiles, and then offers us a plate too to keep the cup on ;) Soon we were joined by a huge group of college-goers, and everyone ordered a 3 scoop cone. Sure we had fun sitting there and the 3 of us gheezing into one cup :)

We left that place, went up the road, and found a small store open. Entering it, NG was happy to see the wine bottles, and then as usual, we bought a packet of slice cake, and a big bottle of juice :) The cake sucked! And the juice was cold. So was the places where we sat to rest :|

We went towards the blue carpet, saw some European actress, lots of Ferraris with V8 engines going vroom vroom on the road, and then slowly walked towards the beach. An hour on the beach, the chilly air started getting to us, and so did the cold sand. We decided to get our bags back (the casino closed at 4) and then grab some sleep. With bags in our hands, we tried to get some sleep on the benches near the film festival area. 40 min down, I was woken up, someone was feeling cold. So, we decided to head up to the station, and try getting a place like we had in Vienna. Unfortunately, the station was closed, and after a closer inspection, we realised it didn't open till 5! Sarmistha made us sit down in the middle of the road, and with cold winds blowing from both sides, it sure wasn't the best place to sit. Then we decided to move in towards a wall, so that we could be protected from one side atleast. An hour of sleep, and some drunk moron comes shouting at us, and we get up. Lucky enough to see that a cafe open infront of us :) We entered it, drank large coffees, and nibbled onto some bread. And then sat there for the next hour or so, regaining the lost heat :|

At around 7, we headed to the beach, to take some morning shots. Saw a couple of oldies fishing by the tier. The did catch something small. But nothing useful. Took in some shots of the place. Finally, we headed towards the station, bought a tickets for Nice. Freshened up for 0.50 € at the station restrooms, changed clothes, and then waited for Pursha and Chinmay at the meeting point.