Back at last

Total control. From my window seat, through the wholes in the boringly even layers of the clouds underneath my plane, I’m watching the first streches of German landscape I’ve seen in a year. Every square centimetre in the fatherland (literal translation for the German term “Vaterland”) seems to contain pricisely what it should, has the exact shape it is supposed to have. Nothing is left to coincidence. No inconvenience, no unpleasant surprises. I’m alternately crying and laughing. I’m half expecting a giant lawn gnome welcoming me with his huge shovel in his clumsy hands. Hail, the land of perfect organisation.

First glimpse of the fatherland	Skyline of Frankfurt	small strech of Autobahn

The lack of sleep of the last two nights shows its impact on me. I remember the good bye scenes in front of the boy’s hostel and sobbingly I’m opening another packet of paper tissues. I guess I’m just too tired.
Our flight reaches Frankfurt early. I reach the mini bus to Heidelberg ten minutes before it is leaving at eight o’clock – sharp as a knife. The big Mercedes is not even half full. 18 Euros (ca. 1190 Rs) for the 60 minutes journey on the Autobahn. Like on rails we’re gliding on the big road, first two lanes in each direction, then three and four. Absolute silence. On the whole ride not a single car blows its horn. It’s cold and cloudy. We reach our destination in Heidelberg at nine o’clock sharp, even though we got stuck in a small traffic jam on the way. The proverbial German punctuality is one of the few things I’m actually proud of.

hard to find in India: a dustbin; we even sort our garbage	stereotype of the white man: erotic accessories in the Airport	my shuttle to Heidelberg

On the Straßenbahn (tram) to my parents house I experience a small wonder. When I’m trying to buy a ticket from the driver, she doesn’t have change for a 50 Euro note and gives me a ticket for 1 Euro (66 Rs) instead of the one for 2,10 Euros (139 Rs), a price that leaves me gasp for breath. After all it’s just a ten minutes ride. Later on there will be countless occasions on which I will wonder about how much more expensive Germany is from India.

Old tram	new tram from the inside	garden center: flowers for our garden

My first two days I’m spending shivering and silently cursing the – even for Germany at this time of year – unusually low temperatures of around 18 °C. It’s never getting to bright outside, although we have 16 hours and 16 minutes of daylight every day (sunrise at 05:18 and sunset at 21:34). A fact some of my friends in Kolkata never quite believed me. Check the net buggers!

my old school	home, green home!	New, shivering arrival

In order not to spend all day inside, I’m going for a walk in the neighbourhood and visit my old school and an old cemetry. Everything is so quiet. No shouting, no horns, no crowds of people anywhere. I fall asleep during the match Germany vs. Austria, due to jet lag, even though it’s quite a thrilling game.
Nothing much happened since my arrival in Germany. I’m doing well and I’m not too bored, yet. I just realized, that I can see the world now with German as well as, to certain extent, Indian eyes. On this blog I’ll try to comment on those things I come across, that look strange to my Indian eyes, trying to keep my friens in India posted, just as I tried to keep my German friends informed, when I was in India. Bad grammar, othography and expression are deeply regretted. Remarks concerning these technicalities appreciated.
In this sense: Please come again!
Yours Paul Baba