Language of love !!

We have weekly status meetings on friday here in office. I remember right before the first meeting i was attending, my manager, who happens to sit right behind me, uttered with a wicked smile on his face, "CHALO". I was heavily engrossed in work, but i was lured to turn back to him, because that hindi word came from an Israeli mouth, who knew precisely when to speak it.

Startled, i asked him, "what did you just say ?". With a big pride and smile on his face, he repeated "Chalo !!". & i've been hearing this word on almost all fridays since then. He had learnt one hindi word, by-heart, & he remembers exactly when to throw it. It brings smiles on all Indian faces around.

We are a bunch of Indians here, many Israelis, & a few local Finnish guys. So it's a mixed breeding of several cultures. & it's fun.

Yesterday, Daniel, another guy from an application team came up to discuss a few things with us. But we were all busy, & heavily loaded. So he went to another Indian guy, & asked him, "How do you say this in hindi - i'm very busy today". He got his answer, recited it a few times, memorized it within a minute, & then came back to us - "Aaj bohot kaam hai ?" & we all burst into laughters. He wasn't sure whether he was pronouncing it the proper way, but he knew we already understood. We told him, "Haan, aaj bohot kaam hai". All smiles !!

I myself tried a couple of words/phrases, but i can't hold it long enough. It goes off after a couple of times (Apart from the fact that i still remember the maddu work Entraa, & a few more). It's not about learning a new language, it's not about self-improvement. That's simply enjoying life. Trying to communite to others in their language. The universal language. The reason why i could bear Spanish songs without understanding them at all (I've actually started to enjoy Finnish rock songs as well). It's the language of love.

One fine day, my manager had a strong urge to learn counting in Hindi. So a friend of ours searched youtube for a song, & told him "This song will teach you counting till 13". & there it began. He asked, "who's she ?". We replied, she's the bollywood hearthrob Madhuri dixit, dancing on a hit number ek-do-teen. He said "Leave the counting. I'm liking the dance. We are all dirty men after all"

I'm happy i've such people around me. & it makes little sense to me why & how people go fighting over caste, creed, religion, nationality.

As Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues aptly said,
Great men, like nature, use simple language...

All people smile in the same language, isn't it !!

Daylight saving time

A couple of days back, my manager was talking to a colleague of mine, discussing the need to change timings at which the servers are bounced every single day. I could hear words like 'Clock advancing', 'DST', and 'Last Sunday of March'. But i was too occupied with my task, & simply ignored.

Now today, i noticed that my Laptop read 11.30 am, though my Alarm clock read 10.30 am. I checked my cell phone to cross check from a third reference & it acknowledged that the former is correct. I thought my Alarm clock might have drunk a bit over, until i recalled my manager words.

Hence i Googled, & realized something's special about the morning. DST has just been implemented. With a hazy look on my face, i advanced my clock by an hour to synchronize everything.

Laptop clock was proper because it has Automatically adjust feature. Cell phone was correct because it has the similar settings as well.



Damn !! DST just stole an hour from my life (I'm still confused whether it added one to the lot, or took it away). I remember mugging this up in Geography as a kid. But then, we don't really believe those things we read right ? Ofcourse, until we see it for ourselves. I told my gal about the fact that we can talk an hour longer now, she was like crazy over the fact. Obviously it's hard to digest.

Wikipedia says it has a lot of benefits, one of them's that evening's are longer. As to me, a man who prefers keeping his room dark even in broad daylight, it's a crappy curse. This picture is taken at 8pm today.





Another page gives the formulae used to calculate the beginning/end of European Summer Time:

Sunday (31 − (5y ÷ 4 + 4) mod 7) March at 01:00 GMT
Sunday (31 − (5y ÷ 4 + 1) mod 7) October at 01:00 GMT

What the hell. How wonderfully complicated !! Couldn't they keep it a little simple ?

Guys here told me that by the time i leave this place, i.e. the end of April, sun will rise at 5 in the morning, & go down by 9.30 pm. It's impossible to imagine how bizarre life can be...

My schedule leaves me no time for early morning jogs.
I guess i can go jogging now after dinner !! hehe...

Desh vs Videsh

It's been exactly 4 weeks since i've been in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, the Cleanest countries of all (i ain't sayin it 4 d sake of sayin it Proof), one of the coldest countries in d world, & farthest from home it had been by far for me.

Life keeps movin, & so do we. But the contrariety is the most startling aspect. i mean, i don't wanna compare history, geography, civics of the 2 lands (Go Google for that). what strikes me r d teeny-weeny things in which we differ, what i witness daily before my eyes, what amazes me to the extent that reminds me that i'm very far away from home. Life's really strange.

Without further wanderings, lemme get down to the subject at hand...

vs

Here we go !!

• Thirst

When i came onto the apartment straight from the airport, i was thirsty. searched for water, but apparently, found no drinking water as such. out-of-options, i drank water from the kitchen tap. i cudn't dare to ask any1 about this until 1 day, i saw my manager drinking from the tap in the basin used for washing mugs. it was only then i realised that there is not seperate drinking water here like in our land.

That being said, a colleague narrated to me that, when he landed here, he was made 2 stay in a hotel. now the hotel rooms don't even have a kitcken or a basin as such. there's was no water jug as well. he called up someone he knew in helsinki. he was told that the water in the bathroom tap is equally good for drinking. infact, they have glasses kept in the bathroom to be used for drinking purposes. now i feel as if i was lucky to land up in an apartment. A kitchen is better than a bathroom after all :)

It's not our fault thou. it's in our veins. it's something we've been following since birth. people may call us fools if they wish to, but we are moulded in such a stupified manner that we can't really get these things outta our minds. (i keep drifting to my left whenever walking down the road, until i realise that every1 else is to their right. now since i was in class 2, i was taught "Keep to your Left" on the road. is it my fault ?)

• Dogs

Well, this is sumthin i found very specific in contrast. Here in finland, i often encounter people with their dogs in the buses. i was wondering what wud happen if they started barking furiously on someone inside the bus, & shit & al those fronts :) they are paid due respect (though i haven't figured out one in a Mall yet). Videshi kutte hain bhai, manners waale.

• Pizza Taxi

this italian craze had hit every nook & corner of this earth. Poor indians deliver pizzas on their scooters/bikes (& stil they claim "30 minutes, nai to free"). Now as it's so cold in here that d 2-wheelers are barely visible anywhere on roads, Pizzas are deliverd here in cars, wholely dedicated to the job. Pizza Taxi is the brandname itself. Now that's modernization my friend.
aur 1 bechaare hum :)

• Bus fare

We all know they r developed, & hence it's costly 4 us. You board a bus, & u pay 2.20 euros, irrespective of where you stop (within the city). my office is 2 stops away from my apartment (1.3 kms, takes 3-4 minutes), & i pay 2.20 euros for a ride. & on the weekends, i go to the market place (several kilometers, 30 minutes ride by bus), & still i have to pay 2.20 euros. earlier i used to wonder how people bear with so high a price, but now i find it rather convenient. now, back in my town, the bus fare we pay varies even between the same 2 stops :)

• Crowd

A colleague brought onto my face the fact that after living here for a certain period of time, one feels annoyed walking on the streets, anywhere in India. Now you c, this is a land whose government is more than glad to reward people who reproduce, even if they are not permanent finnish citizens. For every child you give birth 2 in here, there a monthly allowance, which increases by roughly 50% for each child, till the child reaches the age of 5. so it's quite obvious they can't compete in the crowd count with a nation which is about to burst open with population & where children in smaller grades are taught the concept of population explosion & heavy words of that kind.

vs
Even the main market streets here are calm, if not empty. I've never seen a bus, i repeat, NEVER, which has all the seats occupied. Yeah the transport is good & frequent, but it's amazing to realise that none here travels in a standing mode. Now i'm from the land where people hang on to the poles of the doors of buses, however frequent they r. We are just so much. No wonder india succeeds everywhere (Now we've started picking on Oscars in a gud amount as well). out of 1.2 billion fools, a few are bound 2 succeed in sum field or the other.

& Lastly,

• The Weekends

have you ever visited a Mall/shopping store in India on weekends. you know what i mean. we, back in pune, avoid going to Big Bazaar/Vishal MegaMart on saturdays & sundays, for the single reason that there's not enuf space to keep ur feet in sight. while on d other hand (& that's quite irritating infact), all stores/malls/shops (simply everything) is CLOSED on sundays, & open for a limited time on satudays. like our govt. banks back in India. man works for long hours on weekdays, & he has just half a day for a weekend, as if namesake, because Helsinki wishes to rest for the rest of d weekend. sounds sick 2 me atleast. got used 2 it now anyways, i go 4 shopping on saturday afternoons.

someone told me that the shopkeepers have 2 pay a per hour charge on weekends, so they prefer closing for a larger extent. can't confirm it though.


So, those were a few aspects i find the current land & homeland differing, from what i encounter in day to day activities. We are same though in a lot many ways (i ain't gonna write a blog on that :)), & there r indeed a few things we have in common, in addition to love of course :)

There's still time to spend in here. There's still time to go.
i hope i'l fall in luv with this place !!
i just luv the snow when it falls right onto d face :)