Europe : The weather God is crazy !

In India, we have learned that there are 7 seasons in a year. It’s a cycle followed in a year . Fruits , veggies , travel plan ,dress code all preparation is according to season.. Even the mood changes according to how is it outside.

Now based on my experience with Nordic – what do kids at Nordic learn – 4 seasons in a day !

Yes ! Nordics weather God is crazy ! He just cannot make up his mind , whether to empty his bucket of rain , or send some chill down or let kid enjoy with snow or provide room for sun shine or throw in some wind , chilli wind! , So from heavy rain in the morning it could go to quite a sunny day by afternoon and again cloudy in evening.

Am afraid to ask him about his thoughts on “what should be today’s temperature? “- I guess if he comes to know that temperature could even go up to 50 in some part of world, he just might be tempted to try it at .. say up north ..Norway and then I don’t want to imagine what it would be like when all that water from melted snow will come our way . He seems like a very very creative God , one who experiments everyday.

yeah , I know am talking crazy 🙂 but I was really surprised  at first when I came to know that there is no rainy season in nordic . It could rain anytime , anytime their God feels like , FYI – Nordic God – Its called Monsoon 🙂 The month when you could empty your bucket of water.. when people will know your mood and carry umbrella every time .  You could definitely check with our God of Rain – Indra .. its his full time job to focus on rains.

Well , on the other hand it feels like Indian God is lazy , damn lazy fellow !  he just publishes his calendar for season and then just take the whole year off ! Perhaps If I ask him , he would say he is busy at other dept- “You Indians keep me busy all the time – there are a billion of you! “. Not sure I see any change in any other department -we are still poor ,  still into corruption , chaotic traffic etc etc.. not much changes there . So WTH is he doing ?

Ah , may be he is busy reading our wishes .. so many people , so obviously he needs time to read wishes. I really see he needs a huge gigantic server space to store all our wishes.. Should try opening a datacenter in iceland – cooling comes free – provided by Nordic god of weather:)

So whatever -he keeps his mind off pity things like ‘ hmm what should I send down today? ‘ Oh Boy ! How I wish my days were like that ..  I have to think everyday what to cook ! Every freaking day.. How I wish I had a calendar or better yet a machine to dole out all dishes and delicacies according to calendar/menu. So I can focus on something else ..something more serious like Sleeping , napping or fooling !

There are some perks too..

1. You can shop anytime of year! So don’t think , just go ahead and buy that nice looking sweater anytime or buy sandal during winter and no one will notice!

2. God is crazy , but MET Dept not. They do take their responsibility very very seriously , make up for craziness of their God. I can easily check  online what is the weather. And you know people are very confident about it. When I was there and it was raining , my friend checked online and very confidently said – Rain is gonna stop at 6 in evening. Wow! I check MET at India.. its gonna rain and I will be sure it’s not gonna rain today 😉

3. There is one common thing that unites all , is starting for small talk..weather talk. All meeting begin with “Its sunny today ” or “It snowed 10mm today , how is it there?” . In fact I check the temperature before starting any online meeting. Anyone can ask .. “Yeah yeah – its nice today , Monsoon , temp around 25 degrees ..” [PS: You see usually we don’t keep track of weather as in number – Yes its sunny or rain .. don’t care of exact temperature..]

4 This crazy God , prepares you for anything , come what may – Rain or Shine .. literally! So mothers are better in packing for their kids .. you don’t have to think what to pack .. just pack all !

1. Easy for kids – you never ever have to check seasonal fruit or what season is in Dec 🙂 or Do they ?

Poor Nordic God – must be tough for you .. One God managing all ! learn from us – we have 330 millions God 🙂

So next time you are visiting Europe ,you know how to start a conversation .. !

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Czech – Indefinite loop of {Tomas , Marek , Pavel and Jan}

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.”

• Who said that – Need no introduction.

India 

Well, My name is Himadri. It is the name of middle range of Himalaya’s and it means peak covered in snow .When my son was born , I spent countless hours on net searching for a perfect name for him… Me , my husband , my sis-in-law , my close family everyone 🙂

A perfect name – which must have a good meaning , which goes well with family name , which would  still mean good if shorten , which does not sound like a name from 1947! , which cannot be mis-spelled  , which starts from A so his name will be first in list  (:)) , which does not rhyme with any stupid brand/product/celebrity , which sounds good ,which is not so common , which is short not too long  , which will keep both sides of grandparent’s happy , which has a good origin ,  which is modern and no parent is named such ….the list is really long . Some have longer when they add – must be the name of God and ends with “appa”!

Then again, am lucky to be married to a muslim coz muslim only have one name. I (born Hindu) have 1 .. wait 3 names ! Some have 5 names and each name should be according to the perfect list. So now you know the fact – Indian’s name is perhaps difficult but is backed by count less  sleepless nights of our parents.

One of my friend with twins had horrible nightmares over naming his children ! He took  hmm may be 6 months to come with name for final naming ceremony but was not yet satisfied with them.

Czech

Now coming to the point here , let’s go to far far away kingdom . Czech Republic. My company has office there , so I have one very good friend and plenty of acquaintance . Czech is a place where beer is cheaper than water , where people are named either Tomas , Marek , Pavel or Jan , so it’s a country of indefinite loop of ….

Disclaimer : I love Czech , haven’t been there , but have heard and known so much that am really hoping to visit it soon. am not making any fun of anyone’s name here .. It’s just an observation. Do you have same feeling?

Yeah , they have taken Shakespeare famous quote very very seriously. What’s in the name ? Everyone is either named Tomas or Marek or Pavel or Jan.. at least most of the name I know ! Gonna be a parent , what’s the worry – check your neighbour and name your child the next name in line .So I can imagine street with name Tomas , Marek , Pavel , Jan and the cycle repeats itself!

Tomas did not know the meaning of his name , he never bothered to check .. What’s in the name attitude 🙂 Imagine life is so easy for new parent there .. isn’t it. Indians will definitely agree, Yeah ! this is so easy .. no misspelling – you know all the probable name spelling , how can you go wrong with spelling 4 names .

On the other hand , hmm

1. I wonder how to call out for someone in a crowd .. I say “Tomas” and 20 people will turn around – “Yes ?” 🙂 But then again – where will you find a crowd in Czech – ask an Indian !
2. Be careful to send message to the right Tomas – Tomas Slivka not Tomas Horak . Slivka is friend and Horak is boss .. dont want to upset boss !
3. This one always confuses me  Marek Reha – Doesnt Reha sound like firstname , yes isn’t it , but it’s  last name – as corrected to me by many at several times, but listen to this one – Marek Liolias – now  suddenly here Marek suits as first name .
4. Jan – is not Jan like the month , but “yan” – J is pronounced as Y. This is really good name coz add one more a to already one there  and it means “life” in Hindi literally but is used in a romantic context always – You are my “Jaan” .. Thank goodness I have no immediate colleague as Jan
5. Have seen sometimes on discovery -Someone named “Jan” built something in Prague in 1335 ! hmmm Jan name is antique piece. Its very very old. He can sell it for millions !
6. Re-Usability at its best , can not give you a better example. Enter Pavel in my office lync communicator – shows only first 50 names , it leaves the rest hmm I dont know . many Pavel’s for next  🙂

Well , Moral of the story – What’s in the name anyways – I love Tomas and will like to hug him tight for free when we meet, whatever be his name coz he is a cool Czech , like most of others there 🙂

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PS : Tom , Dick and Harry – Ordinary people  ? Really ? Seriously ? wth ! is wrong with Dick’s parent’s – why would anyone name their child Dick !

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PPS : My husband name is Abdul Rahim , bro-in-law – Abdul Hassan and father-in-law – Abdul Khader – Re-usability at not its best , but still count!

Euro Trip : The thing am gonna miss most – napping on the green bed !

Green is my favorite color as its so pleasant to eyes .. Isnt it? That’s why trees , grass , flora and fauna has green predominately . Not coz of chlorophyll as they say in text , but coz green is (like I said) most pleasant color to eyes!

And I love Europe , coz its so green , everywhere you see , there is green , even from sky above ,the land is covered with green forest. The forest industry must be flourishing there! Its like the poem – Green grass goes around around around 🙂

And my favourite passtime there- napping or just lying on the grass bed. My son , no matter where we are , has to take his afternoon nap and whats better to nap then on the green bed , as close to the ground as possible 🙂

So one fine day , at Helsinki , when I was out of office early ,joined him in his afternoon nap . We lay on the grass and just like that .. whoosh – into the dream world. It was so nice , the blue sky above me and the grass below. It was at least 45 minutes and a nice dream later that I woke up !

hmm so this is how our ancestors felt hundreds of years ago during summer , sleeping on ground.

And this is the thing I miss most ! So as soon as I go back to EU , straight from airport , am gonna find a park and sleep there , just like that sleep

Euro Trip : Ask for direction in Stockholm !

This post is my observation .. one of many from my recent summer trip to EU. Here are the previous one .. no linking , you dont have to read them to read this one 🙂

Tall couple or short?

Rich French Leader

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My husband has been to Stockholm , some 10 years back and I vaguely remember him telling me this observation , BUT I didnt realise its full (hmm how to say) effect ( !) till I visited Stockholm this summer.

Now , watch and learn or rather in this case read and learn 🙂

You could be lost in Stockholm or any city and would ask for direction from any local. I always thought Indians are very helping and would easily give me direction , Till I met Sweds from Stockholm.

Ask anyone about direction to abc or xyz , the people there take it very very seriously. One would think , analyse , look into the map , point out with pen , consult among themselves ( if its a group) and then give us a complete report.. Its like it becomes their life mission for the moment- This person has to reach exactly where he wants and am responsible if he doesnt !

Well , if its not clear yet let me put it down straight – am actually complimenting swedes on this. They so much gets into it , it takes them easily 10 minutes to give us direction and be satisfied that they have done best. Again a compliment.

Once even a passerby lady stopped to help the fellow whom we asked to direction.

So , just carry a map and pen and anyone in Stockholm can give you a full report of how to reach there- bus number , walking distance , landmark , confirmation after consulting other one.

You are never lost in such city 🙂

Euro Trip- Napoleon was freaking rich!

 

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Napoleon Bonaparte was French and he was freaking rich! You should see his apartments at “The Lourve” .

(The Lourve – yeah the same museum where you will find Monalisa sitting beautifully!) , but don’t miss out on Napoleon apartments..

I guess we could fit in all of Kharadi in his apartment 😀 , But I don’t know how many lived with him there .. ( Got to google that soon!) I must say not only was it huge , it was so beautiful and didn’t look like bachelor pad. Bachelor ? Yeah for some reason I always think of Napoleon and Alexander as bachelor .. how can they afford wife when they are so busy conquering world? ( Got to google that too .. !)

But on the other hand , only a lady can decorate the apartment so beautiful . So when he was out during war , wife can devote all time to the apartment. Apartment ? Yes its called Apartment .. I guess he could not keep the complete castle for himself ,so only portion and hence apartment. nevertheless !

Even the ceiling were covered in some paintings and most of the wall was covered with gold color. I guess if Napoleon was a Dubai sheikh , that gold color would have been actual GOLD .. like real gold from gold mine . But I guess it was just some gold paint.  The artifacts , decorative art was awesome .. its like he would collect things from the lands he conquered and display it at his apartment . Much like these days , people display souvenir from lands they visited :). So there is a little of Napoleon in all of us 🙂

His bed was nice , but I felt it would be little short for him.. could not measure 😉

But I really cannot compare his dinning table with mine .. it was huge but ofcourse not cozy ..  am sure the food would turn cold by the time it  passed from one end to another!

So in short The Louvre is huge , so choose your “must visit”  list and add Napoleon Apartment.

And be happy – I live in apartment not bungalow/house  , so what Napoleon did too 😀

Euro Trip -Tall couple or short ?

Recently , I along with husband Abu and son Adi visited Europe – to be particular – Finland , Sweden , Denmark and Paris (wow Paris .. isnt it!) and here am I writing my first post about this trip …

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So first stop – Stockholm – Well ! Swedes are tall people , I mean really tall , I mean tall like average more than 6 Ft perhaps ! At least they all looked to me this tall.. didnt get chance to measure and confirm 😉

Its funny coz at Pune , Abu and I are sometimes referred to as tall couple – How do I know this? .. well many have commented Adi height is good coz his parents are tall ! So it must be coz we are actually tall or we are surrounded by short couples 🙂

Take your pick and decide … especially if you are around us 😀

So back at Stockholm , even the girls were taller than Abu ( I have this mental assumptions that boy should be taller than girl!  , So Abu should be taller than all the girls in the world ;p). I tried to look around and see if everyone is wearing high heels or boots , but hmm none. They are all practical people and high heels is not for roads to walk (ofcourse!) , but perhaps somewhere else where thankfully I and Abu didn’t visit , else everyone would have been 6 inch more taller than us!

Even the animals – Horse and buffalo looked huge ..  look at this giant but cute Disney horse..

Disney horse .. straight out of Rapunzel

So Puff ! I knew Asians are short , but this short ! So ever since then, am trying to make mental note of country where we would be short couple

My friend from Brno is 16cm taller than me and says he has friends taller than him, meaning we are short couple in Czech Republic too.. That’s another country..

And then , my colleagues from Finland said , Dutch  are at least 10cm taller than them .. Thats another country..

I watched Castle yesterday and Kate noted that Richard Castle is 6 ft 2. So US is country of tall for us too ..

So from a tall couple in Pune , we went on to being short couple in Stockholm (!!!)

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PS: There is advantage too .. these tall people could alert us about impending weather since they get to feel it at least 20cm above us … ( PJ re !)

PPS : Am 164cm and now you can measure if you are tall here or there?