Chinese Life - Continued

Kunming Airport:

A domestic airport that has 60+ gates is worth mentioning. And Kunming Domestic airport is huge, much bigger than our pride, Bangalore and Hyderabad airports in India. Highly impressed I try looking for a place to sit myself for the next 4-5 hours which would be my waiting time before I board my next flight to Shenzhen. But that’s where I get my first blow. China believes in having 1 chair per 100 people, and I was definitely not that lucky 1 out of the 100! There were hardly any chairs left anywhere in that huge airport and it seemed to me every Chinese in the world was travelling that day. It was about 6 am in the morning and the airport was jam packed with similar looking Chinese all over. I was sleepy and tired, so I stationed my luggage trolley in front of a huge screen where flight details were coming up, and sat on it. This reminded me of my childhood vacations when in the railways station we would sit on our luggage while waiting for the train. I was happy doing what I love doing the most… observe people ie. Chinese are very colorful people indeed and I discovered their favorite color is PURPLE. I am not joking. Every 1 person out of 3 was either wearing a purple dress or carrying a purple suitcase. It has to be their hot favorite…and I was wondering it would be RED for all obvious reasons. Before I get onto my hurdles, let me tell you the commonalities between Chinese and Indians in behaviorist matters.

· Both the nations don’t much believe in keeping our public places clean. I saw Chinese spitting all over the airport (thankfully they don’t chew PAN PARAG, but spitting nevertheless!)
· Their kids don’t like the idea of peeing in the loo. They love doing it under the open sky! Just like ours.
· Chinese women love to deck up and how! At 6 AM their ladies toilets were full of women of all ages, applying lipstick and foundation. The loos were empty though! Some things are independent of national boundaries… and women definitely belong to that group of things!
· The toilets in the airport are worse than that in Kolkata airport – now that’s really something. When I “had to” visit the toilet in the Kolkata airport I certified it as the worst ever possible (worse than our school toilets) toilet I had ever been. But that changed when I entered the toilets in the Kunming airport, actually I didn’t enter. I preferred having pressure in the bladder as a better option than releasing it in their toilet!
· When 2 Chinese people fight, you cannot differentiate them from any 2 Indians fighting, apart from their physical differences. Ah yes, when 2 Chinese fight, others mind their own business unlike in India where every body else within 1 km diameter from the place of dispute, makes it their own business someway or the other.
· Their traffic, though much better than ours, reminds me of my country nevertheless.
· The balconies of the flats where people reside have clothes all over for drying. That reminds me of our country.
· Two Chinese in love, holding hands and walking together in the malls is no different from 2 people in love anywhere in the world, for that matter. Love, like women, has no boundaries!

While I get carried away in my emotions, it will be worthwhile to mention here that Chinese people love to confuse others with their announcements. In any case, there is not much difference in their native language and the English they speak and I understand none. What makes it worse is that their flight numbers are very jumbled up. Whether it is intentional or otherwise is something that I don’t know. But what I do know is that my flight number was MU 5759 and at that very moment there were the following flights scheduled as well

MU7579
MU5957
MU5579
MU7759
MU5795
MU7559!
And against each one of them there were destinations mentioned in Chinese! I thank my lucky star that I somehow managed to board the right flight and reach my right destination.

More about Shenzhen, where I am staying right now, later. Like I said, I have come here to WORK.

Chinese Life

Legal Disclaimer: This post is NOT adapted from “Japanese Wife” and has no similarity with the latter except for the fact that both Chinese and Japanese look the same to me!

Well, I am not a traveler and indeed China is probably NOT a place travel out of fun! So was shocked to see a group of people (average age 60+) travelling with me to China, the day I boarded the flight, as vacation! Well I wish they have a good vacation but as for me, coming to China is only and ONLY because of the fact that I have bills and EMIs to pay at the end of every month for which I must and MUST work. And, coming to China is strictly WORK. Here is my account of China – my experience here and my personal view points. No offence meant!

Hmmm, from where do I begin? My tryst with China began with boarding the China Eastern Airlines flight. The aircraft was a little bigger than the toy plane your son or nephew has. They love India very much and they DO NOT think of us as “international” at all. So they send their domestic aircrafts to take us from Kolkata to a place called Kunming. The airhostesses are very Chinese…I mean I can’t really differentiate from one Chinese to another…they all look so similar! Am sure they were pretty but like every other Chinese girl. And yes, did I mention? They DO NOT believe in Welcome messages. When passengers board the flight, that’s the time for their very own private discussions – important things…I think they were either discussing their pets or in-laws when I entered the flight as they were very vivid and excited in whatever they were talking about. Anyways, as all of us managed to sit ourselves, the old couples already tired and exhausted before their “fun” trip even began, the crew started speaking…I mean machine was speaking and 1 TV per 60 people onboard was showing the safety measurements. Which we didn’t understand as they were announcing in Chinese, and by the time English version started, me and my co-passenger were both snoring!

Ok, enough of being satirical and all that. Few good things I really liked about them, and even if very, very temporary, I wished I was a Chinese, are as follows:

Their FOOD: Amazing is the word! No, am not talking about how the food tastes. It’s more about the after effects. So many positive sides to it. Food is so “uniformly” distasteful in China that there is no concept of good cook or a bad cook. So if I was a Chinese, my husband wouldn’t have complained my culinary abilities and compare it with fellow Chinese women!
Their figure (I am only referring to Ladies here): Such lovely figure they have, their waistline is something to die for! Unfortunately I cant shop for any kind of dresses here as they wont fit me. For my 10 year old daughter, I am surfing through the ladies section of the garments and picking up the XL ones! But, don’t even think that they don’t eat…they eat like big elephants but look like small mosquitoes! Amazing is the word.
Shoppers’ paradise: If you love shopping and don’t have much cash to blow…China is the place for you. Very economical but good quality. No wonder they are ruling the world economy! India has a long way to go till she comes somewhere close to China…till then I hope and pray my project sends me to China on and off for my quota of “economy” shopping!

So Long for today… will come with more updates on China later.

P.S: Blogspot.com is also banned in China! So cant post this as of now :)

Hot-N-Cold Vienna

At times I crib about our country not being so advanced as in West. But this hot-n-cold treatment in Vienna made me realize that sometimes not having to stay in an advanced country helps - or may be that I am too used to be in a place which has never put me through freezing cold outdoor and burning hot indoor!!!

Vienna in October is cold cold cold!!! 10 days back when I had arrived here, it was freezing 3-4 degrees with rain/snow and a itchy wind. For the last some days, the waether changed completely - now its very nice - may be aroound 9-10 degrees, no rain and the wind has calmed down. This is a rare climate for Vienna in October, localites say... may be God did it for this special daughter of His, who He knows wouldnt have stood that weather for long (love to think it in this way!)...but whether its is 3-4 or 9-10 deg, its still cold. Sho when u are out u have to wear quite some winter accessories to protect yourself, including woolen gloves, mittens and hats. The irritating part comes when from outdoor you are venturing in some indoors - like your apartment of hotel... you have to start stripteasing the moment you are in! And this is no exaggeration. Because indorr it is warm! At times much more warmer than you would prefer. Say for instance, my Apartment...

Its hot hot hot.

Dark room, bright room. Closed windows, open windows. Heater on, heater off. And the last straw was yesterday, when I put the heater off, and a.c on. But my room takes pride in the fact that it is a perennial tandoor.

Shiva's third eye must be openning somewhere very near by.

So what happens is that when am indoor I am in a hot atmosphere -(right now, my a.c is on at 16 deg but somehow the room temperature is showing as 27 deg! I was taking a nice Sunday afternoon nap and when I woke up 10 mins back I found myself in a pool of sweat!!! And now, am planning to go out for a walk and I feel like rebelling this hot-n-cold torture by not putting on any winter garment at all...!!!

Vienna Part - II

Am back in Vienna yet again. Had been here only 3 weeks back and even then this place seems so different. Summer is gone, and Vienna looks desserted. The same roads but devoid of colorful tourists. The same roadside food joints but all chairs withdrawn - so what you are left over with is empty footpath. The wind is chilly, the weather a bitch...and everybody seem so dull and devoid of any pleasure in life - and am no exception.

Well, the irony of fate is that, this time work pressure is much less - but I have no place to go. Because would prefer to be at home in this weather than venture out. Europe in mid-Oct is not a desirable time to be in. As I struggle everyday to commute to and fro office and fight my way against the strong south-westerly wind, I miss my home even more, and to think about it, tomorrow being Diwali - the festival of light - am here in this part of the world freezing to death twice every day. And they say winter has still not properly begun!!! Oh my my!!!

Fell in love with Vienna...at last

All these days probably I was trying my level best not to fall in love with Vienna. The mother in me stopped me, the wife in me stopped me, the daughter in me stopped me. But the WOMAN in me finally won...and was touched by the beauty of this city, which is modern, yet traditional; happenning, yet calm; different, yet with a friendly touch. The good things that touched me here are (apart from the couples being more expressive :-)

• People are very friendly but from a distance. This I feel is good - Indians are known for their friendliness but I at times feel we go overboard. There is a fine boundary between friendliness and stepping the fence, and I feel we Indian do cross that boundary quite often. Here people greet you in the lift, on the lobby, on the road... even if they dont know you. They have a constant smile on their face. Its been 10 days now and I have not seen any fight anywhere.
• Trust and personal responsibility is too high amongst Europeans. And this I think, I need not elaborate.
• The city is highly planned. The traffic, though not at all light, is very organized. And I think that is because people dont break RULES here.
• Animals are taken really good care of. This is one amazing thing I have seen here. People may argue this is a rich country and that is why all these points are coming out...India being a poor country, this cannot be expected, but I would like to differ here. Its not about how much bank balance you have - its more about your nature, your thought process, your basic instincts! and India will need a 100 years to catch up to this level of honesty and trust worthiness - rich or otherwise.
• We can learn a lot of things from these people, only if we want to. We must appreciate where its due and better even if they can be adopted as well.

The free spirit that this city epitomises, am in love with that

The cleanliness of this city, am in love with that

The enormity of the palaces here, am in love with that

The beautiful weather that am enjoying here, am in love with that

The broad lanes with organized traffic, am in love with that

And all this, I think somewhere down the way, is more than compensating the lack of Indian food.

Looking forward to going back to my home to have the delicacies of India, but once I am there I will surely be missing the city, I hate to be in love with!

Vienna Diary

I was scheduled to travel to Vienna for a month on an official trip. For the first time I was travelling abroad alone and hence I was a bit confused. I say confused, because I really dont know exactly what I was feeling...the feeling was like a very toxic concuction of various stuffs, and the best or the worst part is that you dont even know all of them!

Anyways, the day came drwaing near and near... and then came 21st Aug'09 - bon voyage... the flight from Delhi-Vienna was at 01:50 hours, so you can well imagine my condition by the time I was standing i a huge q infront of the check-in counter. And standing there I realized the following

1. India is NOT a poor country - otherwise how can u explain that long queue? It seemed as if the whole of India (and part of world) was travelling to Vienna or somewhere in Europe!!!
2. Slowly I reached the front of the queue and then got the first blow - I have 6 kgs of excess baggage and so have to pay the charge or reduce the weight. Since I couldnot have possibly done the latter I paid excess baggage charges. 20kgs for 1 month trip is too less!!!

After I got my boarding pass and my wallet was 13,000 INR lighter I proceeded towards the emigration counter which also had a huge q as expected. There the following realizations struck me

1. We keep accusing Indians of being ill mannered, but believe me 2 Japanes tourists wanted to break the queue and was caught tresspassing lol... I am a proud Indian.
2. I am a proud IBMer as well. This tag helped me with a smooth emigration process - smoother than my contemporaries standing there.

After the emigration was done, I had to go through customs clearing as well - why? dont ask... bcos earlier I had paid excess baggage. There the questions were the most irrevalent I have ever heard. Wonder, with this kinda questionnaire, how do they manage to detect foul praeys?

Anyways, after all of that went near Gate No 9 where from we were expected to board - boy!!! there was no place to stand, forget a chair to sit!!! Was wondering, so many people travel out of India every day???!!! I was sleepy, hungry, tired and exhausted... oh yes, and thirsty as well. mentally very disturbed, felt like crying for obvious reasons... lonely and...anyways, i think you get the picture. Time passed by as it waits for none. And then finally boarded the air craft. There I had the following realizations

1. The only way an international aircraft differs from a domestic one is the breadth! Otherwise the place is as less as that in the latter!!! I had an aile sit and fortunately there was a young girl sitting right next to me. We stuggled to fit in our respective seats and ended up pushing each other for a bit of excess space - but alas, there was none!
2. Then around 3AM, they provided us dinner. I was excited to see them approaching but then realized I had no apetite to have them.
3. They were showing Ghazini, wtched some part n then did the most difficult thing of my life - tried to sleep in there!!!
4. The air craft was reminding me of AC chair cars in Trains in India. Struggled to sleep for a couple of hours. Dont remember whether was already awake or woke up... but it was around 6AM (IST) that I felt the need to go to loo.
5. Came out and had nothing to do so was waiting for breakfast. They served us breakfast and then soon after that we landed.

My first feeling was that - wow! I landed in Vienna!!! But as I looked outside the window, it seemed no different than Bangalore or Hyderabad airports (cant even say Kolkata Airport though). Experience inside the airport was such that I felt we Indians are much more cordial. But may be am biased. A few disturbing stuffs

1. They are very reluctant to speak in English - hardly matters if you dont understand their language.
2. The luggage trolleys were not FREE!!! u had to insert some coin - and since I had no coin, I had to pull in my own luggages.

I came outside and saw a very friendly looking person holding my name and waiting for me. He gave me a firendly smile, took my luggages and even advised me not to buy Calling Cards from the airport as they would be expensive. As we drove outside the airport, I first had the glimpse of the city. Boy, Vienna is beautiful, calm, and extremely firendly - it didnt seem like a stranger to me at all. Reason? Well there are plenty of them

1. Thecars on the road were no alien - I saw SKODA OCTAVIA, CIELO, MATIZ and all sorts of thoer big/small cars we see in India. Some of the cars which I had not heard about earlier(never mind I have a very poor knowledge on cars) resembled like some distant cousins of the cars on Indian roads - like ESTEEM, HYUNDAI ACCENT etc. The only car i missed there was Maruti 800!!! :-)
2. The buildings were so similar like the ones we have in Kolkata around BBD Bag area - ofcourse these were much well-maintained.
3. The trams! and the tram lines
4. The billboards had similar advertisements and brands - only the language was different

Soon e reached our hotel. Its a nice hotel, but again being biased that I am, I prefer our hotels. Breakfast was nice and the room though small was cosy and comfortable. Soon I settled in and slept off.

... to be continued