The Left-Right Dilemma…

The most important question in life is: “What do you do when you when you are walking on a road and you see another person heading towards you on a collision path: Do you move to the left or to the right?” What do you think of the importance of the question? Worthless? Nah… its not worthless. Let me explain. In countries like India, people would mutually agree and move slightly to their respective lefts. In countries like Germany, people would move right. In both cases collision is avoided and life is good. The problem arises when people from India (where Left is right and Right is wrong) visit Germany (where Left is left and Right is right). What happens then is called the left-right dilemma.

What happens is that you being an Indian move too your left and he moves to his right; still making keeping you in the collision track. And when both of you come dangerously close to collision, both of you stop and you look at the person closely for the first time; you observe two features distinctively. His height and his built. And both of them make you feel so timid. Believe me 6 feet tall in India is a big deal but it is there that you realise how ‘large’ the world is! So all the pride is washed out and a 6 feet tall bamboo stick looks ‘up’ to a person – an act that is not common in his homeland. What comes next is worse. Some words are spoken – and there is no chance of you understanding ANYTHING of it. C’mon we learn 3 languages ‘by default’ how much more can a sane mind grasp? So after the few seconds of understanding nothing, the scared and confused you is left with 4 options – ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Sorry’ or ‘English Please’.

The trouble does not end here. The whole traffic system seems to be so ‘wrong sided’. Turning left is NOT always allowed as in India; turning right is. And the driving seat is on the left. So to communicate to a car which waits for you pedestrian as you watch in awe (yes… this NEVER happens in India), you look to the left of the car and not to the right.

And finally… How many times have I looked in the wrong direction while crossing the road. Now THAT is dangerous.

Sometimes I wonder… wouldn’t it be better if one nation would have colonised the whole world; the world would have been a much less confusing place to live in. 😛

Paradise… Not too far…

With not much money in hand and just the strong breeze as my companion, I visited a place, which I am convinced is not far from paradise. A city so wonderfully built that one can walk through its lanes forever and never get tired (I walked for 4 hours, and want to visit the city again). Not many ‘tourist spots’ as such but the city by itself is definitely worth a visit. Officially I visited only two spots… The Kronenburger Park and the Bridge. But what I enjoyed the most was walking on the streets…

Here are the flowers which greet you as you enter the park…

And if that was not enough to bring a smile onto your face, meet these extremely fearless birds. They hardly do care about a huge 6 feet tall figure approaching them (oops I forgot; I used to be tall in India… Here they might be habituated to see taller figures all day 😦 ).

Well talking of heights, there were two ‘creatures’ who really stand tall, gaurding the city…

Ya.. but we too are humans, it wouldn’t be difficult for us to cross the bridge…

stand on one of them and look around the park…

And then again… I move on through the streets to click snaps of the city which embaraces you with its charm…

Only to reach the railway station…

whose call to come back home was ignored by the enchanted traveler. Strolling through further in the opposite direction (guided by the faint memory of Google Maps), I come across a street which caught my attention; and 15 seconds later did I realise that I was on the Bridge… and hence started my long walk across the Bridge…

On my way back, standing on a bridge vibrating along with the breeze, and looking at the amazing city, I realised, maybe this is the way, we the humans can add our bit to the beauty of nature, and perhaps make it closer to the paradise…

Into the Dutch Terretory…

Someone please show me some more people on the streets….

Shocked! In every sense of the word. I would never have thought myself in a world, so desperately devoid of people. No buzzing of horns, no groups of people haggling around on a tea stall, no tea stalls for that matter! Oh surely! I am surely not in India!

 

Instead I am in a land of absolute beauty. It seems as if each pebble in the city has been planned for its position. Dirty Streets? do they even exist? And sun; does it ever set? (well, we have already talked about it…, so not again). And above all, the people: This is what you call self discipline. Faces which smile as they look at you…maybe even say a Goedmorgen sometimes… Oh yes! this is a dreamland. Hats off to the Dutch for creating a small, wonderful land of theirs.

 

I must admit, it was me who stood in awe most of the times, understanding and appreciating this absolutely foreign culture; however it was interesting to see them fascinated about Indian terrains like Himalayas, Indian Mythology like the Ramayana and curiously enough, the Indian Marriage system. 🙂

 

It has been almost a week since I arrived here. I am still under a significant workload, so have not got a chance to visit Amsterdam or other parts of the Netherlands. Not much regrets for that as of now because I am still rejoicing the beauty of this super-organised world. More on the trips and experience in later posts. For the time being I leave you with the following snaps I took on the way from the University my the place of residence at Nijmegen.

 

 

 

 

Ya… the monotonicity of the colour of the houses confuses me a lot…

It has been the fourth time in six days today that is have entered the wrong building assuming it to be mine…

 

 

 

And yes, it rains too frequently here… (just wanted to share it as a fact)

Don’t Fear… Its just a Camera…

The Tree and The Morning Sun

When Nature Greets us a Good Morning!

Let the randomness of the universe increase forever…

-Introvert

Waiting for comrades…

Photo Credit: Subhradeep Misra

Let the randomness of the universe increase forever…

– The Introvert

Through the Curtains of Fog

Here are some snapshots from around my hostel, taken early morning…

Moods of the Sky

It is amazing to see how different colours spread very differently on the greatest canvas the the world…

Presenting the shades of the same canvas at different times and at different places…

Ahmadabad

Kolkata

Bhopal

Restaurants and Food at Ahmadabad

The four layered Mocktail

Clicks of Some Mouth-Watering Delicacies…At Ahmedabad

Panner Tikka Masala

Another Delicacy: The Name Betrayed my memory

The all time favorite: Tandoori Chicken