Our Trip to Switzerland and Paris: Part 1

It was a few months ago, when Ashish decided after a lot of research that a short trip on our own is better than a package tour of 10 days visiting 10 countries, that he started looking for good ticket deals. Tickets and accomodation booked, it seemed like a major task done over with.

Planning for the trip started, food and sightseeing were all listed down, clothes decided, bags planned...all in all a few more weeks of planning and deciding.

Ashish's parents now received from India... and without giving them enough of a space to recover from the jet lag and without a break from their own travel plans of Denmark, we got them repacking and ready for our 6 day family trip.

With high amount of enthusiasm, eagerness and excitement, we finally set out on our trip to Switzerland and Paris. Considering that the vegetarian meal options, suitable for an elderly couple and two young children would be very limited in our destination, we has a lot of food supply packed in our bags. If Ashish had his way, we would almost be starving every alternate day and if I had mine, we would tow a 12 days supply for a 6 days trip... a compromise was necessary and that was where the luggage allowance limits stepped in...thanks to easy jet for that....we had the necessary supplies, nothing in excess but still heavy bags. Some of the weight contributed by our woollens and jackets...we were fully equipped for all weather.

Our flight was at half past 9 and so we had our breakfast at home before reaching the airport. On a saturday morning, it is very quite on the metro and the busses which made our transit to the airport very easy. We checked in our luggage, handed in the pram and got in the queue of security check. Thankfully there were lady personnel and they checked mummy top to bottom and they did not dare touch me ;)...The food bag was opened and dug into. Lot of suspicion.

The man retained nutella ( I am sure it was just because it was a sealed unused bottle)...there is no way it can be categorised as liquid...Vihaan was just not happy and if we did not promise a new bottle, he would have stayed back in Copenhagen.

There was a long endless walk to the gate for the flight....it seemed like we were walking for ever...like vihaan asked me later...is this easy jet or difficult jet mamma....

We boarded the flight and were on the way to our desitination Basel.

The view as you reach Basel gets very beautiful. Neat and nicely planned houses amidst beautiful surroudings captures your attention and mesmerises you. The beauty of Switzerland is just undescribable although I will try my best to write a few words of praise...but whatever can be said is just not enough.

Basel Airport: This, called the Euro Airport, is situated on the border of Switzerland, Germany and France and the three exits, probably take you into the three directions. We ofcourse chose our direction to Switzerland...into the city of Basel.

Work Place

Work Place, simply defined the area where one spends more active hours of the day than elsewhere. Earlier in the days of childhood, it changed from playpen to classroom. In college it changed much to the areas around the classroom, laboratory and library. Gradually it changed into an office cubilcle while working with ABB Ltd....

Changes in life often change your situations to a certain extent, but in a girls life, changes in the personal life can affect the overall structure of life itself. One such change is Marriage and the other is motherhood. Workspace has changed its destination so many times in a short span of a decade. From Bangalore to Delhi to Bangalore to London and now in Denmark. Work has been the centre of a not so boring life afterall. When in careers where one does not stay in one city for a lifetime, the partner has to either compromise on career or on their married life. I chose the former.

But you see, where one runs behind a career in a field, one ends up at a boring phase of life where it seems to them that all that has to be learnt has been learnt and all that has to be taught has been taught. In a way this irregular career has given me a chance to learn new things, be with new people and to experience new work life. In one, I have somehow become more versatile in another I have become more flexible. Well working with a MNC and then with an online company, with a Charity Organisation and now with the Government, I do not think there can be more versatality that I can ask for. New challenges and new styles, from a flat hierarchy to a standing hierarchy, I have kind of experienced it all.

My next series of blogs will revolve around my present work place, the Embassy of India, Copenhagen. The funny incidents to the sad stories, I would narrate them all, because I have not experienced so many emotions in my life as I did in the last few months that I have been working here. I hope to be a regular blogger. Lets see....

Cycle...chalti kaa naam gaadi

Ashish has to run in some kind of a relay run next month, his colleagues have persuaded him to join in. For a person who has had little physical exercise, no sports and a life of 9 ro 5 in front of the monitor, it is but hard work to run 5 kms in 30 minutes. He has been trying to make a run everyday, improving his stamina and helping his muscular strength to build. Hopefully, he will keep up to the spirit of his colleagues at the relay.

I am not only amazed but also appreciate the tremendous fitness consciousness in the people here in Denmark and many other western countries. It is not a very uncommon sight to find people in their jogging suits running around the city at any time of the day and also night, sometimes midnight and sometimes early morning...anytime. Cycling is almost a rage, you sometimes can find dignitaries cycling around the city, where the cyclists get as much or sometimes more priority than the motorists. Copenhagen is wonderfully planned for cyclists, with dedicated cycle paths and cycle accessories that make cycling with children possible. The city as such is very levelled excepting few slopes here and there, which make cycling almost a pleasure.

For the very short summer that people have here , they make the full use of the bright sunshine that is available. swimming, skating, running, boating and sailing in summer and iceskating, skiing, icehockey and all indoor sports in winter. We in India pride ourselves on the origin of Yoga and are always happy to flaunt that Yoga belongs to us at every smallest opportunity. How much of the Yoga do we practise in our daily lives. The Yoga teacher at my son's school is an American and can discuss and teach Yoga in the most adept way, which can put any Indian to shame. Do we also know the different types of Yogic exercises? That is the importance that we give to fitness.

My friend and I were discussing the other day about the same topic and her opinion on our lack of interest in India regarding fitness and the excessive interest here was pointed to the fact that the westerners have social security and do not have to be so dependant on working hard to make money etc etc. And I was of the opinion that the very fact that Indians do not have a social security system, should be more encouraging to keep them fit.

However, coming back to cycling, Copenhagen has a very extensively laid out cycling path, even on the motorways, which make it such a very easy mode of transport coupled with the unlevelled interest that people have in fitness, you can see the entire city on their bikes early in the morning, dropping children to school, biking to work and back, making Denmark so little polluted. Moreover the government is discouraging the usage of cars by having as high as 200% tax on cars and by having a lovely public transport system, it has given the people a chance to be environment conscious too.

When I was a young girl while in India, I have cycled quite a lot. But cycling phased out in my life as soon as i was able to ride more sophisticated vehicles. But Copenhagen has no doubt rekindled that childhood fascination and love for cycling which shall now remain for life. Cycling has again come back in life as a very enjoyable sport and hopefully will continue in every part of the world I would go.

so long after

It is almost 6 months in Denmark and I have not been able to write my blog...well partly because I have been trying to settle in and partly because of all the laziness and to avoid doing things that do not come with a "priority" tag.

Now to tell you what I have found in this new country, in which I was so very uncertain to come in the first place, is a treasure of new friends. I may have to write a blog in my "relations" blog page about them. But I was almost sure that good friends (those for life) happen when you are in school and college and then the friends that you come across in the rest of your life can never become as close. I was wrong...maybe. All my new found friends are in Copenhagen and they have happened atleast 7 years after I graduated. But truly they have happened in school though...in Dhairya's school.

International schools have some charm about them, something that one experiences in a place where you are so far away from your own people. Here the people are all different, from different cultures, different backgrounds, different countries...but there is some invisible force that unites them...they are all strangers to the new country, all of them are far from home and all of them need each other. And mind you, I am talking about all the parents and not the children. Because children will make friends in whichever school they go to, wherever in the world...but it is the adults who have to come over their pride and prejudices...

And we Indians, like our habit, form groups of Indians, set up Indian community wherever in the world that we are. At CIS(Copenhagen International School), it is no different :). A bunch of women, all Indian, sharing similar passions for food and cooking and socialising, we have become thick pals. Every month we have number of get-togethers, sometimes to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, sometimes to teach and learn recipes and sometimes for no reason at all. But maybe this is the sole reason that we are all able to survive Denmark. Because, otherwise life would have been so listless in a more than silent country.

Moving Countries.

Moving Houses, moving cities and now moving countries. Are you wondering what I mean here. Well from London we have just moved to Copenhagen. Yesterday we completed one month of our stay in Copenhagen. Now packing and unpacking are the code of my days. I have been doing this for quite some time now.

When I got married, I packed to move to Gurgaon. That was the shortest stay I ever managed in a city. about 10 days. We moved to Delhi soonafter as it was easier for me to travel to work and back. Vasantkunj was a perfect locality for working couples. With a quiet and beautiful location, it had an advantage of good maids as well.

A year and a half, location Bangalore. Back to where I started my life. well literally. A heaven on earth before I left it for Delhi.and now just a big noisy smoke box. traffic and pollution...Bangalore could not see worse days.

Next destination : London . Moving country is a nice thing, as long as it is a place like London, there is no reason you would regret. With everything available from Indian grocery to Indian restaurants to Indian cooks to Indian festivals, London gives you an additional advantage of large open spaces, orderly traffic and good public transport.

Copenhagen : November 2008 .....Denmark, better known to us for its milk products ( I wonder why) ..maybe the wrong info in Geography text books. Like all scandinavian countries...rather expensive and utterly beautiful.....it seems the picture perfect photographs are taken out here.:)...
well I have yet to witness though. so from moving houses to moving cities to moving countries...wonder whats next??

Whats in a name

Naming a child is a task in itself. A task you can never be sure that you will succeed. For one, the name might become so common that your child will grow up to find his namesakes everywhere and for another that it might be so unique that every time you tell it to someone, they will never get it right atleast the first time around.

Dhairya and Vihaan come in the second category maybe and precisely because Swetha and Ashish come in the first. As such, children cannot name themselves, so the parents, or the aunts or the grandparents or as whoevers custom is, should name them, not predicting that the child will grow up to like or not like their names.

Have you watched the movie Namesake or read the novel on which the movie is based on?? Goggol - does not like his name and understandably so. So how are the parents to decide what their child is going to grow up to like or not like. Yet they have to !!

My mom kindly named me what she did, a nice and unique name in the late 70's. But I guess most mom's thought the same way then. I grew up with having 3 namesakes in a classroom with 50 children for the whole decade and then 4 in my next institution. Thankfully not many Swethas chose to do engineering esp in BMS EEE. I was saved thereafter that there was no namesake from then on till now ...none in the class and none at work :)

At an Indian restaurant in London on a frightfully crowded Sunday, the waiting list announced three Ashish in a row, all of them puzzled to know which one was who.

Well, there is a great advantage with having a common name. You do not have to repeat it for anyone, in fact sometimes if you fill half of it on any application form, someone could complete it. Also most of your neighbours or aquaintances will be able to remember your name and just because your name might remind them of someone very close to them or someone who has really hurt them and left a reason for them to be remembered. Pray you fall in the first category lest names can make people prejudiced against what they feel about you.

We named Dhairya and Vihaan on their moon signs respectively. For Dhairya, we considered Dheer, Dhaval and Bhavya also but at last settled for Dhairya. Vihaan was a choice out of a list containing Vishw, Veer, Vismay, Vansh.

Even new names have sometimes become such rage with people they hardly take time to become so common. Aryan, Aayush like Rahul and Rohan a few years back. I wish that babies came with a name tag when they were born, so we did not have to go about looking for a name for them which we can never be sure they will appreciate once they grow. But since that cannot happen, let us just cross fingers and hope.

Arrival Vihaan

Childbirth is an amazing feeling. Does that sound familiar. Then try this. Childbirth is the most painful yet the most satisfying feeling of the world.

Those who have experienced childbirth are sure to agree with these phrases and many more, if there are.

19 Jan 2008 - exactly three years and three months after 19th Oct 2004 ( Dhairya's Birth) - Vihaan was born. Another small bundle of joy, Vihaan, for us his birth has been another out of this world experience. For one, it was an absolutely normal birth (except ofcourse the vacuum suction they used) but it was a normal after a c-section the first time around.

Vihaan like Dhairya is an overdue baby. Dhairya was just two days overdue when the doc decided she would intervene and went for a c-section. Vihaan was 6 days overdue and they planned to wait for another 4 days atleast. Dhairya was a c-section baby and my chances for a second c-section kept increasing as the days went by. At my first consultant visit, I was pressing on for a repeat c-section but the Doctor explained to me that there was a 70% chance of a normal birth etc etc ...he almost. convinced me to try normal this time around.

Ashish was not convinced until we went for a VBAC session during my 36th week. VBAC - Vaginal Birth After Caesarean. We also went to a antenatal class to understand more about labour.

I was waiting since the onset of my 9th month, almost 2nd week of december, did all the house chores, exercised, walked kept myself as active as a busy bee. Although my EDD was the 13th of Jan 2008, nothing happened. Yes, nothing, no signs of any labour, any pain , absolutely nothing at all. On the 14th, we were booked for a VBAC session where the midwife was kind enough to try stretch and sweep, only to find that there was hardly any dilation. My hopes for a normal birth were halved. On the 16th , the consultant confirmed my fears saying that the chances diminish as the days go by. I was now more eager to bring an end to this pregnancy thing and get the baby in my hand. She booked me a c-section for the 23rd of Jan. It felt like an age later to me. :)

On the 18th, My midwife tried yet another stretch and sweep. With all my hopes lost, I was less than half optimistic about this trial. Although she told me that it has been much better than last time, I had half the heart to believe her. My mind was now set on a repeat c-section.

That afternoon my waters broke slightly. I had tricking water which stopped after a while. Although I was not too sure about it then. We rang the hospital around midnight and then went to the hospital for a check. No waters broken, was the duty nurse's reaction. We came back.

I just slept a couple of hours when i could feel slight pains every now and then . I waited for an hour and more without disturbing Ashish. I woke him at 4:30AM when my pains were actually timing every 7 minutes or so. We woke up mummy around 6. I was on my fours, not able to bear the pain. We reached the hospital by 7 and she took me in.

After what seemed to be a life time, Vihaan finally started appearing at around 3 15 that afternoon when the midwife encouraged me to push. The pains were not too strong and due to the previous c-section, the doctors could not wait longer or me to push. So the doc got a vacuum suction pump and there .....Vihaan was in my hands at exactly 4:01 PM -19th Jan 2008.

My first reaction - as you can imagine - Yipeee....it was a successful VBAC.

Vihaan was born 10 toes, 10fingers, one pretty nose, little hair too and 3.64KG. At a distance when he was places, he looked to me just like Dhairya....a carbon copy :)