Swiss Bliss - A Travelogue

Back in 1995, all of us college friends saw "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" and could not help falling in love with the movie, the songs, Shahrukh and of course the lovely Europe and Switzerland locations. While I continued watching more and more of Shahrukh's films, the opportunity to visit Switzerland knocked my door after almost 20 years. I visited Switzerland with family from 13th to 17th October 2014.

It was a great fun to create the whole plan ourselves with the help of Google Maps, Trip Adviser, lots of Swiss travel guide sites and talking to friends who have been there. The plan is a reusable component, and I can share it, if any of you decide to travel to Switzerland!

An early morning flight took us to Zurich and we traveled to Zurich HB from the airport via train.

We took the Zurich Classic Trolley Combo Tour to go around the Zurich City, which is “Switzerland's Mumbai, the most important business location. There was an informative commentary via earphones in English in the trolley. We adored the wonderful crystal clear shining blue Lake Zurich with its famous fountains.


That followed with the St. Peter's Church with Europe's largest clock face, Fraumünster Church with its famous Chagall windows and the Guild Halls that has a plaque commemorating Winston Churchill, where he famously stated, "Europe, Arise!

We saw Café Odeon known as a historic meeting place of artistes, and revolutionaries through the world wars. The tour ended on a high note, with visiting Mount Uetliberg, 871 meters (2,850ft) above the city that offered us an astonishing panorama view of the city along with the lake and Alps ranges.

The next day morning we traveled to Lucerne, the Swiss city I loved the most. After a great journey from Zurich to Lucerne via train, we almost immediately left for Mount Pilatus. To reach the mountain top, we had to take a Pilatus Railway, which is world's steepest Cogwheel Railway from Alpnachstad.

It was an awesome snow clad mountain. This was first experience in snow for my kids, so they were enthralled to see the snow. We had fun playing in the snow on the sunny day, and also made a snowman!

After the mountain top trip, we went around the Lucerne city on foot. It was great fun roaming around the city with the long canal, with a large number of lovely foot bridges. One of the most famous bridges was the Chapel Bridge, a wooden bridge with paintings inside, and fully covered in beautiful flowers from outside.

 

We savored jumbo ice creams sitting by the lake in the main city, as evening dawned upon the snowy mountains and lovely city. The serene and peaceful evening by the lake would always remain etched in my mind.

Mount Titlis, the place for eternal snow, was our destination for the third day and that was undoubtedly the most exciting journey. From the Engelberg station, we rode in three different cable cars, including one 360 degree revolving above glaciers, with a breathtaking view and sense of adventure. Once we reached the top, we were greeted with Snowfall, again a first for my kids. It was such a thrilling experience.

We tried skiing (and fell many times!), admired all the skiers, took the Titlis Cliff Walk (the highest elevation suspension bridge in Europe), enjoyed the ice sculptures in the ice cave and rode the Ice Flyer.

A Swedish fellow traveler, who knew about Shahrukh Khan, could sing first full line of "Tujhe Dekha to yeh jaana…" and the big portrait of Kajol and Shahrukh at the top was an icing on the cake
completing the DDLJ link with Switzerland.

On fourth day, we travelled to Interlaken by Lucerne Interlaken Express. We could not take our eyes off as the train rode through the pristine lush green scenes and more than five magnificent
lakes. Interlaken is a small town with a countryside look, complete with Swiss cows grazing with the famous cow bells hanging around their necks. Top of Europe, Jungfrau needed a travel in 3 different trains from Interlaken. The trains offered a close view to the snowy mountains as we climbed the top.

The Train Conductor somehow knew a bit of Hindi, when he chose to tell my kids "Dheere Dheere" as they ran back towards the train after glancing from a view point! In fact, the stall vendors saying
"Dhanyawad / Alvida", omnipresence of Indian carts / restaurant in these places, tell the tale of
Indian tourists' love with Switzerland.

The top of Europe had a nice snow covered plateau with Swiss flag, and a view of the observatory which served as the lab of the villain in Krish 3.On the last day, we traveled back to Zurich, and to Rhine Falls from there. Rhine Falls is the largest plain waterfall in Europe. The enormity of the milk white water raging across the fall made it a great sight, and the various view-points that we climbed up and down provided spectacular view of the grand falls.

That was the last point before we had to embark on our return journey from this Dreamland. Even when I am back to the everyday routine, the vivid memories of the Swiss Bliss are fresh on my mind.

Of spellings and spell checks

Scene 1 - "No spelling mistakes in the paper, remember the teacher cuts 0.5 marks for each mistake", I was nagging my kid as he was getting ready to leave for his exam. "Okay", was his response. "At least copy the words from the answer sheet correctly", I continued and then probably realized that kids have learnt already to filter out all this nagging-before-the-exam-paper!

Scene 2 - I am getting a final review done on a thing to be published soon with a senior manager, and we spot a big spelling mistake in a para that was modified at the last moment! I had not noticed it though I has gone through the para myself at least twice! "You should at least have run the spell check in MS Word!", said the manager, "Yes boss", I said.

When I was a kid, I was very very conscious about my writing, all spellings and would feel proud about it. I would love to spot mistakes in the name plates and hoardings on the streets. Specially enjoying the name plate of "Snakes Corner" as I would pass by it every day. Possibly due to my early school teacher who used to make us write the correct words 20 times in case of a mistake!

I still take pride in producing some quality stuff through writing, however I have outsourced the spelling checks to all these software on the laptop and iPhone. Pretty much the same way I have outsourced remembering phone numbers to my smart phones. Auto complete and auto correct have made it even worse, I still think twice before spelling recipient as to whether it is ce or ci.

All in all, I think there are still people who feel the urge to know the right spellings themselves, why otherwise do we see so many kids participating in the spell bee competition, talking about words that we may not even have heard about! 

Probably time will tell where we land in terms of knowing our spellings well, I recently read that Finland has proposed to use only tablets from primary education in schools, no need to write stuff! Who knows when that spreads worldwide. Or whether people simply talk about what they think and it gets written automatically. May be then we would  get more time to think about the content rather than worrying about the spelling mistakes!

Women in Finland

Back in October 2014 I reached Helsinki, Finland for the first time. When we started looking for a taxi outside the airport, we were greeted by a tall Finnish lady taxi driver ready to take us home. She reminded me of Revathy Roy, who had started a women's taxi service in Mumbai. However the case of female drivers in Finland was different. They were everywhere! Driving taxis, big buses, garbage trucks, cars, bicycles and not to forget trains :) I myself being such an aweful driver, my eyes are full of respect when I see a lady driving effortlessly!

Being an active member of the women's circle in my organization, studying the work life of a Finnish women then became a curious case for me. I found that a large number of Finnish women are working, the workplace gender ratio is almost 50-50. May be the population itself is so less, everyone has to come to the workplace to get things done!



Another very interesting thing that I found is amazing child care facilities. On my way during my morning walk, I could see so many women and men dropping their kids to the child care every day, and collecting them in the evening. Many small kids travelling on their own in buses to schools, even as small as 7 years old.

Crime rate in general is very low, making the women and kids roam around pretty freely. I also digged out some other interesting facts about women in Finland that you may find interesting to read.

Finnish women enjoy a "high degree of equality" and "traditional courtesy" among men. In 1906, the women of Finland became the first women in Europe to be granted the right to vote. There are many women in Finland who hold prominent positions in Finnish society, in the academics, in the field of business, and in the government of Finland.

In terms of finance, Finnish women have been described as "usually independent financially". Married women, by custom, introduces themselves by mentioning their forename first, then their maiden name, and then the surname of the their husbands.

Finnish women have been describe by The Telegraph as:

"Finnish women are much more outgoing and approachable than the men and often command three or four languages. Their position in society and business is well-respected and superior to that of women in most other cultures."


In Finland, women's labour force participation has traditionally been high, and today it is almost identical with that of men. In general, women form about 45% of the wage-earning population of the EU countries; even higher percentages are found in Finland (52%), France (51%), Sweden (50%) and Denmark (48%).



There are many reasons for this increase: the recognition of women's high level of education, the wish for autonomy, and the necessity of a double income. However, women still face problems at work when striving for the same status as men (the "glass ceiling"), and they are still overwhelmingly responsible for the family and domestic duties.

The fact that the birth rate has remained fairly high in Finland testifies to the efficiency of the small children’s day care system in Finland. In order for equality to become a reality, men and women must be given equal opportunities to participate in political decision-making and working life. In Finland this is furthered through the day-care system, services for the elderly, and provision of school meals.

Lot of things to learn for Indian women from their Finnish counterparts I think :)

This too shall pass!

As we see the outstanding victory of AAP in Delhi today, its surely an eye opener for a lot of people. I really hope this victory really brings new perspectives and changes to Delhi, and serves as a Reality Check for the central government.

It reminded me of a story that had a long lasting impact on me, and had helped me in my life a lot
I would recommend everyone to read the story, if you have not already
http://www.citehr.com/346028-too-shall-pass-thought-provoking-story.html

The crux of the story is this:

Think Of The Moments Of Joy And Victory In Your Life. Think Of The Moment Of Sorrow And Defeat. Are They Permanent ? They All Come And Pass Away. You Are Just A Witness Of Change. Experience It, Understand It, And Enjoy The Present Moment.

The message keeps us grounded when we get a success in life, hope Kejriwal gets it. And it also boosts the morale when we lose, giving a hope to fight back and be better, hope Modi gets it :)

Thinking of me, I have actually used the message when I am bogged down by work, hear unpleasant comments, am too stressed out, kids' exams begin to assure myself that this time will pass, and I can make attempts to improve, be better.

And I have used it when everything is going great, happy, successful to remind me to still do my best and not be complacent. To live every moment to the fullest, as "This too shall pass" :)

Life in a Metro - Traffic Jam and Opportunities

Writing this as I see endless row of vehicles ahead of my bus and I am stuck in a bad traffic. I am just praying that I reach home on time for an important meeting I need to attend in next 40 minutes or so. As much I am irritated and cursing the traffic outside, "Part of life in a metro," I tell myself.

Well, living in Mumbai, traffic is not a new thing at all and we are born and brought up with it. I have learnt to deal with it in several ways, catching up on sleep, reading newspaper or books, making lists of things to carry in an upcoming trip, thinking through any problems at hand in office, and so on. Angry with the traffic jam and reflecting on life in Mumbai in general, I remembered one recent incident and it brought smile on my face.

The other day I was standing with my 6th grade son on the bus stop waiting for the school bus. He saw a poster for some Bhojpuri movie and asked me who will watch this movie here in Mumbai. I got into explaining how people come to Mumbai in search of job and livelihood, how many villages across India are under developed and fail to provide the same to these people. I mentioned that Mumbai is a land of opportunities. Everyone can become someone and earn their livelihood here.


Incidentally 2 days later, my son was asked to write a letter to friend about advantages and disadvantages of living in a metro in his English paper (can 6th grade students really think through on this topic!!) and he wrote whatever we had spoken along with the line 'Mumbai is a land of opportunities' :))

I have been a Mumbai-kar all my life, and have been thankful to all the opportunities this city has provided me. Opportunities to learn what I wanted, to get into and sustain a job i love, to get an exposure to diverse and open community, and freedom to wear what I like, the list is endless. My father who still reveres his small village he lived in his childhood, came here after his graduation to work in RBI and I think the opportunities he got in the city along with my mother changed the life he gave to us completely opening a lot of doors for us in life.

When I look at the possibilities and opportunities the city presents, the traffic really looks like just another price to pay to live here, in this land ( or should I say sea or ocean) of opportunities.

Other angles to the life in a metro at some other time, need to get down and run for the meeting now...