I was speaking to my friend Manju the other day, and she was asking about my new life in a new city. She asked me to blog about my thoughts on Ernakulam. Being one of the few people I have found more fanatical than me about my hometown, Trivandrum, her demand was that I do some match fixing and say that Trivandrum is way better :) . Well I’ll try my best to be neutral, so here it goes.. My thoughts on Ernakulam compared with the other cities I have stayed in for some length.

What I like most about the city is that it is really close to the sea. That scores a big plus in my books. There are plenty of places were you can stroll along the sea-shore or enjoy the sea breeze or just sit there – I can watch the sea for endless eternity. These are things I really missed in Bangalore and Plochingen. This doesn’t score a point above Trivandrum though – plenty of places there too to do the same things.

Plus there are plenty of shopping areas around here. That’s not high on my list of priorities, but it does help. It presents itself as a very bubbly city, which is great for me. It may not be a Bangalore in this respect, but definitely good enough. Both Trivandrum and Plochingen are laid back cities, which also works, but at this point of my life.. hmm.. I prefer ‘bubbly’ over ‘laid-back’ :).

What I really don’t like is the traffic here. Horrible. I survived Bangalore and I thought that was worst I would see. Ernakulam beats all that – with 1/5th of the vehicles of Bangalore – now that’s an achievement! And the driving culture here is even worse. I don’t think I’ve seen it this bad in any other place I’ve been to. I am now even more scared crossing roads – nobody ever stops here!

Another bad thing is that I find a lot of people here imitating cosmopolitanism (if there’s a word like that); despite the city not really being what you would describe as cosmopolitan. It all ends up looking very artificial. I don’t know – KFC-s, Baristas and multiplexes seem like a mismatch here. Maybe that’s just a feeling that’ll go away.

Overall I think the city will grow on me, just like the other new places did. It’s just as good as the other places I’ve stayed in. What makes a city unforgettable are the number of friends you have there and I had a few in all those special places I’ve stayed in before. I guess I’ve already started that process here. So maybe, it’s just a matter of time, before I fall in love with this place too!.

It snowed in Plochingen last day. I opened the window and lo! there it was like a dream, from a fairy tale. Beautiful! I walked out first with a group then again alone. It was freezing. But it was such an amazing experience that I stayed out for as long as I could. Walking alone in the night while it was snowing…

I remember an ad I saw long time ago on the idiot box – showing the joy of someone who had seen snowfall for the first time. It was exactly how I felt – like an innocent child playing with a new toy. A grown up kid living the dream he had forever… The Germans around us must have been thinking we must be crazy. Grown up boys and girls – “software engineers” – in their true color.. he he.. Feeling something for the first time brings in a lot of emotions difficult to describe… but simply in 3 letters… WOW! :)

Aside: I hear all this romanticizing of snow lasts only for a week or two. When the cold gets to your spine people say romance turns to discomfort to irritation to anger to submission! :( Oh lord, it is predicted to go down to -10°. Best of luck to me!

Photo courtesy: www.freedigitalphotos.net

Yup, that’s the name of the town that I’ll be calling ‘home’ for the next 6 months. One week over, and I am already liking this calm, quiet, sleepy town :)

First impressions? “Pünktlich” – The punctuality of Germans is amazing. If it says that a bus comes at 11:59, it will reach sharp at 11:59, not 1 minute late. They never have their timings rounded off to the nearest 5 minutes or anything. In fact it seems as if they are trying to prove a point that they are always on time by putting these odd timing!

Another thing that struck me is that on the roads, the pedestrians are the kings. You step your foot on the zebra crossing, the car that comes next stops and waits for you to cross. It was difficult to adjust to this let me tell you! And I can’t imagine doing this in India… Either as a pedestrian or as a driver… hehe

And oh yeah… German beer. You don’t feel like putting the mug down! :D

All in all I feel comfortable here. This might not be home, but it sure is nice. More news about my adventures in Deutschland soon… Tcheuss!