From the mountains to the lakes via the valleys

It almost sounds like the title out of fairytale, but believe me: it's true; at least whatever the modern version of the tale might be. Yes, it's in Switzerland. As a last ditch effort to do something useful today, I will try to write a bit about my adventures in Switzerland.

This small, but very unique country in the whole of Europe, is to a large extent occupied by the Alps. That is, most of the southern part. Covered by some of the highest mountains in the Alps, fairytalish valleys and breath-taking views, it offers unique hiking opportunities. The northern part of the country is among the most densely populated regions in Europe with a very high development and production index. I could write a lot about this unique place, but probably it's best understood by reading the book "Swiss Watching" by Diccon Bewes, an Englishman who lives in Bern. The book is written with a strong flavour of typical British humour, which I must admit honestly, I enjoyed very much. Anyway, to have a nice introduction to the country, I'll leave you to read that. Let me however just stress an aspect that I really like about Switzerland. It's the only country in Europe where you'll find the cohabitation of two of Europe's biggest cultural traditions: the Germans and the French. While the traditions can be typically French or German, this doesn't mean at all they identify with each of the big neighbours. They're all Swiss, and that's what sets them apart.

Let's just start out by saying I live in Bern, which is in the plain lands, or should I say flatland? That makes me a flatlander, huh? A couple of weeks back, some friends of mine from Dresden visited me (ah yes, the Dresden visit, I should write about that wonderful city in another post, but let's just go on here). It was with them that I saw Basel, the cultural capital of Switzerland. Many people just think of Zurich to be the cultural capital, and that's it. But no, its true and yet its not true. Zurich is probably the cultural capital if you all want to be hip and happening, go to rock concerts, nightclubs, meet all the people of the people of the world and so on; but if you want to go to museums, and act cultural that way, then Basel is definitely the place for you. In fact, this week Basel had the world art exhibition.
Basel is also the pharmaceutical capital, with a home for the pharmaceutical companies. It's also the head office of Coop, the second biggest supermarket chain of Switzerland.

Now, now: I am supposed to just talk about my experiences, not go about making general statements, but I do feel a little bit of background is in order. So that was about Basel. About Bern now. Bern is the fourth biggest city of Switzerland (after Zurich, Geneva and Basel). It is the political capital, and a very wonderful and lively city. Especially on Saturdays if you go and visit the old town! The old town in Bern is a lot bigger than that in Basel, and looks really oldish. Compared to that, I found Basel old town to be modern! The trams in Basel are also the oldish ones, like the ones that you get to see in Wein. We walked about quite a bit in and around Basel to start with. The museum we went to see was the Kunstmuseum -- they were having a Renoir exhibition as well at that time. The museum was nice with lots of paintings from different areas, that took us about two hours to navigate. It was a Friday on the end of May, and the weather was the hottest we've had till then, with the sun absolutely burning down. Then after a light lunch in the old town, we went to Munster and the Rathaus. Our visit ended by taking a stroll down the banks of the Rhine, after we crossed across the MittleBrucke. It was a warm day, as I remarked before, and not a single sitting bench beneath the shadows were free.

By the time we had battled the rush hour on the train and reached Bern it was already cool: and the Eiger, the Monach and the Jungfrau were staring us on the face! Interestingly enough, the building of the Albert Einstein Centre, where I work, is on top of the Grosse Schanze, and it offers an unrestricted view of the mountains, and the city. This warm day, however, attracted some pretty dark clouds overnight, and from early next day it was raining: quite a disappointment for me, since I was expecting to show the lively city to my friends! It was not that bad, though: the rains and the sun in the month of May had spawn green all over the city, and, the view from the backyard of the Munster across the Aare on to the rising slopes of Gurten, our local mountain here in Bern, is indeed remarkable. Now, here comes a twist in the tale: you'd have thought that with the rains pouring down, the usual tourist would be confined to the hotel, or a cafe. Nuh, thats the what Bern is really good at. The whole old town is covered in arcades, and you can move under them while window-shopping all the time. C'mon now, how many of you really don't want to look at something nice? Lots of watches out there, in case that interests you. In fact, we got to see some designer clocks, which are so simple conceptually, but I really haven't seen the likes of those anywhere. So, even though it was all rainy and cold, we managed to have a decent time.

At the very end of the old town we went and looked at the bears. Thankfully, it was only drizzling now, and the bears were still out! What I was completely taken aback by was that on that very Saturday, Bern was holding its Grand Prix, the 16km marathon. Too bad it was raining all day, it must have been a bad day for the runners. I was taken aback because I hadn't realized that this event was coming up, -- and normally I am not totally shut-up from whats happening around me. With all this done, and having had a late lunch of rosti (and believe me the day was cold enough to warrant it!), we decided that we might as well go up to the Gurten. This however turned out to be quite a different experience from what I have had before: see the last two times I went up, it had been pretty clear: this day was completely different. First of all, since we didn't have time, we took the funicular all the way up (th Gurten Bahn). Once up there, it was completely covered by fog, you couldn't even see things 5 metres away, and it was completely deserted. So there we spend time in the foggy hill, all by ourselves, went up on the viewing tower, again all by ourselves, shivered in the cold, and came down. It was a different experience, to be sure, but I was keeping my fingers crossed for the day after -- since it was to be the great trip to the mountains.

Once back from Gurten, and on the way home, I was really happy to see a bright western sky: the clouds were lifting. The morrow would be safe! Thats all folks, for today: I have talked about the plains. Watch out for the mountains and the lakes in the next post!

Goodbye Seattle

I am bad at saying good-byes; meaning I say them well in front of people maybe without so much of emotion as I mean them. Today was no different. Initially, when I landed in Seattle, I had decided that I was not going to like the place as much as I do Switzerland. The weather was bad; -- it was raining, public transportation wasn't as good...Many of the places we went to for food (specially the first night) was exorbitantly expensive. Even I tried to argue that the coffee was better in Bern.
But it's only that much. It was my initial hesitation in accepting change that was saying all that. As time went on, I am glad to say that I could see beyond all this, feel the culture of the city, the culture of America; and why you should never compare beer with wine! I already wrote about all that in my last post.
Well, anyway. I just have to add a couple of things before I finally say goodnight and go to sleep (.... I have to wake up at 5 AM tomorrow morning). The first one is the Columbia Center, also serving as the Bank of America building. The tallest building in the Seattle skyline, (about twice as tall as the Space Needle), you would see it's huge, but you would not really realize it's SO HUGE until you go all the way up and then look down. I have heard so many arguments of my sophisticated friends against the skyline of the US cities rendered ugly by the skyscrapers; but today, all these arguments really turned to water when I was up on top of the building and looked down at the cityscape, the landscape around it, the lakes and then finally the mountains beyond. There is something in beauty that defies all arguments...
The second thing is the University of Washington campus. A sprawling one, I've often wondered what it would be like to play Treasure Hunt in there. Again, it is here, that I have had the chance to observe the American University students life, albeit from a distance. It is something I have seen so many movies about, wondered so much about; but this is the closest to which I have experienced it. It would have been fun if I was here as a student: going out with friends to the University street on a Friday night for a cheap dinner of Thai food followed by a couple of beers in a local alehouse. Fun, eh? The campus has it's own charms, old buildings shrouded in tall trees, grassy lawns, cherry trees in full blossom in spring, the vitality of youth everywhere,...

...anyway, Goodbye Seattle. Hope to see you again soon!

Sleepless in Seattle

This wasn't exactly a title that I thought would have ever applied to me: but nine hours of jet-lag have made this possible. It worked its black magic on me this whole week, making me get up at the middle of the night all the time!
So, ... Seattle is the first American city I had a chance to witness ever since I went to see the Downtown today. The culture is quintessentially American, with people being jolly and friendly with perfect strangers, waitresses cheerfully calling out over the distance if the food is all right, or if you want something more. It's been quite a pleasure to have been here. Since I don't have anything specific to say, maybe I'll just summarize stuff like a travelogue.
First, the food. Sea food seems to be a specialty of Seattle. Not surprising. In addition, there are numerous places in the University street offering various kinds of food, starting from a very delicious veg buffet to spicy Indian food. While you can get yourself decently fed within $12; things can easily go up to $25 with Indian food, $40 with specialty Sushi or sea-food.
Downtown Seattle was also fascinating. I would never even dream of comparing it with any of the European cities -- Seattle (and indeed probably most American cities) have their own culture, very unique and very distinct from anything the world has ever produced. You will start by noticing people from all the corners of the world, followed by all the kinds of cuisines possible (and indeed, I had the honor of eating piroshky from a Russian bakery shop -- traditionally I think it's called Pirozhki --- which seemed extremely popular with a long queue of people, and drinking coffee from the first Starbucks shop). Then of couse, the usual blend of Indian -- Chinese -- Sushi -- going all the way to Arabian and African. But then that is expected too. And it is America, so there has to huge tall skyscrapers, nobody beats them at it. Skyscrapers have their own charm -- I have lived in Mumbai for 6 years, and am no stranger to them; but of course, they were nowhere like the ones in the US. Their magic worked on me...
And yes, chocolates ... Americans are sometimes strangely innovative, that other people would have never thought of. I have lived for some time now in Switzerland, the land of chocolate, but I have never seen marshmallows dipped in chocolate,  bretzels in chocolate, whole apples dipped in chocolate and with mouth-watering outer chocolate layers. That was really something -- a quick taste of marshmallow coated chocolate and a marzipan dipped in chocolate to break my fast!
The Seattle Art Museum was also nice in its own way, but nothing really striking --- there was a painting of Puget Sound bay that completely swept me off. It was an invitation to the American settlers to come West. And there was another one of Nigara falls aimed at proclaiming the power and the beauty of the newest continent. There was a collection of paintings exploring how remarkable the effects of focusing light on a paining can point out the theme of a painting -- there was a picture of Nurse Irene tending a wounded St Sebastian, and there was another nurse showing light on the wound; and the very act brings out the tenderness of the action of tending a wounded.
I suppose that is it for tonight --- I don't think I can think of anything more to say!

It was wonderful weather today. It usually is. It usually has been for the past two weeks. An perfectly heavenly spring, when you want to forget everything about work and sit in the sun, and talk, -- and have fun. I walked back from work today, -- got out a bit early than usual, since was not feeling like working, and then instead of taking the tram or the train, decided to walk back. The University is in the center of the town, very close to the old town of Bern, and the place where I live is in the westernmost part of the city. I've never walked back before, but today I did.
And I felt the sorrow. Not the persistent one that knocks, and bothers you; but the one so deep, so meaningless, and so mild, that you would not be able to express it. Evening is really powerful. I could explain all the three adjectives that I used to describe it, but I choose not to --- characterizing the feeling in any set of words would not only miss the point, but would be wholly inadequate. 

There is too much misery in this world --- let's spare the one over trivial misunderstandings. 

Identification

Today I felt sad. Why? A very common reason --- some series which I used to watch with quite a bit of interest had one of the characters killed! Oh, that's preposterous -- I hear you say -- it's just some cooked up fiction, for God's sake.

Really? Maybe it is. But it is so much more -- much so much more. I don't need to emphasize how much. Do you know, years back -- it's more than a decade by now (ah, how the time flies!), when I used to write a diary, I wrote something about these stories, movies, serials, ..., whatever all there is. I don't remember exactly what I said, but it was something like this: Real life ups and downs, happiness and sadness, ..., are all either over-dramatized, or under-dramatized (really, the director has a flavor for dramatization, hasn't he?) or just adequate (wow, I hear somebody say, just the one who should win a prize..) versions of what we see made up in the cultural arts. (This was written in a simple but elegant language, though, in a fit of emotion, when what you really feel has a very high probability of coming out pure and elegant...I am proud of the language, even though I can't seem to recollect exactly). Of course, the rational friend says, where else would stories have come from? or Art? or Music? or Theater? All are, one facet, or another, of the real life.

Yes, I tell my pragmatic friend -- how right you are! And yet sometimes, I see movies, I read books, ... just to escape from this real world, to be something I never can be in real life, ... . Oh come on, says my pragmatic friend, grow up! You are no longer a kid who lives by dreams? But, I contradict him, when you grow up, can't you have dreams? He is really pragmatic, since he always has a ready pragmatic answer: Sure, just have a realistic one. Do good, become famous, get money, --- there are so many things to dream of. Yes, you are right indeed, I say, what is the use of these dreams of fiction?

But then why does my heart weep? I tell him nothing no more. He will never understand it, -- and yet I weep, wait for the waves of time to wash out the structure that the particular book/movie/serial created in my sandy conscience. The trouble is that, the conscience is not fully made of sand --- it is rocky at places. And then the water has a hard time doing the job.

Does, --- should the writer have the supreme power to decide who will live and who die? Can he act like a God? Writing about a decade back I had argued in the affirmative. He created the character, and he has the right to decide what to do with it. But, now I realize, it may not always be the right thing to do. When the character out the author's pen grows life like, and affects so many people's lives, dreams, feelings, emotions, ..., should the author still do whatever he likes with the character? Does he get to wield the power, do whatever he wants with so many people? I don't whats the right thing to do --- and neither I am going to argue for anything with my sandy-rocky conscience.

Meanwhile, I will just let it weep. Farewell, Ed! That's one more dream not come true...