Prasanna an der Ruhr, My city

Mulheim an der Ruhr, the city in which I am. Its a small and well planned one. You can walk the whole city by foot when the sun is up! The temperature is 18 degrees on the average and rains most of the time and breezy too! I still have not seen the winter here, but I can guarantee you that your clothes will dry up in a days time during peak summer.

 The city is divided into three regions. The other side of the Rhur, Downhill and Uphill. Uphill is where my institute is. Safe when the river Ruhr over flows!! Downhill is where my apartment is and so are the shopping malls, banks and offices. The other side of the river is the place where the Turkish and the Sri Lankan people live. The Turkish work in most of the pizzerias and restaurants and the Sri Lankans run Asian shops and Internet cafes. The roads are laid down with tram lines and strict zebra crossings. Road digging takes place here too. But unlike our Ramakrishna Mutt road, the road digging here is highly organized and when the work finishes, there will be no trace of the digging! Nearly 50% of each road is greenery and cigarette buds!

There is an open air theatre in middle hill region and many concerts take place in the summer. Cinema is shown in the Forum complex and the movies are Hollywood dubbed in German. People here don’t spend more on cinemas. This is evident from the Cineplex. You will feel that Satyam Cineplex is the best ever after watching movie here! And the film industry is very silent too. No actors advertising brands or no German movies being released. No masala movies and gossips here!

The city has a cathedral and the steps leading to the cathedral are inscribed with the ‘ peace ‘ written in many languages, even in Hindi. There is a museum that says ‘entry free’, but its always empty. I guess thats because people need to pay to come out of the museum!! Looking at the broader picture, every German city can be generalized as River+Cathedral+Museum+Pubs+Shopping .

 Feels like you have seen Germany already?! Never mind, come over.. you have a brilliant guide here now!

Getting the Apartment

I was put up at the guest house. It was a level below the ground and had six rooms. The worst part being to share the kitchens and bathroom. Aonther disadvantage was that there were no one around and the huge place will swall0w you into its lonelyness. Its a good place to be put up for a week and after that you constantly keep thinking when you will find your own apartment! With the help of the researchers who have already found apartments, I contacted an agency and fixed up an appointment to see one near my institute. It was the only one I saw and I decided right on it. I did not have many expectations. Just that it should be near the Institute and in the city and I just got the right one. On the 5th floor, facing the huge clock of a church, I moved in just two weeks after I reached here.

 Moving in was a different experience. I had to do so many things on my own and it was the first time. I was so amazed that I had to take decisions and do all these on my own. I would have never hurried up to grow had I know all these! Had to list down things I needed to buy. My furniture consisting of a bed, table and two chairs and utensils to cook. Surprisingly it took me less than an hour to buy all these. Funny I thought, after spending hours together with my friends in the shopping malls just buy a hand towel, I managed to shop for my house in an hour! But then, spent hours looking for flowers and flower pots and then decided that I will buy them later! Then spent hours looking at carpets, yet again I decided to buy them later!

Finally, my abode was set up and I was so particular about a comfortable bed. Sleep is the most important thing to me and I always want a blissful one. No compromise on that. Got two pillows, a wollen blanket and a cotton pullover to manage chilly nights. Blue bedsheets make me feel am sleeping on the clouds!

 Yet another different feeling was when I had to cook for myself for the first time. All the days when I cooked at home, I always knew that it was for everyone and I never felt it as a burden. Now, just for myself, I feel I can survive without cooking. But afterall am just a phd student with a decent pay. So, have to self cook without complaints! Its very odd. Cooking, eating and cleaning up. At the end you feel that you have spent a good 90 minutes without feeling the time stretching on, but not the satisfaction of a happy cooked dinner!

Suddenly I feel responsible.. but I dont want to!! Do I have an option ?!!

After Lunch

I had taken German language course for a year and I can speak basic German. I mean, I can make people understand what I want. Understanding the other person is always the issue! Managing the lunch with my broken German gave me some happiness. I could just be independent and not need any other person to translate things for me.

I then received my keys for the guest house and was asked to retire for the day so as to enable me lose the tiredness of the journey and get ready to meet tomorrow. Seldom they knew I was brimming with energy waiting to be spent and spread! But then, I did take a small nap to increase the threshold of my energy. The temperature outside was around 16 degrees. Less than half of what I had come from! The evening was pleasent with the chill breeze and bright sun. The roads were beautiful with fallen leaves and flowers and grass grown in between the cracks.

I took a walk to the shopping center and browsed through the shops and people. It was na odd feeling. Roaming around in the shopping mall and thinking what to consume for dinner and what to keep ready for dinner. Not once have I roamed alone like this. It was either with my parents or with my friends. The transition was too fast. From everyone to no one. But then the excitement over rides all these emotions initially.

Refraining from ice creams and pizza on the very first day was easy! So, just got some buns and bread and walked back slowly to my room. Yet again, my room was too big for me. It added to feeling of being alone. The guest house housed 6 persons from the same institute, but no one seemed around. Feeling the emptyness around me, I decided to have some company atleast in my dreams and went off to sleep!

Starting the Journey

I said good bye to my parents, relatives and friends at the Airport and entered the waiting hall only to discover that my flight was delayed by thirty minutes. I began calculating the time I would reach Frankfurt and then how fast I must walk to Check in to the flight to Durseldroff and found that I had to make the flight go faster! And so I sat alone, for the first time in 22 years, waiting for the flight to take off towards my Doctoral Degree.

Well, I had to play no role in speeding up the engines. The pilot seemed to sense my heart beat and hence he landed even earlier than he should. Frankfurt materialized beneath my foot. The passport officer asked me how long I was planning to stay in Germany and I replied, 3 years. I derived some satisfaction from his bewildered looks and in explaining to him that
I was on starting my Doctor Arbeit and that cleared his confusion!Yet again the flight took off towards Durseldroff. I was pretty much thirsty and the drinks were served only for the Business class passengers. I knew I would be flying back in executive class with my Doctorate after a couple of years! After 30 minutes of thirsty flight, I dragged my heavy suitcase all around the airport trying to locate the Flughafen Bahnhof. 2 floors up was the train taking me to the Durseldroff train station.

With my broken German, I bought a ticket to Muelheim an der Ruhr. My destination for the next 3 years. Max Planck Institute of Bio inorganic Chemistry. I cross verified my ticket with a person standing near me. I asked him in German and he replied in English. It was a beautiful co incidence. He was from England. We were talking about the Cricket world cup and the death of Bob woolmer and the pull out of India and Pakistan and then he said that he was a chemistry doctorate working in Shell. I was really amazed and so was he when I told him about my career. The first person I talked to in Germany was a doctorate in Chemistry. Really pleased that my stars were in proper place, I reached my institute for Lunch and started my PhD with French Fries and tomato Ketchup.