Where it all began

The morning was a haze of activity and anxiety, excitement and expectation, impatience and impediments, obsession and oomph, unrest and uncertainty. All the same for all my peers, I guess. Yet there was a strange calmness in me, a ray of hope and a bubble of optimism, that kept me sane. Still half unconscious, I had walked down to the phone as early as my slumber had permitted. And had been squirming on the couch in its proximity as long as my memory goes.

'Oh my god! I'm biting my nails.. what is up with me!! .. I need to walk... I need to keep my cool.. C'mon its k'

Looking back now, as though at a camera shot, each moment is still so clear and pulsating in my head, I cannot believe how I kept afloat through all the apprehension. The trepidation was so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife. My singly most epochal moment. Wuff! Remarkably courageous of me I must say ( :) ).. either that or I was bewitched by blissful ignorance.

Pacing restlessly all around the house, I was juggling three phones, waiting and waiting for the mysterious objects to swagger off their genius. And then it flashed! 'Dad calling'. Everything stopped. I supported myself on the edge of the dining table. My mom sat in front of me on the sofas facing opposite along with Mamu. I picked up so fast that even the ringer did not go off. My end sounded this way.

(Anticipation)
'Ya'

'Oh'

(Impatience)
'Oh Daddy! Don't fool around'

'Uhuh'

(No change of expression whatsoever)
'Uhuh'

(I stood frozen)
'Uhuh'

And I hung up the phone. Nine pairs of nervous eyes were staring at me intently.

'92'

All I caught a glimpse of before drowning in a flurry of warm hugs and affectionate huddles were the nine pairs of eyes skyrocketing towards me. And within seconds I was on phone with a hundred people, a measure of whom were absolute strangers. My insides were somersaulting and anon my appetite ricocheted back.

Some weight had simply eased of my shoulders. I wasn't quite sure what was happening though, seemed like there had been an explosion. A salvo of people. I was stupefied by the exuberance and the felicity, savoring the 'joie de vivre' of my loved ones. I smiled. Like I had never done in the past few days.

Somewhere down the line, much later, it struck me what it had meant 'to clear the JEE'.

Weird Facts about Germans

My First Train Journey

Somethings that I have being dazzled with time and again here in Germany... but its really superkool...

• If you have been flabbergasted everytime something threw the word 'Yafa' at you, relax they probably mean 'Java', they pronounce 'J' as 'Y' and 'V' as 'F'...
• If its not clean, its not Germany.
• Chicken is as rare as vegetarian food :P ... Pigs ( ... Yuuuck) rule the roost.
• They believe that somehow their sheer will power to make you understand what they say, will really do it, even though it is apparent you do not know German.
• They have a cute way of saying bye.. "Tchuss" .. which is pronounced as 'Chioos' and thanks.. which is 'Dankashen' :)
• When they say 'Sex' they mean '6'.. Ah! what a disappointment... :P
• Gear up to drink from a toilet tap (Ewwww...) or forget about it... coz ' Water - 4 euros' .. and 'Coke - 1.5 euros'... So you almost always end up buying iced tea ( For all Nescafe lovers ) which by the way is the cheapest :)
• 'Bread' is the only known kind of food known to this species
• Friday, 11.00 am, International Office - " Oh my God! Stop calling! For God's sake , its Friday Afternoon, its weekend!
• They have Beer with breakfast, Beer with lunch and Beer with dinner... and Beer with any other meal they choose to have.. All their 'Fests' are without question and doubt, as an unwritten rule, 'Beer fests' and in a supermarket, you will find more space and time dedicated to Beer than anything else.. (atleast in Bavaria)
• The easiest way to get a visa extension, without even moving your lips and that too for the rest of your lives is to lose the 'Keys' to your office coz its worth a 30,000 euros... even your apartment might not be worth that much...!
• 20 bucks might take you as far as 6 miles or as far as 600 miles by the same train
• Maybe these people painted the globe, with crystal clear blue and so natural green, coz living in India, you always wondered it must be brown.
• You might be staring out of the window of the fastest trains at cars swooshing past at breakneck speeds.
• Bikes rock big time!
• It is deeply humiliating to find that the old lady next to you is hailing her bike in the train for a mountain hiking trip with all the top-notch cycling gear that you can imagine :)

If I have missed out on some really interesting stuff, do put in the comment, so that I can update the 'peculiar German race characteristics' for the mass benefit ( read: Next year lucky ones..)

The Crazy Eurotrip - Part 1

Train to Dresden, Germany

4.12 am : Suddenly awake, yawning and stretching, makes a move to shut the laptop and put it back, when a certain offliner catches her eye
Oh Man! What the ** ?? How can she cancel the plan now!! We have to leave in another hour! I can't believe it... I so wanted to go to Prague. What now? THIS IS SO NOT FAIR... I will kill her... Ab kya karun..?? Jana hai jana hai jana hai! ( No use overreacting, nothing can be done now! :( :( ) I might as well just go to sleep and think it over in the morning..

4.25 am : Searching the train website and the Prague websites
Maybe I should go alone.. I'll be fun.. But alone!! No I don't want to go alone. In any case, the Prague train I gotta catch is outta reach now. And Prague is not safe, going alone is not a good idea. (Hey hey hey! Whom are you kidding?? You are just too snoozy ). I haven't packed, I haven't done anything and its in an hour and a half.. Well, I can make it, if I want to, but I think I'm way too lazy...

5.09 am : Still searching..
I definitely cannot make it now. ( :P Yipppeeee.. I won't have to get up!!) Lemme look for someplace else. How about Berlin... or maybe, Dresden, lets check out all the trains and stuff.. Guess that should be easier. But still I would have to go alone! Though that would a total adventure :). Perfect tourist kinds... Only this time, I am in Europe with a bag slung over the shoulder and an icecream in one hand and a camera in the other... Should be superkool :P

5.36 am : Deep slumber awaits... Unbelievably sluggish
I reckon I should leave it to be decided automatically, if I get up then I'll go, or otherwise.. bad luck! :( . Should I go alone though... I don't know. Going alone might turn out to be superb.... OR a disaster. ( :) Wo! I can sleep for the whole day if I don't go! ) ( Loser! You know you aren't gonna get up, why even pretend )

7.15 am : Another wake up routine
Omg! Its 7.15 and my train is at 7.28. Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! ( Oh yes! Oh yes! Oh yes! ) I've missed it, no way can I make it... why didn't I get up.. I am so pathetic... Umm... Maybe I shouldn't have gone at all, I can take a weekend off, can't I? ( Oh cut the crap.. Just accept you are damn damn lazy... nothing else ) But I am really tired... and broke ( Wateva!! Stupid Reasons! ) chalo chill pill... no use getting up now ( :P ) Back to sleep... ( Oh I am such an a** )

8.54 am : Encore
You lazy bugger!! Time to rise.. You are going to Dresden, thats it. No discussions. And I don't care what happens. You are going, you may not know anything, you might be robbed, you might be stranded, you might die but YOU ARE GOING. And you will have an awesome day, trust me. It will be "legendary" :P. ( Ha ha ha... Do you really believe you can go now??? See the time miss... )

8.55 am : Outta bed... finally.. still rubbing eyes and yawning but finally in senses and really gearing up to make history
Oh God! So many things to be done, pack backpack, change, brush, clean the room, have breakfast, and the most IMP - Money, Passport, Eurail, Camera and Keys... I'd better hurry up if I wanna give it a shot :P

9.01 am : Out of the Apartment
9.03 am : Onto the Bursbahnhof
9.04 am : Driving in the bus
9.24 am : Rushing to the Hauptbahnhof
9.28 am : On the train to Dresden :)
Whew! One hell of a morning, wasn't it?

( to be continued..)