My Experiences in Austria - Part II

First day at McAfee, Linz office – The Keyboards

We were expected to reach office at 9:30 AM and surprisingly enough, we did manage to reach at the work place in time. Surprising, because we had had a long and tiring journey and it felt as if 15 hours of sleep wouldn’t have been enough. Reached office, greeted our colleagues and got all settled with the laptops. The manager of the Austrian team was ready with his training stuff and asked us to install operating systems on our machines so that setup could be done ASAP. We took the CDs and completed the installation successfully. People who have been doing setups would know what’s next. Yes, getting these systems on the network. We installed the network drivers and gave the IPs for all the systems. In order to check if the IPs were correct and pinging each other, I went to the DOS prompt and keyed in “ipconfig /all” (command used for checking IP and DNS). The command didn’t work fine and threw an error. “Arey!!” To my surprise, I could see the command typed in as “ipconfig -all” instead of “ipconfig /all”. Also when I started giving the Computer Name, I could not find “y”; then realized “y” was at “z” location and vice-versa. After some confusion and ingenious findings, we realized it was a German keyboard that we were using. Bizarre, at least for us! We never realized it before encountering this situation. We were experiencing a feeling of amazement and amusement. This was really a new and unexpected experience.
Wait, this is not the end of it. I reported this to one of my Austrian colleagues. Understanding the issue, he asked me “Chetan, what language do you speak??” Pompously, I said, “British English!!”. He was happy to note that, as he was a European. He handed over a new keyboard to me; I changed the Regional Settings in the Add Remove Programs and was happy using the same. After all, I could now type “ipconfig /all”, “y” and “z” was at the right places. But the pleasure was shorted lived. I could not find “@” and “#”. Poor me! After some analysis I realized that it was a “British Keyboard”. "Oh no!" That’s what I uttered in dismay and my colleague who was sited just behind me in the cube did not take too long to comprehend that what I required was a US keyboard and guided me on the whereabouts of the keyboard. I had to open up a rack that was untouched for some years, I believe, to find the US keyboard. I felt glad, a feeling I could only compare with a sentiment of attaining nirvana. (On second thoughts, nirvana is too much to say, but still). FYI, the keyboards we use are called “QWERTY” keyboards, for obvious reasons.

My experiences in Austria !!

It has been while after my trip to Austria and every time I meet any of my friends or relatives that I haven’t, after my visit, happens to ask me about my experiences. So I thought, why not make a diary entry of some sort describing the same. Here are a few, noticeable and funny incidences. Hope you too enjoy them reading.

You find Indians everywhere, almost

Yes, you might have heard many people saying this. I can cite three instances, where I felt the same way during my trip.

Here's the first one: This was on the first day. We had reached our hotel late in the afternoon and in the evening came down to the reception to check out if there were any restaurants nearby where we could have our dinner. Tamara, the receptionist, who had identified that we were Indians (when we registered our names in the hotel guests list) gave the name of two Indian restaurants where we could satisfy our tummies. One of them was “Hotel Taj”, the other being “Bombay Palace”. My manager didn’t commit the mistake of consulting me about the choice of eatery. Invariably we had to go to Bombay Palace, as the name would suggest. Reached Bombay palace and we were greeted with smiles and unbound Hindi words like “Namaskar!!, aaiye, kya khayenge??” . It was Avataar Singh, the owner of the restaurant who made us feel so important, it was a total esteem boost. We were more than happy to visit the café and enjoy Indian curries with delectable Austrian sweet dishes, especially the Apple Strudel. But, this so called “indianness” was not enough. While we were dinning, a group of 10 people came and sat on the table in our vicinity. We could make out they were Indians. My manager guessed that they were looking like Maharashtrians. Listening and then talking to them, we confirmed they were from Mumbai and everyone spoke Marathi. That was like an icing on the strudel. I exchanged notes with them and felt good. First day wasn’t bad after all.

The second one. It was on the weekend when we had been to Salzburg for the sightseeing. Salzburg is a very beautiful place near Switzerland. After the whole day of tourism we were dropped by our tourist vehicle to a bus station from where we had to take a bus to the railway station to catch the Eurail train back to Linz. We were carefully analyzing the chart at the bus stop to find out as to which bus would take us to the station. We knew hbf meant railway station in Deutsche. I could make out that bus no. 3 could go to our destination. My senior argued that it may also go to any other station on which I counter argued stating Salzburg was such a small town and having one railway station itself was too much to have. Our argument had started to heat up when one guy came from behind and politely said “Aap sahi keh rahe ho!! 3 number ki bus hi railway station jaayegi..” We realized that someone had just spoken to us in Hindi in a small town of Austria. Seconds later he disappeared as his bus had arrived at the bus stop. We looked at each other in some kind of shock but then happily waited for the bus number “drei”, “three” in German and reached the coveted destination. After this we had another argument which was based on the person’s nationality. Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi?? Don’t know?? Didn’t matter.

And the third one: This incident took place the day before we were supposed to leave for India. As per our schedule we had to catch a flight to Frankfurt from Linz, 6 o’clock in the morning. Since the hotel booking was on my name, I thought why not complete the check out formalities of the hotel, the night before we were supposed to leave. I was a bit skeptical about this; so thought of consulting Tamara (who was our fast friend by then) if this was possible. While going for dinner we stopped at the desk to meet a person other than Tamara. Didn’t matter, anyhow we had to ask him. I spoke to that guy and told him the case. He said “Koi nahi, sirjee, hum karlenge…aap khana shana kha lo!!” I replied “What??” He repeated the same thing. I could not comprehend what he was trying to say. I started looking at my companion, Sreeharsha. He too looked perplexed, then suddenly realized and said “Abey voh hindi mein baat kar raha hain..” I was highly surprised. I had understood that you can’t even understand a language you are used to talking everyday when you don’t expect anyone speaking the same. The guy never looked like an Indian, his style of speaking, his dressing sense and all never hinted that he was one of us. Anyhow, I was happy that he had agreed and it was possible for me to accomplish the check out stuff the same night. The next morning he was not at the reception and it was Tamara who bid us good bye. Funny and interesting incident isn’t it??

Watch out this space for some more experiences.....

Idli – 8th wonder of the world!!

I have been and am one of the greatest fans of idli like many of you and if you don’t agree that idli isn’t the eighth wonder of the world than I think you need to check your cognitive abilities. In fact, I would go ahead and assert that after James Watt invented the steam engine, the second best invention from steam has been idli only.

Morning 2 idlis with some sambar, podi and chatni makes your day. You can’t think of a better breakfast, once you’re addicted to this savory cake, as people christen it.

Even though I am such a promoter of Idli, you can’t ask me how to prepare that. I am best at eating only.

But if you are really interested in knowing the recipe here’s the URL that can get you to the coveted destination. How to prepare Idli: http://www.surfindia.com/recipes/idli.html

The good things about idli are:
1. Easy to cook.
2. You can prepare it quickly, if the batter is ready.
3. Eat it any time during the day!
4. No fat, calories or anything that’s unhealthy.

And if you are a firm believer of “Pet shant to dimaag shant” and “Pehle pet puja, phir kaam duja” then nothing better than idli to have.

So keep eating idli and keep rocking!

A life less ordinary!!!

It was very early in the morning (0800 hrs is early for me at least); Bangalore’s cool breeze was refreshing and inspiring me to sleep more. But unfortunately it was Friday and I had to leave for office. So, I got up and after performing the obligatory tasks for the day, I switched on TV and started zipping through the newspaper. The Mumbai attacks were still going on and NSG task force was doing its best to kill the terrorists and free the people from clutches of the militants. As I was in a hurry to get to office, I resorted to reading the newspaper more than the TV. At least you get the details quickly without waiting for the TV advertisements!

As I was browsing through the pages, one of the articles grabbed my attention more than the others. On carefully observing, I could make out that the photo that was attached with the article was of one of my friends’ snap who had joined with me as a Campus joinee in Wipro technologies. Malay Banerjee, was an architect passed out of Kharagpur and was native of Ranchi. Even before completing the Wipro training, he had decided to join a bank in Mumbai. Everything had gone well with him. Recently he was engaged too. So seeing his picture in the newspaper, I contemplated that this must have been one of the achievements in his life that TOI has appreciated. With lots of zeal, I read the headlines of the article. I was jolted when I realized the article meant Malay was killed in the terror attacks in Café Leopold, Mumbai. This news came in as a shock to me. Never had I expected anything like this would happen to one of my friends. Immediately, I called Bhakti our common friend and informed her about the incidence. She too was shattered.

It was the first terror attack that had affected me, even though indirectly!! Think of the agony his family would have gone through. Indeed, it was a life less ordinary for Malay.

END OF AN ERA!!

Yes, it’s really an end of an era. Anil Kumble, fondly known as “JUMBO” played his last test match at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi today. Fans will remember the 10 wicket haul, when Jumbo single handedly bowled the Pakistan team out. Pakistan team was Kumbled, I mean humbled!! The memories of that match are still fresh. It feels that it was not too long ago when Wasim Akram nicked the ball to the short leg, where VVS Laxman was eagerly waiting and bucketed the catch to gave Kumble his 10th wicket. It was the same ground, where he bowled his last ball of the illustrous cricketing career that stretched for almost two decades.

It was an emotional moment when he walked round the stadium lifting his team India cap and people giving him a standing ovation. Sitting at home and watching on TV was as touchy. Reactions came in from many former players, legends of the game, like Kapil Dev, Bishen Singh Bedi on what they felt about Anil's talent and his service to the game. Statistics easily would be enough to substantiate comments like “one of the world’s best spinner”, “Best Indian bowler”, dedicated, fighter to the core and many more adjectives that describe him. I think you would remember the test match in Carabean, when Anil was operated on his jaws, but he came back, bowled and took Brian Lara’s wicket. Such was his commitment to the game and duty towards the team and the nation.

He gives all the credit of his success to the people, family, his elder brother who had suggested him to switch to leg spin from fast bowling and presposterously says, "I am still trying to figure out how to bowl a leg spin!" Irrespective of the bowling style, Anil has gained a lot of respect over the 18 years, he played the game.

Never can one memorize him misbehaving on the cricket field. We all are cognizant of the kind of maturity he showed during the Sydney Test when India had toured Oz in 2007. “There were two teams who played the game, but only one team played in the spirit of the game”, a man of few words had to say about the sledging incident.

But…Anil Kumble won’t be seen again on the cricket field. One can hope he continues to be around the cricket field in the form of coach or commentator or match referee or even as an eager audience. It was fitting that such a great player and student of the game ended his career as a captain of a team consisting of likes of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Ganguly and Dravid.

Frankly speaking, it is because of the players like Anil Kumble, one can say, “It’s not cricket who make cricketers, but cricketers who make cricket”. No doubt, Anil was one of the few gentlemen to have played the gentleman’s game in a gentleman's way!!.

An evening with Madhubala – The Tribute!!

Cool and cloudy Sunday evening and what better than to listen to some good old songs that Madhubala enacted on the silver screen. If you are a fan of Madhubala, even while you read the first line you are already feeling that you need to figure out or collect all the information on how, where, when to attend such a concert that would promise only and only acoustic delight in the form of old melodies. I was blessed with such a golden opportunity. Thought of sharing my experiences with everyone and the best way of achieving it, I feel, is to pen down these. So here I am.

The concert…
Brief history
It was named “Madhurbala”, after, of course, some “madhur” melodies of Madhubala. Concert began with a brief history of how the actress entered the world of cinema and glamour with Bombay Talkies and how she managed to fascinate people from the tender age of 14. Mr. Ashok Hande, the person who managed the show, talked about the plethora of movies that were successful at the box office that included the likes of Mahal, Naya Daur, Mr and Mrs 55, Chalti ka Naam Gadi and last but not the least, Mughal-E-Azam, practically her last movie. I could hear people, sitting behind and in front of me, taking names of the movies that I haven’t heard of and they were upset that narrator didn’t mention those names. But I guess it was hard to please the populace as almost everyone was a hard core fan of Madhubala like my parents seemed to be. For me, I was content with Chalti ka Naam Gadi and Mughal-E-Azam as I had watched these movies; Mughal-E-Azam being the personal favorite, after all, a milestone movie in the Indian Cinema. Frankly speaking, at first, I was a bit skeptical on attending the concert and noticing people of age greater than 45 years around you isn’t quite encouraging, but I knew if the show is on Madhubala, the script of the show would certainly contain “Pyar kiya to darna kya….” I could have been more than happy to only hear that song being performed even at the stake of not knowing the other songs and the risk of getting bored as the program progressed. Also, my parents wanted to give me a taste of old wine and I didn’t want to be stubborn by saying NO. (Between, Old wine was just a phrase; such beverages don’t go well with me and my familyJ).

The songs, the singers and the co-stars
After the brief history on Madhubala, the choir started with the songs they had planned for the evening. The musical journey began with “Ayega, Ayega, Ayega, Ayega aane wala, ayega” a song from the film Mahal (1949), picturized on Ashok Kumar and sung by our very own, Nightingale of India, yes, Lata Mangeshkar. It’s amazing to note the period for which didi has been singing. Coincidently, I was watching this concert sitting in “Dinanath Mangeshkar Hall”, named after her father. The second in line was “Achcha ji mein hari chalo maan jaao na…” from the film Kala Pani (1958) that featured evergreen hero of Indian Cinema, Mr. Dev Anand. Again, the singers, who enchanted Indians for decades had sung this song, Asha Bhosale and Mohammad Rafi. It was good that along with the singers singing, the video of songs were also being projected. This song was particularly liked by the audience and the singers were kind enough to answer the “Once More” requests of the audience. I was thrilled by now and I felt that I had made the right decision to be present at the show. Then there were some songs from the films like Naya Duar, Daulat, Mr and Mrs 55, Apradhi, Pujari , Naqab, Raj Hath, Jwala, Sang dil and Madhubala (yes, it’s the name of the film.) All these were from an unknown world to me, but still I enjoyed a few of them instead of feeling alienated. Basically the songs were from movies that would cover almost all the co-starts of Madhubala like Shammi Kapoor, Kishore Kumar, Bharat Bhushan, Sunil Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Pradeep Kumar and of course Dilip Kumar, arguably the best actor of that time.
“Aaiye meherbaan…” a song from Howrah Bridge (1958) and “paanch rupaiya bara aana” from Chalti ka naam gaadi (1958) charged me up after the lull in between. As the club dancer in Howrah Bridge, Madhubala never looked more beautiful or alluring as she swayed to the seductive notes of Aaiye Meherbaan. Kishore Kumar with all his annoying acting brilliance was a perfect match to the resplendent Madhubala, I feel. As audience, we all knew the show won’t end unless songs from Mughal-E-Azam were not sung. It was just a matter of time as we all were set and ready for it. Patience paid when the choir started singing the famous kavvalli “tere mehfil mein kismet aazma kar hum bhi dekhenge”. The dialogues from the film after the kavvali were shown on the screen and the renowned conversation between Madhubala and Dilip Kumar stating “kanton ko murjhana ka ghum nahi hota jahan panha” was spoken almost by everyone including me along with Anarkali (Madhubala) on the screen. The song of Bade Ghulam Ali from the same movie that used for depicting the love between Salim and Anarkali was also portrayed. Mr. Ashok, the narrator happened to tell us that Dilip Kumar and Madhubala were not on talking terms when this movie was being shot. Having said that, the performances from both the actors in the movie was phenomenal. You would agree with me if you have had the chance of watching the film. It was time for “Pyaar kiya toh darna kya…” the most awaited one of lot. The song started with “Insaan is duniya mein…” and everyone started applauding, hence manifesting their extreme interest. It was a reason for revelry for some. Apparently, people had some or the other memories associated with the song. The audience started enjoying every thing about the song, right from Tabla, flute, sitar, every harkat the singer took well. The milieu should only be experienced as it cannot be explained. It was a moment of pride for the singer to have sung this song, quite clearly visible on her face. Shivers went through my spine when the acoustic effect was used for portraying the mirror scene from the movie where all the mirrors on the roof of Akbar’s palace could only show Anarkali dancing. The song ended with a standing ovation and hence was the end to the fantastic evening.

After thoughts
Obviously, I enjoyed the evening. But, when I reflect, Madhubala was born in 1933 and my parents some 15-16 years after her birth. And she died in 1969, 40 years ago. Even after four decades, people wanted to reminisce about her? You need to be really good for that, I believe.
Also, one more interesting thing was: A family who sat near us, in the auditorium, had members representing four generations. The songs, each one of them enjoyed, were different. But the point is the knowledge and the interest still persists.
Just a passing thought, when I grow up sixty, would I be able to eye-witness a show like this with my grand children, in the honor of “Madhubala” of our generation?? Make no mistakes, she would be Madhuri Dixit. It doesn’t matter if you disagree. J