Sunday, April 06, 2008

The Point of Departure

I hardly have a month left with me to collate all my sweet memories in the amazing Deutschland..
Last Tuesday evening, I visited the library to get my membership terminated.

I sat there till they kept it open..I remember a very sweet voice wishing me in the end:
Ok Madam, we r closing now, Bye!
Hope you liked Germany, Good Luck!!


How can I not like Germany..

A place which has helped me transform from an extremely impatient & impulsive character to an organized and a responsible human being..
I m sure nature has some pleasing surprises to offer me for the moments ahead, but still can’t help feeling nostalgic…

One movie song says:

Dil hai to phir Dard hoga,
Dard hai to Dil bhi hoga,
Mausam guzarte rehte hain..!



Last week, one of our German colleagues threw a post-wedding party. He very affectionately told me that his wife would have loved throwing the flowers at me..) Amazed by his words..i asked why..??


My colleagues explained me the tradition that after the wedding, the bride throws her bouquet over her shoulder towards the young unmarried female guests and whoever catches it becomes the next bride..!

Such a sweet gesture..

In Hindu culture also we have a similar tradition exhibiting generosity.


The bride is supposed to be an embodiment of Maa Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth.
While she is about to depart with her husband from her parents’ home , she throws a bundle of auspicious collections over her shoulder towards her home and prays for her family!



Coming back, i'll always remember my good times in the office lab.
The lab entrance had a poster displaying a hand with a finger half cut..
.
Oh God, I used to feel so scared and wondered how Papa’s delicate Puju will be able to move and operate these heavy equipments..

.
.I often used to play some vocab games in-between while running those long duration tests..)
.
Almost every hour I used to rush to the pantry to drink a glass of water, thinking that will help in curing my pimples and hair fall in this cold region..

How the courteous German guys always used to wait to open the door and let the ladies go first, whenever they saw any lady nearby..

Our dear lunch group used to assemble at 12 …I used to feel hungry in almost every 2-3 hours..Poor me and the greedy vending machine accepting only cents..

I often used to see myself asking people for change…”Excuse me, do you have a change for 5 Euros..”
At times, I was asking for a change for 20 euros..)


This lovely “kurfurstenstrasse-30’ where I used to stay, at the 11th floor of a very posh building having a 4 star Japanese “Hotel Asahi” at the ground floor..
No wonder, I had lot of Asians and Germans as my neighbors..
.
And yah special thanks to Pizza Hut..for quenching my pre-dinner hunger almost every weekday…
I m so sorry Mumma..i know I shd have cooked more…
Will surely do a lot of justice in times to come by cooking a lot of Indian delicacies ..this one year has really helped me improve my culinary skills..!
I’ll always relish my journeys in Europe’s high speed trains running above 300 kph..Almost every technology here is stupefying..
.
.

.Hey, my German Boot heels..i loved wearing them n seeing myself taller..The problem was they used to make a lot of noise inside the otherwise silent lab..n most of the times I had to rush in the morning to catch my train..
.
.

Guess the reminiscences r so many..i can shed my tears of joy for the whole day thinking about them..
.
My post will be so incomplete if i fail to heartily thank my dear frds who made these moments so memorable.. !
Thank you so much ..
Nitya, Geeta, Shronik, Nadir, Ashish Jain, Priti, Shanthi, Ashish, Sandeep, Subrat, Madhav
Akash, Prashant, Shri Prakash - Rakhee n dear baby Rakshit, Shweta - Shantanu ,
Saurabh, Shallu, Mandeep, Hemant, Gaurav, Pallavi, Amit - Bindiya n lovely Priyal..,
Lakshmi, Kavitha, Bindu, Betty, Manoj, Rajilakshmi, Karthik, Ravi, Mr. Peter
and all my dear Aricent, Wipro and Infosys friends here.. !
.

...
Quoting my learnings in Duss in my own words:

..
Let me appreciate every little beauty surrounding me,
For i may be hooked to something, not forever meant for me!

Hard Work pays at all stages of life,
Helps us sail through all virtual fears of life!


28 comments:

Mukul said...

hmm..nice post once again..damn you should be journalist !!..so finally returning home..cool have fun.

Rita Loca said...

Where are you now headed?

Amita Gajewar said...

Ahh... someone is so much in love with Germany! I wish even I get to visit it sometime! :)

Yeah, I can imagine how nostalgic it must be feeling to be away from such beautiful place and the memories associated with it...But, its part of life and I wish you all the good luck to explore the new wonderful places in the coming years!! :))

And yeah, good wordings for the learnings :)

Finally, very nicely and sweetly written blog...... keep writing!!

Happiness Always.......

Jas said...

Couldnt get you, you mean you're leaving Germany? where are you heading to now?

Anonymous said...

when r u coming back? afsos, I won't get the chocolates :(
BTW, is this a regular return or a side effect of NSN dusseldorf facilities being sold off to TCS?

Pilot-Pooja said...

Hi dear Jas & Jungle Mom..

Yah its time now for me to leave Germany ..
I had been sent here by my IT compnay in India to avail an onsite opportunity..
All golden things must come to an end & give rise to even brighter moments..
Very soon, i'll be moving back to Gurgaon, Haryana, India...The place where i belong to..)

Pilot-Pooja said...

Hey Shantz..
I will be back in the mid of May...

Not very optimistic abt carrying many chocolates bcz of the weight limitations n i will be covering another European city in between for a few days...

So chocos will be all consumed on the way i guess...

You r quite updated my frd...TCS ka network har jagah phela hua hai..(((

Unknown said...

A very sweet and sentimental and nostalgic one,Pooja..great writing!!Do you have an orkut profile too?

Mukul said...

"TCS ka network har jagah phela hua hai..((("....hey atleast I am happy about it, I might get sent there some day :)

Anjali Damerla said...

Have a safe journey back.
Keep posting.

Pilot-Pooja said...

Thanks Sara...

Yah i m there in Nadir's fan list..)
Will catch you sometime..!

Mukul! You r lucky man!

Latest Outsourcing to TCS is giving threat to many existing jobs here..!

Thanks Anjali, thank you so much!!

Soulmate said...

Welcome back to Gurgaon, Haryana, India.. Guess its always good to be back home.. Never knew that you belong to Gurgaon.

Pilot-Pooja said...

Thank you so much soulmate dear..
Same pinch..guess you are in Gurgaon too!!

The world is so small..Hope we meet one day, Amen!!

Anonymous said...

Very nicely written blog with lots of emotion in it...best of luck

Pilot-Pooja said...

Many thanks dear anonymous frd..

Would have felt happier if i had a chance to know ur identity!

Unknown said...

Hey, how do you manage such a large audience ;) Whats the business secret?

mujhe bhi batao!

Prashant said...

Dear Pooja, The anonymous comment is from me...I am a regular vistor to your blog and have read most of the recent entries..All of them are very nicely written and gives happiness while reading..Keep it up..
PD

Jas said...

So the thinking gal is coming back home wiser, enriched, unhorizoned, sentier and more generous (not that you were any less earlier!)

So its a milestone completed and an album finished, closed and put in a bag. Am sure this Europe stint would have brought a lot of change in you and your thought process, and this same thing has been echoing in your posts.

Wishing you a great next paragraph in life :)

Pilot-Pooja said...

So many thanks for ur beautiful wishes JAs..

You r very true..I have beautifully added a milestone in my bag..Wish God grants the same to all of us..!!

3 cheers for Europe!!

Anonymous said...

oh Pooja, just read your blog on your memories of your stay in Germany!

It seems to me as if you have completely changed now and how much deeply you feel about your stay there..!

Wish just the best for you!!

Pilot-Pooja said...

Thank you so much my dearest sister!!

The very fact that my family members were so near to me in London, many times brought a lot of happiness on my face!!

Ankit Chaturvedi said...

nice to see your comment on my blog ur blog is pretty interesting I have invited you on gtalk rite2ankit@gmail.com check my blog http://ankitchaturvedi.blogspot.com

Prashant said...

Hi pooja, I am in Mumbai. I have joined a financial service firm called DawnayDay AV. Came here on 10th of April...Trying to get adjusted to this ultrafast City...
What about you? when are you coming back...waiting for your next post..
PD

Pilot-Pooja said...

Hey thats really good to hear PD..

Mumbai is one of my favorite tourist destinations too..for it is just so beautiful..

But yah,undoubtedly life is so fast there, especially for the ones who had the bliss of being in the silent & charming city, Chd for a good no. of years..)

I will be back to Ggn by mid of May..A little busy with winding up office work..((

Will try to post this weekend..

Please post smtime..lot many inquisitve minds wait for ur post!

Tscheüs!!

Unknown said...

So where are you heading this weekend?

Pilot-Pooja said...

This time nowhere special Sandy....Just 2 weekends left here..Got to start my packing..

Really want to visit your new posts with a lot of patience..Lets see how my weekend goes.
Really worried with packing and pending activities..

Tscheüs!!!

Anonymous said...

Just got in to your blog from your orkut profile. I just started loving Deutschland and I came here very recently from Bangalore. I am taking your blog and some of the loving snaps from your orkut profile as ref and planning to go those places :-)
I can understand your emotions towards the country. I wish you will back here again and have great success all of your life.

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