(1)
"Mom, Please come here. I need to call XXXXX.. You know they will start blaming me for either not talking to them till now or for why calling suddenly !!!"..
It was some day in July and I was packing my bags to travel to Stockholm and was making calls to all the relatives as Goodbye.. You know How it is in India when you are going abroad for the first time!!
I being not so Social animal (Not Social at all) always get blamed from the relatives of being Shy (when I was kid)... Silent (When I was in college), and now Rude (As I got some good job and earning well), but the point is that I was making calls to relatives as a Goodbye. So I called them and here is the conversation.
" Hi.. How are you ? This is Shruti.. "
(Wait for the explosive questions....)
Other End -- " Hi.. I am fine. How are you and all there ? what's going on ? So glad to hear that you are going to Stockholm. Going alone ? Ohh... good that you took the opportunity. I thought I should call you but you called great !!!" Other end was overwhelming on happiness more than me..
I was still in shock after getting such positive response from someone who always criticized me for not calling to them !!!!
And I thought this is what you get if you are going abroad, the response from people changes so rapidly. You certainly become somebody from nobody :)
(2)
Date : 27th July, 2018
Time : Between 10-11 AM
Place : Gamla Stan, Stockholm
If you are little familiar with Europe whether, This is the best time to visit Europe and Gamla Stan is the top tourist attraction point of Stockholm. It is the Old town of the City. I was at the best place at the Best Time.... Looking for nearest Bank branch !!!! Almost tired of Google maps navigation which was making me walk walk and walk in that 1 km perimeter since last 30 mins. I saw people enjoying the whether, drinking, dancing, cycling and I was asking them Do you know where this Bank is ?? I understood the difference between living at a place and visiting it for the first time. But I was successful in my mission and found my destination after almost 45 mins though it did not serve my actual purpose.
(3)
Date : 16th November, 2018
Time : around 4 PM
Place : Bus stop near my house in Stockholm
I was eagerly waiting for my bus to the Airport, it should have come by this time. This is Sweden, Trains/Buses/Flights can never be late. I was super duper excited to go back to India for my Sister's wedding. I almost lost the hope that my leaves will be approved but the miracle happened at the last moment and I was dreaming about going back and meet my family. Actually I wanted to go there and share my struggle stories :P. At last the Bus to Airport came at 4:05 PM which should reach to the Airport by 5:15 pm and I can catch my flight of 7:45 PM to Delhi. The moment I sat in the Bus, I felt the sense of greatest achievement.. Shruti yes you did it!!! Finally after all the odds, You are going to India. Yippe Yippe Yippe type dancing was going in my heart :)
Time : around 5:10 PM
The bus was in some traffic jam. 2-3 passengers went ahead, they discussed something in Swedish with the Driver and got off the bus with their luggage. I was a bit scared and checked the distance to reach to the airport and I really thought Google maps is not at all correct as it was still showing 45 mins. At 5-30 PM, I finally asked someone that why it is taking so much time and got to know that there was some accident happened on the road and so whole traffic was blocked. And they were not sure how much more time this is going to take !!! I was in state of shock.. because we think everything is perfect in Abroad but it is actually not. Checked the options of taxi but there was only one way to the airport so taxi, bus, cab would take same time :( My mind was blank, I closed my eyes and thought of all the dreams again in my mind which might not become reality now. That moment I cannot describe. I was going for the first time from Sweden and normally I should reach to the Airport before 2 hours for International flights which was not possible now. I googled airport contact number and asked to get me to Air India helpdesk. I got a call center number of London Air India and tried to connect on it. For next 15 mins, I was in queue on the call. That was the time when I actually did following things :
Finally I got to a call center operator at 5:55 PM and I asked him what is the time Check in counter will be closed ? So it is generally closing before 1 hour of Flight departure. I felt so relieved at that moment as I still had 45 mins for Check in. The next thing I did was closed my eyes and played Devotional song on my mobile. In next 15 min, Finally I reached to airport, took my bag and actually ran to the check in counters. So I was not late but was the last person running to the immigration, boarding and entering into the flight. Sitting in the flight, I was in a state that is it a dream or I actually made it with tears in my eyes. Finally I checked my whatsapp where I messaged to my family that I am going to miss my flight and will update as soon as I reach to the airport, sent them the next message --- "God is Great... I made it :)"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here my point is that I myself got to know that Life is not at all a fairy tale here as it looks from India. We think that going abroad and living there is a Dream coming true but the actual experience is totally different. It is mixture of Good things and Bad experiences specially when you are fighting alone.
The snowfall at -13 degrees looks pleasant and dreamy from your hotel/home window but it kills when you realize that you need to go out to get groceries for Next week... :) So you wear 4-5 layers of cloths and it takes 20 min to go to the store at 400 meter distance (which is actually 6 min away as per Google Maps) because you need to walk like penguins on the Icy, slippery roads. You take a cartoon of milk and other 20 mins to open google translate, go to every corner of the store and translate the Product names from Swedish to English to get a small packet of Butter. You are looking for Baking soda and end up taking a full pack of Baking Powder because Google translates it as Soda (This actually happened)!!!
These are small incidents which gives me some Life long learning Gems but I would never say it is BAD to be here :) And I am ready to experience this more....
"Mom, Please come here. I need to call XXXXX.. You know they will start blaming me for either not talking to them till now or for why calling suddenly !!!"..
It was some day in July and I was packing my bags to travel to Stockholm and was making calls to all the relatives as Goodbye.. You know How it is in India when you are going abroad for the first time!!
I being not so Social animal (Not Social at all) always get blamed from the relatives of being Shy (when I was kid)... Silent (When I was in college), and now Rude (As I got some good job and earning well), but the point is that I was making calls to relatives as a Goodbye. So I called them and here is the conversation.
" Hi.. How are you ? This is Shruti.. "
(Wait for the explosive questions....)
Other End -- " Hi.. I am fine. How are you and all there ? what's going on ? So glad to hear that you are going to Stockholm. Going alone ? Ohh... good that you took the opportunity. I thought I should call you but you called great !!!" Other end was overwhelming on happiness more than me..
I was still in shock after getting such positive response from someone who always criticized me for not calling to them !!!!
And I thought this is what you get if you are going abroad, the response from people changes so rapidly. You certainly become somebody from nobody :)
(2)
Date : 27th July, 2018
Time : Between 10-11 AM
Place : Gamla Stan, Stockholm
If you are little familiar with Europe whether, This is the best time to visit Europe and Gamla Stan is the top tourist attraction point of Stockholm. It is the Old town of the City. I was at the best place at the Best Time.... Looking for nearest Bank branch !!!! Almost tired of Google maps navigation which was making me walk walk and walk in that 1 km perimeter since last 30 mins. I saw people enjoying the whether, drinking, dancing, cycling and I was asking them Do you know where this Bank is ?? I understood the difference between living at a place and visiting it for the first time. But I was successful in my mission and found my destination after almost 45 mins though it did not serve my actual purpose.
(3)
Date : 16th November, 2018
Time : around 4 PM
Place : Bus stop near my house in Stockholm
I was eagerly waiting for my bus to the Airport, it should have come by this time. This is Sweden, Trains/Buses/Flights can never be late. I was super duper excited to go back to India for my Sister's wedding. I almost lost the hope that my leaves will be approved but the miracle happened at the last moment and I was dreaming about going back and meet my family. Actually I wanted to go there and share my struggle stories :P. At last the Bus to Airport came at 4:05 PM which should reach to the Airport by 5:15 pm and I can catch my flight of 7:45 PM to Delhi. The moment I sat in the Bus, I felt the sense of greatest achievement.. Shruti yes you did it!!! Finally after all the odds, You are going to India. Yippe Yippe Yippe type dancing was going in my heart :)
Time : around 5:10 PM
The bus was in some traffic jam. 2-3 passengers went ahead, they discussed something in Swedish with the Driver and got off the bus with their luggage. I was a bit scared and checked the distance to reach to the airport and I really thought Google maps is not at all correct as it was still showing 45 mins. At 5-30 PM, I finally asked someone that why it is taking so much time and got to know that there was some accident happened on the road and so whole traffic was blocked. And they were not sure how much more time this is going to take !!! I was in state of shock.. because we think everything is perfect in Abroad but it is actually not. Checked the options of taxi but there was only one way to the airport so taxi, bus, cab would take same time :( My mind was blank, I closed my eyes and thought of all the dreams again in my mind which might not become reality now. That moment I cannot describe. I was going for the first time from Sweden and normally I should reach to the Airport before 2 hours for International flights which was not possible now. I googled airport contact number and asked to get me to Air India helpdesk. I got a call center number of London Air India and tried to connect on it. For next 15 mins, I was in queue on the call. That was the time when I actually did following things :
- Checked for Next available flight to India which was on Next evening,
- Made up my mind to spend the night at the airport,
- Convinced myself to believe that I am going to miss my next day trip to Jaipur which we planned for only one day :(
- Thought of anyone who was not happy with my leaves and secretly prayed to God which has landed me in this situation
Finally I got to a call center operator at 5:55 PM and I asked him what is the time Check in counter will be closed ? So it is generally closing before 1 hour of Flight departure. I felt so relieved at that moment as I still had 45 mins for Check in. The next thing I did was closed my eyes and played Devotional song on my mobile. In next 15 min, Finally I reached to airport, took my bag and actually ran to the check in counters. So I was not late but was the last person running to the immigration, boarding and entering into the flight. Sitting in the flight, I was in a state that is it a dream or I actually made it with tears in my eyes. Finally I checked my whatsapp where I messaged to my family that I am going to miss my flight and will update as soon as I reach to the airport, sent them the next message --- "God is Great... I made it :)"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here my point is that I myself got to know that Life is not at all a fairy tale here as it looks from India. We think that going abroad and living there is a Dream coming true but the actual experience is totally different. It is mixture of Good things and Bad experiences specially when you are fighting alone.
The snowfall at -13 degrees looks pleasant and dreamy from your hotel/home window but it kills when you realize that you need to go out to get groceries for Next week... :) So you wear 4-5 layers of cloths and it takes 20 min to go to the store at 400 meter distance (which is actually 6 min away as per Google Maps) because you need to walk like penguins on the Icy, slippery roads. You take a cartoon of milk and other 20 mins to open google translate, go to every corner of the store and translate the Product names from Swedish to English to get a small packet of Butter. You are looking for Baking soda and end up taking a full pack of Baking Powder because Google translates it as Soda (This actually happened)!!!
These are small incidents which gives me some Life long learning Gems but I would never say it is BAD to be here :) And I am ready to experience this more....
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