4th December 2018
I had been studying
hard for an exam from my Faculty, the subject being Maintenance Management. It
talks about keeping stuffs in good condition, so we don’t lose them over time
due to wear and tear. I put a lot of effort into this, I want to get myself
back into the state, when I used to be strong in Mathematics fundamentals. It
is a great thing to be a problem solver – both in life and in Maths 😉
I slept that night on the floor, to avoid taking
benefit of the Bed’s comfort and luxury and ending up sleeping late and miss
the early hours of the morning. Back home, my father always encouraged me to
wake up early morning and do my stuffs. The positive vibes is different, we are
more fresh and absorb things faster in comparison towards the end of a tiring,
fatigued day.
As I got home post exam, I was satisfied, not because
I did the exam well (I don’t have the result yet, I don’t want to be
over-confident 😉), but simply because I prepared for this well. Three
days, I put myself into a state of fear and pressure, to make sure I waste less
time in doing unwanted stuff.
Soon after arriving at home, I saw a message from my nice friend Pawel,
who’s Photography skills are incredible (Do have a look at his work here, I totally recommend him if you are looking for a nice Photographer: https://www.icuimages.net). The conversation lasted hardly one or
two lines and we agreed to meet the next day at his place at 12:00.
I cooked Pasta Aglio Olio e Peperoncino for dinner,
with the traditional Parmesan cheese, Barilla’s Sphagetti and spicy pepper. The
satisfaction of having a delicious meal can make the person very positive and
feel nice about it. I was tired post the exam preparation, yet the good food
made me feel nice. I like cooking and hosting people to eat together 😊
Joining me sometime? 😊
6th December
2018
I woke up at 11:15, realising I had only less time to
make it to Pawel’s. I made a cup of nice Indian Tea (we call it Chaai), made a
video call with my Parents and soon set off to leave.
As I walked out, I saw the tram 14 cross by to reach the
Tram stop at Plac. Narutowicza. No time to think, I made a nice 150m sprint, to
successfully catch this tram. I’m not sure how many of you feel happy about
getting the transport which you planned to take; even when you’re late and make
it possible by running and catching it. There’s a joy. On the other hand, the
bright sunny sky over my head, a Rock playlist on my ears.
I have this feeling,
when I have a nice overnight sleep and some rock music to listen, it makes me
feel happy and confident. Do you share the same thought?
As I scrolled through Facebook, it showed me the memory
from 2016, the time when the Storm Vardah hit Chennai and the surrounding
region, making havoc with shattering winds of 120 Km/hr. Although time has
passed by, the sight of the storm remains in my eyes.
The year previous, same day, I was in Chennai, the
massive 2015 floods. We did a lot of relief work, I feel happy about being useful
for the society. Life changed post December 2015.
As I get down from the tram stop, I soon made a quick Jog
to reach Pawel’s apartment. His location in Mokotow is my favourite place in
Warsaw, if I would be lucky to continue living here post my studies. This was
the locality where I stayed for a week in a lovely hostel, before setting off
to Alcatraz, my home now.
Pawel captured a few nice portraits of me. He showed
me the works of his inspiration, the brilliant guy Platon. The latter has had the
unique chance of photographing the great politicians Obama, Putin and many
other famous people. As I look at the pictures, I could imagine a narration, a
story. That’s Photography. I’ve been a hobby photographer before, I can imagine
it. Pawel, I’m sure you are one such narrator!
I was flabbergasted looking at the portraits of myself
which Pawel captured, that I had to pinch myself to realise, that it was me (we
use this phrase often back home in India).
Pawel made me a cup of nice hot Italian coffee, the
traditional way with the Italian coffee maker and soon we sat to have a really
nice conversation.
We spoke about Dyslexia, the symptom where one has
problems in reading/ writing… Having had the chance to meet and talk to many
people, I believe we need a change in the way education works. Each one of us
are brilliant at something, maybe we need the support to focus on it better, to see
ourselves excel at it. Don’t you think so?
 |
| Pawel& I :) |
Pawel grew up in Poland and lived in London for a couple
of years. His narration of having seen the Communist life in Poland as he grew
up, in comparison with today’s – earlier, where one would be satisfied with a bottle of
Milk (you buy what you get, there is no choice of brand or cost), sold in glass
bottles (to be exchanged every time, but never dumped as waste unless broken)–
Hey! Today, do we really need to buy so much plastic? We’re destroying the environment
ourselves; don’t blame someone else for it. We pay for all this garbage which
we dump& also blame the society, right?
I agree with this. When I was a kid, the provision
store used to sell rice/ lentils in used newspaper, wrapped like a cone. We enjoyed
shopping this way – what we need at that moment, right at that time; instead of
today’s need to hit the supermarkets – face the pressure of having to choose
between prices and brands, make an advanced forecast and spend hours of waiting
and choosing – only to not see shopping for the next few days! No human face to
face contact like before, but just pick what you want and head home straight.
Being here for over a year now, away from home and
being able to communicate all the needed phrases and conversations in Polish, I
feel the change when I speak Polish with the people around. Who doesn’t like to
hear a foreigner, or an outsider speak their language?
Living in another city, which doesn’t speak your
language? Learn the language, get to learn the culture. It breaks the barrier,
both for you and for the local.
A nice recent experience which I’d like to
mention here:
Yesterday, as I got to the tram stop to head home, I
saw an old woman struggling to walk all the way to the tram stop. I couldn’t
simply stand watching her, hence I asked her “możesz usiąść”? (I know only my own way of remembering Polish, I’ve
never been to a language class, my friends help me learn it), I think grammatically
it wasn’t right, she looked at my face and corrected the sentence grammatically,
with a smile. But hey, this small gesture made me feel nice, like being at
home 😊.
Thank you, Old lady. I don’t know if I will see you again.
The conversation soon moved towards cities and Public
transportation. Pawel narrated to me about his friend Ravi Singh, the huge
heart, who runs a charity/service organisation based in London and about how life
looked. Public transportation is a nice topic to talk about, one gets to know
different places and easily understand a city’s topography. He in fact, opened
London’s subway map on the laptop and showed me the transport network. I can relate
it to Chennai or Mumbai. Public transportation in Warsaw is to us like a walk
in the park. It is not crowded.
I narrated about how I miss the early hours in Chennai
– going to a Tea shop, radio playing on one side, ladies after taking a shower,
getting to the entrance of their house to spray water on the ground and put
Kolam (Rangoli in Hindi), on a far range , one could even hear M.S Subbulakshmi’s
voice narrating the Suprabatham. We used to describe these as “Morning blues”. When
one wakes up in the morning, one gets to witness the life around, it is special,
it is positive.
After living in such a crowded city, both of us were
of the same opinion, that life here in Warsaw was quiet and we felt always
happy coming across foreigners. That’s true.
I like meeting new, different people all the time. I
look at it as learning. Each one of us have something to teach, learn and
share. Who’s your Idol of inspiration? Who’s your Guru, the well-wisher?
Children carrying huge loads of books to school, being
under the pressure of having to make loads of assignments these days. No
playing in the sand, no playing football with friends…. Hard life ahead! No
support to what we call “Our Passion”?
Both of us (Pawel and I) know each other through Smile Warsaw, the event that takes place
every Sunday at 3:30 PM in the Centre of Warsaw. We feed the homeless, collect
old clothes from people and give the homeless, serve a cup of hot beverage (lemon
tea or water or maybe even juice sometimes). What Pawel and I spoke, was about
the feeling of satisfaction we get, after this one hour of service. When we can
make someone smile with a positive gesture – it means the world to them and to
us, a sense of great satisfaction. Don’t you agree too? 😊
Problem solving is a big thing today. Everyone of us
face a challenge, maybe even you as you read this! Do you solve it, or do you
find a way to procrastinate it?
I prefer to be a problem solver.
Every one of us run a race! We’ve got to fall and be
ready to wake up and keep running.
Thank you, Dad, Mom, my dear Granny for
putting this phrase into my ears always.
Our conversation ended with this feeling of having
found someone to have a nice conversation with, someone who is like-minded with
similar thoughts. Our age isn’t a question here. One last question to Pawel
which I suddenly asked, if I could ask him when his birthday was.
Of course! 25th December. I’m Jesus, he
said with a laughter.
Or maybe did I see a reflection of myself over the
last 210 Minutes? 😊 Time is already past! 😊
I thanked him for the 210 minutes, the time I will
never forget. It put me into an interesting thought process as we waved to each
other with a nice selfie 😊
15:35, as I took the tram towards home, the sun started
to set and the sky soon got darker.
“Mayakkam Enna?
(in Tamil) – What is this illusion?” 😊
