Appooppanthaadi -2

10.12.2010: Woke up too late in the morning. Today I had nothing to do. Another free day here in Germany. Slowly got up and finished the morning’s customary cleaning acts on the body and then proceeded to the hotel’s launge. There is a small restaurant adjacent to the launge that serves free breakfast to its guests. In Europe, it is a usual practice to serve breakfast as complimentary to the stay in the hotels. Most of the items are baked ones like bread.Then there are a lot of meat items. Boiled eggs, fruits, corn flakes with milk, cheese, coffee, fruit juices.. the list is long. Guests are allowed to eat whatever they like. I took a bread with cheese, a sweet and then a glass of apple juice. By then it was already 1030 in the morning. Interestings, I should say one thing. In German and Swiss restaurants and Hotel rooms, they do not serve water to drink. In restaurant, we have to order something to drink. Mostly they expect us to order beer per se! In the hotel rooms, we can drink the water available in the bathroom tap. Glasses are provided in the bathroom. Whenever we feel thirsty, we may rush to the bathroom...and the water available there is really clean. I never had any problem with the tap water yet

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Since morning the internet was on, and I could chat with so many of my friends from elsewhere in the globe. In most of the german Hotels, customers are provided with unlimited wi-fi internet service in the rooms round the clock. Though wi-fi is provided in other countries too like Switzerland or France, they do not provide it free of cost. The time was passing by. By 2 in the afternoon, I left for lunch. Today I tried with the nearby Chinese restaurant. Here I could find many Chiense and Thai restaurants. People from Tialand, China Philippenes and from other eastern countries can be seen in Germany. They are working in hotels and other business establishments. In the Chinese restaurant, they serve noodles and fried rice. Though these are all made with meat, the cook in the restaurant made vegetable noodle especially for me. As a pleasant surprise, the cook was an Indian- Raman Kumar from Punjab. He used the same pan that he used for cooking those chicken and lamb based noodles and fried rice to cook my food. I did not mind it since I had no other option. In fact, we can not be so strict in these matters when we are out of our homes. Again, our 'chalega' approach helped me a lot here!

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This is the third time I visited the Chinese restaurant. This time I told him to make the noodles a little spicy. I feel, Europeans do not like spice. They like all ‘emotionless’ dishes to eat. Even in our Indian restaurants - I could locate three Indian restaurants so far in Mannheim- they make Palak Paneer with such a dampened ‘emotions’ that we can never say it is an Indian tandoori dish. When the waiter in the Indian restaurants take order from us, they specifically ask if we needed it spicy. But spice is the only thing that will be missing in it. But still the problem of food in Europe is mitigated to a great extent . I am happy to say that in all the cities I visited so far, I could find Indian restaurants. But conpeciously or rather sadly, the "chayakkada" from the famous mallu is missing everywhere.

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Today’s noodles however made my stomach upset. Raman Kumar made the special spicy vegetable noodles with a lot of spice, chilly and salt. It really tasted good and I had it stomach full.It costed be only five euros. But the aftermath of it was not so good. Even at eight in the night, I felt no hunger. I had to skip my dinner. The only thing I took in the night was a full bottle of coca cola, that I bought from the nearby department store for sixty four cents. I wanted to drink something fizzy. Where is Pepsi then? I am yet to see Pepsi in Europe.

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The night of a Friday for the locals is like a festival. The revelry continues till late in the night. Guys and gals stand in group and smoke, chat and laugh very loudly. Vehicles make unusual sounds and run unusually fast. Shopping malls and market places are filled with customers. The celebration is in full throttle. I could hear the cheers of it from my room. Even at midnight, I can hear the sound from outside.

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The traffic signals are still working. Green, Amber and Red signals take their turn at the junctions. Pedestrian signal is also at work. Motorists obey the rules even at midnight…I am new to this. These people will never change. They are destined to live with rules and regulations till the end. Since a single person like me cannot change them, I too try to obey their rules on the roads strictly. I am trying to be a German when I am in Germany…