Appooppanthaadi -13

In the European Restaurants, they do not serve drinking water as we do in our country. However, as soon as we settle down at a table, the waiter lights up a candle in the middle of the table. Even in the Indian restaurants, guests are not received with a glass of water first. They too bring the lighter to light up the candle.


In every city I visited, I could locate at least one Indian restaurant. In Mannheim, Germany there were 3 Indian restaurants and in Paris, I lost count of them. Still, as I mentioned in one of my earlier post, a Malayalai 'chayakkada' is conspicuous by its absence. How nice it would have looked if I could sit in a bench and have the mouth watering combination of "puttu-kadala kari" in a chayakkada somewhere in a European city? I don't mind if I could not read a Desabhimani' or a 'Manorama' (newspaper)


Though the lovable idly- sambar is a rare sight in most of the restaurants, eagerness to eat something Indian attracts most of the Indians to these eateries. Still the major part of the clientele here constitutes the locals. Most of the Indian restaurants serve North Indian style food. Roti, naan, gobi masala, Paneer masala, chicken and mutton items line up in the menu. A good lunch or dinner with a drink costs around 12 euros. If a dish like Paneer Masala or a Mushroom masala is ordered, a plate of rice is served along with it. A drink can be like water bottle, cola or beer. Incidentally, it is hard to find Pepsi anywhere in Europe. Coco cola has an all pervasive presence in Europe. Similarly, while Mc donalds is a common sight, it is hard to find a KFC. In China, wherever a KFC is found, in the immediate vicinity we can see a Mc Donalds.

A lunch in a European restaurant waiting for a vegetarian will be salads, raw vegetables and boiled vegetables. As I mentioned earlier, many of these items may not have any emotions. They neither have salt nor any spice in it. At one of the vendor’s canteen in Germany they offered me boiled cauliflower pieces for lunch.


At the Shiva Restaurant in Amsterdam, I ordered a dal fry and a mushroom masala.

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As I was waiting for the packed food to come, I requested the waiter to serve a glass of water. If we need to drink plain water, they collect the water from the tap and serve us. The waiter politely told me ‘abhi lake avunga’ in Hindi. As I have been waiting, the waiter got busy with some other customers and forgot me. I had to leave the restaurant with the food packets without quenching my thirst. Indian restaurants are largely interested in serving the local customers. This is what I felt from my experiences.


On many occasions at the Indian Palace, Mannheim, the Bangladeshi waiter used to give cold shoulder to me. A dejected me stopped going to this restaurant of late. However, these restaurants are a boon to visitors from India especially the vegetarians.

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Appooppanthaadi - 12

11.12.2010:

Today I climbed 314 steps at one stretch to visit a castle. By the time I reached the top, I found myself gasping for breath. I know, by this time my envious friendhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifs had come to a conclusion that I was so exhausted that I could not even breathe. The fact of the matter was that the beauty of the place made me breathless – honestly.


In the morning, I went to the nearest tram stop and took a ticket for 8 euro. An Eight Euro ticket is valid for 24 hours and we can travel anywhere inside the city in the tram. Once we enter the tram, there are a few small box like machine, to which we have to insert our ticket and validate it. In Zurich validation is not required but there are personnel who conduct random checks of tickets. In Paris metro, the tickets are validated at the automated gates at the platforms. In Amsterdam, conductor sits inside the tram to sell tickets. In Vienna driver of the bus sells ticket.

It took exactly one and half hour to reach the place called Heidelberg. The distance traveled from Mannheim was just 20 kilometers. This is the speed with which a tram runs. As soon as I got down from the tram, I got the direction as to where I should go. There is a castle in Heidelberg that attracts a lot of tourists.

“The Heidelberg Castle (in German language named: Heidelberger Schloss) is a famous ruin in Germany and landmark of Heidelberg. The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps.



The castle has only been partially rebuilt since its demolition in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is located 80 metres (260 ft) up the northern part of the Königstuhl hillside, and thereby dominates the view of the old downtown. It is served by an intermediate station on the Heidelberger Bergbahn funicular railway that runs from Heidelberg's Kornmarkt to the summit of the Königstuhl.
The earliest castle structure was built before AD 1214 and later expanded into 2 castles circa 1294; however, in 1537, a lightning-bolt destroyed the upper castle. The present structures had been expanded by 1650, before damage by later wars and fires. In 1764, another lightning-bolt destroyed some rebuilt sections.”

Though the castle is in ruins, the view of the city of Heidelberg from atop the hill was so nice. The old town of the city looked so marvelous. All slanting roofs that is not covered with snow for the time being gave a nice view. By the side of the old town flows river Necar. Like any part of the world, rivers are the real catalyst for the development of civilizations and improvement of living standards. This fact in all manifestations is seen here in Heidelberg too. Never ever think of killing a river. It will be disastrous.



As an annex to this, I should tell a few lines about the Bharathapuzha, the biggest river of Keralam. If anyone is happened to have passed by this river by rail or road, he/she could see vast expanse of dry river bed. Remember, this is the biggest river in the God’s own country where rains occur even in summer. In the dry river, we can spot hundreds of people collecting the sand in plastic bags and then carrying to the nearest roads on their heads. A river is killed so ruthlessly there. In Europe, the rivers that I came across are found to be healthy and full of water.

To reach the castle, we have to walk across the old town and the Christmas market on its streets. It was a Saturday and the people were in a festive mood. Hectic business was going on in the market. Still, there was not even a single hawker on the footpaths or walkways. Nor anyone was heard shouting from the shop. But then, without hawkers and ear piercing noises, what market it could be. It ought to be a damp squib in my opinion.



Everything has been happening so quietly. The only thing that was breaking the silence incessantly was the music- the Christmas songs though the loud speakers. Also, there were a few musicians on the street sides. A small boy with his flute was seen playing it. There was a small box in front of him obviously for the passersby to drop some coins. Hardly hundred meters away, there were four young children, one with saxophone, one with violin and two others holding the book that contains the notes. There too, the case of the violin was kept for the coins. Another big group of elderly men and women were seen playing saxophones at another spot for money.




After a walk along the market, the banks of the river Necar and the climb up to the top of the Heidelberg Castle, I returned to Mannheim by tram. Back in the room, the day was over. Now I have to pack up for a long journey. A journey to the land of Lec Valesa. I am excited. This was a place where every left leaning person once loved to visit.
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