The French Experience!!! part - 3

Salut!
Few days ago I went to Rennes for a weekend with my German friends Carina and Alina. It's a beautiful city around 250 km from Brest and is the capital of Brittany region. We went there by carpooling and obviously couchsurfed.

Crazy people

It was fun!!! I will try to brief my experiences in points:

1. Every Saturday, Rennes is buzzing because of its beautiful street market. So we went there to know about local French customs. We bought some great Jam with caramel and apricot which I plan to take back home. We talked to a person who was selling meat. I enquired about a strange looking thing and he said that they are "balls" of duck ... and they are from India! :O :O :O ... he said that people in India eat a lot of these balls ... after this I didn't had the guts of telling him that I am from India! :)

Market sceen! :)

Can you dare to eat this?

2. We saw some really interesting things on the streets. Here, just a day before marriage, bride goes out with his friends in strange funky clothes (one I saw was wearing a condom over his head!) and is allowed to kiss any woman he likes on streets. And no girl refuses to offer him a kiss as this is his last chance to kiss different women then her would be wife :) ... funny ... isn't it? The same is also followed for bridegrooms ... no partiality :P

Got Kissed :)

3. This city has a street known as La rue de la soif ... or "The Street of Thirst". Its famous all over France. Its filled with pubs, curtsy the huge student population of the city :) Thursday night is the time to be here ... its crazy ... people rolling on streets ... girls howling on there boyfriends, puke everywhere and loud music ... yeah ... a true symbol of western student lifestyle :)

The king of good times! :D

4. If you ask for a café in France and don't mention anything else then you will be served with an espresso coffee. It's so strong that most of the time you will end up leaving it like that! So if you want a decent coffee which you can drink if you try hard ... ask for a 'café grand' ... which is served with a bit more sugar and a little milk :)

5. If you are in France and you have to attend a French Birthday and if you don't know what to buy as a gift ... don't worry ... just pick up any interesting road sign from the street and present it as a gift. Almost every French student have few of them in their rooms. When they are drunk and when they want to do something mischievous ... this is the best thing they can think of almost every time :P

?!?!?!?!

I think these were the funniest things that I experienced in Rennes but many other things happened. We bought some cedar, baguette and goat and sheep cheese for our lunch (wow ... completely French!) ... discussed about wine and Christianity where I foolishly declared wine as unpurified blood of Jesus :O, had some drinks and joints (French call it 'shit') with our great couchsurfing host Helen, met a guy at Street of Thrust who wanted to kiss me :P, met a gay couple (according to alina they were gay but I doubt it!) ... got kicked by a French drunkard because alina teased him and he didn't wanted to fight with a girl :P ... mmmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmmm :) this trip was fun! :D

The Kabab Times!! :)

Santé, (cheers in French!)
Karan

The French Experience!!! part - 2

Bonjour mes amis!

My life in France till now have been really eventful. Lots of friends, lots of parties and lots of crazy stuff :)

HeHe!!!

One thing that helped me the most here is the fact that during this time of the year, most of the local french students go back to there homes and lots of international students come here for there work placements. And they speak so better English then French do! ... I am glad :)

Since my last post, I have actually gathered a lots of things to write about. I was invited to a lot of dinners and parties by my colleagues here at IFREMER. So I know a lot about french eating habits and etiquettes now and I can understand why french are so proud of there gastronomy. Believe me, french food is the richest food you will get anywhere on earth ... and if eaten the french way, it even becomes more delicious :) They have a concept of long lunches and long dinners which can extend up to 6 to 7 hours. I am very glad that I was a part of one such dinner. It started at 8 in the evening and ended at 2:30 in the morning ... fuck! :)

Just before the great dinner!

Being a vegetarian, I was first served with salad and wine. I thought that this is my dinner and I am expected to fill up my self with this and hence I ate a lot of it with few glasses of red wine. I was almost full. I thought that we will talk a bit and then leave back to our homes. But surprisingly then came the second round of food. Rice, meat, potatoes and lots of vegetables with bread and more red wine. :O ... what I am supposed to do now!!! OK ... I ate a bit of it just to be courteous because my host made a vegetarian dish specially for me and sipped a bit more of wine. Till now I always used to think that the older the wine the better it is. My concept got cleared in this party. Actually the quality of wine depends upon a lot of things like the sun, the rain, the wind etc. etc. during the time when they are manufactured. That is why few years have become very famous for the quality of wine ... Like 1947, 2005 ... etc. etc. If you go to the market to buy wine, you can clearly see that the wine from these years are much more costly then others. I hope I cleared some of your funda :) Now coming back to the dinner thing ... after rice and vegetables, I was almost ready to leave.

They are doing 3 cheers for India :)

But wait ... there is something more in the kitchen for us :) This time its bread and lots of verity of cheese! Pffff ... This time I managed to ask the host if something more is in the store after this round :) And yes ... how can we leave without eating the apple pies!!! wow ... so we finished everything at 2:30 am ... I think we drank 4 LT of red wine and a bottle of rum by then .. hehe ... it was really funny ... :) ... My first 4 course French meal! All were drunk ... all were happy ... and all were talking dirty :P ... I cannot imagine my professors or even anybody of their age in India to talk with me on topics we discussed that night :)

Nicole's Farewell Party

I have tried many things here. I played volleyball with a local team here and believe me ... I was among the good players :) I also tried playing soccer ... hehe ... but very soon I realised that its france :) ... they really played much better then me ... but it was a good experience after all.

Few points to note about france:

1. There are very less coin phones here. If you want to call, you either use your credit card or an international/national calling card. So if you have to call immediately after you reach france, it can be complicated. Better arrange a calling card before!

2. French eat with a unique style. But its interesting to see the way they eat bread. You can compare that with chapaties in India :)

3. Beware if you are not used to a lot of sea food and if you plan to try something new! I ate a lot of mussels once because I found them delicious but only ended up vomiting 3 times in a row. I coudnt sleep that night and it was a bad experience. You need to train your stomach slowly for sea food :)

4. Drinking and smoking is strangly acceptable in their culture. All they do to have fun is drink! And its same for all age group. But the funny thing is everyone drinks together :) ... imagine doing that in india!!! :)

5. You can travel really cheap by carpooling and couchsurfing. I have traveled to a different city for a weekend in just 30 euros ... better then TGV and youth hostel no? :)

Sharing a light moment with friends :)

Travelling is definately bringing me closer to the ultimate reallity .... I have a lot more stories for you but at the same time I realise that I have just one month left here ...

Let the French Connection prevail ... :)

Au Revoire !

Karan

The French Experience!!!

Bonjour!

Here I am ... on the land of Bread, Wine and Cheese :) (and yeah off-course ... beautiful women)!!

Peace!!!

I landed in Paris (French say it paryee) on &-th ... grrrrrr the fucking french keaboard ... on 16th May. I obviously had lots of dreams in my eyes. 16th was a friday and I decided to spend the weekend in Paris. While I was in India preparing my trip to France, I came across an interesting concept of couchsurfing (http://www.couchsurfing.com/). Here, people just open their house for you and you can say with them for mutually acceptable time for free. The main idea behind this concept is cultural exchange without boundaries. This is really cool and you will get to know it better if you google a bit.

So, in Paris, I surfed the couch of Math (French) and Veronica (Chilean), a very sweet couple. And believe me guys ... there is no better way to travel then couchsurfing. We talked so much ... exchanged over point of views ... they showed me cool places around Paris and we went to a great Spanish restaurant together for dinner. Vero and I went shopping few times and that gave me a good enough idea about basic French atticates. I firmly believe that mixing with local people and living a local life is a very important part of any travel. I think I couldn't have had a better beginning for my Tour de France!

I had already booked my train tickets for my travel to Brest (almost north-west corner of France), were I will be working for coming 2 months. So I boarded the TGV (counted among the worlds fastest trains) on Sunday night. 2 days for Paris are not enough ... I will come back again ... :)

Few points to note about Paris:

• You sometimes have to pay 40 cents for peeing which is bad ... France has a poor public toilet system!
• You must visit Latin Corner which is a vibrant student hub of Paris.
• There is always a queue for everything in France ... believe me, sometimes its longer then what we have in India.
• If you want to go up the Eiffel tower, keep a day in hand as the queue is so long that it will take hours before your turn comes.
• Metro train system in Paris is great, use it for cheap and quick travel.
• Paris Shopkeepers are rude!!
• You must couchsurf!

I reached Brest on Monday early morning. It was so cold that my teeth were really vibrating when I came out of train. I waited for 2 hours on station and then I was picked up by my Professor Dr. Marc PREVOSTO (that is how French write there name). I was damn tired ... but he directly took me to the IFREMER (French Research Institute for the Exploration of Seas), where I will be working for coming 2 months.

This place is really cool ... situated in a really scenic place ... surrounded by waters from 3 sides. It is considered the best institute in the field of ocean sciences in France. Well just to highlight ... IFREMER played a very important part in the search of Titanic and has its own submarine for marine research.

The first day was ok stuff ... I passed my entire day at the institute. I am in the hydrodynamics lab which is kind off small compared to other labs here. And one thing sucks ... there are no girls in this lab!!! Just one really helpful and cute secretary Nicole. Every morning at 9:30, all the Profs and students have coffee together in the meeting room which is cool. So I met everyone on the first day during the coffee time. Pffff hardly anyone speaks good English!!!

Then Marc explained me my work (related to ocean current profiling in west Africa) and then he said that everyting is confidential. So I am not explaining more here :P. At 12 we went to eat at IFREMER cafetaria. Its a subsidised canteen which serves really awesome food at very cheap price. Almost everyone around eats here. What a food it was ... awesome!! Proper 4 course french meal. There were 5 options for small plates (Bakery product, milk product, fruits, salad and a sweat dish) fom which you choose any 3 and 2 options for big plate (Veg and Non Veg dishes and a big plate of salad) from which you choose 1. Then off course you can pic up as many peaces of bread as you want. All this in 1.95 euros! Then there was a drink and coffee section for which, if we want, we hae to pay extra. My God ... the food was so rich and so good ... we dont even have this kind of food in India when we go on treats!

Yo Kshitij! :P

Then at 5 pm, Marc drove me to my residence .... a kind of studend hostel. I think its a chain which provides facilities to students all over France ... but the whole system is still not clear to me. We complited some basic formalities and I got my room. Its a small room of the same size as we have at IIT's but offcourse the faciities are a lot more. I will be paying 160 € per month (almost 10,000 rs ... fuck!!!) for this room which is I think the cheapest you can get in Europe.

Well now after lot of efforts, I have been able to organize everything. I bought some milk, bread, awesome Nutella and some cereals which I have as breakfast before leaving for Ifremer. I eat lunch there and then cook something for the night when I am back. I have made some friends (believe me ... it was a real tough task!). Davy from Africa, Carina from Germany, Egor from Canada ... and few more ... Its a nice multicultural envronment. But its surprising to see that there are not many Indians here, I think because of language problem... huh ... finally I got a place which we Indians dont want to conquer :P

As of now I know, I am not going to speak to much in the coming 2 months. Its difficult sometimes being alone ... and I dont want to compare it with my stay in Canada. But I am sure ... after 2 months when I will return ... I will be taking back lots of memories with me ... I will return more fresh, more experienced, more mature and more French :) !!

@Louvre!

Salut!!
Karan

Brest, France

the highest point of irrationality!

I once had a feeling that i am a very rational person. I thought that i can understand every thing around me and can give logical reasons for it. I had a notion that everyone can do the same, all you need is just an open mind and every thing becomes logically correct! And then i use to point fingers on irrational happenings around me like for example religious intolerance, caste system etc etc.

Now i know i was incorrect. There are moments in life which you just cant understand. Well you may understand but still cant accept. Mind sometimes becomes so biased that very simple things in life look so difficult to comprehend. Lets say for example our relationships. I have always faced difficulties in understanding them or if i understand them well, then in accepting them that way.

I will try to be more specific now. Let us consider a Love affair.

When you love a girl from deep down the heart, following things happen:

• You start playing missed call games
• You feel more complete and happy
  
• You wait for her to come online on Gtalk anxiously (sometimes till very late in the night) and suddenly when she comes online ... you miss your several heart beats
• You set your status messages to please her
  
• You check your email every few minutes with an expectation of having few loving words from her.
• Money no more remains an issue ... seeing/making her happy is all you need
• You post letters and postcards which you will otherwise never do
• You start spending more time in your room lost in dreams
• Family and friends who have helped you all your life becomes secondary
• You spend hours, days and months helping her on issues which will define her life
• You bunk classes, sleep at 5:30 am after a tiring day and getup at 7:30 am just to wish her Good Morning mademoiselle and do what not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And suddenly you realize that things are changing. One fine morning you have an email that the feelings are gone ... one fine morning you understand that she doesn't miss you anymore ... one fine morning you become a stranger for your life ...

And then slowly following things happen:

• You develop a strong bitterness for her because her memories gives you a lot of pain
• Every chat on Gtalk ends with either a fight or a fight ...
  
• You many times try to block her on Gtalk but despite of all your efforts you fail ...
• You keep getting glimpses of her in your mind which makes you feel even worse
  
• Your manhood requests you to move ahead and wants you to forget her
• Sometimes you really want to show her a hard _|_
• There are lots of good memories, but every time bitter ones take over
  
• You feel low all the time and your friends and family can point out that change in you
• Finally when you cannot find an answer to how and why all this happened to you, you give up and try to keep your mind busy in various other routines of life.
  
• And your heart still pains ...

Thats how a love affair is ... and for me ... it is the highest point of irrationality! I don't know why this all happens ... and even if it happens ... why it is so complex ... and difficult to accept it that way?

A feeling that moves this world is a feeling that cannot be defined.

Love :)
Karan

Kshitij

Hi,

I was thinking to post something about Kshitij from a long time. Today when I was browsing some of my past emails, I came across the one which was posted by rolly da after Kshitij 2006 got over. I think its worth sharing with the current team. Here it goes...

=====================================================

hello everyone..

well i have been trying not to get senti over kshitij since the last
day of Kshitij, I can contain myself no more. Yesterday I wanted to
say a lot of things but some how was busy controlling so many others
from getting senti and hence did not find a suitable opportunity.
What ever i have to say will be seconded by many more I know but i
take the privilege of saying it.

Kshitij 2005

first of all, it hit me in a very awkward way - running around
conducting ataxia - that from now on i will be no more associated
with a fest which i have seen and made grow from a weak fledgling to
any fest's envy in a record time. In fact it became more than a fest
for me and will always remain one of my biggest achievements here at
IIT Kharagpur. Next year, a new team will take my place and i will
have no role to play but the memories will stay on for ever. It is a
feeling of nostalgia, jealousy and i don't know what - leaving
Kshitij to some one else, just hoping that they will treat it like
their own kid from now on. its like giving your own child away for
adoption to some one else. I don't mean to say that the others do
not have the capability to do what we did but i only request that
who so ever takes charge from now on - remember that the spirit of
Kshitij is much above ur personal deisres, aims and ambitions and
let that not die away due to personal animosity or politics. KEEP
THAT SPIRIT ALIVE!!

Kshitij 2006

I don't know how the heads are feeling right now but i guess it
would be more like what i felt when I was a head. After the fest, it
was a feeling of hollowness - like something has been taken away
from me. a feeling that some one has condemned u to ur rooms, a
feeling of what to do after dinner if not go to the meetings? your
own room will seem so strange to you for it will be first time in
months that u will be in ur room for a lot of time. It is a pathetic
feeling I know - a sense of loss and bereavement. But savour it. It
is also a part of that spirit of Kshitij - the love for the fest.
Channelize it to better the fest next year, whether u r in the team
or not. And i admit that the best part of Kshitij is being a head.
that is when it hits u the most.

Kshitij 2007

members - u have a big responsibility on ur shoulders. u will be
taking charge next year and it is very important that u understand
that it is not for the sake of a line in ur CV that u will be
becoming heads. If that is what is in ur mind - drop it. As Basant
said and i agree to it that it is not worth working so much for a
fest just to earn one certi. But believe me, it will be an
experience you will not forget for a life time. The things you learn
here and the things you experience will stay with you for years to
come. Get attatched to the fest and you will experience an enitrely
different Kshitij. The heads have done a wonderful job and next year
you will have a tough task on ur hands. Keep up the good work that u
have shown as members and make Kshitij grow bigger.

Kshitij 2008

As for me, many of my friends were surprised to the extent of
getting frust with me that i was working even in my 5th year. The
only thing I worked for was me myself. The kind of satisfaction and
a high this gives you is really amazing. You will slowly experience
it. When you have spent months planning and working and seeing huge
lines outside TOAT or the basement. Seeing audis full with junta
enjoying every moment and the dis belief on the face of the faculty
that students could manage all that is all u need to make up for all
your efforts.

I would personally like to thank all the s.coms for what they have
been to me. Many felt that I would not be able to gel up with the
team since i was a 5th year. But I knew that they were wrong.
Kshitij has a different chemistry. And I was proved right by the
team. I was never made to feel that I was some how different from
the rest. Most of the times I even forgot that the rest of the
s.coms were my juniors. Thanks a lot ppl. And I have made some life
long bonds here basanti, sneha, shravan, dutta, anita, hota, khadia.
Thanks a lot for your love and respect. It was a pleasure working
with u ppl. Wish i cud have all of u as my colleagues.

i guess i have rambled on and on and its time to stop. I still have
lots of things left unsaid. But i think i will take some other
opportunity to say them. mean while some one plz fwd this mail to
the members group.

Looking forward to a bigger Kshitij 2007. Good luck and adieu..

Regards,
Rolly.

=====================================================

I hope you guys learned something from it. I have a request from you ... pass this mail from generation to generation ... in memory of those who conceptualized the first Kshitij and as a toast to the spirit of Team KTJ!

Yo KTJ :)

Salut
Karan

Tare Zammen Par!

These are some of my creations!!! An artist at its best ... isn't it? [:P]

Few days ago a friend mine noticed them in my notebook while I was sleeping in the class. He told me that they give a feeling of the famous movie "Taare Zameen Par". I usually draw these paintings when I am getting bored in the class. My inner creative self has always helped me in surviving the worst tortures of the class.

I now realize that there exists a Ishaan Awasthi in me which is still to come out as a winner. I just hope that it will come out soon [:)].

After all every child is special.

Salut,
Karan

Voila!!!

I have been thinking from past one year that I will write a blog. Finally today I decided that i will start. In the morning I made an account on google blogger and created my profile. Then came the most difficult part ... selection of topic on which I will write my first blog???? pfffff I am almost fed up ... I have been thinking on this issue from past 12 hours now :(

It's not that i don't have suitable ideas or content to pen them down ... the difficulty is that which ever topic comes to my mind is difficult to write on in a way or other. If some are too personal then others are too controversial :). And I do not want to write about the materialistic world ... it makes me sick! I want to play with emotions, relationships, nature - sea & sand ... i want to write about my travels .... And as my close friends will know ... my most of these experiences have been controversial ... pffff fed up!

And then I expressed this situation to a friend of mine. She came up with an idea which became my first post ... she said " yahi likh dijiye ki topic nhi mil raha" :) hehehe ... thanx!!!

Well I think i will sign off now as I am really feeling sleepy ... I hope I will come up with an idea soon ... or at-least guts to write on controversial issues :)

Salut!
Karan