21st January 2009, 16:44
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21st January 2009, 16:57
| #212 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | YetiBlog® - New Year's Eve 2009 Angela's home is at the foot of the hill. There is no need to drive anywhere. They take drinking seriously in Germany, but they take drinking and driving far more seriously. Not a single person who intends to drive that night has consumed anything. It is commendable. Thankfully the climb up the hill is not as bad as I thought. It can be done with our legs only and there is no need to climb up on all fours. It is however exhausting in the funniest way possible. It seems unbelievable to me. Here we are, climbing up, walking through a thick forest, climbing up to the top of the hill where we will enjoy some fireworks on New year's eve. All of this is a little town in Hessen, in Germany. With my woman and her friends. People I've never met before. Many of whom have never seen an Indian man in the flesh. 2 years ago, if you had to tell me I'd be doing this, I'd have laughed in disbelief. Today I'm panting like a thirsty dog, trying to make sure I am not the last up the path.    Many pants later, we're almost at the top. This seems like a good place to everyone so we stop. I look up at the peak of the hill. First it appears to me like a fence on the edge. When I look closer I realize that this is almost the entire town and the "fence" is in fact people!  There we are, happy and recovering our breath, everyone looks excited in anticipation. Champagne bottles are ready to pop, sparklers ready to be lit. Not wanting to waste any time, glasses are passed around and we wait for the countdown to begin.  ZEHN... NEUN... ACHT... SEBEN... SECHS... FÜNF... VIER... DREI.. ZWEI... EINS... Prost Neujahr! Happy New Year!! It is incredible. Not like India where things can be celebrated plus or minus 15 minutes. No, this is clockwork, with German clocks - almost on cue the entire town is alight with fireworks - all simultaneous.     I curse loudly! No bloody tripod! In order to bring back this girl's stuff to India, I have travelled half-way across the world with 2 shirts, 3 tee shirts and 4 underpants. Tripods cannot be hand carried, they need to be checked in and that would have been a few extra kilos to bring back. Damn it... Happy New year baby says a voice close to my ear. Ahhh, never mind, so it's a few blurry pictures. Big deal. I'll shoot in 1600 and Rudra will have to learn to deal with the colour noise. Happy New year Jenny I say smiling. We kiss for a while then smile around at the festivities, feeling content. Every few seconds we hug and kiss someone to say "Happy new Year" and then stand back with a content smile, watching everyone make merry and then joining them, making the whole occasion one to remember. I am reminded of Diwali and I look around and see the same happiness, the same joy, the same festivities. The world is such a nice place.      After the revelries, at about 1am, we start walking home. I am informed that the party is very far from over, in fact it might be just beginning. These Germans are crazy. Last edited by Sam Kapasi : 21st January 2009 at 17:06. |
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21st January 2009, 17:21
| #213 | ||
| Team-BHP Support   Join Date: May 2004 Location: Bangalore
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| go sam goooooooo... Quote:
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 truly hillarious!! and i can see how the joke continued through the trip!!hey but wish list added this side. | ||
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21st January 2009, 17:28
| #214 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | YetiBlog® - 1st Jan 2009 - The party continues We're back home, laughing giggling and completely out of breath. Dessert is served and it is fantastic!  The party continues and Jenny and I talk to different people, sharing knowledge and experience. Everyone I have spoken to wants to visit India. I tell them to come with an open mind and not come expecting karma, snake-charmers and mysticism on a plate. Many different concoctions are concocted and various tasting sessions are held in between all the singing and dancing. I have lost interest in taking photos and want to focus entirely on having funnnn. The party has split into various factions, lol. Some do this:  The rest gather round table in piece to complete another German tradition. Meanwhile the chakhna comes out. It's so weird to eat everything backwards here. First dinner. Then drinks. Then some dessert and some more drinks. Then the chakhna. Weird. Ahh yes, the tradition. Well apparently one takes a spoon and a piece of some alloy that is fairly solid. Then one holds the alloy in his spoon over a candle till it melts (and it melts in a minute or so) and then empties the hot molten alloy into a bowl of cold water. Then (clearly) the molten alloy takes on some shape. You take the shape out, figure out what it looks like and read your future according to the shape, from a book.      I drop my metal into the pan and what comes out looks like goat dropping, only larger. I mean really, is this what the future holds for me? I pick up the book and it reads as such: Get completely wasted and go running into the living room and sing Whitney Houston and other girly songs with a bunch of women at the top of your voice, making a complete fool of yourself. This is your destiny Luke. I hear and obey and it is great fun. Till date I suspect that my eyes may have deceived me and those words may have been my own imagination.    The time is now approaching 4 am. I have little recollection of the events around this time. I am running around the house and everywhere, singing, dancing and having a fantastic time. Jenny!! Where is Jenny? I find her in a corner and approach the patient lady. Are you tired baby? MMhmmm. Wanna go home? And she looks up at me.  And I know that if I want to enjoy 2009, this is a good time to say goodbye to the party. And we do and leave. What a wonderful evening. Truly magical. Goodnight everyone and Happy New Year!! Last edited by Sam Kapasi : 21st January 2009 at 17:33. |
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21st January 2009, 18:00
| #215 |
| BHPian  | Sam you are completely unbelievable. To quote you you are truly blessed. Cant wait for the rest  |
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21st January 2009, 22:18
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21st January 2009, 23:11
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22nd January 2009, 12:41
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23rd January 2009, 14:12
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23rd January 2009, 18:33
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23rd January 2009, 20:03
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23rd January 2009, 23:30
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23rd January 2009, 23:37
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24th January 2009, 00:54
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24th January 2009, 01:33
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