In my previous blog post, I discussed the people I met during my five-month stay in Magdeburg. We helped each other and comforted each other during this depressing weather. We often sang old Hindi songs in our rooms, and we often talked about friends and family back in India. It must have been very courageous for our parents to send their daughters away to a country that was very different from ours, with no possibility of making WhatsApp audio or video calls. We could see each other only after five months, when we would return to India.
We met a guy called Isaac who was from Ghana. He was also a student at the university, and we had met on an excursion that was arranged for the international students. There were many other students from Ghana as well, but he was the one who approached us and talked to us. We became good friends and often met on different excursions. He told us that he faced a lot of gazes and stares in the city due to his colour and that no one really talked to him in friendly manner as we did. For us, he was just like us, a person away from the country, his family and friends. The colour of his skin was not a big deal for us. That thought didn't cross our minds. But it was true that people stared at us too. Perhaps they found our brown skin beautiful. I came to know that there are special studios in Germany where people can go and tan themselves. Like seriously? I jokingly said that we should take them all to India and they need not spend a single euro on getting tanned. The sun would do it naturally.
We were invited to Annika's parents' house for Christmas, and that was the first time we actually saw how Christmas is celebrated and what all is done! We got our share of presents too! Her mom had cooked a huge turkey for the family, and for us, there were baked vegetables, cake, bread, and fruits. Her brother and his family had come over for Christmas, and it was a good family get-together with us as well. Her dad took us to a forest nearby that was all covered with snow and ice, and one by one, we sat on a small sledge there while her dad pushed the sledge from behind. We laughed so much like small kids and tripped many times. But it was so much fun! It was the first time in our lives that we were doing something like this! It was very cold and we were freezing, but we still didn't want to get down and get home. Our parents met back home in India and called us that day. It's also my parents' anniversary on the 25th of December, and the three sets of parents decided to celebrate it together at our place in Dombivli.
The Magdeburg chapter couldn't be complete without my host mother, Christiane Laehnemann. The two girls left after Christmas as they were supposed to be in Magdeburg just till the end of December. I had to stay on, alone, for another month. For the month of January, I shifted to a German family. They had a big house a little away from the city centre, and they were both professors at the university. Their kids were grown up and had moved out for education, and they had their son's room to spare for me. It was a huge room with a small bed, cupboards for keeping clothes and a book shelf. I also had a writing table at my disposal for studying or writing. The bathroom was opposite to my room, and it was one big room in itself. I spent a lot of time there wondering at the marvels that the bathroom had. A large bath tub, the best-smelling shampoos and soaps, a scrubber, and a commode for the morning rituals. When we arrived in the country, toilet paper was something new for us, but slowly we got used to it. The lady of the house, Christiane, was a wonderful person with a great sense of humour, and she had given me full freedom to use her kitchen and the ingredients in it. She even had Indian spices in her kitchen, which she showed me proudly. Her son was with an Indian family in the US when he went there for some courses, and her sister-in-law and brother-in-law stayed in Chennai for three years, as her brother-in-law was working in the German Embassy then, and they had adopted a boy named Raja there. He was a child with special needs, and he was adopted after the couple had two kids of their own. So Christiane had knowledge of India and she was more than happy to have me at her home. As I spoke German quite well, we often went for walks together in the evenings on the banks of the Elbe river. She told me many interesting stories about the neighbourhood and her life. We often cooked Indian dinners together and had them together with her husband. Her husband was a revered professor, and he mentored many international students. They were often invited to their home for dinner or coffee and cake! I had a good time at their place, and I am proud of the fact that I am still in contact with her after 20 years of first meeting her. I visited her in 2010 with my husband in Magdeburg, and she visited us in Bangalore before that when she was on a trip to India. Then we met again in Karlsruhe in 2018. She was very happy to meet my son and got him his favourite book, The Hungry Caterpillar. I wish to take my son to Magdeburg sometime and show him around and also meet Christiane and her husband. My son can't believe the fact that I have a connection with Germany that is as old as 20 years! Let's see when it's the right time!
to be continued.
No comments:
Post a Comment