Switzerland is no UTOPIA and India is no HELL!!!!

In an archive, I had talked about how one of my esteemed friends bragged about the methodical, organized and meticulous ways of life abroad ridiculing and mocking the chaotic and bantering lifestyle of India!!

Last week, as I boarded my flight to Zurich – embarking on my first trip abroad – I ran through the experience of anxiety and uncertainty, the emotions of awe amidst a deep found gratitude towards my employer for creating this new chapter in my life. Ironically, with changing times – crossing the oceans today elevates a man to a new found recognition in society as compared to the earlier days when it was considered a taboo……

So as my mother propagated the departure of her son to the most beautiful place in the world amidst pride and pomp to her colleagues, as my cousins gave me looks of awe and my aunts (their mothers) gave them speeches of inspiration positioning me and my new achievement as their benchmark – I wondered at the marvel of this phenomenon of going abroad, and the honor that it brought with itself!!!

The aircraft that I was flying on was easily the biggest that I had ever seen in my life (I have had my share of flights!) and to a large extent – the encounters of going away from the familiarity of your country and its life began to hit me the moment Swiss air and its hospitable staff took off from my lands!!!

I saw fair skinned people all around me, with discolored hair – some men looked like women, while some women looked like men – they all spoke different languages and wore unisex clothes – all of them were aliens returning home and as I saw the slums of dharavi zap through the air strip – I had the first indication of being thrown away from my comfort zone!!!
From here on things were very different, the seat belt wouldn’t hook easily – the in flight entertainment system would only not work for me – to find the wireless remote that would shuffle channels looked like a treasure hunt, and once I discovered it tagged under the arm of my chair, to remove it was another embarrassing ordeal!!!

Early morning, the air hostess woke me up for coffee – as I looked at my lukewarm cup with drowsy eyes, I smelt something raw – the drink was black, sugarless and without milk. The flight GPS showed that we were passing above the ALPS, I peeped out of the window and thought that the skies had come down – with the ray of sun screeching through the clouds and a huge blanket of snow covering the earth, I was struggling to interpret this splendor of nature – I had not seen anything like this before, a morning so unique, a coffee so different, people so unfamiliar, sounds and conversations so unusual and a land so white, pure and beautiful!!

Zurich airport, immigration and rail-station is a four storied building – it being one of the busiest airport in the world….My co passenger said, if you haven’t been to Heathrow – take a keen look at the airstrip and the radar inclination – every 5 minutes, we saw a flight landing…as if like magic, like a relay race, like an army queue – a flight would appear from within the clouds, behind white mountains and land in the blue looking strip and as it taxied, another would do a replay and as the other one taxied, another would follow suit – all smooth, no jerks and on time!!!
Electronic trains would transmit you from one terminal to another terminal within the airport, you only would have to change floors to transport yourself from the aerodrome to the rail station, before you know your baggage is screened and dispatched and you are set for your onward journey into Switzerland!!!

My first insight into a foreign country was overwhelming; Airports, escalators, pay phones, washrooms, baggage belts, aerodrome bridges, roads, lounges, immigration, customs, helpdesks, rail tracks, wagons, aerial view, country side landscapes, hills, rivers, yatches, cars and skyscrapers – everything about Switzerland seemed magnificent and beautiful – Construed by God, Constructed by Man – My first entry across the seas of India was an education, if not an experience!!!

I took my train to Basel – for a second class ticket, I thought the ambience within the coaches were quiet extravagant…There were first class coaches, some were no smoking, some were silent (meaning you aren’t allowed to speak in them), some double deckers and some carried only dining halls along zig zag routes through the alps and above the RHINE….

As I peeped out of the window discovering the looks of my new lands, I realized how vastly my country of origin and my current host were different. If economics are any indication, Swiss is one amongst the top 3 countries carrying the highest standard of living while India is 86th in the latest rankings. The roads that I was wading through had never seen a war till date, while my country’s lands have suffered 3 national wars amidst a perennial civil and communal crisis. Swiss has enjoyed fundamental independence along with god gifted natural splendor while by the time we Indians regained our soil, the British had robbed us of our inheritance for 200 years…..

Countries like the Swiss constructed, while the Indians resurrected – Countries like Swiss progressed, while India regained control – Countries like Swiss developed while India was just establishing its existence… While India can defend itself by saying that history has never been kind to its fate, that it is 10 times as big as the lands on which I walk today and that it has to feed and employ 20 times the people with whom I converse with today – India can only defend, not justify!!!

Our country has a long way to go – if it has the constraints, it also has the means – if it has too many to be fed, it also has too many to till - If it has too many to be sheltered, it has too many to be employed – If it has a tainted history, it has a faculty of penance and an ambition to progress – if it has a diseased and infected mode of governance, it has the will of its people – if it has a need to progress, men like me give it hope !!!!!

Strangers walking down the roads give you a smile, irrespective of your recognition – it hardly takes one to break the ice with the other – over a ride in the elevator, you d greet and strike a conversation with your co-passenger within seconds to end up discussing about the last night s football game and the weather in Basel – But that is the most you can intrude!!! You would be working with your European colleague (same like ur fren in the elevator) for ages, but would have no clue how many kids does he have and which school do they study in – Its easy to break the social circle amidst the whites, while the personal circle orbit is very strong and they hold its intrusion very dear to their hearts; While we Indians are opposite, we do not break the ice easily while once done, we allow unprecedented intrusion!!!

As you cross the roads on a zebra, you d find the whole world respecting your endeavor and waiting for you to pass by; You would never experience a power cut; it would be snowing outside, yet within your house – you can roam around wearing your shorts; Post offices would give you electronic receipts; Railway stations will give you combo offers and designer swipe cards, Prostitution and Strip Clubs would be legalized, available across every nook and corner and accommodated within the culture….

Swizerland is as romantic a place can be; blue skies, cozy homes, pristine rivers, aristocratic buildings, artsy pictures, monumental museums and perfumed air – Despite all the aura around it, the alps here remind me of my hills, the Rhine of my waters, the crowd of my mob, the isolation of my family and home, the unfamiliarity of my acquaintance(s), the bizarre of the usual, the exotic of the ordinary, the order and harmony of the chaos and confusion – Switzerland is beautiful, but somewhere down the line, I get the feeling that it is not mine!!!!

I am all enamored by the Swiss, I think they have built a very beautiful and an organized country, I wish India was like Switzerland –I hope one day it becomes the same; however, I have to leave, I cant stay here – My home is dirty, Its unorganized and not as beautiful as here, but it’s all the same – Switzerland is no utopia and India is no hell ! :)