Vein in Vanity

It happened a few months ago when I was attending a training session for the job I had newly got. There were 3 Americans, 1 English, 1 Austrian and of course 1 Indian (me) attending the session. The task was to write down the names of all the things that we could find in the room we were sitting in, in our mother tongue. Sounded easy enough at first, but led to extreme embarrassment when I could name just 17 and everyone else in the room came up with 70 in a minute’s time. I always took pride in the fact that my English was good. But what a slap in the face it was, when for the life in me, I couldn’t figure out what we called a table in Tamil! While recuperating from the serious damage caused by this incident I began thinking… Most people associate culture and history with India. It is incredible that we have so many different religions, traditions and values. And not to forget the multitude of languages. I have often heard that what scientists in the west discovered years l...

It was in 2009 that I experienced snow for the first time. To us, born and raised in a tropical climate, having winters with snow has always been a dream. So was it for me! Unfortunately last year there was very little snow.  However the city seemed to have sensed my disappointment and this year Vienna is living a white Christmas! It’s amazing how different the city looks in every season. Nonetheless it never seems to lose its class or charm! The grand architecture of the Staatsoper(Opera House), expansive parks, the central church with its statuesque dome, live on with the same if not more grandeur.  The much talked about Viennese Coffee culture comes to one’s notice a lot more during cold winters. People journeying through snow-covered streets holding piping hot coffee from Aida (one of the famous coffee houses here) is a common spectacle. Also, all resentment for that cup of green tea seems to evaporate as you sit cuddled in blankets sipping some boiling tea. No San...

For about a year now things have been on and off!! But the take away has been a lot more than what can be packed into a years’ time!! It began with getting married. The next one was coming to live in this country where hardly anyone spoke the language I did and neither could I speak theirs. So it’s easy to deduce that finding a job was a far cry. For a person fresh from having done her Masters, so eager to work (guess to my own regret later on..)  And finally make some money of her own, it was a big letdown. It is in such confused times that one begins to think about dreams unfulfilled. So that’s how we hit upon the idea of learning German. Moreover that would be the logical step 1 to doing anything here. That was the start button. Once that was on, my life was full again. Meeting people from many different countries (like Slovenia, Slovakia don’t we leave them with our Geography lessons??) and learning their Culture brought a massive change to my outlook.  It does feel...