Lessons on Friendship !

                                                         

No no, dont worry. Its not going to be a class on how to be a good friend. or even worse, how to make friends. If you want to learn that then you better google it. Though I personally feel, just being the best version of youself will help you more than google. But ok, its matter of choice, I leave it to you.

So ya, this blog is not about that. Its about my personal musings. I am a person with a philosophical bent of mind. I am always looking for 'tatwa', the kind who will derive a life lesson over a seemingly routine occurence. As the year ends, I am trying to make a gist of all the new lessons I have learnt this year..I have a lot of time right now and there have been a lot of them. Career Lessons, Relationship lessons, Lifestyle lessons. U can say 2015 was a truly learning experience hahaha. But , even though friendship day is long over, all I feel like talking about today are my lessons on friendship. And thats what I plan to do with this article. But you know how life is. You think you are doing something routine, following your plan, when something extraordinary happens. Aah never mind, we will come to that later ;)

U know, yesterday, the 16th of December was my very dear friend Vera's birthday. Yesterday I also saw this amazing film called 'Bangalore Days'. Its a Malayalam movie about 3 cousins who are also the best most amazing set of friends. Its funny how in all these friendship stories, the characters involved are either childhood friends or school friends or college friends. Thats it. Its as if uske baad to friends bante hi nahi. Its also true to a certain extent. Children dont judge and children let go. The top two signs of being a true friend !

                                                 

Since I am a chess player - the college thing doesnt really apply to me. I would say the college equivalent in a sportsperson's life are his junior years. So that would mean all the good friends are made in the 1st 20 years of your life and if u managed to make a few after that then Bro, you must be really good at pretending to be a nice person ! Its not like I havent made any good friends after my junior years. For eg, Vera - we met only last year, but then thats the thing about having a soul sister. You recognise her whether u r 8 or 80. In the movie, the 3 of them - Kuttan, Arjun and Divya - grow up in the same village, go to the same school and spend summer holidays at their ancestral house every year. Now they are all grown up and dont meet so often - but destiny brings all 3 of them to Bangalore. And thats it - Happiness. The way their face lights up when they are together - thats a one of a kind feeling. U dont feel this way with everybody. U might not ever feel this way with anybody, and that would also be completely normal. Luckily I can relate to this feeling completely. Last year I was on my way to Kalyani Nagar for World Junior's Commentary. It was my 2nd day and I was really excited and nervous at the same time. I was passing through FC road when I suddenly spotted my friend Sneha on the road. Now Sneha and me are friends since we were 10. We have gone to the same school, been in the same class, same division, same tutions, same colony, same college. More importantly she also used to play chess so we have played the same tournaments and stayed together at many of them. When I saw her across the road I stuck my head out of the running auto, called out to her at the top my voice, and amidst all that traffic she heard me. Just those 2 mins with a friend left me feeling so happy and relaxed about my day ahead - even though we dint talk about my day at all.

Kuttan is a 'good boy' IT professional who would ideally like to go back to his village and live a life as simple as possible, Divya is a class topper who keeps her dreams of going for MBA at IIM aside and agrees for an arranged marriage instead - deciding upon it in just 1 meeting because 'he seems nice' - and Arjun is the quintessential Vagabond who has his own set of issues stopping him from becoming what he really wants to be. But the way these characters approach their problems is truly awesome ! They have an amazing spirit, they are kind, understanding, not so dumb and driven ! One more important point is - they dont have any other friends ! Frankly, I dont think they even tried to make new ones.

 A couple of months back, I called up one of my old friends in exasperation : "Eeshu I am done. I am done making new friends. I dont want to meet any new people and dont want to make any new friends. I am happy with my limited friend circle and I dont want to broaden my world now." Her reply was so wise, and so clear that it made me feel happy about my life decisions once again :

" Soumya, luckily we made friends with some really good people in our childhood and so if we want to stop making new ones now,  I think we can afford to do so. " 

Towards the end of the movie, Arjun has this important bike race ahead. In his head it is the culmination point , at the end of which everything in his life will have clarity, make more sense. Thats the reason its so important for him. On the night before the race, while he sits staring at the route map, wondering if he will be able to zoom his super bike through it all, Kuttan comes and places their Toy bikes on the map. A hero honda - for Kuttan, a super bike - for Arjun , and a scooter for Divya. A silent way of saying We Ride Together. I loved the movie and would highly recommend it to everyone out there. Its fun, beautiful, relatable..and the best part is everyone is so good looking :D

                                                   

Frankly this is all I wanted to talk about in this blog. Then I suddenly remembered that I had been pondering over something similar at the beginning of this year too..I remember I had even written a post about it but decided not to post it immediately as it felt a bit incomplete back then..So today I went back to that post and re-read it. Here is the 1st post , which now forms the continuation of my present article :)

"Today I read an old report on chessbase. It was a 2005 report about a chess tournament in Harlem, in which Ex Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili also participated. Nona is Georgian and was Women's World Champion for 17 years (!!). She is a living legend you could say.

What struck me was a photograph of Nona walking dejected after a loss in the 7th round. Her friend Käty van der Mije-Nicolau, who was also in World Top 10 for a long time & lives in the Netherlands now, was walking beside her . She has her arm around her and can be seen consoling Nona. Katy & Nona have been friends since 1961. Katy would come to the hall everyday to cheer for Nona. Nona won the tournament. At the age of 64. 

I was amazed ! 1st of all this woman still felt like playing competitive chess at 64. & her friend understood what it meant to her. I thought when I am 64 will I still be able to play chess ? Moreover will I have a friend who understands what it means to me even then ?

I feel whatever life we chose for ourselves, we should try and make atleast 1 friend who will do that for us - be there for us, encourage us, believe in our dreams, and fill our heart with gratitude for having him/her in our lives. No matter how old we get. or they get. & for whom we would do the same. "

So you see, my earlier incomplete post helped me complete my present day post..wonderful how life works out sometimes ! But thats not the most incredible part. The most incredible part was the date on the earlier post - It read 16th December 2014 ! Happy Birthday Vera ! :) <3<3<3

                                                 

                                                   
                                                        &  Dont forget to Dance !


( Sorry I am a bit late, my watch is exactly 1 day slow )


                                                   

My Best Friend's Wedding - & How I dint make it :O

At the beginning of last year I got an opportunity to go and stay at the Akademie Schloss Solitude , in Stuttgart, Germany , as a fellow scholar for a period of 3 months. Naturally I leapt at it with both hands..so I went there from Jan to March 2014.. This also meant that I missed my best friend Amruta's wedding. She was going to get married to the love of her life, Sagar, on 5th Feb 2014. I thought, chalega , wapas aake wish kar loongi. Anyway Marriage zyada imp hai na wedding se. Mujhe actually shaadi wagaira attend karna kabhi acha nahi laga. bachpan se me har shaadi par roti thi - out of boredom. I used to get soo bored and fed up of all the hellos and smiles I had to give away at weddings..and then wud feel even worse for the bride and groom who had to do it all day for god knows how many days at a stretch thanks to the fact that they were getting married ! Aur ek cheez mujhe aaj tak samajh me nahi aayi ; log shaadi karne pe congrats kyu bolte hai..Ideally they should wish the couple all the best, nahi ?  

Anyway, so all this, coupled with some thoughts like ' doston ke bure time pe unke saath hona zyada imp hai rather than unki shaadi attend karna ' made me feel totally ok about missing my best friend's wedding..and off I went. 

As the days to her wedding came nearer I started feeling oh, maybe I could have helped her with her shopping today had I been there..kuch last minute make up appointment hoga to I could have taken her with me..or nail art ! Like we did for shanku & srinidhi ..Eh Shanku se yaad aya, bachellorate party ka kya hua ? Wo to kiya hi nahi ! Shit man yaha aane se pehle hi kar lena chahiye tha..Shit Shit Shit. Ok wapas jaake me ek din amruta ko girls night out ko leke jaungi. Haan ye sahi hai..baaki ? uske cousins aaye rahenge na ab tak .. Hey sab friends ne dance set kiya ki nahi..yaar mujhe dance karna tha yaar amruta ki shaadi pe ! Bas ek hi to tammanna thi..

& suddenly it dawned upon me ki I was such a useless best friend ! I was missing the Most Important Day of her life ! For what..ok, this academy is really cool & I am really grateful to be here..but still..shes my best friend and I could not take her out for dress shopping or zero in on a bridal look with her, cudnt be her moral ( if needed physical ) support while she negotiated with the hallwala and the phoolwala, cudnt have any late night convs, share any boyfriend/ husband tips, scout for exotic honeymoon locations online ..or just go over for a stayover.. nothing ! Here I am in germany while she is some 5000 miles away..doing what ? I dont even know..

A week before her wedding I decided to make a gift for amruta. I thought maybe this would make her - actually me - feel slightly better about me not being present on her special day. I decided to make a collage of all the beautiful memories we have. I know amruta since I was 8 and she was 11, I know her properly since we were 10 & 13 respectively, and by the time we were 13 & 16 we had played countless tournaments together where I wud tag along with Prachi mavshi & Ams, had had countless fights - verbal & physical, had consoled each other after all those tears that come after losing - which was often, had attended two 1 month long camps, and after the 2nd camp - Calicut 2003 - we were Best Friends Forever :) 

                                                    Calicut Camp 2003

  Those days when attending a chess camp meant sharing secrets & making friends for life :)

Ya, so I decided to do this collage thing..& the 1st night I only cried..I cant explain why. Let me remind you weddings dont make me senti, at all, but this time I only cried. 

Then I finally got to making the collage the next day.  & one by one i started running through all those memories once again..

                2003 / 04 / 05..sweet memories with an ever affectionate friend :)

 

                                                             
                                                      December 2005

Oh this was on Anu's Birthday ..Anu's place was our fav hangout place when we were kids..i remember taking lots of pictures on webcam, online chatting with random people, sharing ghost stories over bhadang..& debating on who liked whom ! :D

                                                      MOSCOW 2007

This pic is of our 1st foreign trip together Aeroflot 2007 at Moscow ! Ek to humko tabhi aadhe se zyada cheeze khaneme problem thi. " Borsch soup ? - never !" upar se we dint even take rice cooker, just a small water kettle. To u know hum us tmt me bilkul khaana hi nahi khate the..maybe 1 time meal thts it ! Roz plan banate the aaj snow me jaenge, photo nikalenge..ek din himmat banake gaye bahar . It was -30 ! We literally freezed ! After every 2 clicks we wud get back in the well heated lobby , prepare ourselves for the next shot, & go out again . Haha..

                                          Academy Practise in 2008

I remember this time when we seriously started working on chess for the 1st time together - in around August 2004, when Amruta was the reigning National Sun Junior Champion..thanks to our practise sessions I also won my first title soon - U-17 nationals.This pic was taken at Abhijit dada's academy in 2008, where many of us pune players worked together for an year and our playing strength ( & ratings ) simply escalated ! On this particular day  me, Amruta & Eesha decided to 'rebel' & 'bunk class' & go for a movie, just to get the feel of being a regular college kid ..we ended up watching Bombay to Bangkok. Karma. Bas usi ki tickets thi ya hamari choice itni kharab thi, yaad nahi. Par uske baad kabhi bunk nahi mara class ko. 

                                                  4th November 2009

On the night I returned from Argentina as the new World junior girls champion. One of the happiest moments of my life. Amruta, Anu and Sneha made it all the more special for me by decorating my house that night, and gave me a huge surprise as soon as I entered :)

                                                 

 A few more surprises: 8th August 2011, Barcelona. Amruta's 25th Birthday :)

THE ENGAGEMENT - Always enthusiastic! She specially designed their rings herself!

  

16th July 2013 : Amruta actually postponed her engagement date so that I could be there too ! How cute :) Love u for this, and lots of more moments like this. :)

Finally kaise to ye collage banaya..The tough part wasnt to collect all d pics, but to actually make it rather than just sit and ponder over all the memories from all these years.

( Collage ka backstory ye hai ki I dint send by post  on her wedding nor gave it to her the 1st time I met her after that. Somewot awkward lag raha tha everytime, as if its too late to make amends now..so finally gave it in August as birthday gift :p )

Sagar ne shaadi ke baad chessbase report likha tha unki shaadi pe. It was a chess themed wedding ! :) Report padhke ekdum feel aya jaise me wahi thi ..Kya masttt lag rahi Amruta..with all that jewellery..oh btw if u have read sagar's report then u must be knowing about the fact that amruta did not wear any gold on her wedding ( except for her wedding ring & mangal sutra ) as a mark of protest against all the pressure Indian parents are made to go through in order to make their daughter look all 'decked up & looked after' on her wedding day. Fiesty , aint she ? :) 

Ek din amruta aur sagar ke saath unka reception party ka video dekha..they had danced on 'me rang sharbaton ka' and 'agal bagal' that day..wo dekha..bohot sundar tha..bohot hi sundar ! Ekdum Made for each other :) 

I think this would be the right time to wish this super awesome total fun fabulous super loving & caring couple all the happiness in the world. I wish you a very very happy wedding anniversary, Congratulations on completing 1 year of marriage ! May you both have the happiest, most fulfilling and everlasting married life together :)

                                                       2008 - Forever 

Tum dono ko dekhke lagta hai ki now I know why we wish Congratulations & not all the best on weddings :)

Coming back to wedding video, fir maine dono ke friends ka dance dekha...bohot sahi naacha sabne..fir dj night tha to sab log nachne lage, amrutas parents, prathamesh, sagar's bhaiya bhabhi, his parents, friends, relatives, relatives's friends, friend's relatives, everyone..overall bohot mast lag raha tha video dekhke but at the back of my mind I thought yaar ek hi to tamanna thi , Amruta ki shaadi pe naachne ki ..

HISTORIC BRONZE AT CHESS OLYMPIAD 2014 - A DREAM COME TRUE FOR ALL OF US !!

Every chess player in the world who is serious about the game shares a common dream while growing up - to be world champion.

As he grows up and starts achieving laurels , experiences failure, and learns to bounce back -  he starts dreaming again. To play for his country. To win medals for his country.

And then there is the Chess Olympiad. The Ultimate Dream for every patriotic chess player . As a matter of fact, going through the process of becoming a professional sportsperson makes u patriotic automatically , so you can safely say that at the end of the day, despite the various complaints we have about the lack of support and encouragement for chess in our country, and despite the disappointing lack of interest by the general public and media in our game, all chess players are VERY patriotic. 

& then there is the Indian Chess Player. Every Indian chess player shares an additional dream. The dream of winning a team medal at the Chess Olympiad. Simply because we had never won a team medal - either in Open or in Women - yet. NEVER EVER, during the 90 year old history of the Olympiad.

& Today, that dream has come true. The Indian team created History by winning the Bronze Medal at the Chess Olympiad 2014 today at Tromso, Norway. Our young team consisting of Parimarjan Negi, SP Sethuraman, Krishnan Sasikiran, B Adhiban and MR Lalith Babu, with Coach RB Ramesh, stood 3rd among 177 teams and alllll the godamn best players in the world !

Maybe someone reading this, who doesnt follow chess as much, may think that I too was part of the team. Actually I was not . In fact when the Olympiad started I was initially very disappointed that I did not make it to the team - the Women's team - this time and did not even follow it much during the initial rounds. But then , partly because i simply could not stay away from following the olympiad for too long, and partly because better sense prevailed , I simply decided to enjoy this olympiad for now, learn from the games, prepare well in order to make it to the team next time, and cheer for my favourite teams, my friends and ofcourse -  for India !

Maybe someone reading this might think, hey ok so great they won bronze..we won so many medals in CWG, so many golds, wots the big deal if we won 1 more medal ? Firstly any medal won while representing the nation requires incredible effort and is praiseworthy. It lifts up the hope of an entire nation. Chess Olympiad , if anything, can be compared with the Olympics. Since chess, for some reason or the other, is not part of Olympics ( yet ) we have a separate Chess Olympiad every two years. It is a team championship, so the total score of all the players in each team in a particular match makes for the team score. So we have to not only play our individual games properly but also take care of the factors that come into play in a teamgame, like looking out for each other - if your teammate is in inferior position, u try to look for a win on your board and balance out the result  - , helping ur teammates out with their preparation before the game, believing in your teammates - building up their confidence, and playing with team spirit !! Combining individual factors with team ones and trying to find that perfect balance can be tricky. For eg, sometimes even if your teammate is in an inferior position, it could be a more prudent idea to play objectively on your board rather than going all out, and just believing in your teammates defensive abilities. Once when my teammate was in a slightly difficult position I tried to force a win on my board in an equal positon..& ended up with an inferior endgame while my teammate won her game in the next 10 mins !! So I spent the rest of the game cursing myself for my foolishness , though finally I was lucky enough to save the game. Quite a difficult situation , aint it !?

There are 5 players in each team, & with 4 boards on each table. That means that on any given day only 4 out of the 5 team members play & the 5th one is kept as reserve. This in turn means that even though u get to know which team u r playing the next day on the previous night itself, u get to know who exactly is your opponent ( among the 5 team members ) only a few hours before the round. This makes preparing for Olympiad games all the more difficult. Add to it all the pressure, tension, drama. Add to it the fact that almost all the countries in the world play chess and since the chess olympiad is supposed to be a celebration of chess, they have done away with any qualification process, meaning that all of these countries actually participate !! So this year there were 177 teams in the Open section and 136 teams in the Women's. WHOA !! 

& Lastly, we have 11 rounds in chess. We do not follow a knockout format. While the knockout format has its pluses and minuses, I feel playing all the 11 rounds, irrespective of result, is a real test of your strength. Cause that means you need to perform well consistently , and if you lose, u absolutely NEED to bounce back ! Nothing doing. 

NOW can you imagine what it takes to win a medal at the Olympiad ?? Now do you know what a big deal it is ??

IT IS A HUGGEEE DEAL !!!

I truly Hope that our country and our Government realises this, and rewards the players and the team coach for their Historic Achievement, in a befitting manner. Images of Leander Paes winning Olympic Bronze at the 1996 Olympics are still fresh in my mind. I hope the images of our team winning the Olympiad Bronze in Olympiad 2014 will also remain fresh in India and her people's minds for years to come. 

On a personal front, I was staring at the results page for about 45 mins , looking at the Indian Flag at the 3rd position. I was so happy. I am so happy. 

For years this sport was completely dominated by USSR. When we got our 1st GM in Vishwanathan Anand, USSR already had atleast a 100. But Anand showed that 1 Indian is enough !! :) After winning World Juniors in 1987 and breaking into the elite in 1991, there was no stopping him ! He went on to become 5 times World Champion and will be playing for the World Crown again in the coming November. I am sure this Bronze is also going to be a stepping stone for even greater laurels for Indian Chess. Now that dream of winning an Olympiad Medal has been fulfilled. Now every Indian Chess Player will share a new dream - of Winning Olympiad GOLD ! :) 

Thanks TEAM INDIA - CHESS OLYMPIAD 2014 for making our dreams come true and allowing us to dream bigger !! :) Super proud of you !! So well deserved ! 

My experience at Solitude : A sudden realisation.

I know I havent written for a veryyy long time, though my initial promise to myself was to write every week !

But i just dint find the inclination..thoda tha, par itna nahi..so just dint..

But today i experienced something deep..that i would like to share here ..

A quick background info 1st  :

Well, so in July 2010 I played this tournament in Benasque, Spain. I was 21 years old & it was the 1st time that I had planned to play a few tournaments in Europe - on my own -  unlike with this whole team , which is what we normally do. So well ofcourse i was very excited esp since Benasque was the 1st of these 4 tournaments. Also benasque is a very beautiful & picturesque "hillstation" with exactly the kind of "ambience" that i preferred at that time - green hills & flowing rivers ! But i doubt if i would have felt any less happier or excited had it been the 91st time that i was travelling on my own ( cause 100 is always special rite ) or had benasque been this awefully boring town. As i was just in a happy space in my life then. I was in loooooveeee with chess and I loved just being able to play chess. I remember I made A LOT of good friends in this tournament..I was not much bothered about my immediate results etc. I was hunting for my final IM norm at this time, & i happened to miss it & I dint even win a prize actly, but I was sure it was just a matter of time before that I started achieving my dreams !

                                                      ME AT BENASQUE :)
                                        ( my t shirt reads "beautiful inside" :) )

Many times in the past 4 years i have longed to go back to that moment and be that person again. So confident, happy & thankful for this life - for no seemingly obvious reason ! Sure, I was the reigning World junior champion , but I had also lost rating in ALL the tournaments that i played in post world juns ! So many times, especially after a bad tmt, i I have longed to go back to that time , that mindset..been jealous of that 21 year old me.

( On a side note : Maybe 21 year olds generally feel more confident as they havent experienced much of life yet but think they do, as they are not 'juniors' any more ? Also, my feelings about my former self maybe a bit exaggerated as I once read that we have a tendency to romanticise the past..well anyway u got the picture. )

One speciality of my time at Benasque was my daily routine of going for long walks atleast 3 times a day..! morning, afternoon & evening..just to clear my mind & feel good..I remember there was this beautiful "long walk road" of mine..with flowers, & trees, & hills & rivers..

Each time that I walked down this road, I felt so lucky to be able to experience something like this, to come to europe , to be able to be a chessplayer and play chess..I would wonder what can get better than this ?

Well..

So, I m here at solitude for the past 3 months rite ? & there is this HUGE forest behind our academy, have i mentioned that ? Infact this castle was built by the duke so that he & his family could stay here while he went out for his hunting escapades in the forest behind..& well, a lot of people go for walks in the forest so even i would have followed in my 1st month , had it not been for "The Legend of the Hungarian Guy & the Wild Pig " . Well so there was this hungarian fellow at solitude last year who was attacked by wild pigs in the forest & had to be hospitalised & sent back to hungary ! I heard his story in my 1st week here, with mixed up details ofcourse, so was super scared of going anywhere near the forest...

    A pic I found on the net depicting an aerial view of Solitude surrounded by the forest.

But last week, i finally DARED ! I figured, well every1 goes..so it must be ok..yeah well its not the best policy to follow the herd but sometimes it works out fine. So follow I did :) & since i have seen bhaag milkha bhaag now & also have access to the songs from that movie, I regard jogging / running to be a better form of exercise than walking these days. So I decided to go for a jog in the forest..& i try to go everyday now..well its the most surreal beautiful liberating experience..

The pathway from Solitude which leads up to the forest

                            

In the day

 Today evening

                                   

Today as i was about to enter the "solitude forest"..i looked around..it was 6.20 pm..so the moon was out , a full moon at that ! but it wasnt dark yet..there was the golden glow of the sun, which made the trees look half brown & half orange..huge talll thin trees on both sides & so many pathways in between..providing u with so many crossroads & choices..i just go straight as this awesome inspiring music i am listening to keeps saying "bas tu bhaag milkha " .. so i dont think and just run. I pause it from time to time to listen to the sounds of the forest..its eery / calm / chirpy..it could be anything u want actually :) there is even a cute little cottage in middle of the forest & its open in day time - so u can sit there & read a book & have tea .. & u know whats the best feeling ? The best feeling is to run all the way & reach this particular point - & look around. Usually there are a lot of people running & cycling on those tracks but they keep moving rite - so when I reach this place & look around, theres no one.. & i can simply gaze till very very far in all the four directions, with me in the centre, as if I have conquered something. It makes me feel like the HERO of my movie!

The running track 

                                                Had a full moon today evening

So today evening, just as I was about to enter the forest and was thinking about all that I was going to experience inside, it hit me - THIS TOPS BENASQUE MAN !

No more regrets about leaving benasque behind anymore ;

               " There are far far better things ahead than the ones we leave behind " 

                                                           - C.S. Lewis.

                                                                      :)

Sorry , the pics from the forest are not so great as i took them from my phone and it was evening already..Will upload better pics as soon as i take some :) 

My experience at Solitude : A day trip to Switzerland !

Date : 16th Jan 2014

To be honest it was very difficult to write this post , because there is just soooo much to write about and sooo many pictures to share ! I dont know if I will be able to describe all the beautiful sights i saw and convey all the emotions I felt during this trip - which infact lasted only 14 hours and nothing major happened either - I'll try !

So, did I suddenly decide to just take a bag and go and see switzerland all by myself, within the 1st week of my arrival to germany ? Ok, I can be impulsive I know, but not so much ! Last week I met the officials of the Stuttgart Chess club - Claus and Bernd - who happen to be just very warm and friendly. I am still getting used to not being shocked when i meet them cause they are just tooo sweet !

Thats me with Bernd and Ana Matnadze on the left and thats Claus on the right.

Ana is georgian but settled in Spain, She saved me from total isolation by co-incidentally chosing the same time as me for her solitude fellowship :)

One of their club members, Vera Nebolsina , who also happens to be an ex fellow of Solitude , was having a 'performance on chess ' ( !! ) at St. Gallen, Switzerland on the 16th and so I, along with Ana , tagged along with Claus and Bernd to cheer for Vera and also to check out exactly how pretty is switzerland..is it worth  the hype ? !

Our route. St. Gallen is a 3.5 hour drive by car from Stuttgart, but we had 2 stops in between  - The picturesque town of Stein am Rhein and the famous Lake Constance !

On the way to swiss I was constantly confused about whether we were still in germany or had crossed the border as the area around sttugart is also very clean, picturesque, full of cute houses with those typical fensterladen windows and vast green stretches of land..

Soo how do u know that u r in switzerland ? 

1. U will see the snow clad Swiss Alps and squeal in excitement ! 

The sky was such a beautiful blend of blue white and grey tht day, tht its difficult to figure out where the mountains end and the sky begins..

2. U will see ponies and horses crossing the road :)

3. U will find that most of the houses and buildings are joint to one another and if its a bunglow then it has its walls painted with these typical designs  -

4. Germany has clean streets and fresh air but in Switzerland the streets will be cleaner and the air purer !

5. Everything will be much more expensive !! :)

But none of these pointers cud have prepared me for Stein Am Rheim, for I never thought such a place could exist in today's times ! The entire town is so beautiful and artistic, tht you feel as if u r inside a painting, a movie, a theme park, a book ..  in a different era altogether ! 

                                       
                                         STEIN AM RHEIN !

WITH ITS BEAUTIFULLY PAINTED WALLS !

Well, infact this town was built in the medieval era, so now u know why one feels so ! They have managed to preserve most of the ancient buildings as not much of the town was destroyed in the war. Infact Stein Am Rhein was even awarded some prize for preserving its architectural heritage ! Many of the buildings are inhabited by people, though i think these extra artistic ones, like the one u see above, are just preserved, to be admired from a distance. 

The Rathaus ( Town hall, seen in the pics above ) was built in 1500.  

                                       
                          an elegant fountain in the middle of the tiny street 

                                          

                             i was clearly delighted :)

u will find many ancient motifs and even gothic concepts on the wall paintings and architure. For eg. Wot u see in this above pic is the village church, with 2 dragons on its sides with water coming out of their mouths in earlier times !

                                         
                                         Built in 1478, and still inhabited !

                                   

                                         Me having eine schone zeit ! 

And once you are done admiring all these pretty buildings, u discover the river rhein calmly running through this town , offering a place to just sit in solitude amidst nature..but tht I can do even in stuttgart and we had to be at St. Gallen on time so we decided to move on ..

                                       

I have realised - if u want to see Europe, u shud go and see the tiny towns and villages. And travel by flight as less as possible..try and make friends with some1 from tht town or atleast tht country..If u r a chess player, u cud just visit one of the local chess clubs and make friends easily ! The country side and natural sights are the most beautiful..the air is clean, fresh..with hills, rivers and castles around u ! Cities to sab ek jaise hi hote hai. Its enough if you see just 1 or 2. Barcelona dekh lo to lagta hai sabse happening city dekh liya duniya me ! Also, if u r one of those people who have this compulsive habit of listening to music while travelling, then make sure u forget ur headphones at home and just look out of the window while u r out there ! U dont wanna miss that..be in the moment ! Talk to people around u, get to know them, the place..observe..its much nicer to get to know about things through conversations and discovery rather than through google !


Will write about the rest of the trip in Part 2 ..till then hope u liked the pics & ciao !