Sweden

Øresund Bridge

St. Peter's Church

Malmo Park

Øresund From Top

Malmo Castle

The Nordic Windmill

Turning Torso - Sweden's Tallest Building

I travelled across the Øresund Bridge on Saturday to go to Sweden. Malmo, the nearest Swedish town is beautifully small. For someone like me who has come from a behemothic country with those big gargantuan cities, Malmo is quite a revelation. It is small, it is extremely modern and absolutely deserted.

But first about this bridge to Scandinavia. Øresund bridge is the long desired connection between Denmark and its other Nordic brethrens which was opened a couple of years back. It has a kind of two layered design - 2 rail tracks below and a four lane road on the top. It is possibly (again not sure but Wiki atleast says so) the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe and zooms straight into and across the Øresund strait.

When it comes to the suspension part of it Kolkata's Vidyasagar Setu will give it strong competition. Infact the cable stayed part of it may be shorter than the Vidyasagar setu and much less spectacular. But when my Greyhound bus zoomed into the 4 km long undersea tunnel and zoomed out onto the bridge I knew what was special about this bridge.

Compared to the Øresund bridge Malmo would appear very staid. But this small town boasts of its own little walking street and hosts Sweden's tallest building. Aptly called the Turning Torso this building takes a 90 degree swirl as shoots up into the sky.

Unlike Copenhagen, Malmo is peppered with Indian restaurants. Either the Indian presence in Malmo is more or the Swedish have a tongue for our spices. But I have vowed not to visit an Indian restaurant when I am out of India. I am trying to make the most of it by eating as much non-Indian as possible. That does not mean I dont like Indian food but this is my time to savour non Indian delicacies.

Malmo is so small you can pretty much walk around the city in a day. And thats exactly what I did. While on our way to the Central Staion we stopped by at the St. Peter's Church. Who is this St. Peters. How come most cities have a church in his name? Like any other magnificent church this one too stands out like a majestic old man who gets better with age but never quite dies.

At the onset I had decided not to focus on the shopping street but rather see the other side of Malmo. The more of history I can get the more it helps me to realize the significance of my time. So we went straight to Kungsparken & Slottsparken - the green manicured expanse just adjoining the Malmo Castle. The highlight here was the Slottsmöllan or the Windmill. This one has been preserved from the Nordic times. And it is quite a sight.

The Technology museum is a stone's throw away from the Malmo Castle. They have a World War II submarine - U31. You can go into it and get an idea of the life inside a submarine. I checked out the kitchen and the toilet (pics to be uploaded later). Most interesting were the old motor cycles, cars, marine equipments, rail engines, torpedos and what not. Works of geniuses who were always ahead of their time but are now caged inside a museum. 3 hours flew by and we were not reading much since it was all in Swedish.

Next stop was the Malmo Castle, the highlight of my Malmo trip. A modern musuem housed inside an ancient castle, happily coexisting, each enhancing the others charm. It houses a make-believe dungeon, slaughter house with sound effects et al. It also houses an aquarium, a reptile museum and ofcourse a modern art gallery. I lingered on till I was driven away at 4 pm.

It was raining outside and it was cold. We did not have too much protection. So it was time to return home to Copenhagen and temporal reality. So back we were by the same Greyhound across the Øresund again.

My only regret - I did not buy a Sweden Tshirt for June. I was too much into the conversion game. But I have learnt my lesson and have vowed not to repeat the act. Bloody Indians.


P.S. I do not have a camera with me on my trip. That is making the trip more mystical you see. Till now I was happily dependent on my colleague's camera and the arrangment was fine. The gem of a person that Anand is, he has forgotten to bring his card reader. So his camera is done for the trip and there is no way I can upload the photos till I am in India. So all photos that you see are placeholders taken from various sites to give an idea of where I went. The same, I hope, will be replaced by the ones taken by me. I am sure all this is driving me closer to my long awaited digital camera.

About Sharad Pawar's Cricket Team?

Amidst all the news on Copenhagen this post is about a game that I used to follow till the Sharad Pawar captured it. I found it hilarious. It made it to my blog because it was written by someone from down south.

1. Chappell is an expert in the intricacies of the modern game and is at the cutting edge of coaching techniques. He has had over a year in the job to stamp his influence on the team.
2. Chappell has more support staff than any other coach, including an assistant coach, physical trainer, physiotherapist, psychologist and captain of his choice.
3. Dravid “leads from the front”, a shining example for the team to follow. Dravid does not possess the arrogance of Ganguly and is loved by one and all. Also he does not keep the opposing captains waiting for the toss nor does he tear off his shirt in jubilation and wave it in full view of the spectators.
4. Selectors have chosen a team of youth, as requested by the coach and captain. They move fast in the field and the lazy players have been thrown out.
5. The team is being schooled in lateral thinking and flexibility and is being motivated by Dr Webster.

Most important, the arrogance and non performance of the former captain Ganguly was confined to the dustbin of history, and his disruptive influence on team morale is now non-existent. Team morale is higher under Dravid.

Yet, we do not win. I wonder why?

Posted on www.ibnlive.com on Monday , October 30, 2006 at 17:59 by a Non-Bengali and from someone down south

A trivia.. after Anil Kumble got into the one day side and R.P. Singh was booted out

- When you boot out young players you say "We need experience"
- When you include a young player you say "We need to Youth"
- When you boot out an older player you say "We need to Youth"
- When you include an older player you say "We need experience"

I guess cricket selection is becoming like software. You have the templates. Just use it as per your convenience.

Pardon me Opu I still sometimes read newspapers and thats how I came to know India had played Australia and Greg Chappell made his nation proud...

Just as you take the harbour ride on little boat this Opera House stands out like a monument of modernity amidst all the history of the other building. The shipping giant Maersk is behind this endevour and has spend close to $ 26 billion behind this (please check the numbers i may be wrong.

This is the pedestrian street - an ultimate shopper's paradise and supposedly one of the longest walking street of the world. No vehicles are aloud to ply on this stretch of road. Lots of designer shops and ofcourse the street musicians.

The First Fortnight

It has been a fortnight in Copenhagen. Most of time was spent around the City Center, the town square, the pedestrian street and the new harbour.

Friday the 13th was culture night at Copenhagen. About 300 events were taking place simultaneously across the city. One had to buy a pass of 70 kroners and you could walk into any of those events. And with same pass you could avail any public transport to take you there.

Each year it gets organised by the government here. The city is awake till the wee hours of the morning. Roads are choc a bloc. But it was fun. I went to the Gyptotek and watched some modern dance. I also visited the Round Tower or the Observatory and did some stargazing.

And ofcourse I went to the Museum Erotica. Most of my colleagues were dissappointed by it. But since I quite like museum visits I liked this one as well. Museums help me to go back in time. They help you feel history, realtime. So you know what I mean. But more of Museum Erotica later.

This post is supposed to summarise my first fortnight. I was initially staying in Cab Inn City. It is a very good budget hotel located at the heart of the city. Its a complete service hotel where you need to carry your bags and make your own coffee. Pretty business like and they do not compromise of cleanliness and professionalism.

But a week down the line we moved into an apartment in Fredriksberg. It belongs to Jim, a project manager in Danske. The apartment is functional. There is no TV or Internet, so I am already half into my first book. Its an excellent neighbourhood. But all neighbourhoods in Copenhagen are like that.

Office days are usually routine. The 10 minute walk to the Fasanvej metro station starts at 7:20 am. Till about 8 am it is still pretty dark. And it is getting darker still. Metros run every 2 minutes. So it doesnt take much to reach the Flintholm Street station. From there Bus no. 142 takes me to Ejby Industrivej. Thats where my client Danske Bank is located.

The lunch at Danske is a delight. For people like me who kind of search around for continental food in Indian cities it could not get much better. But details of the same again in a seperate post.
People in Copenhagen work for 37 hours a week. So you start by 8:00 am and pretty much finish by 4:30 pm. In weekends the office is empty by 3 pm.

On my way back home I usually go to one of the many malls around trying to check out the stuff. It is a stressful exercise. Because each time you look at the article you multiply its price by 7 or 8 and then try and find its weight.

Back at the apartment we usually cook. I must say till now we have never been able to get the rice right. Usually its getting overcooked. At most times office follow me at home since my room mates are from ITC. So after rounds of PNPCs its back to bed with a book.

Thats a weekday at Copenhagen for me....

Diary of Danish Dreams

How is it like sitting in one of the most hep neighbourhoods of Copenhagen with soulful Red Indian music playing on your earphones while you tap away on your keyboard? Those who have experienced similar kind of phenomenas would know. Its ethereal. And for the first since landing at Copenhagen I feel like writing.

So here starts my Danish Diary...

Starting Pangs

The airport at Delhi was not one of the best places for a first timer like me. It was worse than our Howrah station. And it did not help that I chose to be ignorant about how much baggage I was supposed to carry. I paid heavily and I felt harassed.

So naturally did not enjoy my first international flight courtesy Air France. A lot was on offer but I had just one meal and no wine. And I slept through my first international flight.

To complicate matters my fellow passenger had some word of advice for me at every stage. Not letting go a single chance to show that they were more travelled than me. The same colleagues never chose to inform me that for Europe you can take only 20 kgs for check in baggage.

But I have promised that my Danish Dairies would not have any scorn or negativity in it. So this is about as much scornful it will get.

What a sight! What a Welcome!

So after a brief stopover at Paris' Charles De Gaulle airport I was on my way to CPH. The food that was served in transit was grossly inadequate. I was waiting for my first jet lag to arrive and was yet to enjoy my journey.

However it was when the plane was about land at the Copenhagen airport I had the first taste of what was to come. Denmark and Norway is connected by the Malmo bridge which kind of cuts across the ??????? sea. From the plane I could see only water with the pillars of the bridg pricking the sky like toothpicks. Slowly the bridge becomes visible. It cuts across the seaand dissappears. As the plane loses altitude it would seem like that it is about to land on water. But just when it would seem imminent the runaway just across the sea would appear from nowhere.
A red carpet getting rolled out. It is some sight and that was my welcome to Copenhagen.

More in next now that I have this Red Indian Music in land of clouds...