Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Friday, October 13, 2006
Eurotrip 2006 : Amsterdam 1st Oct - 3rd Oct & 7th Oct - 8th Oct
Well...Everybody has his or her own notion of amsterdam...the sin city of sex and drugs, the city of liberation, the city which has always been in the forefront of thought revolution and absorbing new ideas. What I saw was how easily the life of sex and drugs blends with the normal life over there. how roaming the streets of red light district is as normal as taking a walk in any park with your children and kins. Well my journey to all these realizations started on 2nd of October (Monday). The day before I had been to Munich to attend the Oktoberfest. Earlier that week i had been impatient with my (lack of) travel plans. and made a marathon plan to go tripping for two weeks including tours of Amsterdam, Copenhagen, brussels and Paris. Had to leave Milan at night. The bus journey to the dutch city was painfully long but somehow survived. Interestingly the bus was almost vacant and i had all my space to stretch myself in all possible directions. Before that I had mailed Soumitra .my school friend who had to stay at this place. I reached Amsterdam in the evening. The traffic leading to Amsterdam from Rotterdam was hopeless. When i landed in Amstel station I headed straight to the info center ..who was quite helpful to find me my metro stop, but i decided to call Padhi up before going. After few unsuccessful attempts and a small help by a german guy I called soumitra and he instructed me to wait there. After a wait of about 20 mins he came and we headed to his home. A nice place well equipped with guitar and amps..i can never complain. Anyways we grabbed some munchies and headed off to see what Amsterdam is famous for. Located just in front of the Central Station with convoluted alleys we saw things never as blatant and well...open;)) Hundreds of tall windows with red lights and beautiful gals behind them soliciting customers. Some were so beautiful tat they could easily and very easily they can give top models a run for their money. Things are totally transparent there. If you want to fuck a girl simply go to her window and ask the price. Standard is 50 euros for a fuck and suck..with additional service very dependant on the request and the girl. Just the fact tat i can get a beautiful girl for 50 euros which i can never get by conventional means gave me a high. But then i decided against it.. We just saw most of the area .. girls and women from al races were visible there. Not just girls behind the windows..there were girls...well tourists outside as well . It was so strange seeing female tourists enjoying the sights of these prostitutes.. Dint seem that they felt offended. Well ...after talking to few of these gals we got bored and simply headed back to our house.. Reaching home we weere greeted by his room mates who had prepared nice indian food.. i was so delighted to have authentic indian food after so many days. Nice chappatis and sabzi and achaar and dahi ...simply hogged.We all slept off pretty early ..considering that all of them had jobs to go ..i just watched a bit of Tv played some guitar and dozed off ..Next day soumitra gave his cell to me before leaving office so that we remain connected. Anyways ...i made a stupid folly and switched if off to put my sim card.. dint know that the system out here requires u to key in the pin number before restarting.. All efforts to call him from outside went down the drain ..and after giving up fully I headed straight to the central station.. Most of the sights tin amsterdam are located near the Central...nearby the RLD. There were lots of coffee shops selling marijuana, hash and magic mushrooms. However i decided to postpone my experiment plans and saw the places around. They werent that impressive to be frank ..but then nobody comes to amsterdam to see monuments ..do they ?? ..By evening i was tired of seeing the same places..and i went back home after changing my euros to Danish kroner..i was supposed to leave for denmark the next morning ..(( Check the Copenhagen scribes )) I returned from Copenhagen on Saturday dawn..Was pretty tired even though i had slept all night.. Reached home simply lied down on the bed.. After a lazy lunch ..we all decided to go to a mall ...while on the way back i decided to call up some ppl in paris and brussels...i could find the cheap phones only near the RLD ..After calling i decided to try out some of the forbidden fruits of amsterdam...(dont run ur minds wild guys..i meant entertaintment drugs)..Was really enthu to try out magic mushrooms but then changed my mind and took home a big joint of marijuana instead..I was really all excited to get high..Now i had smoked pot before and it never was that strong as they sell in Amsterdam..I smoked the entire joint ..which was like 3 or 4 normal joint in about 10 mins.. Man i got high ....My head was totally doing rounds....it was like i was in a roadrash game...with colourful tracks and buildings passing by me.. God it was awesome...My senses got numb .but my perceptions of colours and sounds got enhanced like never before ..I could see colours and hear sounds which no one in room could hear.. I somehow managed to get up and went to my bed with great difficulty..I simply lied down on my bed...Cant explain the high that i was feeling...totally wasted ..no sense to do anything...it was like there were two identitities in my head...one the sensible one ..the other high one...the drug was twirling my brain and childhood memories started flashing before me..memories that had never come back...All was fine for about an hour ..but then things started to worsen..i started feeling thirsty...my tongue and my throat started drying up ..i was just gasping my friends name ...not enough energy left to call aloud ..somehow i managed to call him ..he brought water in a bottle ..by that time my feet was drying up ....like no blood flow ...and that feeling started climbing up my legs...things worsening more..i gulped the entire bottle and strted asking for more... he was refusing to give me more...but i kept asking... finally i stomach got full and when i thought that i am bursting ..i threw up in the toilet ... it was simply water ...i then again asked for water...i kept drinking like crazy ..he refused to give me ..so i begged to him that i wont drink any more and sent him back ...but i kept filling the bottle fromthe bathroom and kept on drinking and puking ..made a total mess of the toilet ...but the puking was not helping me ..the high in my head was still there ...and i was starting to get depresed that this thing..this chain will never end...the drug always multiplies the feeling that u get ...i got depressed even more... started feeling like this is the end of the world and tat i am not goign to see the sun again.,..i started remembering my family and friends before dying ..there was a constant struggle between the two entities in my head...one was trying to tell me that everuthign will be fine ..the other was trying to discourage me and that my time in this world is over...some how i gathered my will power and managed to stay calm ..i drank water and kept on pukiing to throw that crug outta my system..finally the better side triumphed ...and strted feeling well ...i went and slept...Next day i was sorry for my behaviour ..i apologised to every body ...dint go out and and dint smoke a single ciggarette...entire day i was reflecting on wat had happened the previous nite and on how i was stretching my life ..the precious gift that i have got ...on how i became selfish and dint realize that my life is not only important to me but for my parents my family and ppl who care about me.. So many ppls aspirations are tied to me ..i cannot be so careless ...The day just passed ..i had to go to brussels the other morning ...I slept early ..
Next morning I bade good bye to everybody ..they had been really considerate to me..
Eurotrip 2006 : Munich 30 Sept - 1st Oct
In this trip, I enjoyed the most amazing party in europe. I had booked earlier for this Oktoberfest trip which was being organised by Bocconi student club called ESEG.We were six guys from India. All exchange students. The bus tripwas about to start at 11 pm at night but thanks to the highly (un)professional (mis)management of ESEG staff (comprising mostly of young guys desperate to get laid with the exchange gals), we commenced our trip one hour late. The bus was packed with young ppl shouting and unfortunately we got the worst seats coz we came late. However beginning our trip with some classic snaps by maulik, we waited for the fun that we had heard of. The entire trip was aweful with cramped seats and zero legspace. I dint think we would have any energy left to enjoy the next day. We reached the next day at about 9:30 am. The sight was amazing. Germans in ethinic Bavarian dresses were flocking to the Beer TENTS, singing and dancing. Enough to charge me up. We all started towards the big enclosed area which housed like 30-40 tents including all fun fair stuff. Women wore the long frocks and men were wearing leather breaches( the one you see clowns wearing). Was quite surprised to see the tents to be totally full this early, people were guzzling beer out of those monstrous jugs. Finally we managed to get into one big tent "Hippodrum". We made a backdoor entry otherwise we would not have been able to make it. Inside was great. Six of us took a table, the waitress came and stood for order. We checked the prices which were awefully inflated but what the heck we have to the biggest beer drinking party of the world and we were not going to be shooed away bythe prices. We ordered 5 mugs. After waiting quite a bit our order came. Man that was the tastiest beer i have ever tasted in my life. It was kinda sweet and refreshing. We smoked and drank when a merry group came along and asked for some seats besides us. We gladly obliged. It was so much fun. The german band on the highly elevated platform used to put their one foot up and bottom up the entire jug and then play incomprehensible german beer songs. But it was fun watching them. ppl dancing all around. The toilet was always packed since ppl were eating and drinking like crazy. We all guzzled upto some 10 jugs of beer and ate some exotic food (ox meat) which was tasty. FInally we headed out to see some of the fair. It was very crowded outside. Maulik, who is not used to much of drinking ..threw up on the road. After puking for 2-3 times he was fine. We went outside and lied down on the green grass laughing over the things during the day. Our bus departure was late night at 1. We roamed around, went again inside the tent got some food. Tired we all got into the bus and crashed. My head was achuing like crazy and more so coz I was leaving to Amsterdam the oher day and I had to get the camera as well as do all the packing and stuff. However I put all those headaches behind my actual headache and dozed off.
Eurotrip 2006 : Barcelona 21st Sept - 24th Sept
This was my first trip in Eurolines and also my trip alone. Wouldnt lie but i was definetely scared as I was travelling alone to a new country, Spain. With all the language problems things werent quite hunky dory. My start was very bad. The day I was supposed to go I decided to take a printout of the eurolines timetable. So as I started to the univ in the afternoon to take the printouts. To my surprise i found out that there are no return buses from Barcelona for a month. Being totally confused, I headed back home with mixed feelings to cancel my trip. But then I decided to take the plunge and head for the adventure. Having already wasted much time thinking things over, I packed whatever i had and then rushed to the bus station. I just managed to reach on time. When I boarded the bus I got a seat beside quite a hot spanish girl who unfortunately dint know a word of english (As if I stood a chance if she knew it). Howver whatever little chance was there got snatched when she ditched the place beside me and went to sit across me beside a handsome spanish guy. While i was left nursing my wounds both of them romped the whole night. The only saving grace was that I got to see a live soft porn flick for free. Anyways after the bad night, I decided to put the rejection behind and move on. Was a bit worried about how would i be able to find my hostel. The bus landed in quite a big place and the first thing that i did was to find out the buses back to milan. Thankfully there was one available the next day. I immediately booked it and then went to a tourist information center to get info but it wasnt quite helpful. Fortunately i met this guy who knew english and helped me with tickets n all. Felt quite duped to find out that my hostel was quite far from the city center. After landing on the nearest station Vallvedrera, I found out that i have to trek some half a kilometer uphill to my hostel (Sleep well). Hostel was quite good with the exception of the stern receptionist. I put my stuff in my locker and headed out with a map to Barca. Needless to say, I found it quite impressive. The square outside the main station was teeming with tourists and it was beautiful too. Apparently a festival had just started and there were lotsa bands playing all around. After roaming about the station i headed off to the famous Ra Lamblas street. It was unquestionably the most lively street in europe. (nobody can beat India). With people posing with their faces painted to exotic eatouts to some nice shopping ..u will find them all ..The street led to the sea port which was kind of guarded by the tower of Coloumbus. Port looked quite busy. Not interested in ports i headed off to the famous topless beaches of barcelona. But weather had other plans for me. Was quite overcast with some intermittent showers and all that i could see were topless men. Dejected I returned to la ramblas and hanged around there and saw the cathedrals and other places nearby . Most of barcelona`s touristy places are around there. I went to Granja Viader which is a 125 years old dairy and had the most amazing hot choclate and cream of my life...simply amazing. During the evening, I saw the many bands playing around the station square. After dinner, I headed back to my hostel. While I was hanging out smoking ..i met this polish guy and a uruguyan gal. The girl had been to india and she loved it. We immediateòy hit it off and next we were smoking hash. The next day after a nice and free breakfast I headed off to Museo Picasso. I had always loved his paintings. Among the many monuments that i saw ..La Sagradia Familia was quite good. I returned back to my hostel around 3 pm. My bus back to Milan was at 5. I checked out of the hostel and headed to the bus station. Reached well ahead time. Next I was dozing off in the bus quite oblivious to the arabic couple and their wailing baby.
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