The Sweden inside my head - Part I

                   I want to make sure that this is about a country called 'SWEDEN', not Switzerland. I see a lot of people getting confused when I say Sweden. It's located in the north of Europe above Germany and Poland. Three things that immediately come to mind when I think about Sweden are its freezing winters, hot women and nature(no suitable adjective to describe it). Having said that, the land is actually filled with much more interesting things. When I first landed into the foreign land I was very pleased to receive such a polite welcome from both nature and people.   Politeness is something that could be found with Swedes (that's how Swedish people are called) at all times. Humor and sarcasicm are in their blood. They do not have great belief in religion but have ample morality and humanity. One important character that could be noticed very easily is their 'shyness'. It's really hard to make them speak. I was quite lucky since a few of my classmates spoke well. People often advice me to drink with them, cause that's when they loosen up and start talking. It was true in a way cause they would speak for hours when they're drunk (what happens the next day would be mind blowing). But there's another way as well. The magical word that would make every Swede speak is "FIKA". Swedes are so health conscious that even at -5 degrees, I see people jogging around. While its easy to hang out with them and go for parties, you should be lucky enough to be invited home as they expect a lot of privacy. Since they love to be alone at home, most of them have wonderful hobbies especially music. Every person who lived in my corridor played musical instruments.

                     Time is an important factor and everything goes as per plan for them. Most conversations among people begin with climate. Sweden does have four seasons as we read in school. But for me, there's only two. It's either snowing or raining. It's freezing cold during winter at north with temperatures dropping below -25 degrees at times.   The others seasons are usually filled with rain. The Sun shines pretty well but only for a few weeks. That's the time one is fascinated by the sheer beauty of nature. Lakes, rivers, trees  and flowers shine bright at the arrival of summer. it feels great to  be outdoors having a swim at the lake. Hot pants and bikinis are at their best. I wish it lasted the whole year. There are lot more things to speak about sweden. Will write them in upcoming weeks. 

The third eye..

                     I see them every day on the train as they come in groups. They make their typical clap and ask for money. Sometimes they behave so rude that it provokes anger but I soon realize that it's because of the way the society treats them. It looked disturbing in the beginning but as I confronted them everyday, I soon began to feel that they are the best part of evolution. They have the strength of men and love of women. I feel this is what men and women around the globe try to be seeking for. Every time she calls me as her brother, it melts my heart. At the same time, I know he could blow me down with a punch on my face. No doubt they are one of the great wonders created by nature. With such great qualities I'm sure they could manage to work in any company. It's a pity that even big companies haven't identified their potential, instead abandoned them. I believe that they hold the key to Darwin's theory of "Survival of the fittest". Unfortunately we don't appreciate such people when we see them right in from of our eyes. Instead we see them as a curse and burden to the society. We are not ready to accept them for what they are. In this 21^st century where we still keep debating about equality between men and women, do we even think about them? It's good that doctors and technology are not interested to identify them when they are born. If doctors did so, no doubt their mortality rate would be greater than female infanticide. We might also end up not being able to see such wonderful creations of nature. Our two eyes seem to look at men and women only. Maybe we need a third eye to see them as well.  

All in the name of "uniqueness" !!!

                    Quite recently I've noticed that there has been an outburst of the 'be unique' factor. People have started giving more importance to their appearance than ever before. People do so many things just to be different from others. Right from watches, tattoos, shoes, nail polish, hair color, the list goes way beyond one can imagine. This has been well exploited by commercial products. Their slogan is quite simple 'Designed for you, by you'. I've seen a lot of people fall prey for this.  I too became a part of this when I received a mail from my bank stating that I could have my picture as the background of my debit card. I thought it was a cool idea and ordered for one such card. I was very happy to have my custom picture as the background on my debit card. It was great to have one (at least to me). Only then I started looking at the differences around me. It was fun to see how people were doing their best to make them look different. A few of my friends bought things just because others did not have it. They believed popularity would welcome them which is true in a way. Celebrities became the talk of the town and all of them have started promoting brands.

                    On the other hand, there are lot of gossips going around about these differences.  I started noticing the dark side of this when I saw people criticize others. While it was fun in the beginning, I felt  that people were reluctant to accept those who did not have similar preferences to them.  Peer pressure started playing a big role as well. Smoking and drinking have become a prerequisite for parties. If one had to be a part of the team, he/she had to be like others irrespective of their own choice. The society also seems to be growing more intolerant towards others. While it's good to be yourself  it's not necessary to change yourself for the sake of others. At the same time we need to learn to accept and respect the difference in others. I believe the same holds true for ideologies as well. Now that I have written a post in my own style, I've become a unique writer :P.

How I got fooled into love

                     Neha was my best friend since school and we use to spend a lot of time together chatting over nothing. Both of us had similar liking towards reading and travelling. School was always the best part of my life. We ended up in the same college as well but in different departments fortunately. Still we spend a lot of time together during breaks and weekends. As usual gossips went around with me and Neha being in love. But the least thing I was interested in by then was to be in a relationship. I always loved to hang around with friends and explore the globe. Years flew by and our friendship grew stronger. I never thought that I would fall in love with her until that one day. I went to meet her at home as usual and we decided to go for a walk. Her mom told us to return soon to breakfast. It was early morning and the sun looked beautiful with its orange smile. As we were walking down the lane, she asked me how she looked. I've looked at her face a thousand times before and I was sure it was not gonna be different today. As always, I told her that she looked pretty even though she looked the same to me as when we were kids. She held  my hand and asked the same question again. Finally I took some time to look at her and said "you look pretty.....gorgeous".  Wait. Did I just say that she looked gorgeous? Yeah she did look gorgeous today and her eyes looked prettier than ever.  The moment she heard those words, she couldn't hide the blush in her face. While I was wondering why I said that, I received a call from my parents asking me to come home immediately. My lips bid bye to her unwillingly as I left home. While at home, I couldn't forget her face. I resisted to speak with her a few days after that. Things became normal after a week and I felt a big sigh of relief. Unfortunately it happened again in a month. She started looking beautiful again.  When I told my friends about this, they teased me that I was in love. I started wondering what was wrong with me and didn't like to be so.

                      I finally decided that this shouldn't continue. So, I went to her home that evening and took her to the beach for a walk. As the cool breeze was blowing her hair gently and her face glowing in the moonlight, I held her hand and proposed her. I was expecting her answer but all I could hear was her cry as she fell into tears. She slapped me and said, "why did it take you so many years to say this?". It was only then I realized that she loved me as well. The news soon reached our parents ears. Since they knew about our long friendship it was not a shocking news for them. Instead they were happy as well. While everything was going well , Neha's sister called me and was interested to know how it happened after so many years. I was happily narrating the story to her and explaining how beautiful her eyes looked. When I finally ended the story, she looked at me with an upset face and said " how did Neha love such an idiot! I feel pity for her". My face went blank and I couldn't understand why she told so. Before I could ask her, she continued, "I called you an idiot cause you didn't even notice that she was trimming her eye brows every month and you thought it was love". I felt what an idiot I was and realized how I got fooled into love. Nevertheless, it was of my stupidity that I came to know that Neha loved me.