JC comes to Germany!

Last evening I went to Asim's home for dinner.. He invited me, mukti, JC and his wife and Rajani.. The best part of the evening was JC narrating his experiences with his life in Germany..

JC studied at IIT Madras and was awarded a special DAAD fellowship for doing his PhD in Germany in 2001. He is an excellent academician and is now going to join the University of Munich as an Asst. Professor. He finished his PhD in 2004. He is one of the most friendly Indians I met in Germany and has a wondeful sense of humour.

This was his first trip to Frankfurt from Chennai.. Around 8 am (according to his watch ) he woke up from his sleep, he was still in the flight and the flight was still in the sky. He was wondering why the Lufthansa flight which was supposed to land at Frankfurt at around 7.00 has not landed yet. A strange wierd thought crept into his mind that scared him, confused him and left him gasping for breath....'Possibly the flight landed at Frankfurt and then took off once again for some other destination when he was asleep..Nooooooo!' He went to the toilet..couldnot open the door.. appeared fused and confused when a hostess came by and asked him if he wanted a coffee.. He told that he wanted to goto Frankfurt.. She was a german hostess and didnt understand what he was talking. She called a colleague of hers' and she asked him his problem and if he would like to drink a cup of coffee.. JC said, 'NO.. I dont want coffee.. I want to goto Frankfurt!!.. Where is this flight going now?? We were supposed to reach at 7am and now it is 8 am..' . Apparently relaxed knowing that she can handle this, the Hostess told him that they were still over the Gulf and that they are heading to Frankfurt only and that he should change the time of his watch from IST to CST.

JC landed safely in Frankfurt. He had to goto Goettingen for doing a special German Language Course for few months before starting over with his PhD. He was desperately trying to buy a train ticket at the automatic machine.. He was pressing all possible combitions of buttons to see if he can buy the ticket to Goettingen. He was going up and down with his huge luggage..from one platform to another.. trying out at different machines for success. Ultimately someone took pity on him and helped him buy a ticket and he came to Goettingen. He baught a telephone card for 15 Marks(approximately 7.5 euros =400 Rupees) and called his friend in Goettingen to tell him that he has arrived. Now he was wondering how to use this card for calling.. He swiped it.. he swiped it again at a different place ..he did everything yet he couldnt.. someone came by and told him to insert the card inside and call.. In five minutes his card got exhausted .. JC put his hand in his pocket and counted the German Marks (the local currency in those years) ..and decided never to call again from the public telephone booth..

He went to the Goethe Institute and was given royal treatment as he was a DAAD fellow. He slept well and got up around 8 o clock in the morning. He went to the recpetion in his lungi and asked the lady if some Milk man would come to give the milk in the morning..hahahahaha hahahahah!!!

I shall narrate more of JC 's interesting experiences in Germany soon..