The Grand Fiesta

This was the Annual Fete organized at Loria on 25th July 2004. In the beginning there were a few games where we did not participate but made fun of the french dumbos breaking their heads over simple problems. Then Stephan guided us towards the other building where the lunch had been laid out. It was a kilometre long walk and when we reached there Deka exclaimed "Ori baap re, itna door aana paadta hai laanch ke liye log to thaak hi jaata hoga."

The first ___ was of champagne ... with mirabelle fruit and alcohol

Rishi urf Pussad

A character which made our minds swirl as to why did everything always have to happen with him. Here is a list of events which made us realise that something was utterly-butterly wrong !!! We didn't notice it initially but slowly and slowly the picture started becoming clear (like we start seeing miracles of a priest). Let's begin with Ilina ! It all started with cookies .... Rishi had brought laddoos and coincidentally a sweet girl in the hostel liked them. She ate a few and Rishi thought that it was enough of a hint. He asked her for a date thrice and was turned down always. He did not lose hope and his next target was Emilie Balland. The results came out sooner here ... The second Hi got a meagre response and the third Hi went unheard.

When Rishi went to Strasbourg his card did not work in the ticket machine. His card again got stuck in Nancy and one day in the bank his card was blocked ... booooooommmmm !!!!! He himself told us that the first phone card he had taken lasted only for 4 minutes (though it is meant to be 54 minutes).

Well the first major show of bad luck was while going to Amsterdam. I, Saurabh and Rizi had done our reservations later but we got our tickets. And Rishi and others were told that their booking was not there. After much effort and repayment of 59 euros per person, new tickets were made (the 39 euros paid earlier has not come back as yet).

Then at Madam Tussad, Rishi and gang went at 15 euros and I and gang went at 10 euros.

Indian Cuisines and an Indian Cook

Yes, people at Nancy have a smart, good-looking and intelligent Indian cook who cooks delicious Indian cuisines for them. Guess who .... it's me ! The fist thing that I tried out was daal (arahar ki) and chawaal. Then we went on to make aaloo-pyaaz ki sabji and the remark here was "bhatele, tu to sach mein ghar jaisa khaana banata hai".

That gave me confidence and then started the era of experiments, enquiry and reform. We made khichdi with moong dal and ate it with aam ka achaar. The next in line was pattaghobhi ki sabji which proved to be even more tasty ... it clicked to me that the trickier the dish the more happy people here were eating it. Next we made sandwiches with boiled potatoes ... yum yum !!

Then I went on to making rajma bought from a Vietnamese restaurant for which I bought tomato puree. We also made pulao with matar, gajar and aaloo. After that I saw some Algerians making something like poori with maida. And lo ! In a few days we were eating crispy parathas from maida. A few days ago I also made dal-fry with butter and puree.

Ofcourse Maggi and MTRs (ready-to-eat) are always there whenever we dont feel like cooking very much or washing a lot of utensils. Cooking food is a big task but then eating it afterwards is the best thing in the world (you feellike you are sitting in India).

Villers-les-Nancy

The name looks impressive isn't it - and dont mistake it for a village this means "The city of Nancy". A quiet town located in the quiet region of Lorraine in France, Nancy has it's own charm. It is an old, historical and very important city of France. It has a huge number of students because of the many many universities flourishing here. The weather remains pleasant (around 20° C) even in the summers.

We spent the first weekend exploring Nancy. It has an excellent tram service running from 5 in the morning to 12 in the night. The major stations are Vandoeuvre CHU Brabois (the first station), Velodrome (near to our hostel), Blandan (near our favourite church), Exelmans (near the Afro-Latina Bar), Nancy Gare (the railway station), Maginot (near St. Sebastian), Point Centrale (the main market), Cathedrale (at the huge church) and Essey Mouzimpre (the last station). The city square is called Stainslas and is a beautiful and uncrowded place with a huge park, an opera house, a fine arts museum and the tourism centre on its four sides. The main market is located around Point Centrale and it is lots of fun roaming there. But our favourite shop is ALDI (A German Supermarkt) where we get almost everything and we go there everyday after work.

There is a movie hall 'Cameo' whuch screens movies in English and we saw Harry Potter there for 4 euros. Nancy has some indian restaurants too namely, Le Kashmir, Le Punjab, Le Shalimar etc. We went to Le Punjab once and the Pakistani lady there offered us pakoras and wine for free. The pakoras were tasty and we had a good time. But when we were coming out from there, one of us, Saurabh said "Thankyou Auntie" and the face of the lady was worth seeing. She said tum log to hamare bhai jaise ho. We had a good laugh over it later.

We also saw a rally once near Point Centrale. We had to find someone who could explain to us what was happening. And so I was pushed forwarded by friends to approach a girl and ask hir. This girl, she was not beautiful but very impressive. She explained in good English what it was about. After that we thought we will wait at the scene for some more time and so we bought croissants to eat. We were munching at them when I saw that this girl had also not left the place. She was talking to the police and enquiring about the thing. When I looked at her she replied with a smile.

Then we had to go the Railway Station for booking tickets. When we were coming out we again saw the same girl coming towards us (this time she had taken off her jacket and she was looking very good in her black sleeveless dress). She again passed a wonderful smile (she was tomboyish but smart, somewhat the female version of Harry Potter). I am still waiting to meet her again. I know Nancy is a small place :-) ......

First steps in foreign territory

The first city which I set my foot in was Dubai. We had a connecting flight from here for Paris. Dubai airport is wonderful, huge and very beautiful. Emirates being a good airline, we reached Paris safely (to my parents relief). At the airport there was a well suited person waiting for us (me, Pushpraj, Saurabh and Chandan) with our names on a placard. He ushered us into a taxi and then we were headed for the EGIDE office which was to give us money for our initial expenses. We later reailsed that the person who had taken us was a driver (he had ray-ban glasses on and spoke fluent English).

At the EGIDE office we had our first encounter with the French people. The person at the "Accueil" (Reception) was in a pin-striped suit with long hair which had been wetted and set properly. He had that typical French look and spoke with a French accent. He guided us to the office and to our utter dismay none of the ladies there knew much of English. After much deliberation they made it clear that it was dangerous to leave for Nancy at this hour (it was only 4:00 pm) and so we shud stay in a hotel for the night which would cost us 'only' 40 euros. We said "na baba, hume jaane do hum pahunch jayenge".

They called a taxi for us to take us to the station but we were late and we missed our train. Luckily our tickets got changed at the station for nothing and so we took the next train to Nancy. We reached there at 8:30 and my professor, Monsieur (Herr would be more appropriate because he is Deutsch) Stephan Merz was waiting for us. He took us to "Residence Universitaire du Placieux" which was to be our home for two months. A thorough gentleman, he then invited us for dinner at his house and I ate "Mousse Schokolade" (Chocolate Mousse) which was the best I had ever had. And henceforth started our days at Nancy ....

The preparations

It finally became sure that I am going to France for summer internship when I received a mail from our DUGC Prof. Deepak Gupta saying that I can now collect my invitation letter from the CSE office ... whoosh !!! what a relief it was. Then started the preparations - the letters from French Embassy (actually Ambassade de France en Inde impressive huh ?) saying that they are glad to offer us the air-tickets (I thought wow they are glad and I am flattered). And then I went to Delhi (and Gurgaon) to get my French i.e Schengen VISA.

Once that was done I realised that end sems were hovering very near ... but this was the time when we had endless discussions about the meetings to be arranged in Europe. The parties in the discussion were Harshat, Kapil(JK), Pankaj(Pango), me, Shubham, Vikas(Malai) and sometimes Nikhil(Nikux) too. The funniest one was when Tanvir instructed all of us how to board the plane, settle down in the seats, fasten the seat belts and to ask the air hostess for lots of food (had a good laugh about it later because he had even taught us how to switch on the overhead light for reading and how to focus the cold air direction towards ourselves).

Once the end sems were over on 1st May, did a quick packing of everything (thought it finally became 21 itmes to be shoved into the mess) and then after much efforts we started on 3rd for our journey to Yash's home in Lucknow. It was me, Shubham, Yash and Fuloria in a rickety van during the election time. But finally had lots of fun there (saw "Main Hoon Na") and then I finally boarded the train for my home in Agra on 4th night.

I reached Agra on 5th morning and then again was headed for Delhi on 6th morning for my Swiss VISA. It was afternoon by the time I reached the Embassy so there was not much which could be done. So that day I had a gala time with Shubham who was to leave for Itlay on 8th. The next day at 6:30 in the morning i was standing in front of the Swiss Embassy but still my appointment no was 21. Finally with the help of Riya's father I got my Swiss VISA and then was again headed for Agra in the night. Reached home at 2:00 in the night and then had a good sleep.

The next day was hectic with a lot of packing and then on 9th morning I was finally sitting in the car which was to take me to Delhi for my upcoming journey. We reached Gurgaon in the afternoon ay my mamaji's place and at 12:00 in the night I was headed for the Indira Gandhi International Airport for check-in.