34: Eurotrip: In love with Brussels....

Not quite pacy like Mumbai, not too laid back like countryside but, there was an instant Connect with Brussels, the moment I stepped on its land!!!

Wide and clean roads, disciplined zebra crossing people, delicious dessert -chocolate Waffle… pleasant and soothing climate, extremely low levels of pollution in the air, cute and well maintained trams that connect major areas of the city, yummy Leonidas branded Belgian chocolates and famous Belgian cookies …all of which was too much to not fall in love with the city..!!!!   

     

On one hand Brussels is quite, serene and sophisticated while on the other hand it is hep, vibrant, colorful and extremely joyous!!!  On one hand we have oldie grannies weaving lace apparels while on other we have ravishing ladies strutting their stuff in D&G…

On one hand there are old world trams still making their presence felt on Bruxelles streets while on the other hand High speed trains like Thalys, Eurostar, ICE (High speed train networks) connect Brussels to all major European cities like London, Paris, Cologne, etc.





On one hand Brussels is filled up with French, Flemish and German people while on the other hand diversity is well represented by whole lot of Africans, Latin Americans and also Indians!!! Brussels indeed, has much more to offer than just beer and wine!!!

There were days when I could see police guys on horses and then there were days when I saw them on Harley Davidson….!!! It was really super cool and so different to see polizie (French word for police) in that avatar..!!! Seeing so many well built and fit cops made me to sadly sigh in my heart that had it only been similar back in Mumbai, Mumbai would not have been as vulnerable as it is perceived!!!!

Oldies form major part of Brussels population. One can easily see many oldie couples walking hand- in hand at tram stations, and supermarkets..!!! Here I recall an incident, told to me once by my bhabi which so happened -an oldie handsome dude went across the other side of the street so as to caution vehicles that his oldie gorgeous dudette is having some problem with walking and made her to comfortably cross the road..!!! That was really heartwarming..!!!





        

Markets and Supermarkets are the buzzing places full of ladies wanting to buy the usual grocery and meat, while on the other hand shops like Camaieu, Zara at Rogier serve to charming fashion wanabbes…!!! Jackets are almost worn like second skin by everyone in Brussels…so now you know when you go next to Brussels … you just have to buy a jacket there!!!! Brussels has one of the finest collections of jackets for all seasons, all moods and all genders….

Central Park in Brussels hosts amazing Belgian beer cafes, souvenir shops, Belgian chocolate outlets and so many fashionable, trendy and branded apparel outlets that it pulls almost whole of Brussels’ hep population to this area throughout the day…

         

The only sad part about these markets is that all shops close by sharp 6 pm each day and the further worst is that … all shops are closed on Sunday!!!! Can you believe this??? I was equally shocked on hearing this… but when I got to learn the real reason behind this approach of the government I guess it almost made sense…Belgian people believe in living life outta each moment… each day… hence after gruesome office hours, instead of spending time shopping and eating unhealthy food at malls they believe in going out on family trip… for some skiing, for a nice game of squash, or tennis or for that matter just spending time with family helping your wife in cooking!!! Sounds nice??? Indeed… an ideal life that we forever crave for is forever in front of us…just that we don’t see and respect it..!!!

Why can’t we see many people in India cycling their way to office??? More often than not… we affix cycling with belonging to lower strata of society… there was this email that I received few days back stating how westerners used to ride their Porsches and Mercedes before and are turning into cycle lovers now and how we Indians used to cycle then and have turned to Mercedes now …!!! Irony is hard to neglect it!!! Belgian style of living, urged me to question my mind as to whether really implementing such basic things in India are that difficult??? No… it’s not difficult but probably keeping our people’s interests and welfare before individual’s selfish desire is something which is difficult for our politicians and government..!!!

I wanna go to Brussels again... :D

33: Give me an answer...

Do you face questions??… Tough ones? …easy ones??… Lighter??...darker??… simpler ones… complex issues???… Almost every type baffles us if we either don’t understand them or we don’t know an answer to them…!!!

Questions like blue or white shirt??? Morning or evening slot for gym??? Normal cheap vegetable vendor or slightly expensive Reliance Fresh??? Normal hair blow dry or permanent straightening?? …. are often simpler and easier to tackle… a bit more pondering over them can easily lead you to an answer or best you might consult someone before arriving at the decision… and lest assured that the decision is one which you are convinced at totally!!!

But then there are questions which catch you off guard!!! Questions which have more than one right answer to it… which makes you to think and think… and wherein you might not come down to any particular answer. Such questions can create havoc in your life and by that I mean that it can bring doom or bloom...You don’t know!!!!

Indeed, we are tested all the time… and life is eventually made in all the answers that we give it back…

Being a true Libran, I am blessed with highest level of indecisiveness that can not only make me one crazy human being but at times also irritates the hell out of others around me. Not able to take a quick decision gets on my nerves like anything. Not wanting to falter in anything and everything and yet making sense out of every decision is just too much to handle.

More often than not, we know answers to life’s most difficult questions beforehand...it’s only that we don’t accept them or wait an eternity in hope of finding a more better solution!!! Believe me; I never succeed in finding that other better solution but I still do the same thing every time!!! Amongst the two best options (answers) available there is always one that is correct as per my mind and the other that is correct as per my soul…and more often than not there is this whole big battlefield that goes on between them…

But now I have made peace with myself in this case...and I think everybody around too, should try my way of arriving at decisions if in any dillema...

What??? Haven’t heard about age old methods huh???

“ Simply toss a coin…wherein one side supports your mind while the other one roots for your heart…and while the coin is in the air…Your soul secretly knows what it wants the decision of coin to be…”
Try it out...!!!

32: Germany...u disappointed me!!!!

I am disappointed today… Didn’t ever expect that my favorite team and my favorite player would play so badly in FIFA world cup…

To hell with the so- called Octopus who predicts match results... all I wanted was a genuine fight and genuine struggle to win…sadly, I could see neither..!!!

Absence of Mueller was not the issue… but the temperament of players was!!!! Klose, Podolski, Schweinsteiger, Ozil form a formidable side in itself… all they wanted was a positive frame of mind to get over the octopus prediction and see to it that their fans won’t believe the octopus theory ever again… but, guess what, now the octopus is next to GOD …!!! SICK!!!!

After showing no sympathy towards a team like Argentina… Germans were not supposed to bow out of tournament so shabbily…!!! Nobody expected that!!!

The go-getters Germans were reduced and confined to only their half defending and trying to get a glimpse of ball for themselves…Neither could they find gaps within Spanish attack nor could they create true German styled pacy attacks. First half was drowsy with almost nothing great to look out for …except missed header by Puyol… and another well saved attempt by German Goalie Neuer and of course there was an episode of a fan sprinting all the way in the ground and two cops behind him and I guess that was more entertaining than the rest of first half.

Ball possession was the major issue….Spaniards didn’t allow the ball to slip out of their control for too long… they were all over the field diving, running, dodging the ball and doing everything possible in their capacity to keep Germans as far away as possible from the ball and their half of the field!!! Spaniards too missed out on so many opportunities themselves… there was a diagonal pass from Pedro to Villa which villa missed out on…and also the famous Pedro attempt to put ball in the goal which was thwarted by a German defender, but which was a potential goal had it been passed to Torres…But amongst all, must say the missed opportunity by Kroos did cost Germany heavily!!!



Had Germany played well and lost then I would have applauded Spain for their awesome display but with Germany playing so horrible, it made me to shut off the TV and reach out for my bed well before match actually ended!!! Most of the German players were heard giving bites to print media prior to the match that this match is crucial... Spain’s are favorites… they are the best team in the world…!!!! All agreed that yes Spain are Euro champs as well and yes they are a good side and of course one should be modest… but not to the extent that it can start making you feel weak and underdogs..!!!! A team that can beat Argentina 4-0 can never be an underdog!!! Along with above mentioned statements… Mueller’s absence and Paul the Octopus BABA’s prediction…proved to a catalyst in changing a formidable and ferocious German side into meek and nervous team that only aimed at not conceding any goals…but didn’t aim at scoring some!!!

Often, “NOT FAILURE BUT LOW AIM IS CRIME….” …so true!!!



Miroslav Klose – my favorite footballer and the only reason I root for Germany also the winner of golden boot last world cup … didn’t get any opportunity to display his talent!!! Poor passes…bad playing strategy… mental pressure…wet field… did Germany in!!!

Spaniards must be applauded for their amazing control over ball… although I feel Spanish too weren’t at their best that day!!! But if we go by “may best team win approach” then I guess Spain deserved more!!!





But, am I disappointed? Yes I am…!!!! I am sulking since yesterday!!!