Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Spanish Siesta - Part II

I had collected my room keys and moved into the room.... Settled in actually... kept my stuff all over the place and then jumped onto the bed which was like so relaxing. I hadn't really had any decent sleep over the past few days and so i just had a very short nap. Would have slept for hours elsewhere... but I was so excited that i was actually finally somewhere "abroad". A "foreign" country as i would like to put it. And so i just got a jacket on and went out of the hotel... Everything was no new to me and kept my eyes wide open... I just started walking, keeping in mind the direction I was walking in so that i could make my way back to the hotel. It was chill and I noticed that the pharmacies here in this city all had a digital board outside their shops displaying the outside temperature. The temperature read somewhere around 10 degrees celcius. I walked into a few shops and was shocked to see the price tags... Everything was so expensive... I really dint think this was the kinda place to be doing some shopping.....

One of the things that really did make this place so different(apart from the difference in architecture and other physical aspects) was the fact that ppl actually gave pedestrians so much importance! There were pedestrian crossings all over the place and when there was a green light for the pedestrians, no car would be seen crossing... no matter what!! Here in India, pedestrians are expected to juggle their way through a maze of traffic to get across a road! And there was this particular smaller road that dint have a signal but did have a zebra-crossing.... I wanted to cross and then noticed this car speeding from a distance and so I did wat any right minded Indian pedestrian would do... WAIT (lest he gets run over).... and I was looking around the place seeing the different types of malls around the place. I turn around to see the speeding car now waiting at the crossing.... I looked around to see if there were any other cars in the vicinity that were crossing as to cause this car to stop.... Only when i saw that there were no other vehicles around, did i realise that this car had stopped to wait for me to cross the road! I was taken up....And i crossed the road... pondering over how long its gonna take in my country for ppl to learn such "Road-side ethics".

Anyways I guess I dint wanna walk any further as i was afraid i would get lost. So i turned back and started walking back to the hotel. I went back to my room to see that no one had moved into the room to share it with me as yet... Then in some time, i heard the bell ring and Munshee(the guy whose supposed to share the room with me) popped his head and told me dat he was gonna share his room with someone else and so he wouldn't be sharing my room. He also said that I would most probably have this room all to myself as the other person hadn't turned up for the trip!! And yes, I did have the room all to myself all through my stay at Madrid.

We had a welcome diner planned for us and we were told to wear the yellow bright t-shirt that they gave us for diner....(the one that looked like the Real Madrid jersey) and so I got ready for diner not really expecting anything all that great... Coz by now the crowd that i was travelling with really was dampening my spirits..... There was this episode at the Frankfurt Airport that really ticked me off!! We were running to catch our connecting flight to Madrid and I was with all these Mallu ppl(ya, the very same ppl who were escorting Neethu!) and we just about reached the boarding pass mentioned on our tickets to see that the lady at the counter was busy on the phone... And this guy who was with me calls out to her... I ask him to wait but he doesn't seem to bother... he goes on at her... She finally gets irritated and brings the phone down and sternly looks at him to say "Sir, I'm on the phone". Later after she puts the phone down, she looks at the two of us and was like, "I wasn't on a personal call and that was important. You do have to wait you know". That was seriously embarrassing stuff... I felt so damn bad and i was cursing that Mallu bugher all the way to Madrid... I don't think i will be able to forget this incident for a very long time to come! Most of the ppl who were travelling on this trip with me looked like they dint really know how to carry themselves when they were travelling and were behaving like street urchins with no respect for other people! So basically i moved all around the place by myself. I made a call home from the lobby in the hotel and "God was it so damn costly"! I spoke home for 2 mins and i think that cost me like 1.70 Euros(that would work out to about 100 bucks back here).

We started out for diner. The ICICI people had arranged 7 coaches to take us around the city. We stopped near the Madrid Railway Station(I forget the exact name). It was here that the terrorist attacks took place earlier. They led us to this club or discotheque called Logua(something like that). They had put up huge welcome banners here too! And we walked in to see that it was a nice coy place. Had loads of screens all over the place... and they had this ICICI Spectacular Spain Logo floating all over the place. I saw that they had done up a small stage with a DJ Rack there.... so this was gonna be a fun nite i thought. I moved over to a side to see that there was this huge bar with bottles in all colours and shapes. And there were two guys and a gal behind as the bartenders. Well, so booze was gonna be on the house! Wow, pretty cool... I guess it took our ppl less than 5 mins to fully cover the bar! The bottles and colours that i had seen earlier were now no more visible and I could just see hands and glasses flying around the place!

I waited for some time in a corner feasting on some potato wafers while the bar got a lil less cluttered with people fighting for their drinks. I looked around to see if the South Indian ppl who knew me were far enough for me and went over to the bar... I saw this bottle of Malibu and I decided i would start with a glass of Malibu with some orange juice. These bartenders certainly did have some style. They had a crate of ice cubes on one side and lined up glasses on the other side. They were flipping cubes over their head to fall over their head into the glasses and then spinning bottles all over. Watching them was a sight on its own! I grabbed my drink and went over to another corner to sit quietly. The DJ came over and started playing some Bollywood music. I would have preferred to hear them play what they regularly play in there... But then he was Indian and everyone else was Indian... so i guess that was wat the crowd wanted....

I looked around to see if Neethu was anywhere around. This became a regular search habit for me... I kept scanning the crowd to see if she was anywhere in the vicinity and if she was unguarded!! lol... anyways i dint find her for a good half an hour... A little later as i moved around the place, I saw her doing some face paintings at the face painting area... They had got two ppl over to sit around doing face paintings for ppl who were intersted! She was over there getting some flag painted on her face... I saw her and moved over just to see that one of her uncles were there too doing up his face... So just looked over and waved and laughed... she smiled at me too...and then i went back to just roaming around the place.... I saw Vineetha just walking around the place.... Vineetha was this tour guide of ours(one of the many) and she would probably have been my age or maybe a few years older... She was pretty too... and she spoke well... So i went over and spoke to her for some time... she was fun... but then she was too busy most of the time as she had to handle so many ppl.. well handling 300 ppl on a trip aint something very easy... so the rest of the evening wasn't too eventful... there were many ppl dancing but i stayed clear of the dance floor save for maybe one song!

Diner was served...a buffet and i looked forward to having some Spanish food... just to go over to the counter to see that they had specially prepared some "delicious" Indian food for us!! God, what was wrong with these ppl... travel across the globe to eat the very same Naans and Paneer Butter Masala... and all the ppl around seemed to be enjoying themselves! Well anyways i just stuffed something to keep me going and then took the first bus that left for the hotel.

I sure was looking forward to Guillaume and Seema coming over... Was sure that would make me feel much better... as i was feeling so lonely in a foreign land... having so many ppl around me and yet feel lonely... These ppl spoke about nothing other than "Insurance" and the business they had done! I had so many ppl coming over to me and throwing this question at me, "Which branch are u from"? At first i dint understand wat they were trying to say and actually replied to one old man that i was an Industrial Engineer! Only later did i realise that they were asking me, "Which office of ICICI was I from"... and then i had my answer ready... That i wasn't with ICICI and it was my dad... and that i was a software engineer with Infosys. I wish i could have just recorded that reply... coz i had to use it so many damn times!!

Anyways there ended my first day in Spain! I went over to the phone booth in the hotel and made a call to Guillaume to let him know about my stay and the things I did and also to find out when I was to meet him the next day. I was really looking forward to the next day... Was already sick of all these ppl around me driving me crazy!!! Guys old enough to be my grand-dad getting drunk and trying to shake a leg with their wives!! And please.... dat sure dint look cute in any damn way!

I had a good nites sleep after an awesome dip in the tub!! Almost fell asleep in there actually! Got up the next morning to some call from the reception speaking something in Spanish.... I guessed it was a wake-up call arranged for us by these ICICI guys... dint really know for what they were waking us up anyways! I really did love the breakfasts.... with the different kinds of breads, cheese, scrambled egg.... a European breakfast.... i think i enjoyed the breakfasts the best all through the trip.... coz most of the other time it was just some form of panner and chicken... Indian food all the time... these guys were crazy!! Who would travel all the way there to eat the same stuff... anyways i really dint give a damn... i knew i was gonna have a few meals out....

I met G and Seema sometime at 3 i guess.... Their hotel was in the other side of town... the part of town where there was actually a life! I realised much later that the area where my hotel was in was just some super luxurious area where there really wasn't much to do... and anything u needed to do would cost u a fortune! Anyways, you know what? G and Seema took the metro and came over to my hotel so that they could take me back to the other side of town! They dint want me getting lost... don't blame them... coz for sure i wouldn't have known what to do! So there we began our lil adventure.... We took the metro.... this was my first time and it was really exciting... it sure was a wonderful way to travel....I was pretty excited... from getting the ticket, to waiting for the train, following this lil map they give you.... was kinda nice... a different experience... and everything was soooo much in order here.... no one jumping over the other... no one running and throwing their hanky or something else to book a seat!

We went over to the other side of town and that was where I actually saw loads of ppl... As in there were shops, there were people walking around the place and there were things happening!! It was a wonderful sight...coz as we kept walking around the place, we saw that things were beginning to get brighter and brighter as the day grew darker and darker... Yes, people were preparing for Christmas!! There were lights on all the stores and there were so many huge Christmas trees.... all the shops were so colourful...I told Seema that she would have to help me find a skirt to take back for my sister.... as she wanted something really nice... So we walked into a couple of stores and the prices did take me off my feet!! I almost fell! Most of the skirts were upwards of 40 Euros... that would be like 2400 bucks! In India you could probably get something really beautiful with all of that money..... anyways I really needed to find something...

And yes, much before this, we went to this Royal Palace which was so beautiful and magnificent. This palace I was told has 2600 rooms! What the hell would they do with so many rooms!! Anyways, about 40 rooms were open to the public and each room was splendid in its own way. There was a collection of about 300 different types of antique clocks in here, each and every one of them in working condition. The largest collection of tapestry is also housed in this palace... There was this one room, fully done up in porcelain. I was told that the full room could be dismantled and put together again as the porcelain bits were put together using screws. And they had done it once when there was some threat to the palace. Amazing aint it?? It sure was amazing to see.......

Late evening and we were strolling through so many different streets.... And as we were casually walking by, I happened to see this shop with such a huge sign saying "Sex Shop"... at first I thought it was some kinda joke... only to see that it couldn't be coz there were pictures accompanying this painting! Man was i really excited... had heard bout such stuff and seen all of this on movies... but had never really thought of what it would look like really and what they would be selling inside of this place! Tried to convince G to get into the shop with me but he refused outright! Seema, no chance! So i just went running into the shop and saw the weirdest of things!! There was every damn thing u could think off... the funniest part was that all of this dint surprise me the most... wat actually surprised me the most was the fact that there were so many people inside of the shop and no one even turned as I came in or were bothered about what the other person was upto! Nice....everyone was busy minding their own business... They weren't even conscious of the fact that they were in a SEX SHOP! It was like they had just got there to buy some shoes or something! There were couples of all sorts browsing through the stuff( i aint gonna go into details on the kinda stuff there was in there!)..... Anyways i ran in and i ran out... Wouldn't have been inside the shop for more than 5 mins i guess... was too strange....

Another thing about this country, people were so open in their display of affection... I would see people kissing and no one even turning their side or really bothering... I was then told that Spain is pretty liberal sexually...as in even Gay marriages were legal in here... so ppl had their sexual freedom I guess... saw so many couples kissing-in the streets, in the metro... everywhere.....

Then we sat at a place to have diner and couldn't really find anything in there for Seema to eat as she was a Vegetarian!! Ppl in this country don't know what that means i guess... even the salads are with Chicken! Well, they finally did get some bread for her! We had a beer and after that went back to walking through the streets... and man was it cold! I was freezing back there..... and u should see the building they had for their ministry of telecom... was a palace!! Anyways it was nice walking through the streets.... was like out of a fairy tale... U know these narrow streets paved with stone etc etc.... was kinda out of a dream.... We searched for a place with flamenco performances only to find that there weren't any and so we had to return disappointed! But we did stop at an Irish bar to try this Guiness beer which was absolutely fabulous... the colour of the beer was different and that excited me all the more!!

We walked around town and I finally got back to the hotel.... The experience in this country was totally fabulous- from flamingo to street performances to bull fighting to Spanish wine to saffron... and the architecture... 

Spain will always remain my first foray into Europe.... And I want to spend months and months travelling through Europe... Let's see when I manage to get a job somewhere in Europe so that I can travel....

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