Hyderabad to Helsinki

I am steadily getting over all the culture shocks, slowly meeting people, making friends, few Finnish, more people from all over the world.

I notice that people here are as helpful as in India, they make sure they contribute to the comfort of your stay. I have 2 good friends so far. One is a German Lady on her maternity leave and is very keen to learn yoga and Bollywood dance from me. (VERY FUNNY I know... BUT She introduces me to her friends that I am her future Bollywood and yoga guru... I say nothing to contradict this... Coz She only has to wait until she watches me dance) The other is a Greek Lady who is the most straight forward person I ever met in my life. She doesn't decorate neither her praises nor critics, nevertheless extremely helpful, specially with the road etiquettes. I just got back from a walk with her in her area which is not far from where I live. she also offered to help me with my learning Finnish. (The Finns pronounce Finnish like phi nee ssss) 

I have walked the streets of Helsinki with A, window shopped like mad, walked on the frozen lake, On Easter went to the Orthodox church to witness a midnight mass and listened to the crazy sounding (to my ears) carols... (I had a feeling that they were just using easter and jesus over and again...)  And at a friend's place ate a dark chocolaty brown pasty Finnish Easter dessert which reminded me baby food,   naturally sweet tasting because of rye. (B appreciated it much) They mix it with cream after which it resembles our Khubaani Ka meeta (SO I drooled, but couldn't sustain the enthusiasm after tasting it.) 

The days are flying by super fast; I am practicing more yoga and no matter who I tell that to, they invite me to conduct a work-shop, I am not very confident yet if I can charge money for that, So I have accepted to test for free,  Dates are not confirmed yet, you can imagine how much in advance these people plan. (It scares me for I believe in absolute spontaneity, I am sure me and the Finns will come to a common ground at some point)

So Preparing my lessons for my forth coming Yoga work-shops, coordinating with my french friend who is soon coming to India to conduct a film work-shop with street kids,  looking at universities to find work, watching movies, walking around in Huopalahti and galavanting on the web, are my top most activities; they consume most of my day. I also try and look at the finnish recipes but resist trying them out as both times I tried these recipes in the past A ate in silence. I manage also to find spaces to fit cooking washing clothes doing dishes occasional teas and facebooking among these activities. ( You can imagine how busy it is to just stay home :D ) 

We live in a building that was constructed in 1959, a really chic locality I derive from the reactions when I tell people where I live. My neighbours a Finnish couple have 2 cats and they take them out for a walk, with sutili daaram around their cat's necks. It makes me laugh out loud every time I see them for I think that they should be having dogs not cats, or at least use some kind of cat leashes that extends to a minimum of a mile. 

When I see people here with their pets I am reminded of the movie Golden compass as the dogs or cats look like the master's alter egos... they wear matching sweaters sometimes and It warms up my heart :) There are stray hares and foxes here. I didn't sight any foxes but I see soo many hares right in front of my building,I picked up a small piece of wood, that was nibbled up by a stray hare, along with a few rocks...(Hopefully Hares or foxes did nothing with or on them, Just in case- I washed them well before placing them in the window) , an attempt to recreate My home That I left behind.

Every time some one asks me about HOW I LIKE IT IN FINLAND My soul just splits into two... I answer most times that I am doing really fine and that I like it here, which is very true.  What I most times have difficulty explaining is that I truly miss My India, My Hyderabad, My Family, My Plants, My Rocks, My carefully chosen furniture, My Darling friends (who constantly buzz me on Gchat) My Pepsi, My Niece... 

I think everyone back home when I see some things. I am learning Finnish online and I keep thinking of all the jokes that Gopi used to make when I had first started learning French and then with Japanese... I miss Mom's food, and miss her attention, I am glad for the month I stayed with her before coming back here. I miss My Dad, who says soo little but has a sea inside... I miss Thatha's incoherent chatter, I miss My Maid, I even Miss my watchwoman's snoring presence when I enter the building, I don't know why BUT the last 2 days (Maybe Just PMSing) BUT I miss everone SO SO much. 

I pray to god that My Grand mom and Thatha will be in good shape for a long time to come. I am insecure about not being there when something happens to them. 

PS: TEEN MAAR SONGS make me write long posts.