My second list of odds and ends I noticed on my first visit out of India
- Munich loos stink. I know it was early in the morning and maybe the cleaning crews hadn’t started yet, but still.
- Germans don’t smile. At least airport authorities don’t. They seem almost offended if you smile at them.
- Swiss don’t talk much. Maybe I’m wrong but it seemed so.
- European offices are quiet. They’re so quiet no one even drops a pin to break the silence. People whisper to each other instead of talking like they were in a cathedral or something..
- Everyone hates the French. That was one stereotype that I never expected to turn out to be true. From an Italian shoulder shrug to a German grunt, it was almost universal.
- Swiss hotels provide a bottle opener right embedded in the wall right next to the loo. I couldn’t figure out why.
- You can’t spend enough money in a shop to impress the Swiss. You could try, but you’d probably fail.
- Frankfurt loos are even worse than Munich, we waded through a inch of water all across the floor. Funnily I couldn’t make out where the leak was coming from.
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About hbhatnagar
I need to fill this up with much better content than I had populated it with earlier. Why I write a blog maybe? I started blogging in 2009 or thereabouts. I was a newly turned atheist and wanted to converse with others of the same persuasion. We're not exactly a big population group in India! It didn't go very well and I sort of lost interest, posting a few things now and then.
I got a lot more regular over the last few months and have been posting almost daily since February '15. There were many reasons why I gradually became more regular in posting, but one way or the other, here I am! So this blog has taken shape, being at different points in time my showcase, my comedy club, my art gallery, my book club, my therapist, my close friend, my innermost self....but always my little corner of the world. You are all welcome to visit and I hope you stay awhile!
A few points about me because I don't want to lead anyone on(and trust me this does become an issue more often than I'd care to admit).
I'm Indian, the brown-skinned variety; if race, ethnicity or skin colour is an issue, you don't have to get to know me any more than what you see on my blog.
I'm 40, so if age is an issue, please be informed accordingly.
I was a doctor, an ophthalmic surgeon for 10 years before I quit practice.
hbhatnagar 
They were called “Jay-an-KEYS” among the CTU crowd! Having travelled a substantial part of the world, I guess NO PLACE, I repeat, NO PLACE is as filthy as a LOO at an Indian railway or bus station or as filthy as a street in, say, Mumbai!
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Posted by singhcircle | 08/10/2015, 11:00 AMThey’re called yankees and yankans now. 🙂
I don’t contest how dirty bus station loos are in India , but I was expecting better in Europe. 🙂
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Posted by hbhatnagar | 08/10/2015, 12:21 PMThey were always Yankees and yankans but the bus crowd was unable to say the “Y” and said J instead!!
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Posted by singhcircle | 08/10/2015, 12:22 PMI guess both are used. The term had a different meaning when I was in my teenage years.
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Posted by hbhatnagar | 08/10/2015, 12:30 PMVery interesting! 🙂
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Posted by Amy | 08/10/2015, 6:44 AMDid I come across as too judge-y? That wasn’t what I was going for.
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Posted by hbhatnagar | 08/10/2015, 8:11 AMNot at all, Dr. Hb. 🙂 We have visited Europe for the past 12 years until 2014. Well said about the differences. I recall when we trained from Nice to Italy, we could hear people laughing, talk, and singing… as soon as Italian people on board at the France and Italy border. 😀
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Posted by Amy | 08/10/2015, 6:30 PMI met an Italian guy who advised me not to buy train tickets in Switzerland since no one ever checked tickets! 😀
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Posted by hbhatnagar | 08/10/2015, 6:47 PMGood to know 😀
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Posted by Amy | 08/10/2015, 6:50 PMStinking loos and leaks !! NEVER EVER imagined I would read that about your trip!!!!
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Posted by priyankamoraes | 07/10/2015, 7:29 PMTrashy things happen to trashy people I guess..
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Posted by hbhatnagar | 08/10/2015, 6:32 AMBro .. Went alone haaaan … This is not fair … 😦 … But ab ho Hi aye ho to Kya laaye ho hamare liye ye batao ???
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Posted by bhavpreet | 07/10/2015, 3:36 PM😀
It was an official trip, so I went pretty much alone. Photos hain sab ke liye though. 😉 😀
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Posted by hbhatnagar | 07/10/2015, 4:06 PMMay be I would need your help dear I would let u know …
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Posted by bhavpreet | 07/10/2015, 6:26 PMYeah sure. Help on what?
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Posted by hbhatnagar | 07/10/2015, 7:05 PMwill tell you soon .. first let me be sure if i need it or not ?? 🙂
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Posted by bhavpreet | 07/10/2015, 8:52 PMThis is all interesting Mr. HB, but where’s the good stuff? Where are the photos? The nation demands an answer! 😛
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Posted by Uday | 07/10/2015, 2:16 PM😀
The photos will come once I have some time to sit and work on them.
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Posted by hbhatnagar | 07/10/2015, 2:38 PM