Travelogue - Norway

One can be experienced, assume they are intelligent and knowledgeable, and yet make a complete ass of themselves by not thinking through obvious situations. This was my opening batting so to speak way back in Feb’2010 in Norway.

I visited Norway for the first time in a new job, meeting various people for the first time, and I knew the place would be cold. My warm clothing was limited to what the “expert” shopkeeper suggested, when I said I was going to Norway. He wasn’t wrong, but he wasn’t experienced either. I was anyway carrying loads of MTR ready to eat stuff and Maggi noodles. A friend suggested I carry a small bottle of brandy with me and not leaving anything to chance, I did that too in my carry bag. Landing in Norway my “fun” time began.

Stepping out of the Oslo airport the cold breeze hit me so hard, I dropped my bag in a hurry to cover my face and heard a “tinkle” to find a broken brandy bottle. Not an auspicious start. The town where I was staying was called Gjovik. Good hotel, good colleagues, warm offices, warm cars but anywhere you looked, a white blanket of white snow.  Soon, it was the weekend. But I am running ahead a bit.

The last day of the weekend I was slated to meet a new colleague, and someone dropped me to the second office building a few minutes drive away. It was perched on a small hillock. Finished meeting the new colleague, I had to get back to the main office and then again return. The colleague was busy, just handed over his car keys and said – “Take my car and get back later” and left me. Knowing driving is one thing, but driving on the “wrong” side and in the snow is quite another. Presented with a fait accompli I found his car, and it was parked at the edge of the hillock facing the slope below. Started the car, put it into reverse as the gear indicated and looking backwards, moved, only to find to my horror, the car moved forward. I did everything I could but the car was now perched at the edge and I HAD to reverse and I was in sheer panic. The damn reverse gear didn’t seem to work. Leg on the brake, sweating in the cold I dug out his card, dialed his number - and remember, he is getting a call from India !!!! - Luckily he answered and I asked how to reverse. He asked me to push some button or lever down and then try. With a prayer I did and thankfully the car moved back.

Later that evening this colleague, with no clue how close I had come to driving his car off a small cliff, drove me back to my hotel and suggested I try some Thai food. Happily agreed and we reach this small restaurant where he did the necessary introduction in the local language and left me to my fate. The lady as she cooked asked – spicy? Tricky question, but I said yes. She asked Indian spicy? I said – yes. Dish ready, packed, back in hotel looking forward to a hearty meal of rice and green vegetable Thai curry - One spoon into my mouth – and trust me I enjoy spicy food, Andhra food – I was gasping for breath, jumping around and when I recovered, it was back to MTR and Maggi for me. Incidentally that colleague, now a friend and colleague, would not have bothered about either the car or me if I had driven off that hillside.  

The weekend arrived and Gjovik is a small  beautiful town which I decided to cover by foot. Fully wrapped up with thermals, jeans, jacket I ventured out and walked slowly, slipping at times, so walked gingerly and felt slightly cold. Trudged on and not a soul to be seen anywhere. I was really enjoying the quiet, the serenity and the "alone-ness" as there was nobody on the streets.

Was enjoying the silence, the new sights but within minutes the cold got into my bones - literally - and I was in instant panic because the effect was numbing and created instant fear. Bone chilling cold needs to be experienced and cannot be explained. Visions of media headlines of a frozen body being found on Monday flew before my eyes. Literally with a prayer on my lips I gingerly walked back to the hotel hoping I would not collapse before I reached. The moment I reached, jumped under a hot shower and for the next 48 hrs refused to step out of my room and saw some 8 or 9 movies. Apparently the temperature was Minus 24 Deg C!!! A colleague later presented me with a snap on spikes shoe cover to walk on the snow/ice roads.

When you see just one colour all around you, all the time, it can get a bit unnerving. But when you go back in the summer and see the sights, the beauty is breath taking.  This picture below shows where a ship is docked because the lake is frozen and the same lake in summer – a really huge lake.

As you drive around the vast white landscape with snow, it can make one’s journey boring or even depressing but when you do the same journey in summer the beauty is amazing as can be seen below.

A colleague insisted that even in the snow, there is still beauty to be seen and took me to see the place where the Winter Olympics were held – Lillehammer – and seeing the ski slopes/ jumps as they are – all metal structures – was very interesting. Covered in snow together with some technical help they become thrilling ski jumps in the winter. 

Inspired I tried my own hand at skiing even if I only walked and did not really ski.

On another visit I landed just before a weekend and decided to take what is billed as one of the best train journeys in the world – Oslo to Bergen. As you travel on this train journey, you switch trains to a mountain railway called Flam Rail. With many tunnels, at one place the train entered a tunnel and came out inside of the mountain where you could see the sky, and they have a platform, and the tunnel continues at the other end. Parts of the train are within the tunnel on either end of the platform. As you alight - inside the mountain, all you can see is the sky above and the snow clad inside of the mountain. An ethereal sight and experience as can be seen below.

The view from inside the mountain looked like this.

The Flam Rail journey continues going down the mountain in a long journey and you pass through wooden tunnels. Apparently these tunnels were made to reduce the work involved in removing the snow for trains to pass. They are as crude as possible and kindle historical memories. 

Flam rail finally takes you to the “ground” and then you take a ferry to the next station, where you catch the train to reach Bergen. As you float down the Fjord, you hear a continuous shattering sound as the thin sheet of ice breaks under the ferry, but what is unique is that when you look ahead it gives you the illusion of reaching the end of the earth and you may fall off. See the pictures below.

Bergen is a lovely town and one can walk all over admiring the beauty of the colours  all around. I always used to wonder why some western nations had bright coloured buildings etc that would attract discounts in a country like India, till I realised that in a white snow covered area, to be able to recognise anything needed bright colours.  See below.

The other place I visited was called Aalesund, with a rather hilly terrain, and for the first time I came across what could be termed picture post card beautiful locations as these pictures would show. If an amateur with an ordinary camera can get such lovely sights, imagine what a professional can do. As you looked down at the streets and buildings what stuck me was that I never felt I was looking at a town. It was like looking at a model toy city instead. It is difficult to explain the feeling but somehow, it was as if everything was still and frozen in time.

A nation of lovely friendly people I have had just one slightly uncomfortable experience when at the Oslo airport, and this was after some terror attack someplace, an elderly man, part of a group of senior citizens decided to do a slow dance as he circled around me while saying Allah hu Akbar. Nobody seemed to care and it took all my patience to slowly inch my way out of the group and walk away.

Maybe its their nature or their size as a country, and way of life, the people, I have always felt are rather trusting and in the words of an Ambassador of their country to India – even Naïve. This can make dealings and discussions often a delight, sometimes a frustration. It raises the bar for oneself in terms of how to conduct yourself with them. 

When summer arrives, most go on extended vacations and out of contact, business associates elsewhere, especially India, may find that difficult to accept thinking that as a luxury they have. But when you live without adequate sunlight for prolonged months, live in the biting cold and snow, you begin to understand the need for this summer vacation. Winters are hard work with all the snow to be cleared and that invariably means that Norwegians are very fit, strong and physically very hard working. Be it skiing or shoveling the manual exertion is significant.

A country where the weather is harsh, living conditions outside of the urban center's even more harsh and conditions even in urban center's not easy, people learn to adapt and often, what we take for granted become luxuries - like sunlight for example. This life is harsh in MY words, but perfectly normal in their lexicon and I have often said that, cultures, attitudes, systems and even habits are often driven by the weather. When even in urban areas your nearest neighbor is pretty far, and living in the prolonged cold weather, you learn to behave and live differently. 

If one assumes that many, over the centuries have left this land, then those who have stayed, seem to be made of sterner stuff. Often the number of people in a place are so few, that they would need to depend upon their own ingenuity to survive, and this can foster a great deal of innovation, invention from a engineering perspective. Be it fishing, surviving in the Minus 30's temperature, special warm clothing, going out to sea, drilling for oil, hunting whales, reindeer,  the skill sets learnt are completely different. These have translated into many engineering/ product innovations which are the best in the world today.

Physical hard work is a way of life, notwithstanding how rich one may be. It also fosters trust since in the wilderness, one is alone and you cannot afford to piss off the only neighbor you have. This in turn translates to trust, even on a global platform. The words - global, largest, biggest etc assume definition by comparison and activity. For a large temperate country like India, this can often be a major frustration, unless one makes the effort to understand. 

For example, as I was being driven to the office, I was shown a building and told that they are the world's largest manufacturer of fishing hooks. Fact yes, but when you see a medium sized factory in India, albeit some other item, the difference is humungous - a dwarf and a giant. When one grows up telling people - world's largest - and then go do business in a place like India, China the divide in thinking can create hurdles to achieving success. This way of life - small, tough, etc - creates far more liberal thought than other places where they (apparently) have a far better life weather wise. This liberal thought process affects even the politics, foreign policy and you see a kind of idealistic approach on the world stage on many issues. No wonder the Noble Peace Prize museum is located in Oslo, Norway. 

Anything said here is not as a criticism or such but to share, that unless each of us begin to start looking at people, their attitudes, philosophy from their point of view - even if we may disagree with their views - we can never foster enduring relationships or resolve disagreements. The age old saying - One man's food is another man's poison - is a truism that applies across all aspects of life in todays globalised world.

If at all one has a regret, it is that I never got a chance to see the northern lights, supposedly the most beautiful sight.