The end...

The End

Hello dear reader!

This may be the last time I am writing this blog for the exchange, as I don’t really want to talk about these days, or else I may again have a break down by just walking down those alleys of my memory during the coming week. But, this blog is something I have to write and write I will.

So, my thoughts on the 30 days with my 15 friends who were the main participants and the dozens of others who made these memorable days more memorable will start by a question.

In which Exchange program would you expect the group walking towards a deserted petrol station at 0030 hrs in the morning for something to drink with the two main teachers wearing similar bowler hats HAVING LED LIGHTS ON THEM!!!!!!???????? And please take this in account, dear reader that this is after taking us to a restaurant and ordering some small things for us just so that the group can dance at the disco there.

So, can you find this sort of stuff at any other exchange program which you might have seen?

Well, this was just 2 hours, dear reader, 2 hours, imagine what would have taken place in the remaining time that we had with us.

 

This thought somehow takes me to the part where I realise that what my expectations were and what this second leg was in reality.

Expectation: A trip to Poland where I would get to know a lot about the holocaust, The Iron Curtain and life in communist Poland etc. with nothing related to India at sight.

Reality: A life changing experience where I met and talked not only with Polish people, but with a Swiss, a Vietnamese, a Pakistani, some Dutch, some Germans and …… a lot of Indians. This, with getting to know about the European way of life, the politics, the issues etc. AND with all my expectations except the India part.

This was just a small comparison whose full account would be very hard to tell, but I would try.

We were taken places, emphasis on the word TAKEN, because our friends in Poland took us to so many places that even if I try to recall each and every one of them, it would be a very herculean task. We were taken to Wawel hill, Kazimierz Jewish District in Krakow, Nowa Huta, Auschwitz, The Squares of Krakow, Warszawa (Warsaw, that is ) and Zakopanne, to many museums, the salt mine, the beautiful cathedrals, the Tatras, the Zura caves etc. etc. etc.

The places were important, but the people more so. I met so many people, made so many friends and what conversations..

About philosophy with Marcin

About Communist times, thoughts, politics and books with my polish mum

About Europe and its association with Gosia and Kasia

About how Indians are unfit with Gosia and Kasia (again)

About food with tomek bhaiya (big brother in Hindi)

These are just the stuff coming into my mind, there were many such intense discussions, MANY that I just could not write about them as this person has a word limit and people have a tendency to doze off reading or listening to my words.

Leaving such friends has been impossible for me.

 Just thinking about them has made me cry.  I may never meet the most of them again, never again. And even if I do, it would most probably be after, I don’t know when.

But what I do know is that I will meet them, and whatever I learned from, I will surely try to Implement them in my life and make sure that every good turns into the better.

Sadly, this is the end of this program, but this will open new doors for us, doors that we never imagined had existed, paths that were dark before would be now brightly lit. Surely, this is the end of the rhythm , but not of the program, whatever that has happened in this rhythm will surely create a lot of waves, which would in turn create a melody, a melody whose sound would make us remember of all the memories we made and thus, make us more determined to be better individuals.

Thank you again , all the people who made this program possible, without whose participation, the whole system could have ceased to exist.

See you again, my friends, when the time is right and the stage is set.

Until then,

Do widzenia, 50.07 N 19.78 E

 

Regards,

Shubham Sharma