The stay at Kharkiv was short but sweet.
Now, we had to go to Lviv to visit our colleagues there.
As we checked out of the hotel in Kharkiv, I drank a bottle of water and Deepa kept hers in her bag. On reaching the airport, the security asked Deepa to throw her bottle in the trash. Deepa had to do so.
While walking through security clearance, since we did not have water, we both felt unusually thirsty.
There were 2 packets of juice at the baggage scanner table, near the security. Some poor bloke might have been asked to throw those away.
What a waste! I longingly looked at the packs. That's when a lady security walked in and talked to the security guy in Ukrainian.
I imagine the conversation to be - "Kandavalmaaru ithu nokki vellam irakaathe irikaan - ithine akathu eduthu veyyu... Nammukku pinne edukaam..."
After the clearance, we walked and waited for our flight to Kiev.
The journey to Kiev was uneventful. As soon as we reached Kiev, we went to have lunch at the same restaurant where the lady took our order wrongly.
This time, Deepa and I took some rice mixed with cheese and Prabakar ordered veg dumplings. Along with that, Prabakar ordered a lime - the quantity was written as 50ml.
When the lime came, it was just plain lemon squeeze. Water was in a separate glass. Prabakar mixed the water and it was very sour.
He called the waitress and tried explaining that the quantity of lemon was too much.
The lady said that she gave exactly what was mentioned in the menu - 50 ml.
Ooohh! 50ml of lemon squeeze alone... Now you tell me.
Prabakar asked for water. They gave an extra glass hesitantly and then it occurred water was more expensive than the other drinks over here.
After our lunch, we just walked around. I thought I would check for magnets from Kiev. I saw an airline staff writing something on a paper standing in the middle. She seemed grumpy.
I looked around - there was no one else standing free to answer our query.
Slowly, I walked towards her wondering if I should walk back. Halfway through, she saw me and smiled. With the newfound confidence, I walked faster and asked, "Excuse me, do you have souvenirs or some kind of magnets here?"
"A-wot?"
"Magnets? Souvenirs? Something special to Kiev?"
"Sorry - I don't understand."
She asked me to wait and she talked to her colleague and brought him to me.
I repeated my statement to him. They both looked at each other quizzically. I drew a rectangle in thin air with my fingers and said - "Magnet! Magnet! Mag-net!"
And suddenly, their eyes brightened and they said, "Oh, MAGNAAAIIIIT!"
I was like - "Yesss, magnaaiiit!"
They said there would be plenty after the security clearance. I thanked them and walked away.
Ippo technique pidi kitti... Avasanikumbol kurachu neetanam.
After the security clearance, we had to wait for some time. Deepa and I watched some Pisharadi comedies in youtube using the Public WiFi. We lost it halfway and started laughing loudly, unaware that we were attracting attention towards us.
Finally the flight came and we set off to Lviv.
Lviv seemed to be much more European than Kharkiv. The buildings looked more ancient and there were more sculptures here. Kharkiv is more sophisticated compared to Lviv.
Kharkiv is situated closer to Russia, so people speak mostly in Russian. On the other hand, in Lviv, people speak in Ukrainian.
We reached the Swiss Hotel. It looked a bit old from outside. That's okay. It's the inside, that matters.
The receptionist greeted us and said that she would show us our rooms.
We followed her through a maze. And finally, she asked Prabakar and me to wait somewhere in the middle of nowhere and took Deepa to her room.
After about 5 minutes, the receptionist appeared, took us through another maze and showed Prabakar his room. Then, I was left with her. By this time, I was slightly freaking out.
She took me to the elevator.
She looked at me, with sad, soulful eyes. Then, she said, "Sorry, the building is very old. So it's hard to find your way."
You think!
We took the lift to the 3rd floor. As the doors opened, she took me to a room close by. She opened, to reveal a very spacious room with 2 beds. And she took me in and said that would be my room. I stood there motionless.
Suddenly I realized, once she leaves I would be all alone in this big room in this scary place. All alone!
Who knows if there were people in other rooms.
Help! I screamed inside.
She gave me instructions on how to reach the reception. I paid no attention. She asked me if I needed anything else.
Yes, where is Deepa? What have you done to her?
I mustered the courage and asked, "Can I get a room closer to Deepa's?"
She looked sorry and shook her head slowly.
I was like - "Okaaay!"
And she walked out. And so I was, standing in the middle of a big room. Afraid to venture out.
The bell boy (more like an old man) came with my luggage. Finally, I asked him how I could reach the elevator. He got out of the room and pointed left. I walked out and saw that the room was very close to the lift.
Nothing's wrong. It's all in my head.
Frantically, I called up Deepa via WhatsApp. Said we should meet at the lobby soon. Somehow, I found my way towards the lobby. God knows how.
They should have the way to the rooms in Google Maps.
I sat waiting for Deepa. She came and voiced out the exact things running through my head. What kind of a place is this! Spooky.
We saw a spiral staircase going downwards to the basement near the reception.
Deepa was like, "Ithaano thekkini..."
Prabakar came and we got out for tea. It was such a relief to walk out of the hotel. We decided to take a look outside. The first thing that hit us was that the place was very lively. So alive. With people walking and live music playing.
We were busy taking photos in the street and suddenly we saw a procession come by with people dressed up and representing different countries. We saw Ukraine, Serbia, so on... and India. India?!
It was the end of some cultural fest. We were so happy to see that India was considered important to be represented here. Well... this goes to show, you can find Indians anywhere.
We decided to take a 1 hour ride around the city on a slow train.
The tour was good but we were fed with a lot of information. It was hard to keep track of the info while we were busy taking pictures. After some time we had no clue about anything. Except that Lviv is called the City of Lions and that it looked really good.
Prabakar left us both together and we decided to do some shopping. We decided to go buy chocolates, if possible, since Lviv is famous for it.
Walked into some stores. Bought some "magnaits".
Finally, we decided to ask around for chocolates. We mentioned chocolates to a lady in one store. I motioned with my hands showing something to eat. They could not follow.
Deepa used the technique, "Some chocolat!"
They were like - "Oh! Chocolat!" She gave the directions using her hands and said at last, "Udhar!"
We were like, "Udhar?" Hindi kaari aano daivame?
But, no! Udhar-nnu mathram arriyam.
And then we set off to the chocolat store. At the chocolate store, we saw a lot of options and we decided to buy lots. We grabbed lots and put it in our bag. People would have assumed we had never seen chocolates in our lives.
Then, it occurred. These were handmade chocolates. What if they would melt?
So we had to ask. We went to a lady.
"Would these melt?"
The lady looked at us blankly.
"We - have - to - travel. Will - these - chocolates - melt?" As if adding a pause in between, would somehow make it clearer to her.
She had no clue what we were talking about.
"Liquid. Liquid." I motioned with my hands.
She took us to another person and I repeated. Somehow, the first girl got it.
"Ah..." She said, "1 month! Yum yum yum", (motioning as though eating), "no problem." She motioned with her hand as though a plane was flying, "Zszhszhhhhh! No problem."
We started laughing. Hand gestures. The universal language. We made no sense with words but there... at that moment, we understood each other perfectly. And we continued shopping. Halfway through, somebody mentioned about some chocolates being alcoholic. And that's when it occurred, we had not checked this fact about the ones we picked.
So, we ran to the next person asking if these had alcohol. Some did, so we put them back.
There were many chocolates in different shapes. We picked them all up and went to the counter for billing. That's when it occurred - yet again - that these would not fit in our luggages. So, it would be best to pick out flat chocolates. We put them back. After many cycles of taking and putting them back, we finalized on some chocolates. We paid and walked out, happy that we completed the task.
We walked gloomily towards the hotel and we went for dinner. It seemed there was only one person to cook and serve.
After dinner, we walked glumly to our respective rooms.
When I went to take the lift, I expected to meet no one on my way. The doors opened and I freaked out when I saw a man with very white hair - so white, the elevator light reflected on his head.
Mummee-!
I just jumped. But it was just an old man with a wide smile.
I think the guy saw me jerk 'coz then he stopped smiling.
I managed to find my room. Though the room was comfortable, I refused to be.
My heart was glad when the clock finally struck 6:00 a.m.
Needed to iron my dress. Called the reception. They said I had to wait till 7:00 a.m. for someone to show me the ironing room.
Wow! This has to be really complicated to get there.
I waited for an hour and called again. A lady came to my room. She took me up the stairs next to my room and moved left to open a door where the iron was.
That's it? You made me wait 1 hour to come till here? I could have found it myself!
After dressing up, I ran towards the breakfast room. Again I don't know how I found my way but I did.
The breakfast spread wasn't as sumptuous as the one in Kharkiv Palace but it was okay.
We set off for the office. The office here was better than the one in Kharkiv. Much newer and more sophisticated.
Now, we had to go to Lviv to visit our colleagues there.
As we checked out of the hotel in Kharkiv, I drank a bottle of water and Deepa kept hers in her bag. On reaching the airport, the security asked Deepa to throw her bottle in the trash. Deepa had to do so.
While walking through security clearance, since we did not have water, we both felt unusually thirsty.
There were 2 packets of juice at the baggage scanner table, near the security. Some poor bloke might have been asked to throw those away.
What a waste! I longingly looked at the packs. That's when a lady security walked in and talked to the security guy in Ukrainian.
I imagine the conversation to be - "Kandavalmaaru ithu nokki vellam irakaathe irikaan - ithine akathu eduthu veyyu... Nammukku pinne edukaam..."
After the clearance, we walked and waited for our flight to Kiev.
The journey to Kiev was uneventful. As soon as we reached Kiev, we went to have lunch at the same restaurant where the lady took our order wrongly.
This time, Deepa and I took some rice mixed with cheese and Prabakar ordered veg dumplings. Along with that, Prabakar ordered a lime - the quantity was written as 50ml.
When the lime came, it was just plain lemon squeeze. Water was in a separate glass. Prabakar mixed the water and it was very sour.
He called the waitress and tried explaining that the quantity of lemon was too much.
The lady said that she gave exactly what was mentioned in the menu - 50 ml.
Ooohh! 50ml of lemon squeeze alone... Now you tell me.
Prabakar asked for water. They gave an extra glass hesitantly and then it occurred water was more expensive than the other drinks over here.
After our lunch, we just walked around. I thought I would check for magnets from Kiev. I saw an airline staff writing something on a paper standing in the middle. She seemed grumpy.
I looked around - there was no one else standing free to answer our query.
Slowly, I walked towards her wondering if I should walk back. Halfway through, she saw me and smiled. With the newfound confidence, I walked faster and asked, "Excuse me, do you have souvenirs or some kind of magnets here?"
"A-wot?"
"Magnets? Souvenirs? Something special to Kiev?"
"Sorry - I don't understand."
She asked me to wait and she talked to her colleague and brought him to me.
I repeated my statement to him. They both looked at each other quizzically. I drew a rectangle in thin air with my fingers and said - "Magnet! Magnet! Mag-net!"
And suddenly, their eyes brightened and they said, "Oh, MAGNAAAIIIIT!"
I was like - "Yesss, magnaaiiit!"
They said there would be plenty after the security clearance. I thanked them and walked away.
Ippo technique pidi kitti... Avasanikumbol kurachu neetanam.
After the security clearance, we had to wait for some time. Deepa and I watched some Pisharadi comedies in youtube using the Public WiFi. We lost it halfway and started laughing loudly, unaware that we were attracting attention towards us.
Finally the flight came and we set off to Lviv.
Lviv
Kharkiv is situated closer to Russia, so people speak mostly in Russian. On the other hand, in Lviv, people speak in Ukrainian.
We reached the Swiss Hotel. It looked a bit old from outside. That's okay. It's the inside, that matters.
The receptionist greeted us and said that she would show us our rooms.
We followed her through a maze. And finally, she asked Prabakar and me to wait somewhere in the middle of nowhere and took Deepa to her room.
After about 5 minutes, the receptionist appeared, took us through another maze and showed Prabakar his room. Then, I was left with her. By this time, I was slightly freaking out.
She took me to the elevator.
She looked at me, with sad, soulful eyes. Then, she said, "Sorry, the building is very old. So it's hard to find your way."
You think!
We took the lift to the 3rd floor. As the doors opened, she took me to a room close by. She opened, to reveal a very spacious room with 2 beds. And she took me in and said that would be my room. I stood there motionless.
Suddenly I realized, once she leaves I would be all alone in this big room in this scary place. All alone!
Who knows if there were people in other rooms.
Help! I screamed inside.
She gave me instructions on how to reach the reception. I paid no attention. She asked me if I needed anything else.
Yes, where is Deepa? What have you done to her?
I mustered the courage and asked, "Can I get a room closer to Deepa's?"
She looked sorry and shook her head slowly.
I was like - "Okaaay!"
And she walked out. And so I was, standing in the middle of a big room. Afraid to venture out.
The bell boy (more like an old man) came with my luggage. Finally, I asked him how I could reach the elevator. He got out of the room and pointed left. I walked out and saw that the room was very close to the lift.
Nothing's wrong. It's all in my head.
Frantically, I called up Deepa via WhatsApp. Said we should meet at the lobby soon. Somehow, I found my way towards the lobby. God knows how.
They should have the way to the rooms in Google Maps.
I sat waiting for Deepa. She came and voiced out the exact things running through my head. What kind of a place is this! Spooky.
We saw a spiral staircase going downwards to the basement near the reception.
Deepa was like, "Ithaano thekkini..."
Prabakar came and we got out for tea. It was such a relief to walk out of the hotel. We decided to take a look outside. The first thing that hit us was that the place was very lively. So alive. With people walking and live music playing.
We were busy taking photos in the street and suddenly we saw a procession come by with people dressed up and representing different countries. We saw Ukraine, Serbia, so on... and India. India?!
It was the end of some cultural fest. We were so happy to see that India was considered important to be represented here. Well... this goes to show, you can find Indians anywhere.
We decided to take a 1 hour ride around the city on a slow train.
The tour was good but we were fed with a lot of information. It was hard to keep track of the info while we were busy taking pictures. After some time we had no clue about anything. Except that Lviv is called the City of Lions and that it looked really good.
Prabakar left us both together and we decided to do some shopping. We decided to go buy chocolates, if possible, since Lviv is famous for it.
Walked into some stores. Bought some "magnaits".
Finally, we decided to ask around for chocolates. We mentioned chocolates to a lady in one store. I motioned with my hands showing something to eat. They could not follow.
Deepa used the technique, "Some chocolat!"
They were like - "Oh! Chocolat!" She gave the directions using her hands and said at last, "Udhar!"
We were like, "Udhar?" Hindi kaari aano daivame?
But, no! Udhar-nnu mathram arriyam.
And then we set off to the chocolat store. At the chocolate store, we saw a lot of options and we decided to buy lots. We grabbed lots and put it in our bag. People would have assumed we had never seen chocolates in our lives.
Then, it occurred. These were handmade chocolates. What if they would melt?
So we had to ask. We went to a lady.
"Would these melt?"
The lady looked at us blankly.
"We - have - to - travel. Will - these - chocolates - melt?" As if adding a pause in between, would somehow make it clearer to her.
She had no clue what we were talking about.
"Liquid. Liquid." I motioned with my hands.
She took us to another person and I repeated. Somehow, the first girl got it.
"Ah..." She said, "1 month! Yum yum yum", (motioning as though eating), "no problem." She motioned with her hand as though a plane was flying, "Zszhszhhhhh! No problem."
So, we ran to the next person asking if these had alcohol. Some did, so we put them back.
There were many chocolates in different shapes. We picked them all up and went to the counter for billing. That's when it occurred - yet again - that these would not fit in our luggages. So, it would be best to pick out flat chocolates. We put them back. After many cycles of taking and putting them back, we finalized on some chocolates. We paid and walked out, happy that we completed the task.
|
 |
 |
| On the streets in the Market Place. |
After dinner, we walked glumly to our respective rooms.
When I went to take the lift, I expected to meet no one on my way. The doors opened and I freaked out when I saw a man with very white hair - so white, the elevator light reflected on his head.
Mummee-!
I just jumped. But it was just an old man with a wide smile.
I think the guy saw me jerk 'coz then he stopped smiling.
I managed to find my room. Though the room was comfortable, I refused to be.
My heart was glad when the clock finally struck 6:00 a.m.
Needed to iron my dress. Called the reception. They said I had to wait till 7:00 a.m. for someone to show me the ironing room.
Wow! This has to be really complicated to get there.
I waited for an hour and called again. A lady came to my room. She took me up the stairs next to my room and moved left to open a door where the iron was.
That's it? You made me wait 1 hour to come till here? I could have found it myself!
 |
| The gloomy dining area in the hotel. Looks much more brighter in the photo. |
After dressing up, I ran towards the breakfast room. Again I don't know how I found my way but I did.
The breakfast spread wasn't as sumptuous as the one in Kharkiv Palace but it was okay.
We set off for the office. The office here was better than the one in Kharkiv. Much newer and more sophisticated.
No comments:
Post a Comment