The Take-Off
I reached the Mumbai international airport at 10:00 PM and scrambled my bag for the passport as the security was asking for tickets and identifications. I had only once traveled by plane before, from Pune to Goa and that is a 40 min plane ride. Later I would find out international flights are nothing like that caricature of an experience I had before.
I was all equipped with the necessary documents that I was supposed to have. So I cleared the airport gate security and enter the premises. The first thing I notice is the stark contrast in the landscape from Chembur and Vashi to that of the Airport. The airport’s architecture is beautiful with giant ornate pillars holding the vast canopy of the roof which follows into the same design pattern of the pillars.
This was the first time I was on an international airport terminal with no idea of the first thing I have to do, and the intimidatingly large airport was not helping. Few impromptu calls and more than a few Google searches later I had a rough idea of what was expected. I dropped the baggage, got my boarding pass, exchanged currency, cleared the security check, cleared immigration, and arrived at the terminal. The anxiety had passed and I was waiting calmly for the boarding to start.
The Arrival
This was a 10-hour overnight flight from Mumbai to Zurich airport. Soon after the plane took flight, being exhausted from the preparation, packing, and the high-traffic Mumbai commute, I dozed off. I was woken up by the Air Hostess the later morning for breakfast, the flight was one and a half hours to land. I opted for the non-vegetarian breakfast and was not too delighted with the experience. There was the breakfast before me and I had given a spoon-and-fork to have at it, and thus began the struggle.
You can count on a single hand the times I’ve had breakfast with a spoon-and-fork, this experience brings that total count to one. Anyways, I had a long journey ahead and got the meal in my belly by the means available. I reached the Zurich airport by 6:30 AM (Local time) and the cabin crew greeted me off as I departed the vessel.
It was the start of the cold, the month of October. And it was indeed a chilly welcome for someone who shivers even in the Indian winters. It took me a day, or two, to adjust to the weather. Zurich airport is huge with the railway station in the same building. I was roaming around deciphering the notation symbols, as everything was in German, trying to get to the baggage claim.
I was headed towards Basel, a small town at the base of the Alps mountain in Switzerland. Where I had remotely worked with the University of Basel, providing them with ‘OpenSpecimen’, a BioBank management software by Krishagni Pvt Ltd (Pune). I was here to meet the clients and collaborate with them on-site, training them in the software and resolving any related issues.
The next thing I notice is that everything is so much thought out and well structured there. The metro train doors were accompanied by some marking on the grounds that separated the departing crowd from the boarding crowd. The ticket vendor at the train station had at least 5 feet of undisturbed space only after which the queue would start, and she’d ask for the next customer one-by-one. Everything was so delineated, and I was loving it.
I got the ticket to Basel and the train was leaving in 15 minutes. I hopped on. I see there are hardly 5 people in the entire coach. I wonder if this is a normal crowd or was it just the Saturday morning. Everything was super clean, I tell you, the white sole of my shoes were as spotless when I left after 15 days as they were when I arrived.
Basel, Switzerland.
First things first, it’s ‘Baa-zl’ not ‘Bae-sel’. Remember that if you don’t want the locals to ask you ” You’re going where!?”. That got pretty embarasing, pretty fast, it happened to a friend of mine.
The train left Zurich station and, in a while, left the city. And soon after, I witnessed the lush green landscapes that Switzerland is known for. It was a mesmerizing sight. It’s 7:30’ish in the morning, you can feel the cold breeze, and contrasting the cold are the pale-golden sun rays that are permeating through the fog, it’s autumn and the long pointy trees have become orange to reddish, the distant hilltops standing against the morning sun. It is a feeling that I will take with me, a picture I cannot forget.
I reach Basel after a 90 minutes ride and took a tram to check-in to my Airbnb hotel. It’s weekend and I had decided to explore this neat little city.
Basel is a historic city and there is a lot to see. You can see the old buildings, gates, museums, and churches, and a bridge and the city itself is a wanderlust experience. And the people here are ridiculously NICE. I don’t know whether it was just me or this is a “creative recollection” but overall people seem very happy, warm towards others and nice in general.
I loved the city and in particular the museums. I’m a museum fanatic and they happen to have multiple of them here. So, the first thing I do is visit the “Museum Of Natural History”. This museum has a large number of specimens ranging from the ancient tropical predatory cats (skeleton of a saber-tooth cat) to the exotic creatures from the depths of the sea (Nautilus fossils and shells).
The life-sized recreation models of the animals were amazing. It’s a shame that most of the descriptions were in German and transcript in English was not provided.
I would say I qualify as an introvert and a chronic gamer and normally abstain from travel. Despite that, I traveled a lot during this trip. Rocking “Illahi”, on repeat, in my headphones. I’d be lying if I said this didn’t feel like something straight out of a movie.
It’s worth mentioning, I went to Paris for a weekend and spent two days in the Louvre Museum. They say there are 380,000 artifacts in the museum and even if you spent 10 secs, seeing each, it would take you 6 weeks total to see the entire Museum and that, just blows my mind.
Also, I went to Lucerne to visit Mount Pilatus. I did the “Golden round trip”. Where you reach Lucerne, then hop on a boat to Alpnachstad, then ride the cogwheel train to the peak of the mountain, then by cable car down to Frakmuntegg, followed by a Gondola down to Kriens, and finally catch a bus back to Lucerne.
Everyone would agree, it’s nice to meet someone familiar. It’s even great when you meet someone familiar when you’re abroad. I met some friendly Indian ladies on the Lucerne trip. They came from Dubai and were on a vacation. It’s weird we didn’t speak even a word in Hindi.
In my collection, I had only a single picture of me which is not a selfie (untill the very last day). Thanks to these lovely people.
The Work
During my 15 days stay at Basel. I met with existing and prospective clients. I saw the guts of a biobank. I was taught how exactly they form a bacterial culture from the specimen that come in and I saw huge freezers rooms and what not. It’s true that you learn more by being involved and It was a great learning experience for me.
The working hours were pretty lenient compared back to India. Swiss people start work very early, usually by 8:00 AM and wrap up by 5:00 PM. I’m a morning person, mostly, and this timeline struck home. I met amazing people. Biobankers, researchers, technicians, doctoral scholars, programmers, database experts, managers, etc.
Work was mostly teaching the end-users how to efficiently use OpenSpecimen, discussing with other groups on getting them online with the software, designing their customized workflow, occasional debugging of some issues here and there. It was a lot of fun.
Apart from work, I also got to bond with the people there. There’s a boxing club at the university and we went there for a training session. The cultural exchange while visiting the cafeteria for lunch each day with new people. One night, we went to dinner at this authentic Italian place called “Pizzeria Da Gianni”.
When I left for Switzerland, my friends in India were very worried that I might not get accustomed to the local food or would long for Indian food and made me pack numerous snacks. I bought it all back! I loved the food there.
The Farewell
Sadly, everything good must come to an end. It was my last weekend in Basel and fortunately the Basel’s annual Autumn fair (Herbstmesse) was around the corner. And, as decided, Dr. Egli agreed to take me to the fair.
Normally, you don’t see much of a crowd on the street. To be honest, it was like a nuclear holocaust. “Where did all the people go?” It’s 6 ‘o’clock in the evening and the streets are empty already. I’m not a crowd person though, so I loved it!
On the day of ‘Herbstmesse’ though, the landscape had totally changed. The streets were filled with people and colorful stalls. There was so much activity, so much crowd, so much life, it was awesome, it was like… “A normal working day in India!”.
Dr. Egli and I went to ride the giant Ferris wheel. Adrian, is an intellectual person, a foodie, an anime fanatic, and a gamer. So, there was never a shortage of topics for conversation. The guy literally knows the processing of every ingredient on the plate.
We ate everything at the stalls, Swiss cheesecakes, chocolates, chestnuts, burgers. We visited the Munster. I went to a coffee place where, supposedly, Einstein would come to drink coffee.
Finally, I bid my farewell to the city and left for India the next day.
