Scared to be in India!!!

It was Saturday and our first weekend in Switzerland. We planned to go to Uetliberg: the top of Zurich. We had already bought the train upgrade tickets. And there we headed to our first outing. J

We took the tram 6 to Freisenberg and then took S10, the local train of Zurich and in not more than 20 mins we were 869.2m above the sea level. The view on our way was way more than what we expected. The Swiss land is seriously blessed. It was a green velvet, lush green to the farthest point our eyes could see.

We hiked up for some 10 mins, and we reached “uetliberg” where all what I could see was peaks full of snow, lush greens mountains, and the beauty of Zurich: Zurich Lake. Couldn’t have been more beautiful.

As usual, we were clicking loads of pictures, pictures of everything on the way. “Hey can I take a picture for u?” We could hear from the back…We turned to see a gentleman with a huge smile. He must be in his 60’s. “Yeah, sure that would be great”, I replied.

“So you two beautiful ladies where are you from? India?”

Yes we replied…And there Mr Gabriel was with his entire family story…I have been to Indiaà Goa, Trivandhjg, Phunjhab… I married a french girl… My son in law is a Pakistani…Meet my friend LK…and there he started introducing us to her in German…LK was nice and friendly.

“Make the most of your trip girls. We got one life, just enjoy as much as you can”  said the old uncle. I liked his philosophy.

We realized later that they were a group of 15 20 oldies enjoying their trip to the core.

Our stomachs had already started roaring and we tried to enquire the menu and the prices( of course it was necessary) of the food there in UTO Kumbh hotel there. Gosh!!!!!! It was pretty expensive.

500 Rs for a cup of tea!!!. And we stood there converting every menu price into Rupee. No menu item was less than 35 francs.  And we were no more hungry J.

Lets atleast explore howz the hotel inside: said Jo.

We entered and saw “Pizzate” written at the entrance and assuming that it was a Pizza counter there , we happily entered the room. Pizzate was just the name of the room we realized later though. :(

It was a beautiful hotel. There was a mini kitchen in the hall. We approached the kitchen and started enquiring if they had something in Vegetarian. “Hindi” replied the chef. “Arrey hindi ap kahan se ho bhaiya”. Punjab. And I smiled. Where in Punjab I asked. Lahore, I am a Pakistani. India ana chahta hai but darta hai. We were specchless. But why, I asked. India is not dangerous. You should not be scared. They wont do anything to you. “phle toh visa hi nai lagayenge….fir airport pe 100 tehkikat, Pakistani hia na hum, terrorist samajhte hai hume” said Mr Malik, the senior chef.

Ap batayein kya khayenge. Jo khayenge wohi banwa deta hun. He was so welcoming and hospitable. He made us bowl full of french fries, spring rolls and ravioli. And he came and said “sirf drinks ka pay karma…iska payment mat karma”. We were amazed. Tried a lot that he takes the money but he did not. We sat there for 2 3 hours and tried to empty those bowls …Our taste buds felt reincarnated.. J
Later he did not even take money for the drinks we had. It was almost 80 francs that we had to pay. But all of it came for free. We later got to know that it was the costliest restaurant of Zurich.

But at the back of my mind, I could still hear those words aloud…”India ane se dar lagta hai”.