Welcome To -62 Celcius In SIBERIA!!!!

SIBERIA - doesn’t the word send a chill down your spine; atleast to those for whom this place on earth has found its existence only in their geography books. For me, IT does indeed! All I knew about Siberia was that it’s notorious for its extreme low temperatures during winters; “-40 C, wow how does that feel” that’s what I wonder! I surely know how +40 C felt. Sounds interesting to me; but GOD now what! Will I have to experience it in person? “Are you kidding me”, that’s what I asked Prateek when he told me that I was to accompany him to Siberia. But wow that smells like some adventure; “so pack my backs and here I come Siberia”!

Sunny days at sunny places got over just a little too soon when we boarded our Emirates flight from Dubai for Moscow. Personally this has been my best flying experience. It was one of the most breathtaking flights, atleast for a first timer like me in the land of snow. As we approached Moscow, TVs inside the flight were turned on with forward view and downward view cameras. Snow clad land with sparsely scattered ever green trees here and there; white that’s what it looked from top. As we were ready to land all we could see was snow on both sides of the runway and before we realized there was a thud; the flight had made a successful landing. Then came the news hearing which I was so crestfallen. “Temperature outside is only -6 C. Is that what I came here for? A week passed by in Moscow and hey the temperature doesn’t bother to go below -8 C. Prateek tells me to have patience till we go to SIBERIA.”

This time it was sooner done than said; we were finally deported (as he would like to call it) to Siberia one fine winter morning. “Here starts the adventure” I thought to myself. But on boarding the flight I was taken aback; it was actually a MISadventure. It was not fit to be called a flight; it was nothing better than a government bus back India. Small, cramped up, no leg space and the funniest part being no space to keep cabin luggage; Lol! “Fine, not bad” I thought sarcastically as we endured a fair enough bumpy two and half hours ride to land at our first stop in Siberia - Noyabrsk. “What’s the temperature outside” was my first question. It being 20th December I was surely expecting something enticing. “But well, excitement doesn’t last forever; atleast it has not been for me since I am here. It’s only -15 C. Prateek duped me with all fake stories!!!! Siberia in December and only -15 C what on earth is this? This is so depressing; what will I go back to India and talk about”; but somehow the depression had to take a back seat as that night we encountered one of the most spectacular phenomenon of nature.

At 11pm local time (Siberia is 30 min adrift of IST), as we lay in our room, suddenly the sky outside looked extraordinarily bright for that time of the night. First we thought it was those street lights; but then can they be so bright. We went to peek outside and to our surprise the sky looked like one natural display of fireworks. Before we could realize it was over. Yes it was those Northern Lights that again most of us either keep hearing about or read about. “Wow now it feels like I have seen something worth to talk about!”

21st December morning: still -15 C outside; we set out to reach our destination, a town on the Arctic Circle in Siberia called Gubkinsky where my dear hubby has to report. We traveled for three hours on bumpy icy roads; finally at dusk we entered this small town that had a fairy tale look to it. Snow spread all over with churches and buildings that looked like those straight out of the medieval age; I liked the look and so did my hubby. We settled down in our apartment and days passed on fine with -25 C outside till Dec 31, 2005; we woke up that morning only to discover that my dreams had finally come true. Yiiiiiiiippppppppeeeeeee the thermometer outside read -40 C! “Whoa finally I am seeing a temperature I can go back home and talk about”. Finally an experience worthwhile; that morning I was surely quite high on energy and on our way to office I had specially stopped outside for a while without any warmers just to feel the chill. “Awesome I feel numb. Finally here I am in Siberia. This is what I have heard about for all these days and now I feel so welcome to this land.” That was my way of welcoming the New year.

Happy and contented days passed by with temperatures hovering between -45C to -50 C. Life became slightly tough as the temperature dipped further. Then came the dreadful Jan 12, 2006; when we were taken aback by what the thermometer read. It was -62 C outside without the wind chill factor added. As we peeked outside all we could see was white fog and nothing beyond that. As we stepped out, I could feel the cold Siberian wind slash across my face and say aloud “WELCOME TO SIBERIA”. My eyelids were freezing and I was finding it tough to breathe, as I endured a 30 sec walk from my home to the car. It’s Jan 20, 2006 today and temperature is no higher than -47 C. As our days here come to an end, all our plans of skiing and visiting the ice city remains a plan as Siberia has finally decided to fulfill my wish and show me its true colour. All in all, so far it has been an experience worth cherishing for all my life; THANK YOU SIBERIA.

MS to MRS.

Life for a girl has its own phases; one of the biggest is the transformation from Ms to Mrs whereas a man always remains Mr very conveniently. The journey to this phase is long but when you reach the zenith the change happens within a blink of your eyes.

Life has been same for me too. 22 years of my life I have been happily just being myself, Ms Banerjee; proud to bear my surname and flaunt it. 22 years when I had all the freedom on earth to take decisions just for myself and do things on my own knowing the fact that the consequences will be all mine. Only people I would report to were my parents and that too almost disappeared as I started working. 17 years of my life have been in a sheltered surrounding when I had my parents to fall back upon everytime I needed. Though an independent child from young, I had my share of flips. Made my decisions but parents were there to rectify them; those 17 years when I learnt and still remained unadulterated.

But then there ended those guarded years like a dream and I was let out in the open in the human wild to fight and survive on my own. The only mantra my parents gave me was “Survival Of the Fittest”. Since then life has always been a roller coaster ride where every step was my decision and after effects were mine too. There was no more falling back upon and no more parents being around to recheck my decisions. College life was a phase of knowing a different culture and accepting and getting accepted. With some trustworthy friends around it was still a cozy world. But once out of it I was to face a world so full of masked faces, hypocrites, good leaders, and a lot of demotivators. Working late in office, partying hard on weekends, traveling on long weekends, watching movies and just be with self at home was what my life comprised of; life full of uncertainty and ‘Play It Rough’ attitude; still those trustworthy friends around but lesser time to unwind. It was one of the most important learning phase; a phase to learn the value of patience, to smile inspite of being in pain, to be strong, to learn to be diplomatic and most important to leave your original self at home when at work. But all said and done those were the independent years of my life where the motivating factor was the inflowing salary every month end which was all mine. It gave me a feeling of self-contentment that I was earning my living on earth and not being a parasite. It was that period that gave me a self boost and made my identity to stand on my own as just Anusree. But as we say nothing lasts forever and especially for a girl there comes the transition phase gain.

This time it’s a much bigger transition where in my identity is being transformed from Ms to Mrs. Decision of taking up this challenge was surely mine as it’s me who fell in love. The word LOVE that changes your world and brings in this another person in your life for whom you care for so much so as to agree to do almost everything. As the society norm goes love cannot stand alone for too long without being tied into a social bond called MARRIAGE. So here comes those days where you contemplate between your career and your love. As it goes love has to win and so it does. Marriage is on the cards. All sleepless nights and pre marital bliss; all these for just one day, the D day when, within few hours even before you realize, you become MRS. Few hours and your surname is taken; your identity is attached to being someone’s better half. You get a secondary identity. HOW is the question that haunts your mind for days to go without finding an answer. Why do I have to give up on my surname when he doesn’t? But alas all these thoughts are waste as there is no logic to it but just a simple illogical string called society norms.

So that’s the journey that was 22 years long for me yet too short to realize the reality. Ms to Mrs; that’s what I have been converted to and now my entire purpose for living revolves around my love, MY HUSBAND. No more working late, partying hard and that waited last day of the month. Now life is more about being responsible, being sensible, caring, making decisions for both, thinking of your family above everything else and no more ‘Play It Rough’ attitude. It’s a transformation from being a girl to a lady where the child within you comes out only in private. But at the same time it’s a feeling of being one with someone you love so much. The days of being with yourself is over where I know there is someone who will come back to me at the end of everyday; who cares for me and loves me more than anything else in his life. Someone for whom fulfilling my wishes is his sole dream, for whom being with me matters the most and is on top of any other thing. 2 months into my married life, all I will say is that the journey from Ms to Mrs has been tough to accept yet fulfilling as what matters now is being with my SHRUK, as a PARI in his DIL!!!

Adieu 2005

It’s another year that just went by and I suddenly realized that since my last blog about Goa I haven’t written anything about the year that we welcomed in Goa. Yes I am talking about 2005 that just got over and left over such happy memories with me deep down my memory lane.

It was surely the year that started so differently where we all returned from Goa with loads of nostalgia, backpain after traveling for 22 hours in a car and needless to say the right spirit to kick off. For me it started off a little to well as it was just the first month of the year and I already had two trips planned back to back and the best part being holiday being approved by my manager. First came Kerala to attend a wedding and then came home sweet home. Journey from Bangalore to Calcutta was again different for having met Shruk in the airport and before the year got into first gear we realized our hidden feeling for each other. Yes it’s the same Shruk a stranger so known.

Love is surely the most beautiful feeling and being in love and being owned is something to cherish for life. With so much happening in life hardly did I realize that 2005 had already entered into its mid phase and I was engaged with my marriage date fixed. Long distance relationships are hard they say but as I said may be 2005 started on a little too good note for me so even long distance did not seem that long. Not only for me 2005 was surely the year of love that helped love take the shape of marriage for a lot where some of my closest friends got married and found their beloved partners for life.

This year was surely one of the fastest I have ever seen that just zoomed off and here it was time to leave my job and enter the uncertainty. Leaving job on one hand was very painful but on the other hand uniting with my love was dearer. And here before the year finally ended I was married and with marriage came some new relations and some great new friends. GJ who started the year with his wedding was a proud father of a bay boy and the event closest to my heart being someone very close to me falling in love and confessing it at the closure of the year. Yes it's Tum & Tom.

Thank you GOD for all that you gave all of us the entire year and keep blessing us this way for years to come. So time we bid 2005 a goodbye and yet again welcome another year. Happy New Year all and keep smiling.