Back in one piece..?

Coming back to Kanpur from Nepal meant a great deal. I never had the chance to tell you that the Indian Railway Service seems to have something against me, or atleast that is what I think after spending more than 6 hours at Gorakhpur Trainstation, waiting for my train to arrive. Apparently, my train never arrived that night, or maybe it did, just that I gave up after 7 hours and got myself on another train... Once back in Kanpur and at IIT, the whole place was deserted. Well, more or less. I realized that the present Indian holiday "Diwali", which corresponds to European Christmas in many ways, had brought many students back to their family homes. Soo, instead of eating Indian sweets the whole weekend with grandmother, upa, aunti, cousins and sisters (this is a just a few examples of the great Indian family), I had some interessting moments in the lab, analysing my fungus and some of my bacterias.

I am actually now writing to you from the common living room at Noble square. It is strange to tell you that I got back yesterday, thinking that today would be the proper day, but in the middle of conforming my flight from Dehli Friday night, I realized with the help of my mother, that my flight was due on Sunday morning 2 am and not Monday morning 2 am, which I had believed the last 4 months... and don't you dare to call me careless!
In Kanpur, I was busy catching up with everyone and also busy preparing for my leave, my presentation for the whole department and the arrangements for the party to Lab 15. And all of a sudden, my supervisor, along with all students from lab 15, took me to a fancy restaurant for a "farewell party". I was soo surprised and.... well you can all tell I guess? I got this nice tea/coffee cup saying "Indian Institute of Technolgy, Kanpur, I have been there". And that is true as well! soo cool! I was a lucky star to meet the people in lab 15 and I know I will miss all of them a lot!

The subsequent day, I gave my presentation and threw a party for all the students in smart lab (lab 15 that is). We went to a south Indian restaurant, just outside IIT Gate (this is an actual location for those of you who don't know) and thereafter we got back to the lab for a Swedish quiz (for the Swedes, I am of course talking about the well known Tipsrunda). The questions all concerned me :) Just wanted to make sure that my student friends won't forget me. In other words, they now know my shoe size, number of dread locks on my head (I don't know if I really know myself...), places I visited in India and Nepal, the name of my Swedish supervisor, the name of the city where I live etc. The price was some pictures taken just some days before... I have realized that you haven't been introduced to any of my lab mates, well, here you go:

From the left: Ruchi, Shivali, Linda, Shipra and Sumrita.

These guys are probably one of the nicest you can meet and work with. Anuj to the right got his plates (stem cells) contaminated with fungus and yet he likes me! (yes, I was the one giving hime my fungal kids to his plates..). Hedar to the left is soo cool and relaxed so sitting next to his desk gave me joyful moments throughtout the day!

My first encounter with Adibti was the day I arrived. We (all the girls in the lab) were going for tea not far from the department where we work. I asked her where she came from, she told me it was a town I probably hadn't heard of before, but I insisted to know the name, she told me it was Bhopal. So, I told her I had heard about Bhopal. She was surprised when I told her about the chemical accident taking place there a couple of years ago. She replied;

"Wow, you have great G.K"
"G.K?" I asked..
"General Knowledge"
"Aha, I see" I said and smiled, thinking about the Indians' habits of using abbrevations for almost everything... From there on, I started to like these habits.

One can't write about lab 15 without mentioning Akshay who is the humble person in charge. He knows everything and is there for you when ever you need him. Here together with Roohitesh (right) who is the expert when it comes to cameras and photoshop. He gave me a lesson one afternoon, thanks!

Jera is also someone you get impressed of, always very much focused on her work which she performs with passion and great ambition. She is probably coming to Sweden sometime in the future, so some of you might meet her.

Left: Me and Jera

Right: Shipra waiting for the bus on the day she took me to her home and a great Indian party with almost 200 guests...!!!

I haven't attached Shika since I dont have any picture of her. She is great. I will tell you more when we meet!

Before I left Kanpur, I got to meet Radhika again whom I have spent most of my free time with in Kanpur. We had a really bad timing since she lft for Portugal some days before I got back from Nepal and this didn't really give us a good chance to say good bye to each other with her coming back to Kanpur 4 hours before I was meant to leave for Dehli. That means that we had our last reunion at the train station in Kanpur which in many ways was a chaotic morning, with me not finding the right train coach, all loaded with stuff from my crazy shopping time in Nepal and Kanpur (I know, it is a bit weird but also true). Radhika is a great soul, always ready to discuss and listen to you. She will most probably come back to Portugal in January for a position at the university as an associate something. She works with computer science but not with the scientifical part as you might expect from a technological institute, more the socio-economic perspectives! Radhika is a real beauty, don't you think?
In Dehli I got company too, surprisingly my friend and workmate Florent from France (we worked together in Copenhagen, Denmark) was in Dehli during my stay there and we decided to hook up. I don't know if there could be a saying when it comes to me and French but somehow, I kind of find a mean to speak French whereever I go... This time in India, I have been given the chance at least 4 times during my 2.5 months stay! Florent did some shooting with his compact camera that I wish to be able to attach to this blog, but at the time of writing, I haven't received it, I will attach it as soon as I get it. Me and Florent had a great time in Dehli, I was shopping and Florent helped me to bargain... It was full on!

I guess I should be going now, there are some things one has to do when just coming back from a long stay somewhere outside of Sweden. I have baked the bread, unpacked a little bit but there are still some things left. Will eat a falafel (people in Malmoe understand my cravings?) this afternoon with a good friend and tomorrow I am back at the department again and in one month I leave for Venezuela!?! Life is rocking, India is still in my heart and being in Sweden is about to crystallize...

See you in the daily life soon!?

love, hugs, peace and peas

/LindiZ