Small-town charm

After all kind of informative blogs, today I decided to write about a little town I lived in for few years; something very close to my heart. I came to Germany after being awarded a scholarship for my doctoral studies. I know, it is an awesome destination for researchers, engineers, car lovers, technology freaks, travel enthusiasts, historians, language learners and the list is long. So here I was, also super excited about working for 3 long years to dig into research- ah I love this world of exploration! Of course the whole of Germany doesn’t look like the Disney castle in Neuschwanstein (near Munich) nor does it look like Berlin, just like it goes with any other country. Well honestly I was not kind of prepared for this. The whole of Germany in my eyes was a super developed, technology soaked from top to toe nation. So here I land, in a small little town with only 50,000 people; more than half of them are above 60 years of age. Let me tell you, for a person from India, 50,000 people comprises one neighbourhood and we are so used to having young people everywhere. I was surprised seeing such a small train station when I arrived and everything seemed much slower than I had expected. Never the less, I was excited about every small thing I could see and experience.

To begin with the charm of small little towns, you have the advantage to live together with your house owner. I too chose to live with a German lady so that I could get the maximum impressions of how a normal German household is. And after 3 years of living there, I can tell you, it is one of the best decisions one can take. When you are far away from home, everything is new; language, weather, behavior, rights and wrongs, food… literally everything! But when you live close with a family, this distance and difference can be greatly reduced and you might still find a little ‘homely’ corner for yourself in the new place. People in this town were very warm and welcoming and had all their patience to listen to me while I stammered in my German. The friends of my house-owner, all in their late 60s were kids in their hearts and we would spend weekends together, cook together, sit over coffee and cake and talk about history, culture, their experiences with life and my experiences in India etc etc. Life is slow in these towns somehow and it is not always bad. It is not always cool to keep running and not knowing where we are heading to. Since the amount of distractions too was limited for me, I too got some time to really think about things much deeply. At times we are so busy, we forget to really connect and with such a small town and limited possibilities, you can find ample time with your own self.

Joyfulness seemed pretty easy to afford in this town. A simple thing like commuting to work too was a beautiful experience. We had no trams or any convenient transportation facilities; but we all rode our bicycles happily. Professors in University came with their bicycles, employees of industries, Volkwagen employees working in the manufacturing unit etc. all rode their bicycles to work. Since my job demanded innovative thinking, it was a beautiful process each day to cycle back home through quiet lanes with a channel running on one side and I could think of fresh new ideas which flowed pretty flawlessly. There was a kind of friendly air everywhere, everyone literally had all the time to help one another, the shop women always smiled and spoke 1-2 sentences, to keep the environment pleasant. The unknown people greeted each other, dog walkers even let you play with their dogs, oldies would give you compliments on your shoes out of nowhere. Even the Government work was smooth like butter, friendly folks, no need to take appointments or wait for hours; they would show interest to know about your life and country. It was like a small little beautiful bubble one can live in. Needless to mention, it is a very safe town too, and I have cycled back home at 2-3am and have never even felt scared ever. Rather I would choose a totally lonely way through a little channel, where rabbits would hide seeing you, and one would see ducks, geese and horses etc. The path to work was amazing too, I would walk along nature side seeing baby ducks at the onset of spring, would watch flowers blossom, would hear the birds chirping and singing in different tones, one could even see the female black bird teasing the male and hopping around. I loved this path, more because I could see a lot of dogs walking and running around and some dogs even became familiar. I get reminded of that old man with his limping dog and the lady on her automatic wheel chair with a cute little old dog who seemed to have aged with her, or that 12 year old dog getting blind gradually, or that dog which jumped into the water on a summer day. Such unspoiled paths are another blessing and charm of such small towns.

Involvement of the people with each-other in this town was another remarkable aspect, which obviously has both good and bad sides. Bad side is they can be very intriguing, but the good side is there will always be someone to help you. I was amazed how involved the local people are in helping the refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Eritrea etc. The government procedure still does have some flaws and loop holes, but the locals form their small group and they do those little things that mean a lot to the refugees who have suffered enough shock and challenges. They form a small group, basically a group of close friends who tried helping the families as much as they can, from playing with their little daughter, to finding a school for her, to providing them German lessons to teaching them how to use ATM cards. The people take real good care of the paper work since all official work is in German, they organize tea and cake gatherings, the little kids get to meet some other children and these people are made to feel welcome in the new place away from home. Many a times they don’t even know anything about the country where they just landed, it is indeed a real sad and sensitive situation. I happened to meet one Hindu family from Afghanistan who said they didn’t even know which country they were really in, they were grateful that the lady (airhostess) in the plane offered them food that to for free! Such naïve individuals landing in a continent totally unaware, they say they saw dining tables and forks and knives only on TVs and here they were, speaking no language, having to do with a world totally the other way compared to theirs. But the locals set an example and people cooperate in every possible way to help every refugee they could. Even in our University we had advertisements to promote students to involve with the refugees and help them in any possible manner. Some helped with language, some with kids, and some with just talking to them or even listening to the trauma they have faced. I even know of people who learnt Arabic to be able to communicate with the Syrian refugee families. This was my experience of being in a small town, which taught me how amazing compassion is and can be totally endless and limitless.