Rubicon, for us, kicked off with a mad scramble for the cheapest air tickets to Frankfurt. This occupied us the first couple of days post the mundane August afternoon when the news first came in. Our team “Thought Architects” had crossed the first hurdle to Rubicon 2007; an international BSchool contest. We were destined for a German trip subject of course to Visa clearances. That the clearances almost killed our euphoria is another story!
We finally settled for the Sri Lankan Airlines which took us directly from Kozhikode to Frankfurt with a little halt at Colombo, at 32K a piece. It was a sweet deal given that we had to pay the fares ourselves. Getting the German visa isn’t a headache, at least that’s what I thought. Little did I know that I’d have to make 3 exhausting trips to Chennai to get my passport stamped. To my utter anguish however, all my other three teammates got it done in a single day from Kolkata!
We landed in Frankfurt post a 13 hour jet trip from Colombo but it was our ride in a BMW to our destination at a blinding 180 Km/Hr that truly satisfied our need for speed. This was however after the long hassle with the immigration officer at Calicut airport who refused to see reason behind us flying from Calicut without any permanent residency in Kerela. It took us multiple rounds of been cross-questioned and repeated display of IIMK I-cards before being let through. A really bad experience which left a bitter taste(We found the German & Sri-Lankan immigration dept much friendlier!).
Germany was like a picture postcard! Cologne with all its history and old buildings and Frankfurt, the heart of German capitalism with all its sky-scrapers were worlds apart, each charming in its own way. What connected the two was the serene river Rhine; the beauty of which can’t really be put in words. The European autumn can be particularly beautiful with colored leaves decorating trees and an electrifying chill in the air. Navneet was packed, all the while, in his Jumbo red sweater under a jacket which kept him cozy and smiling all along, while I wasn’t too happy with what felt like a layer of ice on my face! The four of us trotted across the pristine countryside, taking our time through the various cathedrals, looking out for McDonald’s outlets all the while! Alas,Spending too many of those Euros never seemed a good idea...
The German delicacies aren’t particularly appealing to Indian taste buds as we discovered at the various formal and informal dinner parties that were held during the week. I barely survived, on bland tasteless sandwiches most of the time, while substituting juice, coke, beer and wine for drinking water. I’ve never enjoyed the mess food back at K as I did for a whole week after my return!
It was surely “Crossing the Rubicon” in every sense, for us. It began with a nice ‘free’ accommodation at a beach resort for half a day at Colombo and ended on that chilly night at the Frankfurt station, with a heck of a time in between. However it was probably Soubhagya who had more than his fair share of memorable moments making the rest of us go a trifle green!;)
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