Third Eye

``Everything looks beautiful in this city.'' Quite a sweeping statement this, but a mere reproduction of Anders Muller's sentiments. The ...

“Everything looks beautiful in this city.” Quite a sweeping statement this, but a mere reproduction of Anders Muller’s sentiments. The 18-year-old Dane is a first year student at the Mahindra United World College of India at Mulshi. Out of Europe for the first time, this teenager shrugs and says, “I’m not a big-city person,” which is how he describes Mumbai, Delhi and even Pune to a certain extent.

His first trip out of Europe, and though the change from his countryside island hometown of Taasinge is drastic, he is quickly getting accustomed to the foreign land. His sharp reaction on walking out of the Sahar Airport at Mumbai, and which was reiterated on landing in Pune about two months ago, has mellowed and he has since recovered his bearings.

“The vast sea of humanity, the traffic, the noise – I could not make much sense in the chaos that hit me at Mumbai,” says Anders candidly. “But then you realise it’s not chaotic when you get used to it, in fact, you get immersed and become a part of that chaos,” he adds with a laugh. Huddled out of the country’s commercial capital immediately on to a bus to Pune, the city sank in only after a couple of weeks and visits. “Initially, Pune seemed so similar to its metro cousin, the only difference I could discern was that the traffic seemed less chaotic. But more than with Mumbai, I can now draw comparisons with New Delhi, as I have stayed there for over a week.”

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And from the way Anders talks, it’s evident he prefers our city over the capital any day. “The people here are polite to foreigners. You don’t have them staring at you as has been my experience in Delhi. Nor do they attack you for alms.” Pune, on the whole, is a calmer city, with definitely less pollution. “I could feel it in my lungs and eyes in Delhi,” says the Dane.

One area where Delhi scores is the music scene, and the availability of CDs stocked in music stores. “Music is my passion, and the choice on the shelves here is really poor,” he says. But he is relieved that places like Zamu’s exist, “because that’s where I can get beef, an integral part of Danish cuisine.” ABC Farms, the shops in Clover Centre, Dorabjee’s – these are the quintessential hangouts.

An Indian culture freak, he is glad that Pune has retained its traditional flavour, and to give his folks back home a peek into the same, he plans to send them items of traditional craft such as a marble figurine of Shiva as Christmas gifts. Greetings from the land of the Peshwas all the way to Taasinge!