Calgary - Canada. Review on Calgary Alberta

It was my first on site visit outside India. I reached Delhi from Bangalore at an odd timing of 12 am. Long queue for emigration checks welcomed me at Delhi airport. I don't think that any other nation have this sort of checking to prevent citizens go out of their country. I just managed to get around the emigration check, but check – in queue was the next herculean task. Being in the queue, I could hear the nasty murmuring of Indians as well as foreigners about the worst infrastructure at the airport. Airlines people occasionally managed to bypass the queue for some of their passengers, facilitating immediate check in for them in flights which were flagged for boarding. At last my turn also came to stand in front security personnel to check-in. Watching films and having snacks were the only entertainments available while you are flying. I realized that flight trips which are longer, are not interesting as you might think of.

Calm and quiet Calgary

Heathrow – Calgary flight was almost same as Delhi - Heathrow. Only difference was about having more red wine instead of white wine. Waiting for luggage was horrible than Indian Airports. I was welcomed by Mr. Mahesh, from GE Energy who was migrated to Canada from India a few years back. He helped me to get Canadian dollars in exchange of US dollars from a bank on the way before dropping me in a Hotel called Lakeview Inn. Unlike Indian hotel rooms, I was surprised to see almost all home appliances there. Breakfast was the only item served in the hotel and was free. It was a Sunday. I had some snacks from nearby Tim Horton's restaurant. Normal fast food restaurants don't have table service and we need to pay and get the items you need from the counter. I enjoyed the sight of snow fall for the first time in my life during that night from my hotel room, before having a sound sleep.

Tight Schedules

I never got time to relax on weekdays which guys from MNCs who are on deputation jobs outside India, normally enjoy. I usually had 10 working hours from 9 to 7 there and was a very tough time fixing issues raised by the customer one by one during that vigorous testing period of our driver software. I used to miss free soup from hotel everyday which was served till 8 pm. Things went on well and we were as per the schedule even after encountering surprise issues while testing. I met some Indian guys in the same hotel who came for some deputation work for HP. Most of them were from Tamil Nadu, remaining guys from Andra Pradesh and Bangalore.

Overseas Weekend

It was the Friday evening and after reaching hotel I started thinking about parties which we used to have on Friday night at our bachelor's house, Bangalore. Thinking of those good times, I went to Tim Horton's restaurant to have dinner with burgers.

On the way back I noticed some Canadians guys having drinks near the rear entrance of my hotel. They were five, four guys and one girl, looked drunk with a big case of beer bottles in front of them. I had to pass through their drinking place to enter the hotel. I was a little bit worried and hence I tried to get into the hotel by avoiding them. Suddenly one of the guys, who was heavily drunk called me from back. I knew that I am trapped and turned back. They started asking questions. Tensed situation became very light as we started conversation. I told them about India, its beauty, culture and diversity. They were very impressed and excited to hear many more things about India. One of them showed his interest to visit India if he get some free time in future. It was getting colder and I started shivering. One of them noticed that and he offered one beer bottle. I hesitated thinking about the consequences after getting drunk. At last I decided to taste Canadian beer.

It was getting very cold and they decided to move to hotel room. They invited me to their room. I had two more free beer with their nice company. They are very straight forward and not at all seemed to be crooked. They asked me whether I am ready to go to nearby pub with them. Before slipping from the situation under control, I decided to wind up and went back to my room after expressing my great thanks to them. For me that was the best way of having a weekend party in Calgary.

Calgary Zoo

Next day I saw the sunlight only after 11 am. During my roaming through hotel corridors, I met two guys from Dubai. They were on deputation and were doing some projects for GE Calgary. We decided to go somewhere outside to kill time. I browsed through the list of places around Calgary. Calgary Zoo was the most popular one. I saw that temperature outside was around -15 degrees and -25 degrees with wind chill effect. We started from the hotel with available winter wears at around 2 pm, after having lunch from the same Tim Horton's.

This was my first unofficial roaming in Calgary and we took a local train to reach near the Zoo. Even at that freezing temperature I could see considerable amount of people as visitors. Zoo had a huge Campus, like a national park with artificial habitat for each kind of animal ranging from Asian to Arctic. But if you compare it with Mysore Zoo, the number of animals and their types at Calgary Zoo are very less. Canadians think that it is one of the best. Anyway the effort they put for maintaining such environments for different types of animals should be appreciated.

There were streams flowing through the Zoo, besides you can see swans swimming around as groups. I saw Indian and African elephants, kept inside a well maintained and temperature controlled room which is very big. Giraffes, Hippos etc were also kept in the same manner. It is difficult to list out all the animals. But there was no Lion, the King of the forest!

Second Weekend Party

Five days went on without much happenings and now it was my last working day in Calgary during this visit. Again Friday evening and I couldn't find my company; the Canadian group with whom I enjoyed last weekend. I didn't know what to do now and entered hotel and started walking towards my room.

Here the Surprise!

One guy among HP group is giving a party and he wants me also join the party. I went there a little bit late(the way which politician keep their dignity). As I got into his room, it was not a group but a HP on site crowd I would say. They were around 12 – 15 and wanted to rag me. I had to tell my whereabouts and background. I come to know that I am the only Malayalee guys there. After having two pegs things came under control. Most of them where Tamilians, some from AP and one from Bangalore. We came to know that each state in south India has at least one representative.

We were singing regional songs(After hearing my song they must have felt that Malayalees are the worst singers in the world), shared our dinner and exchanged jokes. I heard many poor jokes to which I had to laugh forcefully to keep the momentum going. While going back to bed I felt that my weekends at Calgary will always be full of happenings. And I had many good things to remember while boarding flight from Canada, the very next day.