Apr 20, 2001 02:50 PM
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I went to Switzerland many years ago on a brief business visit, and I am still to get over it! I love those memories of this heaven on earth.
First thing that strikes you is precision; in everything, be it their language, expression,movements,timings,mannerisms,punctuality…et all. People interact with you in such a precise, oh-so-propah, meticulously correct, polished way that you feel uncouth and rough in contrast..
The whole country is spotlessly clean and green. The country smells of riches and prosperity. Trains ,buses, trams run on split second punctuality. People are not overtly friendly, they keep their distance.
It’s really a paradise on earth, clean and green country full of nature’s bounty,mountains,valleys,lakes,forest wealth and what not. I went near a lake, picked up some water in my palms, it was cleaner and clearer than the so-called mineral water in bottles that we get here. I couldn’t resist tasting the water, my hosts were aghast! They were sure that I am going to be sick for having drunk dirty/unfiltered water! How can one tell these guys what kind of gutter water we get for drinking here.
I traveled mainly in the countryside, small places. Zurich was only a few hours transit halt. The countryside is full of 8 lane motorways, which are much better than our Raj-path. Hundreds of miles of flyovers and highways, hardly any users! For once I felt so bitter to think that Billions of dollars have been poured into building roads and flyovers for so few people while we billion Indians don’t have such facilities even in metros.
Switzerland attracts and keeps money from all over the world. Swiss secrecy laws enable one to stash away the unaccounted millions safely. You get pittance of interest, and if the deposit is less than 250,000 dollars for a numbered account, you have to pay charges! The whole world’s money is available to Swiss at such a less cost. It’s quite likely that many of our politicians and businessmen having stashed away thousands of crores of black money, have contributed to the prosperity of Swiss!
People generally speak German and/or, French. Businessmen and Bankers of course know English. It’s great to do business with the Swiss. They are polite but very firm, they don’t budge, it’s impossible to negotiate too much, they mean what they say, and deliver on contract.
We visited many small places, so called villages having less than 5000 houselholds. What village! It had everything! There were more facilities in this village than all our metros put together!
It was impossible to get a Calcutta number (those days) from anywhere in India, even from within the city, but I made 10 calls to Calcutta and each time I got through in first dial. Similar was my experience with all other calls too.
Food is a problem, especially for veggies. Even a non-veggie like me had problems. Dairy products, Cakes&pastries, Chocolates can keep you busy, one can complete one’s lifetime quota here.
Swiss wines are good, beer is bad, whiskey not very popular, nevertheless Scotch is always available. Cognac/brandy is next favorite after Wine for the Swiss.
Switzerland is a must visit place, we don’t know whether there is a heaven up there, and whether we will get there, but this heaven on earth is definitely accessible to all. Don’t miss it!!!!!
