Merry Christmas

We booked it because it was cheap, but the hotel that I stayed in Lugano turned out to be a heritage building of late 1800s vintage. The staff too was warm and cordial. The lady at the reception was a German origin polyglot, though the city fell in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland.

Overseeing the lake ensconced in the mountains, the hotel spoke of all that is serene about nature, and being right by the side of the railway track it also bore testimony to ruckus that man has created in his zeal to exploit that nature. Regardless, the room that I had was good size, which itself is a luxury in Europe.

Indeed I am talking about the Continental Park Hotel close to the Train Station of Lugano.

On the eve of Christmas, the mood was surely festive, the sunny weather too did banish a depressive somberness that descends generally during this time of the year, but clearly the absence of snow would make this Christmas not so usual.

Hamburg too, which was the previous halt of this hastily planned troubleshooting trip, too was warmer than what is usual for this part of the year. Though the evening hot wine seasoned with herbs and spice continued to be savored at the Christmas markets with unabated fervor. Luckily here too our hotel Europaeicher Hof was reasonable in price and conveniently located opposite the Main Train Station.

In the city centre of Lugano, every 30 mts was a Christmas show, using projection systems to run animation film on Santa and usual Christmas stuff with carols in the background.

Surprizinly, for the all quirky modernization of the west, and all sexual emancipation that that brings in, all the stories of broken families, with more people living with dogs and cats than human companions, the west has not yet evolved disco version of their religious celebrations. So they don’t have lurid Bollywood numbers like we play during some of our festivals. While the Indian middle class is casting-off ven its most rudimentary connection with the past, the western middleclass seems to preserve their connection more than ever in the past and with ever increasing vehemence.

While we are assimilating all the garbage of the west, like promiscuity in relationships, utter disregard of age and station, impudence and brazenness in public conduct, the west is purportedly imbibing the good elements from the east, like the exalted philosophy of Karma and physical and metaphysical import of Yoga no matter how seemingly esoteric or transcendent for them. Who then is smarter?