Arriving
in the Paris of the East, the city
wastes no time in letting you know that English is a language she accepts, but
does not prefer. Anyway thanks to innumerable advices by cousins, friends and CGP Grey, I was fully equipped
with a Lumia in hand with a pretty simple Chinese text to English and also
picture to English translations app installed; which made life pretty easy. A
deep thanks to all the computer wizards I went to college with. I owe you big
time.
The
first puzzle to be solved is the most feared one – food. Specially to a
vegetarian like me, this becomes as big a fear as a college Viva exam. But I’m
nothing if not adaptive. It takes little time to understand that vegetarian
food is readily available if you can
live on leaves, mushrooms, tofu, corn, bread, noodles, fruits, rice, potatoes…
and eggs. Coming from the land of the white revolution, milk becomes a problem
when a liter costs 200 ₹ (Just 20 ¥ they say). For 200 ₹ I get a meal at a
decent restaurant in an upscale neighborhood.
But I realize if I’ve got to live in Shanghai, my daily food expenses
are going to linger at atleast 150 ₹. Well, in Shanghai’s defense it is the
most expensive city in the orient and is trying to compete with Hong Kong. So
far, she’s doing a marvelous job.
We’re
put up at Gan Xun (pronounced Gan-Shun) guest house of Tongji University which
conveniently lies in almost the center of the Siping campus of the University. This
turns out to be good for someone who loves to explore the campus and this 607
acre campus has a lot to offer. Some of the must have articles when I go off
for my explorations are the campus map, the map of Shanghai, metro map, card of
the guest house, money and a phone with a translation app. It’s almost foolish
to walk out without any of these articles, but then, a traveler is allowed to
be foolish sometimes ;)
The
biggest advantage Shanghai gives which I have really come to appreciate is the
extensive subway lines which connect practically everything in the 6th largest
city in the world. A tad expensive (by Indian standards), the tickets
costing between 3 – 6 ¥ can take you anywhere in this city. And the city does
have a lot to offer with hyper-bargaining enabled Qip (cheap) markets, high
rise skyscrapers, supermarkets, gardens, river-banks, and of course, the
Chinese favorite – KTV. It’s an extensive network of Karaoke parlors across
Shanghai (and perhaps across China), where people can book a room and spend the
night singing, dancing and boozing. That’s when the usually silent and calm
Chinese come to life and you get to see a different aspect of their lives as if
screaming out to you – WE KNOW HOW TO HAVE FUN TOO!
Another
aspect of the Chinese culture is the amount of alcohol these guys are capable
of digesting. On the onset, they seem like short and thin people, but their
boozing capacity is something of a legend. Alcohol is readily available here in
all supermarkets, departmental stores, and even student canteens inside the
University. Talk about freedom! Yet, I’m yet to see a drunk Chinese. The cost
of the drinks tempts even a teetotaler like me. Sometimes while buying dinner
my Indian mind judges what is cheaper to get with the food – soda or beer?
But
foodilemmas are nothing uncommon here. You realize this when you find a lot of
beef at reasonable prices, but no milk, which is quite weird to me. I guess the
Chinese will find an opposite paradox when they visit India in the coming
semester. Another thing which my American friend Aishek pointed out to me is
that there are no pigeons or stray animals here, but loads of eggs and
suspicious meat.
‘I’m
not judging,’ she said, ‘it’s just something I’m noticing.’ I guess I should
stick to my vegetarian options.
Before
I start with my stories, I’ll let you take a break. In the most
populous city in the world, with so many people from so many cultures
around, stories are sure to follow. So until next time – Kan Ni Yihou.
