High adventure at Dortmund

On the 8^th of this month, I attended the International Week organized by the Fachhochschule (Technical University) Dortmund. It was a week-long event, but the DAAD South Asia division had a lecture to be delivered by its chief Dr. Dorothea Jecht on this particular day about opportunities for students to pursue higher studies and research in India. I was invited as a guest and also to interact with the students there and give them more information about what it is like to live in India as a student.

I arrived by noon at Dortmund after a long journey through unheard of towns like Warburg and Soest and had the opportunity to travel in a beautiful train called Euro Rail Bahn and also saw countless number of small villages , beautiful fields, cattle and farmhouses all along the way.

At the Dortmund Hbf, I waited for a short while and then Ms. Dr. Jecht and Ms. Susanne Assmann (her colleague) and Ms. Karen Schoch (who is shortly flying to India to work at the MMB, New Delhi) also arrived by another train and we took an S-Bahn to the University Dortmund station. Ms. Assmann was quite efficient in being able to buy tickets, reach the train that was 1 level higher, then go down again to stamp them and still being able to make it back to the train. It was quite stupid of me not to buy the S-Bahn tickets during the time I was waiting for them – it never struck me..

Once we reached, we were received warmly by Ms. Hösch and others and we made our way directly to the FH.The event was jointly organized by Ms. Gisela Mojer and Ms. Dagmar Hösch both from the International Office of the FH Dortmund. We also met Prof. Knust Potter who was the Leader for the exchange programme between FH Dortmund and Delhi University.

It was a beautiful campus and I was fascinated. Dr. Jecht informed me that it’s a typical 70s campus, in that all the buildings were modern styled ones and it differs from most other german universities which have a long historic past and at least one main building is a historic styled architecture.

The Technical and the Applied universities were different buildings but all together on a large – sized area that resembled a large garden. The most impressive thing I discovered was the suspension train or H-Bahn as they call it that link the university’s North campus to the South. It simply flew over my head , when I was talking to a guy and I was shocked – well a train is the last thing you would expect to fly over you. Ms. Assmann further informed me that Wuppertal is the most famous German city for Suspension trains (called here as Schwebebahn). I also met an interesting German guy who said he was a freelance worker for the university and he could talk a few words in Tamil- my native South Indian language! Apparently, he has been to my city a few years back for some work.

The lecture by Dr. Jecht started at around 12 noon and it went smoothly. She clarified many points about the economic, academic and cultural facets of studying in India and it was quite interactive with some people actively participating in a discussion. The main theme of the lecture revolves around a new programme started by her section called, “A New Passage to India” to actively promote the opportunities for students so that they consider taking up studying in India as a unique option. It was also to encourage them to try the cultural and other differences to be experienced as an interesting challenge. Usually Asia is only seen as some exotic land with wide variety of cultural differences but students hardly have any solid information about the actual prospects that exist for them to take up studies there, and Dr. Jecht’s lecture was particularly about that – how DAAD is trying to support and encourage forays into India for students. I also had some interactions with the audience and I was thankful to Dr. Jecht for not putting me into a fix with some complicated question in German – most of what she discussed was quite simple.

Then we had some snacks and we were presented some mementos. I was given a bag that was made from the banner material that was used for some campaign and woven around the dome of the Dortmund church. That was something splendid!

We then setup a small table and handed out information pamphlets to people interested in knowing more about this programme of ours and studying in India. Particularly in focus were the renowned Indian Institutes of Technology and a few other old and very strongly established research centres. I then took a walk around and saw what students from other countries had to show. We then walked around and checked out a new auditorium in the FH. It was quite impressive.

We came back for a discussion session by Dr. Wolff – who had brought together many students, teachers and other workers who had spent time studying or working in different Asian countries like Vietnam, Japan, China (Dr. Wolff himself) and India. So, a small gathering of German students there could get first-hand information about living in different countries in Asia and what are the interesting cultural differences. We participated actively in the discussion giving out our experiences from India ( Dr. Jecht and Ms. Schoch have worked in MMB, New Delhi before and Ms. Assmann had studied in Japan).

We left around 6 pm and reached Dortmund Main station with S- bahn. And then our excitement started. Ms. Schoch just normally went into a Bakery at the station and asked for something to eat when suddenly all of us were forced back out of the shop and out of the station. People were asked to leave the station and there was a little confusion. Some people were coming up into the station without knowing, some with knowing what was going on and most others like us were completely in the dark. We just knew we had to leave and we had to rush. I felt an adventure on the way and with Deutsche Bahn and me, its always so. After Karen enquired with a few cops we came to know that apparently they had found an unattended suitcase in one of the platforms and they were isolating the whole of the main train station – leaving out only a couple of platforms of the S-bahn. So, we made our way back to the S-Bahn platforms wondering what was going to happen next. Outside, Polizei special personnel were piling in and some of the cops were giving instructions to the confused travelers – we heard what we expected – platforms 1 to 16 are being evacuated and isolated. So it was clear that it was no more possible to have a normal return back home. I knew either I’m going to reach early the next day morning or I was going to stay in a hotel.

But it never really mattered to me and I was thinking about the others – Dr. Jecht and Ms. Assmann had to go to Bonn while Ms. Schoch had to leave to Erfurt and she had some heavy bags too, for her flight later next week. So we were contemplating our next move and the Polizei guys were getting impatient after answering so many people – they just asked us to back off and were clearly not in a mood for any further discussions. Ms. Assmann took out her phone for technical support from her colleagues while I was hoping and praying that I shouldn’t suddenly hear some nasty blast anywhere or people running out in a stampede. But the situation was quite under control and the Police deserves credit to have handled it efficiently. We then decided to take a regional train to Düsseldorf with no clear plans as to where to go from there but we knew we had to take this train that was available before it was too late to go anywhere. A lady in the train who was well informed helped us a lot and had immediate answers – which route the train would take and when it would reach a particular station. Ms. Assmann with help from her friend on the phone had our plans made out and I was very thankful to her and also Deutsche Bahn website for not crashing in this time of confusion. Finally, it was decided they would get down midway and reach Köln and then Bonn. Ms. Schoch would eventually travel to Düsseldorf with me. I was thankful to all of them and we discussed for sometime as to what could be the situation now. Then we bid them goodbye and wished them to reach safely.

Thanks to the good alternate plans that were given to me I could hope to reach Erlangen by around 1 a.m. Instead of Dortmund – Köln – Nürnberg – Erlangen, I would be taking up Dortmund – Düsseldorf – Frankfurt Flughafen – Nürnberg – Erlangen instead. So it wasnt a big change and hopefully it should work out, I thought.

I reached Düsseldorf with Karen and I rushed to my next train only to find it 20 mins late. Ms. Schoch decided to check into a hotel since her connecting trains would be very late. Finally I got into my IC train and ordered something to eat from the Bistro Café. Then I spoke to a DB officer on board and he told me he received information that it was just a suitcase forgotten by someone. I wanted to meet that sweet gentleman who forgot something and made a mess out of thousands of people’s travel plans but still I was happy with whatever happened because it showed a strong action and security plan in place when an emergency occurs. I reached Erlangen by 1:30 a.m and took a taxi to my room and fell down on my bed. What a trip it was – almost 11 hours of travelling, almost a dozen trains changed, so many new stations seen, countless villages on the way, a students event at FH Dortmund and to top it all a bomb scare at the Dortmund Hbf by someone who forgot to take his suitcase!