Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor Op.64 - Kyung Wha Chung, Charles Dutoit Montreal SO

It was winter in Vienna. I was on the Ringbahn, going round and round the inner ring of Vienna. The ring around which most of the historical buildings in Vienna are clustered. The huge Hofburg receded on my left while the massive Museum for Kunst slipped past on my right. People got on and off. Tourists from Japan, businessmen from Canada, old Viennese woman out shopping, young couples out for the evening and the occasional Indian student.

It was a comforting journey. Round and round, passing the same sights again and again. I could just sit and observe. Listen to the random conversations floating around me.

“Hey Larry, should we do both the museums on the same day?”

“Sato, I think we have got on the wrong tram. I don’t think this will go to the Danube.”

“Dudes, lets go to Kahlenberg. I heard that it has an incredible view of Vienna from the top. I can get fantastic photographs as well.”

“Can you tell me where I should get off to go to the Universität?”

She repeated the question again and only then did I realize that she was asking me the question. I looked up to see her looking back at me, a little amused no doubt to see my flustered look. It is always a strange feeling to be asked for directions when you yourself are a tourist. Did I look like I belonged in Vienna? Could I really pass myself off as a local? Wishful thinking I know. But still I knew where the Universität was. The endless rounds on the bahn had at least helped me in this regard. It was just before the Rathaus; an impressive and imposing building built in the Renaissance style, the university I mean, not the Rathaus.

I gave her the directions. We had just passed the Staatsoper so she could get down, cross the road and then take the ringbahn in the opposite direction or she could wait until the bahn we were in made the long loop back. I explained to her the choices.

“Thank you, but I think I’ll wait for this to make the loop.”, she said. I was a little surprised by her decision as it would save her quite a bit of time if she got off and took the bahn from the other side of the road. But well it was her time.

She sat down beside me. I promptly forgot about her and reverted to staring out of the window at Vienna passing by.

*****************

“Are you from India?”, she asked after about 10 minutes.

“Yes”, I replied.

We were on a flight out of Sydney going into Shanghai. The new VTAL flights had cut the travel time to one hour. She seemed vaguely European but her slightly raised cheekbones suggested some Asiatic background. She was very very pretty, pretty enough to throw me off my customary balance.

“Do you know that in these new planes we have individualized air streams? No two people on this plane will share the same air even though we sit in one environment.”

I did not know that. It was my first time on a VTAL flight. My company was paying for it.

“No, I did not know that, Miss…?

“Eva Morton, but please call me Eva.”

“I’m Mohan Vadalur, you can call me Mohan.”

(to be continued.)