Switzerland Travels

I entered into Switzerland, feeling a bit like a stray dog. The family who welcomed me in offered a hot shower, a soft bed and filled my belly with food as soon as I arrived. I had been living in the urban chaos of a developing country for two months. While India inspires my creative work, daily living can be a struggle at times.

Laundry was washed by hand in a bucket and hung from rope in a caged windowsill. Hot water from the rented geezer lasted only a few minutes before cooling to a lukewarm shower that chilled me during the winter weeks in Kolkata. The water pressure never seemed to be strong enough to wash the dirt from my hair. Mattresses are only a couple of inches thick, laying directly on a wooden platform: I used to describe my sleep as one of a rotisserie chicken, always rolling through the night to take the pressure off of sore bones. My refrigerator was the size of one in a college dorm room and I could only brush my teeth from bottled water (discovering, firsthand, the importance of that after accidentally brushing from the tap and ending up with cramps and illness).

I was worn from travel, worn from the lifestyle, and something as simple as a glass of Swiss water, poured directly from the tap, felt like a luxury.