Bish & John - World around in 2k dollars

Last weekend I hosted two crazy cycle paddlers on a mission of world tour from England; Bish & John at my small flat in Lillehammer.

They will be cycling from Newcastle to Norway, across Scandinavia to Russia, china, cross Pacific to Alaska, to Coasts of America to Venezuela and then back home.

Wow! It was quite a nice time talking to both of them about array of things compressed in that small evening we spent together. Innocent, simple and very interesting guys who allowed me to spend one of the finest evenings here in Lillehammer.

All that bridged us together is this project called couchfurfing & their live blog. It made sense to me to host these guys, however, I did not reason out much and was still apprehensive, owing to the fact that it was my first such hosting experience that too on a foreign land.

It was just saturday they contacted me and Sunday I was on streets to pick them up to my place & started to know each other better with the talks.

After quite a lot of talks, we jumped onto cooking, they cooked Pasta for themselves quite fast enough, which we all enjoyed together. It was a interesting to see the collection of their cutleries they carried along with them like Japanese folding plates, small forks and a box containing special accessories.

I remember the number of times they uttered 'Thank you so much' which actually started making me feel embarrassed eventually. But then later I realized how much does it matter to find a sleep on bed inside home for someone on tour for 18 months out of home and just roaming around, fiddling with the zig-zag lines on the atlas, requesting everywhere around to find even the smallest of the information.

While reading their latest entry Petrol Couches & Hills, I found out that they too experienced hosting to be good as well. As they mention something about it at the end of the blog, I take this as a testimonial for finding such experiences further.

If the world is flat, are we more than a dot on this landscape?

However, there are many projects today who aim to connect these dots but personally the one that caught up my attention is couchsurfing.com. Couchsurfing, seems to be one of the 'great' projects to make the world a smaller place in reality. It is yet again a social networking concept but with a great difference than a smaller.

This coming weekend I shall be hosting a group of two ladies hitchhiking from Stokholm to Oslo. I'm actually quite game about it. How simpler it seems to meet like minds now!

Does opinion based blogging make good sense at all?

In the popular side of blogosphere today, it seems everyone is giving out an opinion about something or the other (including me of course). Be it daily news analysis, new ventures, new applications, trends being followed or even Microsoft sheathing through to Y!.

Definitely there is nothing wrong in it, nothing to be criticized also. But at the end of the day most of the blogs are just the time pass. Thing to notice is that globally the most admired blogs are the ones which keep personal opinions away & have been instrumental in providing some valuable information to the reader not easily possible otherwise e.g. Guy Kawasaki, Amit Agarwal (Digital inspiration fame), Prof Sadagopan (his experience is his wisdom) etc.

Even the Theory of Relativity is out, "An observation (or opinion) is as good about the observer as it is about being observed". Some discussion about this can be followed at my blog and manas da's blog for reference.

If somebody reads my opinion on a subject, the three possible reactions we notice are:
1. Liked, with or without comments
2. Not liked or offended, with or without fiery comments
3. Not understood or Okay. This usually happens when people browse through the blogs rather than reading them.

Let’s take the first possibility, a person liked my opinion. However if you see this liking again is an observation of that person, very much local to his understanding - Oh yes we do have points of intersection in our understanding equations of course - and he will further define this observation in his/ her own vocabulary and own thought mechanism. This new definition of this observation results into another observation, which again will have all the three possibilities mentioned above and it goes on, hence, follows a recursive pattern.

But if the person doesn't reason out my observation and finds it interesting with the reasoning I give, I actually bias this person's thoughts with mine and sort of make it compulsive for him/ her to adhere to the reasoning that is not his but mine. In essence an opinion actually din't bring any potential difference rather than either generating several diverse observations or biasing another person's views with someone else's.

Second possibility of not liking my observation is good enough for the sole reason that in essence it was my personal understanding after all. If the reader feels offended, the likeliness to find a common ground with our discussions goes almost negligible because we have our own understandings at different levels, standing high, ego brings a decent flavor to this discussion further, therefore, the discussion coming out is not of any good use at all again.

Third possibility was anyway neutral it doesn't have even a distant possibility to bring any difference anyway.

Therefore, in terms of trying to bring any difference in the blogosphere with the help of opinion based blogs doesn't seem to make any sense.

However, that’s just another opinion, which may hold good, may not.

'RUSS on loose - Merriest graduates in the world'

* Pronounced as "roose"

Call them RUSS*, Red RUSS, Partying RUSS, Shouting RUSS, crazy RUSS - it all just means the same thing.

Norwegian education System

The Norwegian Education system fundamentally has three levels, 10 years of school, then 3 years of Intermediate High School (termed as college here) and then 3 more years of College (termed as High School here). Generally kids start schooling at the age of 5-6, therefore, Intermediate graduates are of the age around 18-19 years.

Norwegian Intermediate High School Kids have a tradition of incredibly crazy Partying during their final year completion. 30th of April is declared to be the night this tradition starts to last till 17 of May (Also the Norwegian Constitution Day). Read below for the personal experiences.

Observations

Its was Friday evening, me & Pramod started to move to my place, there was something unusual everywhere, most of the youngsters were wearing the similar jumpsuits (almost all red in color with typical drawings made on them), assembled at several spots in the groups. However with questions in mind we boarded the bus but to our surprise even here it was only we both guys, the rest whole bus was crowded with crazy naughty girls, shouting, laughing, dancing, many half naked with several such activities. I was even kind of little scared inside. We weren't able to unearth the mystery behind such a happening around. Encountered few places where such youngsters in the group of 100s with loud music, dirty dancing, drinking and of course all sorts of nasty enjoyment activities. Wow! but we had no clue what's happening in the city.

That night the open Bar down the Pramod's apartment, again enjoyed several guys and girls, drinking hard, for the enjoyment. We were like mesmerized with the kind of party we had seen. It was not something usual that you encounter on several occasions, it was definitely for something unusual, the unusual way. These people enjoyed till late night, at about 3 a.m. they all started to leave for their places, all over drunk, hardly any one in their control, falling down here and there, yet shouting. It was difficult to make out if the girls were being enjoyed by the guys or the guys being enjoyed by girls around, If I say honestly, yes there was a bit obscenity in the air. But then little did we know, its just the culture here, thus, its perfectly fine.

Carried forward these talks to the park we went to spend the next day in a hope to see the labour's day parade. Again these youngsters dominated the crowd but an interesting observation was that several small small kids were coming to them asking for something, these graduates took something like a card out of their pockets and handed to every kid who asked for it. Another mystery was building up for us again.

Further carried these talks to the office on Monday, when we found the stunning culture followed by these Intermediate School graduates in Norway. I never heard of any party for any damn reason which would last for 17 odd days & 17 nights continuously to celebrate the completion of their school education, and what makes this even interesting should follow below in this blog.

Who RUSS???

Graduating students in Norway, clad in red or blue overalls depending on their line of study, tend to spend this time in a non-stop debauch that sparks debate virtually every year. It is so crazy that whole nation is engulfed with their colors, shouting, activities all around, newspapers have them on front covers, roads & buses are almost hijacked by them.

These students declare themselves as ‘RUSS’. Typically they dress themselves in white T-shirts & red jumpsuits. Jumpsuit's color varies from red, green, blue to black depending on their subject of study.

These jumpsuits have their names written on them with lots of drawing done, they wear caps and a token (like a feather in the cap) is added to their cap for every daring activity they perform. These daring activities will almost embarrass anyone except RUSS, which may include running naked across a bridge during chilly evenings, excessive drinking, stripping and dancing around etc. Typically a cork is added to the cap if they finish a full bottle of strong alcohol within 8 hours.

Students buy old buses, color them, customize them to bring people aware that now the high school Kids are on Loose!. And this bus is driven all around the city and even around the country till 17th of May.

They are the masters during their graduation year, its just upto them as to how to decide how do they want to shout. Everything about them here is so fascinating that it was hard to stop discussions for about several days in the office canteen, while every one will find some pride in explaining about how did they enjoy when they were a RUSS. And yes everyone tries to be as modest as possible until you drill down deeper and deeper to find out the nasty person hidden behind in them.

They also have a culture of distributing the RUSS Card, very much like a business card, where in they distribute out of pride for nearing to complete their school education.

But today RUSS tradition has become really out of control, which reminds me of the Ragging scene in India. There are several concerns for not only for the law and order in the country but also for the students becoming RUSS as well.

What RUSS!!!

Injuries, drugs, drinking, deaths & dangerously daring activities are now an integrated part of RUSS today. Education authorities at schools are trying all their stints to bring these kids in control but all in vain. The local RUSS are now considered a security risk, and not just for the royals.

"The RUSS behavior was so bad last year that it is indefensible to let them take part in the children's parade. Drunkenness, litter and generally bad behavior was the reason for the decision," said Asker and Baerum district police captain Kjell Nesheim.

Oh RUSS...

It's always been somewhat costly be be a "RUSS". Students feel compelled to buy red or blue overalls, caps and other paraphernalia, there are lots of entry fees to various parties, and then there's all the beer and other intoxicants that need to be purchased for weeks of heavy partying.

Nothing costs as much as the bus or other vehicle that some students insist on having. It's largely a phenomenon confined to southeastern Norway, particularly the Oslo area, but spending on a traditional "RUSS bus" seems to be breaking all records this year.

One group of graduating students from Eikeli admitted they'd invested NOK 1.6 million in their "RUSS bus." That covered the bus itself, an "awesome" sound system and interior embellishments aimed at letting the good times roll. The 28 boys behind the bus claim they've worked hard and saved for the past three years to finance their "RUSS" season of partying. Even when the cost is divided by 28, it's a lot of money, at nearly NOK 60,000, or USD 10,000 per person.

The committee overseeing this year's "RUSS" activities estimates there are 115 "RUSS busses" in the Oslo area. That compares to only around 15 in the rest of the country, and an unknown number of smaller vehicles, painted red or blue.

Mie Skard, RUSS president for Oslo and Akershus county, said that girls from seven other buses have reportedly agreed to take part in a porn film in order to help pay for their mobile party bus. The 26 girls from two Oslo schools had agreed to be extras in a porn film that would feature scenes shot in their bus, and would also talk on screen about their sex habits and fantasies.

Hehe RUSS (ing)

These guy still have not completed their education, their final year examinations are yet to be conducted around end of May. I seriously doubt if with this kina party, many of the RUSS are able to find a place in the passing list of the exam. But then it really doesn't bother them, it has not bothered them for last several decades, hence it definitely makes it a unique culture in Norway.

Very much like ragging in India, it’s just not possible to tame some student traditions at all.

According to UN survey, Norway is the best country to live in the world, the RUSS culture survey makes them the merriest high school students in the world. The tradition has so much influenced the other world countries that a Hollywood director is all set to make a movie on RUSS culture now. No doubt this culture has its own taste, I find lucky enough to encounter such a phenomena so closely.

Labour day in Lillehammer

1st May - Labour day

Indeed yet another holiday for many of us. But in Lillehammer it was a little different story. People heartily remembered the labor unions, who fought for the rights of labors with the Judiciary for a long time, eventually got almost an equal status across all kinds of work and bringing salaries more or less on to the same platform.

Monday I decided not to go home instead stayed at Pramod's Apartment that night. He had witnessed some practices happening near the citi-center two days ago. So we were expecting some thing to happen on the streets on Tuesday (1st of May).

On inquiring we got to know that processions will be held at around 1.00 p.m. After about a wait for 2 hours at Lillehammer Kommune (Lillehammer Municipality) open ground, there came these little girls dressed up in white skirts marching elegantly on Størgata streets.

The lead or the anchor showed fantastic skills in whirling the flag around in all the directions he held. I tried capturing a front close view but with the crowd around it seemed not easy but difficult.

This group marched through complete city, we even tried following for quite a distance to get a better glimpse of the lead girl as she portrayed skillful hand at sophisticated sword exercises.

The next procession held at around 4.00 pm where several people held banners & posters written 'Boikott Israel' (Boycott Israel) and several such slogans which were out of our understanding range. Ladies prominently took part in the procession, it was no less than mesmerizing to see so many aged people taking this active part in a social event.

This group was led by a music band, dressed up in Black. All of them finally settled down at the Citi-Center, followed by two speeches for about 15 minutes (again out of our understanding range) but we enjoyed the ambiance and the thrill of so many people around for the first time in this city.

It looked so energizing to see young guys & girls hugging each other after the speech & Band music was over. It felt as if something has been achieved by them today, their active participation in such a social activity was indeed heart warming. Why these guys & girls were happy? Yes there's a reason behind that as well, which I shall cover in the next post.