Oslo Norway

I visited Oslo Norway this week. It was my 4^th visit there. Oslo is the capital & biggest city of Norway. It is a small charming but very expensive city, declared the most expensive city in 2010. Norway is in north of Europe and part of Scandinavia, so obviously full of natural beauty. Sea, snow, sailing, seafood & smiling people, lakes and lush green lands summarise it well. Norway’s population is just 5 million. The country is shaped like an animal with small head & a long tail (just look at the map). Sweden s on one side and sea on the other. Sweden and Norway are connected to each other as Pakistan & India do. Food, habits and language are similar if not the same. Once Norway was part of Sweden, separated in 1905. Currency is called Kronna or Crown, probably because it carries the image of King’s Crown.

Oslo city is called Tigerstaden (Tigerstan – City of Tigers). I don’t know why; there is not a single tiger in the whole country. The city was completely destroyed with fire in 1624. It was rebuilt on a separate place and named Christiania upon the orders of the then King Christian. Later the new city expanded merging the location of old Oslo into it. The city was named back to Oslo in 1925. It’s population is only 0.7 million, yet it is the most populous city in Norway.

A fjord (a narrow stretch of sea with land on both sides) starts from Oslo and goes a long way through Norway. The route in stunning beautiful, filled with hills, waterfalls and jungles. Our office is right at the spot where it starts.

Scandinavia / Nordic Region:

Four neighbouring countries Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finlad are referred to as Nordic region or Scandinavia (without Finland), since these are situated right in the north of Europe & the world. Due to their proximity to North Pole, winters are harsh, long and dark. Days are very short in winter and very long in summer. Ever since I started reading about Europe, I had wished to visit this area.

The Nordic region is known for its low population, stability, rich natural beauty, technological advances, high taxes and good welfare system.  Scandinavia has contributed highly in the field of telecommunication; Ericsson (Sweden) and Nokia (Finland) provide more than 50% of the world telecommunication networks and handsets respectively (this was true in 2010, not so anymore).

Norwegian Ruling System:

Norway follows parliamentary democracy with the King as a symbolic head of state and prime minister as the political leader. The country is divided into 20 counties. By the way Oslo is the name of a county as well as a city within.

King’s Palace without Security:

I stayed in a hotel right in the heart of Oslo. City centre is small so can be covered in 30 mins by foot, so I did. We walked up to the Kings Palace. The flag was flying, so surely he was inside, but I was shocked to see that there was no security at all, no gates, no fence & no police. We just walked right up to the doors. There were only 2 guards invisible to the eye inside two booths on each side of the door. In fact there is only one building in the whole Oslo that is under security, and that is US Embassy. It was an amazing sight; the Palace is only 2 streets away from the prime minister’s office where Oslo bombing occurred only 5 months ago.  By the way, the prime minister’s office is in a multi storey building; the top floor is used as his office and the other floors are occupied by different government officials. How different is it to a Palace looking Pakistani prime minister’s office;

There is a good lesson for our leaders. Leaders of Norway look after their people. Their leaders live among them fearless. Our leaders hate us, don’t look after us hence live a life of fear behind a huge security. But remember, no matter what security apparatus you gather around you, your fate is inevitable; just remember Saddam, Qaddafi, Mubarak!

Oslo Bombing & Shooting May 2011:

A maniac terrorist Anders Behring blasted bombs outside prime minister’s office and then shot at innocent young people at an island nearby killing 69 ordinary people. It was a sad and shocking incident.

Talking about the massacre, it was a relief for the immigrants especially Muslims that it was done by a Norwegian. There are 40,000 Pakistanis living here (35% of total immigrants, other biggest group is Somalians). Had it been done by an immigrant, it would have made the whole community’s life difficult.

Gronland:

During one evening I intended to visit a mosque. There is a district next to the city centre called Gronland. It is full of immigrants and hence multi cultural shops & restaurants are abundant. As soon as I entered the area I found a cabin (khokha) selling jalebi, samosa and other desi snacks, couple of shop down the road was Lahore Karahi restaurant. The mosque was just few streets away. I tried to enter but all the doors were locked. Strange, it was only 7 pm. I was told that prayer time is over. People have prayed Isha (last prayer of the day) and gone home. I was disappointed and decided to search for another one. There is another mosque just 5 minutes walk away.

Soon I was trying to open its door but It was also locked. There were two Pakistanis having chat in front of the mosque building. I approached them and enquired, I want to pray, where could I do so? Come with me, taking a key out of his pocket, one replied and unlocked the door for me. Just close the door on your way back, he summoned. I was surprised the see many people inside, praying, reading Quran or just chatting. Probably this is common in Oslo to lock the doors. Anyhow I prayed and then left the mosque.

The weather here is usually cold. Winters are harsh with lots of snow. But people are used to it; life goes on like normal no matter how much snow had fallen. It wasn’t much this year though. Days are very long in summer and very short in winter; in fact sun doesn’t set in summer and rarely shows up in winter in far north. Streets around Oslo city centre have heating underneath so snow melts away. Some restaurants have seating outside with blankets and heaters installed. No thanks, not for me, I’m fine inside.

Staying in Same Room:

Me & my Swedish colleague were staying at the same hotel. As we turned up at reception to check in, we discovered that we both are booked in the same room! Our Chinese colleagues would share the same room to save cost and the secretary had done the same for us by mistake. Two male staying in the same room is a big taboo in the west but not an issue in east. I believe this is due to the fact that people don’t like considered gays whereas this ‘relation’ is neither acknowledge nor considered in east generally. So it is normal for two male friends to hold hands, hug each other or stay in the same room. Western society is hypocrite & gender-biased on this issue. It is OK if a woman touches another woman but not OK if a man touches another man. I think this is due to the fact that deep down they know this relation is unnatural. Although media portrays as if this issue is accepted by the society but people haven’t really accepted it inside.

Anyway, my colleague was shocked to discover that we were booked in the same room. I was shocked too, but for a different reason. I had to use alarm to get up for Fajar prayer around 3 am and this would have definitely meant a big disturbance for him. It was late in the evening and there was no other room available. We were tired. This hotel was a bit out of the city. It would be a real trouble to go back to city centre and search for another hotel with luggage in our hands. Ah…..we decided to bite the bullet and stay in the same room, it was a matter of only one night after all. Luckily there were two single beds in the room.

Shock:

Soon we got into the room, freshened up and laid in beds to sleep. Midnight passed, suddenly my colleague shook me and woke me up. You are snoring very loudly Kashif. Oh sorry I uttered. The poor man couldn’t sleep, I snored really bad. He got up early next morning, freshened up and left before I left the bed so I could get ready in comfort. He was such a gentleman.

Washroom & Water:

Washrooms in Scandinavia are such a luxury. They have water facility inside the toilet cabin so it is easy to wash up, unlike other western countries where toilets are without water. Unfortunately many Middle Eastern countries follow the same western style making ablution difficult.

Few Shining Scandinavian Habits:

People are very friendly and open generally. They haven’t seen many foreigners so would approach you with genuine inquisitive queries. Scandinavians start work early, usually before 8 am, lunch starts 11.30 and you rarely find anyone after 4pm. They hate working overtime. And they love sailing & skiing; sea and snow is in their blood.

An interesting habit followed in Nordic offices is that every morning a big basket of fruit is placed in the middle of the office so you enjoy fresh fruit all day long!

The End..