This is quite a random post, but i have been thinking about it...!!!
When we move from our country to another country for any purpose, you find yourself constantly drawing comparisons with our home country at every step - from walking through the streets to buying groceries, from politics to the school system. we often do this comparison....now a days it become a habit of mine.
My move from India to Germany was no exception and i could never have expected the difference i found.
Water, Water Everywhere but is this my water ???
Over the past two months, one of the things i often noticed has been the presence, availability and use of water. I remember having a bottle of water for the first time in Germany and i realized their water is sparkled one.
"Wasser Bitte" i asked in any home, any restaurant, cafe, offices in Germany and i will always end up buying a bottle of either still or sparkling water at sometimes triple the price of a pint of beer.That naturally strikes me Indians as odd, considering in most places in India a glass of water will be given to us for free of cost. I had quiet a surprise when i tasted the Sparkling Water at first i thought it tasted disgusting, but i actually got used to it during my month stay. But i always prefer the normal water which is not sparkling one.....!!
The popularity of bottled water started in Europe, and it started with mineral water from specific famous springs. In a lot of cases, the water from these springs is naturally carbonated. For the most part in Europe when you buy a bottle water, what you are getting is the water from that spring as it naturally comes out.
People in Germany who buy bottled sparkling water developed taste for this, they tend to expect bottled water to be mineral water, and for it to be naturally carbonated to at least some extent.
In India, naturally sparkling mineral water has never been very popular. A lot of people has never been very popular. A lot of people enjoy things like club soda and seltzer, but that's not the same thing at all and not nearly as ubiquitous for everyday drinking.
The German people are also very much conscious about the usage of water. Germans have always been keen to best in class when it comes to saving water. They would not misuse the water. Here in Germany even we can drink bathroom tap water. For the first time when my mentor and host family said this i surprised how can i drink this...?? Then i realized that all the tap water is purified one. There is no difference between the bathroom tap water and kitchen tap water. All were purified one. I found a great difference between Indian Water and German Water...!! It is not possible in India. There has a big difference between this. All the water in India is not purified one. we have the special purified water especially for drinking purpose.
Personally, i am in the habit of drinking a lot of water in a day and to avoid having to struggle with the availability of it, I now carry a bottle from home on my days out.😉😉
Oh really...!!
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