Ankit Khandelwal

An Indian student studied master's in chemical and biochemical engineering and currently member of Youth Good Will Ambassador Corps Denmark. I am writing about some insights of Denmark from my perspective related to day to day life, education, food as well as sports. Stay tuned to my blog or bug me on writerankit@gmail.com to know more.

Spirituality! A missing link in Denmark

Title might looks surprising to many but it is a reality.  Not many people in Denmark go to church on a regular basis. Add to this, recent news from the Church ministry of the Danish Government reveals falling number of visitors at the places of worshipping god. Let’s not talk about the spirituality, as this topic has been discussed widely by everyone.

Talking about the title of this post, I have to give some brief background. I am from India where spirituality is part of day to day life style of the people. People take out time for their busy schedule to visit temples, mosques, churches and other religious places to worship. For most of the people, a day starts with morning prayers and offering to God. Evening prayers on the bank of some rivers attracts people for other countries also. Apart from daily prayers, festivals are part of life coming throughout the year.

Coming to Denmark was quite a nice surprise. Not many people here go to Churches on a regular basis and spirituality in day to day life style is also missing. Even not many festivals are celebrated in Denmark. I spoke to many of my Danish friends to get reasons behind such thinking.  Since most of them are young, they tell that they do not really call themselves religious and prefer not to follow it at all. Many of them openly call themselves atheist.  Considering Denmark is a free and open society, this fact can be easily accepted.

As my conversation lasted only with young people, it will not be good idea to scale up my opinions about entire Denmark. But still, if you are coming to Denmark from the country like mine, then be ready to see this kind of surprise too.

By Ankit Khandelwal • April 18, 2012

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Help is always given to those who ask for it in Denmark!!

This is not a Harry Potter movie and I am not Professor Dumbledore who is going to tell you what you have to do and how? You have to understand yourself what is needed and come forward to make things done. Looks strange but that is very normal and part of life in Denmark. Taking initiative, have opinions in discussions and being straight forward is considered very good way of interacting in the land of vikings. If you have a problem and you do not speak out very clearly than it will be perfectly assumed that there is no problem at all. So taking initiative is a great help while residing in Denmark.

Many people come to Denmark from a country where procedure have been already fixed or specified by someone else. Say for example, I have undergone my bachelor studies in my country under a fixed curriculum. I did not to worry for many things like finding subjects, making study plans etc. The situation is entirely different in Denmark. Flexible study system is one of the major differences I felt while coming to Denmark. More important is the fact that it is expected that you take your own initiative in defining your study line and then execute it with the help of your supervisors. First step is always yours.

This also reflects in other spheres of the society. People who take initiatives on their own are highly appreciated. Those who put efforts in time bound execution of tasks are well respected.  In Denmark, an effective contribution is expected from every participant.  As long as you have questions, feel free to ask to bring more clarity into it. Danes are very tolerant people, love to discuss and answer questions.  Once you agreed on something and put a definite framework, it will be a moral and ethical foundation for the concerned person to execute it as per the agreement.

Apart from the other things, it is a good idea not to expect that everything will be told to you. If you are good in taking initiative, then you can live very well in Denmark. If you are not then you might face lot of problems. Land of vikings Denmark has an open society, where everyone has freedom to speak.  Taking initiative and becoming responsible for your own development is one of the key aspects of this freedom.

So if you are coming to Denmark then try to develop this aspect to avoid certain basic problems, because someone has truly said, ‘Help is always given to those who ask for it’.

By Ankit Khandelwal • April 16, 2012

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Lego Mindstorms: Is that a new movie series on the line of Star Wars?

This is the question I asked when LEGO was first introduced to me. It was sometime during the November 2009 (2,5 months after I landed Denmark). Me along with my Danish friend Jonas were planning a Summer Course under the banner of BEST (Board of European Students of Technology), Copenhagen. I was just going through the details of one of the previous course which was titled as, ‘LEGO: Do not mind the storm’. I have never heard of anything like this before.

When my friend told me that it was all about LEGO Mindstorm, I simply asked, ‘Lego Mindstorms: Is that a new movie series on the line of Star Wars?’ Many of the people who heard this were either laughing or smiling while looking at me. One of them asked me, ‘You dont know Lego Robotos?’ I said, ‘NO’. They thought I am joking so they again asked me at least 4 times before the final one, ‘Seriously you dont know about Lego Robotos, you did not play with them?’  Well, I just said that I have never heard of them before coming here. Later my friends have displayed some information related to it on Google Images and some videos on Youtube.

I will not ask such questions now after living 2 years here but may be that time it was quite obvious. Later, during my research I realized that it is very common (especially in Europe) as well as some countries outside Europe to use these toys as a medium of play, learning, education during childhood. But I never heard of it anytime in India. May be it is my fault :) or maybe not.

Frankly speaking, I come from a small town in India. I spend most of the time playing outdoor games. As far as I know, LEGO might be a well-respected name here but it is directly not present in India (yet) and even if they are present then I never heard of them. May be they are present in big cities. But this just gave me a reason to investigate more on what can be the reasons behind its creation.

Logical Understanding:

It is very simple and natural. Denmark is one of the countries which experiences extreme weather most of the time. It is no common that people, especially children spent most of the time inside. I observed the severe weather conditions myself during a visit to Western Part of Denmark (it is known as Jutland). It is quite common that under such conditions, children get intuitive to LEGO Robots, which initially were made more than 50 years before. Those were the days when there were no computer games to pass the time or video games to entertain. I think if I would be in this situation, I would have been addicted to LEGO too.  Talking about my childhood, my place has sun most of the time of year offering plenty of opportunity to stay outdoor (of course not during the hot summer). So that is quite a normal reason that may be things like LEGO were not there (or may be in big cities) during my childhood. May be they are present now.

So if you are coming from a place where such things are not present, then you might be the one telling such stories to others in Denmark.

 

 

By Ankit Khandelwal • February 1, 2012

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Open ended discussions, an attitude which might look sarcastic sometime.

See the following 2 sides before going through my analysis presented in this post:

1. Denmark is an open society and Danes are very open minded people. Though they may look reserved but once become friend, they are very open minded and love to discuss lot of issues.

2. ‘Danes are very sarcastic in nature; they make fun of everything they talk even criticizing others and their food and happenings’ complain many of the foreigners.

This is very confusing thing as I felt both of them myself and thought of writing about it, especially for the people who are planning to come here. I found that Danes are very open and love to discuss everything. But not everyone is so fond of it.

It is difficult to describe what is right or wrong. Let’s try to go a bit depth on it. Openness in Denmark is welcomed by everyone who comes here. What made me more surprised that Danes even do not mind getting criticized for something? They are the fun who makes fun of themselves easily without getting too much worried about it.

Looking at the other side, when Danes interact with people from other nations, sometime friction occurs. Many people are proud of their belief and somehow do not want to discuss about it. In some cases, it can go slightly farther when many people get offended by this attitude. Now, for a normal Dane who is not aware of this situation, he is just talking the way he is used to do with everyone in Denmark. So if you feel like this then the best way is to tell your fellow mate about it and I am sure he will respect it. This is the openness in which you can easily express yourself and so far I have not faced any issues related to this.

I am not a judge of anyone’s opinion but just expressing my views on one of the most common misunderstanding which occurs many times. So if you are coming to Denmark, be ready to face this misunderstanding and also be open to tell your fellow Danes about it.

By Ankit Khandelwal • January 30, 2012

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Buy New One or Repair The Old? A Confusing Question.

There is no doubt that Denmark is one of the most expensive places in the world.   But what makes this as major expensive place??

This question was in my mind from a long time until last year I finally got a reasonable answer. Last year, my laptop suffered some problem and stopped functioning. I took it to the computer shop from where I bought it. My laptop was almost 2 years old and at the time of purchase had price tag of 4000 DKK.  When I got to know about the repair cost, I was slightly surprised.  It could take upto 1000 DKK just to examine the laptop depending on the level of difficulty.  Replacing the machinery inside and other things are added expensive.  I was advised to buy a new laptop instead of spending money on the old one.

Coming from the place where repairing considered as much wiser option then buying new one. This looked me very strange.  I spoke to my Danish friends and their advice was same. They said, it is very costly to have things repaired in Denmark, so most of the people opt for new one especially when it comes to electronic gadget.

This answers my basic question.  There can be numerous reasons but servicing is expensive in Denmark. That includes not only electrician but almost all the other sectors.  This was the reason why many of the students prefer to buy raw material and cook themselves instead of buying lunch/dinner in the market.

Going by the above facts, do not be surprised if going through a garbage area you will find plenty of unused electric equipment’s. The reason is the same most of the time.

It is one of the common trends in Denmark which I observed while staying here. So if you are coming to Denmark in future, then I am sure you all are going to get the same confusion.  But since you know about it, you all can prepare it.

 

Ps: By the way, since my laptop was under warranty period, I got replacement after 3 weeks.

By Ankit Khandelwal •

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Danish Christmas Lunch: ‘Nothing comes after it, only the next day’

Christmas lunch as the name suggests, expected to be a normal lunch on the Christmas Day. If you are thinking in this way, then you are way too wrong.

It is basically a dinner which starts during afternoon (15:00-16:00) and continue till the next morning (depends). In Denmark it says, there is no dinner after the Christmas lunch, only the day next to it. It is most interesting fact, that Christmas lunch can be done any time before and after the actual Christmas. It is same like celebrating your birthday any time during the year.

‘How can you celebrate Christmas lunch before or after the Christmas?’ I asked to receptionist of my department who was quite old and now she has been retired. This was my question when I saw invitation for Christmas lunch 3 weeks after the actual Christmas.  She was very polite in replying to me query like my grandmother. ‘Christmas is a celebration of sharing joy among family members, friends, colleagues and close ones. In Denmark, during the Christmas you realize that you may have many people who like your company, that you cannot attend every function. To avoid this problem, Christmas lunch can be organized before and after the Christmas thus spreading the joy of festival for a longer duration’.

Now, many of you will think that this is an unconventional way of celebrating festivals. But in the student group BEST (Board of European Students of Technology) Copenhagen in which I am a member, we took one step more by going even more unconventional. We organized Christmas lunch during the summer for other students came from different European Countries. The course is organized each year by the local group with students from Europe. This Christmas lunch is one of the ways to make other students making aware of Danish traditions. This is well received year by year by course students.

Let’s talk more about Christmas Lunch. So it starts sometime around 15:00-16:00 of the day. It will be good if you are dressed up well and take some present for the host (if invited by family).  It will be an entire new post, if I have to describe the food.  It contains Danish bread, potato salad (i think sweet) and lot of other things which I cannot recall now.  Once started, this is a continuous chain of eating. You keep eating and keep talking over the table for hours.  It will go very late and you do not need to eat anything after this. That is why it is said, ‘Nothing after it, only the day after it’. I will try to write more about food in a separate post.

With this, I want to conclude this blog post about Christmas Lunch. To the people who are planning to come to Denmark, be ready to receive Danish Hospitality and do not make any plans for dinner the day you are invited for Christmas Lunch.

By Ankit Khandelwal • January 29, 2012

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How to eat using knife and fork?? First time experiences with a logical observation

I wanted to write this from a long time but finally got chance to write about it today. This story is very personal and may be irrelevant for many readers.  To start, let me tell you that we in India generally use our hands to eat foods or may be spoon some time. Coming to Denmark and trying knife and fork was completely new way of eating food and it took me lot of time and patience to learn it.

My first experience came at the time of eating pasta and pizza. It took me around 1,5 hour to eat pizza which I could easily eat in 20 minutes using my hands. I could see my international friends were so accustomed in cutting it properly, holding it in fork and then putting in mouth. To make decorum of the table, I tried to do the same thing. It was quite embarrassing when 8 people are waiting for me to finish the food. And, I was struggling to even holding pizza properly at the time of cutting.  It was bit funny, uncomfortable and at the same time annoyed me a lot. Even during lunch at my canteen, most of the food served in the form of salad is simply cannot be eaten with hands.

It was very strange experience for the few first time.  Initially I never understood why things cannot be eating by hands?? Why there is a need to eat everything with knife and fork?? It is like a situation when food is front of you and you cannot eat it. For eating, there is a need for knife and fork.  I had to spend much of effort in cutting, holding, putting in your mouth nicely instead of actually eating it. Later I realized I could use my hands at least for eating pizza :) . Now, I am quite comfortable with it.

It is a very common to use cutlery in western nations. But my different experience made me to think reasons behind usage of it.

Let’s go back to the ancient Denmark as old as the Viking Age.  Majority of the cuisine contained non-vegetarian food.  Because of the cold climate, food served is very warm most of the time and it cannot be made into pieces by hand. One needs a knife and fork before actually taking a bite. So it was different food habit which can be the reason for development of such mechanism. Things have changed a lot over the centuries and I might not be right in my reasoning. But to satisfy my curiosity, this was one of the best explanations I found.

So if you are coming to Denmark and in a situation similar to mine, then be ready to have a nice experience.

By Ankit Khandelwal • January 27, 2012

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Dark Color Obsession- A Scientific Side!!

If you are a lover of fashion and clothing then you might get some interesting experience which I observed during my stay in Denmark.

I do not consider myself a very knowledgeable person in the textile industry or fashion trends. But at least I can see some differences which I am going to describe in the following paragraphs.

Living here from a long time, I found that most of the people here prefer dark color clothes especially Black color are very much common.  For me, black color is a no go as it is somehow not popular from the place where I come from.  There are various reasons for its unpopularity but I thought in a bit scientific way to get some better logic behind this trend.

It is a very well-known fact; dark color radiate more light , reflecting less compare to white colors. So it can be said that Black color will reflect less incident light thus absorbing most of it. This absorb light increases the energy level of the item resulting in rise of temperature. For the very same reason, Astronauts do not wear dark color space suits, they wear quite light color (White)suits since light colors are good in reflecting and bad in radiating.

Talking about Denmark, during winter mercury goes down to few minus. Even during the other seasons of year(leave summer) temperature is always in a moderate range. So no surprises, that dark color is quite popular. The reason is very simple, to keep your body as warm as possible during the low temperature.

Looking at the place I come from, where mercury rises upto  45+ C during the peak summer time, it is no doubt why black color is not at all popular. The winter at my place is not so cold, removing all the other possibilities of making it popular. There are various other stories for its unpopularity, but for me it seems more logical.

This is just a very strange explanation of my understanding about so much black clothing I witnessed in Denmark. It might be true for other places of this planet also, but for now I can just talk about Denmark since I spent considerable amount of time here.

So if you are someone who in love light color clothes, then coming to Denmark might bring some surprises.

By Ankit Khandelwal • January 25, 2012

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When Music Flows in the Air!! It is difficult to resist…

Can you imagine 70,000 young people, die-hard music fans in a very small area?? Can you imagine people camping for continuous 7 days for 16 hours long days, dancing all day and night even beating mercury rises during summer?? Well, if you happen to be in Denmark, then you know the answers already. If you are still unaware, then read my description below.

Location: Roskilde

Duration: 7 days

Time period: Last week of June- First week of July

Music is in everyone’s soul and it is for some people time of relaxation and for some just to pass the time during the bus journey. Music bands are popular all over the world for their unique style of presentation. Music festivals are one of those events, where several such top musicians come at a single place .In Denmark, every year this festival is organized at Roskilde and popularly known as Roskilde Music Festival.

Roskilde is a place, situated 35 km west of Copenhagen and can easily be reached by train in 30 minutes. People prepare for this festival in much advance. Going to this festival requires lot of spirit and after in Denmark this is the time, when most of the people finish their exams and just start summer vacation.  The festival is famous in entire Europe attracting people from many countries and it is increasing year by year.

In recent years, Roskilde festival has been center of attention for lot of environmental friendly initiatives taken by organizers. Last year, they invented a new concept for making things comfortable when approximately 70,000 people go to toilet day and night. They also worked on making area much more flexible to move around during the crowded portion. Thus, Roskilde Festival is serving as a testing ground for future inventions.

Since I never been to this wonderful festival, I cannot describe my experiences in this post. But from the people I heard, the experience is amazing. If you happen to be in Denmark during this festival, I suggest you to go and try out yourself.

Website: http://roskilde-festival.dk/

By Ankit Khandelwal • January 20, 2012

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Numbering arrangement system in general: Strange but interesting

It was few months ago when I along with my 3 friends went nearby theater to watch a popular movie. Since we went together as a group it was obvious that we prefer to sit together. We mentioned this preference to the lady at ticket counter and asked to give us tickets together if it is possible. It was a long queue so we could not immediately see our seat numbers. Finally, on reading the seat numbers, each one of us were confused. Our seat numbers were 3,5,7,9.  Alternate numbers? Did she hear us or not? We went to designated movie hall where one more surprise was waiting for us.

This is how the numbering looked like in the movie hall.

1 3 5 7 9 !!!!! Open Corridor !!!!!   10  8 6 4 2

After looking at this pattern of sitting arrangements, all our anger has gone within a matter of seconds.  The lady at ticket cashier gave us right tickets.

But my confusion remained there about this strange pattern in sitting. I have been to many cinema halls and numbering is done like (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9..) not like the one I have displayed it above. It was slightly special to see the arrangement according to odd and even numbers.

I did not need to go too far to witness one more example. My own university has this kind of room arrangement system.  Entire floor area has been divided with a corridor in middle with rooms on both sides. Rooms at one side are starting with odd numbers and continuing with odd till the end. The same goes for other side just that they are starting with even numbers.  This was visible in many other department buildings.

For me it was very interesting investigation to find out reasons behind such different numbering system. I just got to realized that old buildings have often such systems but may be new buildings (including my dormitory) do not have this kind of pattern.

Whatever is the reason behind it, it is very interesting especially for the Mathematics lovers. And if you are coming to Denmark, then be ready to experience this new pattern of numbering. Sooner or later, you will observe it too.

 

 

By Ankit Khandelwal • December 18, 2011

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