Stuttgart

In 2011 they exchanged their workplaces: Sukhada Tatke, journalist from Mumbai, came to Stuttgart. Before, our editor Anja Wasserbäch spent one month in the megacity Mumbai. The culture-shock was enormous. On both sides. Sukhada Tatke thinks back to her stay in Germany.

Communication

When Anja came to Bombay, she would always chuckle on seeing us busy with our cell phones. In fact, that was one of her first observations about the city: “People here are obsessed with their phones,” she used to say. Not knowing why it was a big deal, I would smile and look back at my little screen on the floor. It was only when I went to Germany that I realised where she was coming from and why our over-communication struck her in the first place.
In my office in Mumbai, while working, every reporter has at least four chat window open on the computer. This does not mean that we don’t work back home, it only means that we have the constant need to communicate with our friends far away (sometimes, two metres away in the same alley). In Stuttgart, people barely chat online or use their phones. Most times, when I tried calling people, I was forced to speak to the person’s recorded voice asking me to leave a message. At others, the phone just ran and rang and rang until I would cut the line asking myself why people keep phones in the first place if they don’t know how to answer them! Back home, when we have time to kill, the easiest way is to take your phone, call a friend and talk to her for as long you want. If she’s busy, call the next person on your list and so on. I didn’t see much of that in Germany. I won’t be surprised if the Germans would like me to believe that they have no time to kill. The funniest part for me was to see a group of friends make plans for Saturday night over email! Looking back in hindsight, it is not so surprising after all. I doubt there is room for last-minute plans because the Germans need to look at their calendars well in advance, even to meet friends and family.
But the communication system works well. I realized during my month there that I could actually live without my cell phone, that talking to people face-to-face is indeed possible.

Work in the newsroom

The first thing that struck me at the work place was the formal atmosphere. Right from the clothes to the comportment to hushed voices in the office, everything seemed guarded and formal. Back home, our office is chaotic and informal. We do not dress formally, to begin with, if a man wears a suit, it is assumed that he is going to a wedding or he is attending his own wedding. Here, we know everything and more about our colleagues: information about their relationship status, family members, who is dating whose sister, grandfather’s brother’s business and so on. In Stuttgart, I was surprised to know that people don’t know anything beyond the surname of their colleagues and what they write for their paper.
The work culture is also different. I call my bosses by their name, call them when I like, text message them to list my stories. In Stuttgart, people don’t even have their bosses’ numbers! How then does a reporter convey a breaking story to her or his boss, I wonder.
What I love about working in Stuttgart is the professionalism. I was rather surprised to hear that a reporter has fixed hours of work and they don’t work beyond their shift. Wow! I wish we had that luxury here. If a big story develops on our beat, there are times when we work ceaselessly without clocking the number of hours and even work without holidays. And we actually do all this without complaints and don’t even go on strike. Sigh.

Wallahs

This is not a standalone term really. Just that Anja was so fascinated by it and the people, she actually started using it without a prefix. These are actually people who work here to make our lives simpler. I didn’t realize how dependent we are on them until I went to Stuttgart. We have a chaiwalla who comes to our desk thrice a day serving us tea and coffee and comes back in a few minutes to take our used glasses. In Stuttgart, I had to make my own coffee and wash my own glass in the office. We are used to getting our clothes washed and ironed, homes cleaned, food cooked by different people. That was far from possible in Stuttgart. So Anja would play my “wallah” very happily. My stay made me realize how we can’t afford to take our lives for granted.

Space/ free time

Coming from a city where there is hardly any open space remaining, it was heartening to see so many people out in the open playing sports, sun bathing, skating, cycling and so on. In Bombay, everyone is always rushed to reach some place or in a hurry to just reach back home. When people are so busy just trying to make ends meet, there is hardly any time left for leisure. Moreso, there are hardly any places left for the common man. The choices are just malls, movies, coffee shops and restaurants. I loved Stuttgart thanks to its al fresco nature. People seem to be filled with the joie de vivre.

Love/ Relationships

I had never attended a wedding where the bride was pregnant and very close to delivery. That was what I did in Stuttgart. It was a wonderful experience to see the marriage of two people who had been together for several years, had a child of their own and then decided to get married. Even in the most liberal homes of India, such relationships are not very prevalent. Very few couples have live-in relationships (which is a great idea for couples to see if they are compatible before they actually decide to tie the knot). Marriage is still considered the only way to lead a life with one’s partner. One could argue about the pros and cons of this system, of course. But overall, the openness about relationships and their acceptance is what was very endearing.