RJ Siddharth’s IRF 2015 Zurich experience

Our good friend RJ Siddharth, writes about his experience of the International Radio Festival and Switzerland.

Writing a travelogue is an uphill task, at least for me. It involves facts, dates, places and a good amount of creative writing as well. I’m not a writer by nature. I guess that’s why I like Twitter the most. Posts, tweets and one-liners excite me more than the long format. However, this time I didn’t have an escape route. I had to write, and honestly speaking, I wanted to; as there were so many things that happened in what I consider the 10 best days of my life. It’s important to pen them down, document them, and treasure them for the rest of my life.

As I said, since I’m not a skilled writer, order is a serious problem. So, this piece is going to be non-linear. My journey started from the day my name was announced as the winner of ‘Sound of India’ contest by Radioandmusic.com. I was selected to represent India at the International Radio Festival (popularly known as IRF) in Zurich, Switzerland. I was elated and excited, but didn’t actually know how interesting it was going to be. The number of likes on my FB page and the number of congratulatory messages did give me some hint, but I still wasn’t fully aware of the scale of recognition. The seriousness set in from my first meeting with the Switzerland Tourism people (Claudio and team), along with Anil Wanwari and Simona from Radioandmusic.com. For the first time I got the hint of the magnanimity of this festival called IRF. The process of getting a visa, documentation, interviews etc. kept me engaged for the next 15 days or so. And before I knew it, I was packing my bags, post my routine show, to catch the midnight Swissair flight to Zurich. Aanchal, my show producer, Tarachand and Jaya Wanwari from Radioandmusic.com kept me good company.

Zurich was different. It was supposed to be. Though there’s a time difference of three and a half hours (we are ahead of them), it really didn’t matter to me. We reached the hotel, checked in, and since I’m a foodie, I headed straight to the restaurant. Tarachand, familiar with the place, took charge of planning. His first choice was Mount Titlis,  a hill more than 10,000 ft above sea level followed by the enamouring sights and sounds of the trams, shops, Zruich HB (the main station), Swiss people, language and the suburban train. Believe me, nothing was complicated. I was enjoying the bright sunshine of one of the most beautiful places on earth called Switzerland. The trains were not only comfortable, but actually enjoyable. That’s when it dawned on me; you don’t need to find a tourist spot in Switzerland. It’s so calm, pristine and serene that you just want to indulge yourself in its original, natural beauty. View of lakes surrounded by mountains along the railway tracks takes you to a surreal world. That was my first brush with Switzerland.

Mount Titlis was a sight for sore eyes, the most interesting bit being the feeling of “a home away from home” given the number of Indians and a life size cutout of Raj and Simran. It was YRF’s Switzerland, a kind of tribute. Numerous honeymooner, some newly-weds, and some celebrating their 25th, made an otherwise deserted hilltop a vibrant tourist destination. And guess what! The only shop at the beginning of Mt Titlis was an Indian joint serving Wada Pav, Samosa, Idli and Chai (of course in Francs, which converted to a few hundred in rupees for mere 90 ml tea).

The journey back to the hotel was even more interesting with evenings in Switzerland breezy enough to take you into yet another zone.

Behind every beauty lies a story that makes it even more beautiful. The very next day we had Annemarie from Zurich tourism to take us through the historical old Zurich city.

Aah! The beauty of this city was redefined when we reached the old part of the city. How the old charm and history of a city can be retained without lagging behind in modernisation is something the whole world should learn from Switzerland, particularly Zurich. She introduced us to the churches, the history, the making of the city, the politics, business, transactions and behaviour; everything that makes a city what it is. At 11 AM the whole city began to echo with the sound of gongs, in perfect harmony. We saw the house where Lenin once stayed, 1916-1917, before being sent to Russia in a sealed train. It stood as an eminent symbol of Zurich’s role in world politics. Of course, how can I forget the Zurich Lake! Most of the cities in Switzerland are surrounded by some of the most beautiful lakes. The view from the new to the old city, while cruising on the lake is easily one of the most picturesque, natural scenes of the world. The brick structured roads of the old city reminded me of certain parts of Colaba, and Park Street in Kolkata, and I then realised that it’s a common characteristic of old architecture in most parts of the world.

Walking down memory lane of history in the old city, through the roads, we reached a place called Hiltl. It’s the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the world and the way it’s being managed by Raulf Hiltl, the third generation of Hiltls, is inspiring. Out of the 50 odd staff members working there, I found one from Hoshiarpur, working as a cook; a shy guy but an amazing cook. I also met a girl from Nepal with two passions in life – cooking and Shahrukh Khan! Her favourite number is ‘Tum paas aaye, yun muskuraaye’. There is no logical explanation to Shahrukh and Switzerland being summoned in the same breath, but the connection is evidently there.

Love in any language sounds the same. When I met my two fellow radio show hosts from Italy, Marco and Flippo, and received an invitation to their live show at IRF, I got them to listen to a Hindi song, shot in the Grand Canal of Venice. They were mesmerized; each person present was spellbound. The song was Pancham Da’s composition from ‘The Great Gambler’ called ‘Do lafzon ki hai dil ki kahani’. Amore Mio

Radio may differ across geographies, but a few things are definitely common; the love for music, the curiosity to know everything, an urge to travel across the world, and certainly the love for food. That is how we bonded. I met a few radio jockeys at lunch, like Tim from Kiss FM, Australia, his wife who works for the same radio station and their 9 year old daughter Bianca; literally a radio family. We discussed food and the obvious, radio. Another Italian jockey I engaged in conversation with was Paola, who does a show on six degrees of separation. The concept is that any two people can be connected through 6 degrees of separation, and while talking we found our 6 degrees though Mozart, Salil Chowdhary and the song ‘Itna na mujhse tu pyaar badha’. Music is global and so is radio, and the IRF is a ringing reminder of it.

The IRF gave me a platform to interact with radio presenters from across the globe. Normsky, from the UK, one of the most famous radio personalities, is a gypsy by nature, a live wire defying his age continuously, avid music buff and one of the coolest persons around. There was also Tony Prince from Kiss FM, UK, radio stalwart who probably taught half the world about radio. My Italian connection hadn’t completed a full circle until I met Chiarra, a sound artist who could create melody with almost anything. This time she came up with a magical sound piece created from parts of a Swatch. We found our common interest in Italian films and filmmakers, from De Sica to Fellini, Benigni and Antonioni. That’s when I took the opportunity of introducing her to a magician from India, Pancham da, who created a unique rhythm using a half-filed bottle of Coke. From her expression, I knew she was in complete awe and disbelief of the maestro. She promised to remix this very song, ‘Mehbooba Mehbooba’ from ‘Sholay’, and send it to me as a present. This very promise inspired me to design my show for the next morning, live from Zurich, at 9am.

The history of Hindi films music, through songs, musicians, singers, changing socio-political scenario, instruments, film makers from the 1950s to the 1980s. Yes that’s it. I started with the medley from ‘Hum Kisi se Kam Nahi’, went on ‘Awara hun’ to Salil Chowdhary to SD Burman to ‘Dhanno Ki Aankhon Mein’ to the flanger Pancham Da used in the song to ‘Laila o Laila’ from ‘Qurbani’. People not only stopped to listen, but joined in as well, tapping their feet and bobbing their heads, including Tony Prince, who was moving and grooving to ‘Laila O’ Laila’. They got a taste of the evolution of Hindi film music over the period of time and the experiments done by the great musicians in this part of the world, and they loved every minute of it.

The show was followed by one of the biggest parades in Europe called Love Parade. More than 1 million people came from different cities and countries (the population of Zurich is 1,92,000) and assembled near the lake. The city wore a different look that day. It was a different Zurich.

Over the next two days, leisure was completely ours. We visited Interlaken, the meeting of two lakes; a beautiful, serene, pristine, picture perfect to me. I saved my last day for a trip to the Swiss National Museum. Built in 1898, it is an oyster of European history and culture. The maze structure, the lighting, the audio visuals, the architecture, the history, the artefacts and a whole section dedicated to Alois Carigiet, renowned painter from Zurich. I was lost and knowingly so, lost in the maze, in the history of Europe and Switzerland when I felt a pat on my back. It was one of the staff members from the museum. “The time is up sir” he said. Yes, my time here was up. It was time to pack my bags (plural owing to all my gift and souvenir shopping) and leave one of the most beautiful places on earth, for one of the most happening places called India. Au revoir.

This travelogue was first published by Aglastation .