One Fine Day in Saarbrücken

Author Nilanjan Ghosh Dastidar graduated XII from Vidyapith in 2015. He is pursuing PhD in Biochemistry from Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany

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It was the last weekend of March 2022 -- 26 March to be precise. As my train rushed through the darkness, I was repeatedly glancing at my phone wondering whether I will make in time for the next train connection from Mannheim. But deep down, I was excited. I was going to meet seniors and juniors from Vidyapith after a gap of 6 years.

The planning started some months ago, with Sayan (2016) proposing a reunion in Saarbrucken sometime in March. Although, I was willing to join, but could not make a final commitment because of the Covid lockdowns.

Finally, I just decided to go and booked my tickets and here I was sitting on the train rushing towards Frankfurt. Half asleep and half sleep deprived, I reached Mannheim and rushed for the next connection.

Reaching Saarbrücken, as I was trying to make sense of the German and English signboards on the bahnhof, a voice called out from behind “O Nilanjan da, edike”. Turning back, I found Sayan and Sagnik da (2014) waiting there for receiving me.

We all knew each other from Vidyapith days since we were from consecutive batches. After exchanging pleasantries, we went outside for a morning coffee.

As we were fondly remembering our Vidyapith days, we waited for the others to join us. Ritesh da (1995) and Neha di along with Anupam da (1999) and his son Zeeshan were joining us from Luxembourg.

Mayukh da (2014) was coming from eastern Germany and Debanjan (2016) had already arrived from Munster.

Gaurav da (2001) along with Priyanka di and their kids Mihika and Oorvij were travelling from Frankfurt to join us.

Special thanks to Mayukh da who had travelled circa 12 hours, and changed 5 trains to come meet us.

This was the beginning of our second Europe reunion after Paris in Dec 2021.

Frankly, I was slightly nervous at the beginning, since this was my first reunion. But on meeting everyone, I realised irrespective of our batches, we all had the Vidyapith spirit inside and within a short time, it was like the good old days of school.

We embarked on the regional train from the Saarbrücken bahnhof to Sulzbac-Altenwald to start the reunion by visiting Sri Mahamariamman Temple for the divine blessings.

The puja was peaceful, and we were rewarded with simple and delicious mithai for our sincere attendance.

By the time we returned to Saarbrücken, Sayan da had well planned our lunch break. We were treated with mouth-watering pizza from Angello via Napoli in Futterstraße. Adding to the fun was having the pizza by the banks of river Saar and reminiscence good old Vidyapith days.

On our way to Sri Mahamariamman

At the temple

After the lunch, Sayan da took us to Brunnen am Schloss area after crossing the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge) connecting the districts of Alt-Saarbrücken and St. Johann. We went up the Pavillon im Schlossgarten - this baroque garden pavilion with a gabled central had a wonderful view of the city.

Photo: Pavillon im Schlossgarten

On our way down to our next destination we had a beautiful view of the Ludwigskirche - Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Alt-Saarbrucken. It is a Protestant church, built in 1775 by prince Ludwig of Nassau. And is well known for its baroque architecture

Photo: Ludwigskirche

Now was the time to take the train to Völklingen for very special trip to the Völklinger Hütte – the UNESCO World Heritage site. It is the world's only fully preserved ironworks from the period of Germany’s golden era of iron and steel production. It is also the first industrial monument of this era to be added to the list. Today, the Völklinger Hütte is a museum and it includes The Ferrodrom - an interactive science canter focusing on the making of iron. We walked around the six kilometre of the self-guided circular tour exploring the stunning iron works.

Photo: Group photo Völklinger Hütte

We concluded the day with a lovely Georgian dinner at the Tbilisi Restaurant in Saarstraße in the charming St Johanne Markt. For most of us it was our first rendezvous with delicious choices of Georgian food and wine. With choices aplenty, we all enjoyed sharing typical dishes like Khatschapuri, Lobiani, Tschanachi and much more.

Photo: The Dinner at Tbilsi Restaurant

But the best part was the adda that we had while travelling or during food breaks. Reminiscing our memories, I realised although we were generations apart, but still the fun, the joy of our Vidyapith days was intact in each of our times. We promised each other to be in touch and relish the memories of the reunion. Well, who could not appreciate Sayan da’s generosity in making sure to arrange for milk from the local store just before the dinner so that out little Oorvij has his share of dinner and breakfast the next day.

Auf Wiedersehen – till we meet again.

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One Fine Day in Saarbrücken