Just Fiction
Evening time.
"Hi, I am Arth," I said as I introduced myself to my roommates.
I am an engineer, and I am on a work trip to Germany. This was my first time outside India, so I wanted to explore Germany, starting with Munich, the place where beer runs in everyone’s veins. I booked my stay in a hostel in Munich, as that was the cheapest option available. I did not want to spend too much on my stay; instead, I wanted to spend more on experiences. Also, it meant I would get to meet new people, which I eventually did; I met Bieke and Chris. Bieke was Dutch, and Chris was American. In the list of foreigners I had met, I had people from Sweden and Germany; people from the Netherlands and America just got added. Once I was done introducing myself and telling them why I was here, Bieke and Chris did the same, and I got to know why they were here. Chris was interning with the "History Channel", so he was in Munich to document the lives of tour guides in Europe. He told me he came here from Paris, where he started his journey documenting the lives of tour guides. Bieke was a mixologist (a cocktail expert) who had come here in search of work from Amsterdam. We talked for a while and got to know each other better.
Chris had booked a beer brewery crawl experience and invited us to join him. We freshened up and got ready to explore Munich, its people, food, and beer. Bieke was wearing a white, sleeveless crop top and a beige skirt. Chris and I were wearing black T-shirts, but he was wearing chinos, and I was wearing blue jeans. We walked to the place where we were supposed to meet our tour guide, who would take us to different breweries. The guide was waiting for us, along with a few other members who would join us. We reached there and met our guide, "Dan," and other members, who were all from America. Dan asked us to make a circle around him and explained what we would be doing for the next few hours. We took the S-Bahn and reached our first brewery, named ‘Paulaner Brauhaus.’ The only beer I tried before was Kingfisher, but when I tried Paulaner beer, it tasted different; it had hints of pineapple and mango and had the perfect balance of bitterness and sweetness. Chris asked immediately after taking a sip if anyone was ready to do a bottoms-up challenge with him, to which Dan and Bridget agreed; Bridget was one of the members. Everyone started shouting, "Chug, chug, chug." Chris, Dan, and Bridget started to drink their beer, with Chris spilling most of it out, but surprisingly, Bridget was the one to finish the beer first, and Dan was the last one to finish. Dan’s mustache was covered by the beer froth; he looked closer to Santa Claus than Dan himself. We all shared a laugh, ate pommes (French fries), and finished our beer.
Next, we were going to a very old brewery named ‘Augustiner.’ It was closer to "Paulaner Brauhaus," so we walked to that place, but before we left for Augustiner, Dan made pairs in the group so that we did not get lost while walking through the crowd. I was paired with Bridget, and Bieke and Chris were paired together. We reached there, and luckily there was a table already booked for us. The interesting part about that table set-up was that they had replaced the chairs with barrels in which they stored beer. The glasses here were bigger than the ones we had at Paulaner. They were almost the size of my forearm, and I was scared I would get high once I had it, which I eventually did. Bridget snapped her fingers in front of me and asked, "What are you staring at? Come on, drink it." Then we both started drinking and eating pretzels that were kept in front of us. That was the first time I had pretzels, and they tasted so damn good. They looked like pigs’ noses, and I kept one against my nose and started snorting and grunting like a pig. By then, I was a bit high, and for some reason, I felt free—free from judgment, free from all inhibition.
We all somehow managed to finish the huge glass of beer, and we were tired and needed some fresh air, so we came out and walked towards this giant red ring structure, which was in an open space. It was called Der Ring, a structure in Old Munich. There were a few people there, sitting on their camping chairs and listening to music. Bridget, Chris, Bieke, and I started dancing to the music (I Shazamed and found the name of the song: "Een Klien Beetje Geluk" by Ali B). It was crazy; we were all sweating and clearly out of breath, which was totally opposite to our idea of getting some fresh air. But it was an experience I will never forget—the girls swaying their hair, we guys opening our tongues, almost creating a Naagin dance of our own. Finally, we stopped and sat on the ground next to the people who were camping there. Dan shouted from far away and asked us to join him for the last brewery on our planned tour, but we decided to explore the nightlife of the city instead and asked Dan to leave with the others. We walked around and found people painting graffiti on the walls. We joined them and spray-painted the walls. The place was lit with green light, and the art on the walls looked amazing. I suggested we leave a mark of us on the wall and asked one of the graffiti artists there to trace our shadows on the wall with spray paint, on which we wrote "Freie Seelen," which means "Free Souls" in German.
We were tired of walking, so we went to an open park full of trees. It was a beautiful sight. As we lay down on the ground side by side, staring at the night sky, a light breeze swept over us, which felt good. As I was sleepy and had planned a trip to Austria the next day, I asked Chris and Bieke if we could leave. Bieke agreed to come with me, but Chris wanted to stay there for some more time, so Bridget and Chris stayed.
Bieke and I took the S-Bahn to the nearest station to our stay and walked to our hostel room. Throughout our walk, she held my hand and kept her head on my shoulder. We walked into our room, and I sat on my bed. Bieke played music on her phone (Nachtvlinder by Bokoesam started playing). Bieke started grooving to it; she was feeling the beats make their way through her body. Her half-tied hair and half-messed-up bun started falling apart, forming various strands that slowly started invading her face, and that is when I entered the scene.
The air was intoxicated with the smell of beer, and the moonlight through the huge windows filled our hostel room, creating a gloomy film around us. I tucked the lock of her hair over her ear to see her face and found her staring at me with her deep blue eyes. We sat there in silence, and just when I was about to say something, she kissed me. The touch of her lips on mine sent shivers down my spine. It was magical, the most memorable experience I had in Munich.
We broke the kiss and stared at each other for a moment, both feeling the electricity in the air. Without saying a word, we lay down on the bed, held each other's hands, and drifted off to sleep.
Love Germany
Find my stories here: https://shanbhaaag.blogspot.com/
