The feelings of majesty and awe gripped us as we entered the "Saira's Abode" in the city of Frankfurt in a drizzling winter evening in 2010. It was a meticulously stuffed house of three bedrooms and had enough reasons to cast a genuine spell on the visitors. The ornamental and natural plants and flowers, souvenirs, urns, dolls and cushions were abundantly flattering the gaze in the warmth of dimly lit pale yellow lights and in the company of the house dwellers.
Hira and Uzma, my companions, were quick in exchanging “wows”.., hugs, shrieks and formal informalities with Saira's mother who was a naturalized German from Poland, married to a man from Bangladesh.
The dining table was set soon after as we eased our stretched limbs in the drawing room. Deluxe and decorated with all sorts of Indian delights, it turned out to be a rare luxury for our raving stomachs yearning for the forgetful taste long since we had been in Europe on a three months executive course. It was an exotic and cross-cultural dinner carrying the warmth of the East with the candor of the West and provided us a peep into the intimate corners of the life of the inmates living at the counterpoint of two widely apart traditions. The way Saira and her mother took pains to prepare and serve the meals showed a great deal of cultural sensitivity and voluntary service which helped us overcome many prejudices for an alien culture.
The aura of the house was convincingly erudite. “Books, books, everywhere…..and all the cupboards did shrink.” The collection was as impressive as it was holistic. From modern day political thinkers and fiction writers and bestsellers to Greek mythology and Islamic mysticism, one would stumble at some literary masterpiece wherever he or she chose to roam inside the house. “Impressive” I said to my companion Hira, “it seems the house is haunted with Faust’s spirit and Goethe’s scholarship”. She nodded in affirmation without saying a word as if her words would break the serenity and splendor prevalent there.
We were carried on a window shopping spree later in the chilled evening to the downtown main shopping area “the Zeil”. A quick tour of big and amazing departmental stores and shopping complexes of Galeria, Karstadt, and especially of MyZeil enthralled us with their architectural design innovations. But the main attraction was Alte Oper and night view of the nearby River Main. There was some performance scheduled at Alte Oper that evening and some officials dignitaries were invited, we guessed. The stately female horse riders full of pride in Roman etiquette, the backdrop of colors and lights and grand facade of the main gate of the opera made the rarest and the most beloved scenes of my whole stay in Europe.
We returned home at 8’oclock in the night where the cozy sips of tea and snacks were waiting for us in the drawing room. We planned to visit Goethe- Haus and Maintower the next morning.
