Stockholm for me was the place of the highest awards on this planet The Nobel Prize. It was the land of Greta Garbo. It was the music with which we had grown up in the 80s – ABBA. My visit to Stockholm meant a peep into all these fancied places and more. While walking out from the airport one was flanked by the huge photographs of the luminaries which the famous city had produced – Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo and Bjorn Borg. But my fantasized Stockholm was nothing compared to the magnificence of the real Stockholm. A look at the city map suggested to ‘Choose between 24 hours, 72 hours or 7 days’.
The range which the different tours offered was in itself suggestive of the limitlessness of the charming place. Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and comprises 14 islands, in southeast, forming an archipelago. It is a city of contrasts where the old world charm and traditional culture moves graciously along with the modern industrialised city. The weather in June was one of the best which the place had to offer. Daylight was for more than 18 hours and would barely be a few hours in late December. The city has high northerly latitude compared to other cities in the same latitude. The hour of sunshine which it receives is 1800 per year. This is one of the highest when compared to other cities in North Europe.
It had attracted people from all over adding to the vitality and vibrancy of the place. The clear blue sky, the mild balmy breeze had people swarming the place and walking long distances ungrudgingly. Many preferred to walk instead of taking the exciting hop on–hop off buses. The charm of the place was matched by the spirit of openness of the place. Handing over expensive cameras to strangers for a click and then sharing the camera space with them was common. It was the unspoken language of sharedness, respect and acceptance which brought people together.
With the words of the famous acceptance speeches of the Nobel Laureates echoing in my ears, I undertook an almost two kilometers walk towards the Stockholm City Hall which is the venue of the Nobel Prize banquet and a major tourist attraction. It is a building of the Municipal Council for the City of Stockholm and faces the islands of Riddarholmen and Soderonalm. It is located in southern central Sweden where the freshwater lake and Malaren flows into the Baltic Sea. The desire to view this magnificence meant a long walk towards the site which had a spacious layout. With a very imposing exterior, smacking of the majestic honours it bestows, it had an equally impressive interior. A flight of steps took me to the outer hall which was not open to public. Standing under the site of illumination and marvelling at the architectural symmetry, my mind wandered towards those luminaries and illustrious people who must have stood there – Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Rabindranath Tagore and Mother Teresa.
The words of the Chairman, Board of Nobel Foundation reverberates with the following words: ‘...the greatest benefit for mankind to be rewarded.’ I recalled with pride the Nobel Laureates which India had produced beginning with Rabindranath Tagore (1913) Literature, C.V. Raman (1920) Physics, Hargobind Khurana (1968) Medicine, Mother Teresa (1979) Peace, Subramanyam Chandra Shekhar (1983) Physics, Amartya Sen (1998) Economics, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (2009) Chemistry, and Kailash Satyarthi (2014) Peace.
Mother Teresa’s Nobel Prize speech ‘of the joy of spreading peace’ and the ‘joy of service’ resounded in my ears. I remember listening to her speech with the same awe as the captive audience whom she had held spellbound with her moving and learning experiences. Her speech had a reference to a prayer which was our almost daily prayer in my alma-mater, Notre Dame Academy, Patna: ‘Make me a channel of your peace/ Where there is hatred let me bring your love / Where there is injury your pardon Lord / And where there’s doubt, true faith in You.’ I hummed it under my breadth, proud to be, in some remotest way, connected to a Nobel Laureate’s speech.
The Blue Hall in the Stockholm City Hall is the place for banquet which is attended by the Swedish Royal Family and around 1300 guests. A short distance from this is the Nobel Museum which organizes a number of events, theatre plays, and exhibitions on luminaries. It has a variety of information regarding the Nobel Prizes and Nobel Laureates. The Museum aims to be a ‘reflecting and go ahead spirited memory of the Nobel laureates and their achievements as well as of the Nobel Prize and Alfred Nobel.
Moving out, we crossed the bridge of the freshwater lake, Malaren and entered one of the meandering alleys. The cobbled pathways were flanked by beautiful, ochre coloured, stone buildings along with exotic craft shops, galleries and eateries. A true global spread, global culture and global cuisine. The interlaced alleys led to various spots, one of which took us to the idyllic shore. It was picnic time for all. A warship which was a relic of the mighty navy, was open for public to view. On the other side was a huge ship on which people were having food on the different decks. The change of guards with the military band near the beautiful Stockholm Royal Palace was witnessed by people in great numbers. The indomitable spirit of the place which I had just left behind stayed with me as I watched the vastness of the sea and sky merging harmoniously and the small and big ships slowly striving to reach there. The quest for excellence which the place symbolized reminded me of the lines from Alfred Tennyson’s poem Ulysses: “Come, my friends / ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world /…for my purpose holds/ To sail beyond the sunsets…’
We moved towards the alleys which had a lot of open restaurants, artisans displaying their works, puppeteers with original creations and girls singing in a choir. Frequently, one came across beautiful flowers which added colour to the colourful world around.
The trip to Stockholm would have been incomplete without a peep into the world of ABBA. The museum had their photographs and showcased some of the rare items from their collections. Humming their songs and our all time favourites were “Mamma Mia”, “Ring Ring”, and “Honey Honey”. Music brought me closer to this diverse country. The songs which we had sung in the 80s had no nationality. It was the foursome whom we had adored. Stockholm for me meant so many things and so much unexplored. The warmth and easy acceptance of each other reminded me of the lines from Abba’s album: “People need love, people need loving / People need trust from a fellow being.”
