Sweden trip

The moment I entered Gutenberg (Sweden) airport, many small things caught my attention. After the passport verification, I found that they have to open a door to let us in. Every other airport I visited have immigration officials sitting in glass cubicles, whereas in Sweden they have doors, officials sit on the other side of the door .. door to heaven perhaps ..

On my way to hotel, I saw a 2 storeyed sized SKF ball bearing with caption "We reduce friction in the world". As you might know, SKF originated in Sweden.

The technology advancement in little things are amazing. Every hotel I visited elsewhere has plastic cards with magnetic stripes whereas Sweden switched to paper cards with digitized personal information. To avoid strangers entering hotels, the elevators start only if you insert the card, I didn't see any stairs next to elevators.

The bathrooms are innovative too.. There is no Left Hot, Right Cold water rules you need to remember .. Temperature setting is on the right and water flow control on the left.. simple and you need not remember "water rules" that change by state in US. In hotels, they solved a big problem of energy wastage. Guests usually leave the lights on when they go out. In Sweden, the lights come on only when you insert the access card. Since you need access card to go, the lights are automatically switched off when you take the card out

The cheapest car on the road is VOLVO - government subsidized. Offices have made lot of small improvements which are simple and innovative. First time I have seen bar stool computer desks. I was familiar with walkups but not "standups". How many times you run next cube for erasers, markers in offices. They solved the mysterious "missing markers/erasers" problem by making them magnetic. They all stick to the white board.. where they belong

The richest man in the world today lives 1 hour away from Gutenburg, IKEA founder. It's like brahmam gari sooktulu "wadla waadu bhoomini palinchunu". He started making furniture in the garage and now is the richest man leaving windows inventor Bill Gates & Walmart owners behind. If you want to be rich make real windows for people.. BlueTooth technology inventor is from Gutenberg.. The list goes on.. Astra, VOLVO, HasselBlad cameras, ASEA, computer mouse. Everything is so relevant to our everyday lives ..

I was so surprised to see everyone with "contended" and "not having issues" look. May be that's key to innovation. In Sweden, mind is doing what it is good at - innovation. We tend to give it a different job .. bring bread to the table .. pay that mortgage every month .. and cool it down with beer if it complains too much about "job satisfaction".

What amazed me the power of socialist economy. The income tax are at 60% to 70%. People give everything to Government and Goverment gives everything back .. The benefits' list goes on and on
> free health care - best in the world
> free schools (best schools afforded by any common man .. no private schools)
> 3 PCs per family provided by goverment
> 18 month paternal leave (for dads too..) per child. If you have 3 children, you can pretty much sit at home with full pay for 6 years at the brim of your career

The taxi driver was telling me that the benefits are so good that he can go to a doctor and complain that he has headache.. after 3 months again complain about eyes..
Obviously doctor will not be able to diagnose and finally puts him on the benefits program .. Life long pay worth $800 per month, free pass to ride taxis anywhere in the city .. paid apartment for life .. One of the managers at Gutenberg said "our definition of poor is not the one who can't afford food but the one who can't afford vacation" I don't think I will hear anything close to this in India in this century

In my own capacity, I tried to rationalize why the country was so advanced. Sweden is a peace loving country. They don't get into wars like we do .. The last war they fought was with Napoleon 200 years back .. World war I and II, Vietnam, India Pakistan, Gulf, Iraq wars have been just evening news to them all these years.

Overall I was lucky to visit "Land of midnight sun". I timed my watch during sunset.. It went down at 11:30PM and came back at 2:30AM. If I traveled 1000 kms north, people said I would see sun going round the horizon 24 hours a day for 6 months ..

Chinna