Sweden From the Outside
To the casual observer Sweden might not be a significant change from your everyday European country. The architecture is minimalistic, the roads are spic and span clean, everything is green and nice. You would hardly see anything outrageous around you accept lovers indulging in blatant display of affection. The people, well, they wouldnât bother you too much and youâll find yourself as independent as you have ever been. To someone who comes with a perspective though and is used to making sheepâs eyes at everything, welcome to the bizarre land of the Norsemen.
Being born in a small city in India, I had no exposure to this part of the world until I started exploring music. I recently heard that Sweden is the third largest exporter of music in the world and in hindsight itâs so true that itâs almost an understatement. The stereotype is that Swedes donât talk much, they are shy people who would sit through a party by themselves but claim that they had a good time. They also say that Swedes are cold like their weather but spend a few days in the country and youâll realise how forced the metaphor is. Personally, I feel that Swedes are the nicest race of people I have ever come across, maybe too nice sometimes.
For all their niceties, it did not take me much time to unleash the most effortless but complex human emotion, prejudice. Swedes like most citizens of the âfirst worldâ get 24-hour supply of portable water. Yes, you can drink the water that you bathe with. It took me a few days to stop complaining about the sheer entitlement and privilege that people are used to here. Anyways, I asked some of my classmates from Europe about this and expectedly, they too were used to being treated like royalty. On the contrary though, they shared my pain of groceries costing a bomb here. Yes, I have been told that prices in Sweden are exorbitant even when compared to countries like Germany and UK where cost of living is known to be high.
I dug deeper into this and found that Sweden is known to have the highest tax quota in the industrialised world. It means that the constitutional framework relies too much on high taxes to run public welfare, education and healthcare. So, in a nutshell, in return of a high tax burden, the citizens get a high standard of living and world class amenities. Is that a fair trade? I donât know but it is quite a brave recipe for Utopia.
Enough of economic jargon, letâs have a look at Sweden from a cultural standpoint. Like most of Europe, Swedenâs national cuisine is Italian food. Trust me, the countryâs authentic food is oddly also exceptionally exotic to them. The sweet smell of Cinnamon buns is almost always in the air, a Swedish creation, these sweet rolls are usually served during Fika which traditionally means getting together with friends over coffee. Another peculiar habit that some Swedes like to indulge in is Snus. Snus is a packaged form of moist tobacco which is placed somewhere in the mouth. A friend was kind enough to show me the contents of his small round box of Snus and it is by far the subtlest way of consuming tobacco I have ever seen.
They say that as a by-product of neoliberal policies and stress on individualism, you might find yourself friendless, isolated and depressed in Sweden. The climate adds to it, they say, the winters get so gloomy and vitamin D so scarce that before you know it you are stranded in a Stephen King novel in a post-apocalyptic setting. Although I too, like other outsiders, am dreading this six-headed monster which is the Swedish winter but far from feeling low I feel extremely cosy amidst a society which stands for inclusivity and equality above all. Itâs true that Sweden too like rest of the industrialised world is under attack by radical fringes for its liberal view on immigration but it goes without saying that the citizens have only warmth to give in the cold weather. Â
