MEET ME IN THE FJORDS
From India to Norway, two online pen pals take their years-long virtual friendship on a real-world road trip
Two pen pals finally take their online friendship on the road trip of a lifetime.
MY SCANDINAVIAN JOURNEY BEGAN when I befriended Bente Brenna online ten years ago. Bente was feisty and bright and in her 50s. Although worlds apart, we soon became like neighbours gossiping over a virtual fence. I listened to stories from her Norwegian village, and much of what Bente knew about India she learned from me. We finally managed to meet five years ago. I was in London, and Bente took the short flight across the North Sea, laden with creamed cod, smoked salmon and mussels she had gathered from the fjords. She used to call me ‘little Indian lady’ and I imagined her to be this tall, statuesque blonde. How we laughed when it transpired she was petite and I the taller one. Back home, she sent me surprise packets through the post of wild mushrooms she’d picked and dried. Their mossy scent transported me magically to a Norwegian forest.
Our children left home, our husbands neared retirement as we kept each other posted. Meanwhile, Bente’s witty repartee caught the attention of a TV crew and she became the star, along with husband, Pål, of Sofa, a popular Norwegian reality show. With an empty nest, she also started taking bed-and-breakfast guests at her home in Hvitsten. She called it her ‘car-wreck hotel’ because Pål enjoyed retrieving and restoring old campervans, which they let as rooms.
“I will perish if the temperature goes over 25 degrees,” Bente often declared. Since I couldn’t guarantee that not happening in Mumbai, I finally went over to Norway instead with Mohan, my husband, last autumn. Bente immediately shut her B&B business for the 12 days we were to be there and planned a road trip.
Bente and Pål live in what could be called a ‘millionaires’ row’ just off the Oslofjord. Few houses, large gardens, really expensive cars and old ships’ figureheads at strategic locations characterise Hvitsten village, an hour’s drive from Oslo. Bente, though, has no pretensions. Her home reflects her personality: bohemian, mismatched and charming. There are two big black cats, and moose and deer come to visit from the surrounding woods.
Pål and Bente work part-time for the Norwegian billionaire Petter Olsen, of the family that owns the famous Fred Olsen shipping line and oil companies, among other things. Olsen has a mansion amid breathtaking gardens in Hvitsten, and Bente has been catering their summer parties for years, rubbing shoulders with the cream of Norwegian society. Renowned theatre companies stage open-air performances in Olsen’s green amphitheatre, popularly known