Today was a gorgeous day in Zurich. So I decided to go for a walk along the river Sihl in Adliswil. I walked along the Sihl from the Sood-Oberleimbach station till the Langnau-Gattikon station.

When I first lived in Switzerland almost thirty years ago, IBM Zurich Research Lab had rented a floor in a building by the Sood-Oberleimbach railway station. This is was then the home for the network security group. The building was right next to the river Sihl. It now belongs to the the Generali insurance company (it belonged to an insurance company then as well, but I am not sure if it is the same company).

Swiss regulation requires that employees cannot be put in windowless offices. So even though I was a lowly pre-doctoral researcher, I got to share a relatively large office with two other pre-docs. From my seat, I could look out the window and see the Sihl flowing.

This is a view from the footbridge by the building. My old office was on the second floor of the building on the right. I used to joke that all the solutions to research problems lay at the bottom of the Sihl and if you stared at it for long enough, you could see them. This was not far from the truth for the fair exchange work I did for my dissertation.

The main IBM Research site was in Rüschlikon. IBM had found me a place to live near the Rüschlikon lab. There was no convenient public transport from Rueschlion to Adliswil. IBM ran a shuttle, and sometimes I took it in the mornings (often, I was the only passenger). But the evening shuttle times were not convenient. So I either walked or some colleague gave me a ride. In a country where hiking is a way of life (the passion for hiking is known as “Wanderlust” in German; Swiss children are introduced to Wanderlust from early on. The country is full of hiking trails or Wanderwegs), surprisingly many people told me “but Rüschlikon is too far to walk.” It was just a 45 minutes walk over the hill, and I actually loved that walk. Given that I spent most of my time at work in a shared office, the walk gave me time and peace to think alone. Part of the way was a hiking trail that hugged the Sihl, with scenes like these that can calm one’s mind:

It was a gloriously sunny afternoon. The footpath by the Sihl is gorgeous:

Passing the center of Adliswil, I looked for the Hindu temple. Although it was there even thirty years ago, I had never been inside. It is still there, in a non-descript building. But it was closed. Evidently, Swiss Tamil Hindus don’t celebrate Easter! Ha ha.

Further on, I came across a pair of ominous signs:

The first repeated the warning in three Swiss languages plus English! It said, “You are warned not to stay on the river bed! The hydroelectric plants may cause a sudden flooding anytime; even with good weather!” The second was only in German. It said “Hiking trail closed! Enter at your own risk. (The Canton of Zurich) rejects all liability.

Well, I wasn’t going to get into the water anyway. So the first warning did not apply to me. But I did want to continue along the trail so that I can reach the next railway station. Given that this warning was only in German whereas the other one was even in English, I decided that the trail closure warning was likely not as serious as the warning about the risk of drowning, despite the menacing talk about liabilities. So I continued along the trail.

About a couple of hundred meters on, I started to understand why the Canton of Zurich was wringing their hands about liabilities. Fallen trees started to appear across the trail, first like this one, that didn’t really pose any danger:

But soon, there were increasingly serious road blocks:

Even worse, water trickling down from the tall slopes right next to the trail with a menacing buzz. In several places, the ground was moist. In some, there were puddles, and even pools.

I proceeded carefully, avoiding the puddles, climbing over fallen trees, hoping that it won’t trigger a landslide, somewhat heartened by the fact that I had not one but two accident insurance policies covering me, since both my home institution and my host institution insist on such coverage.

Finally I was relieved to spot the stairs going up to the bridge that would let me cross over to the side of the Langnau-Gattikon station, allowing me to relax and appreciate the beauty of Sihl once again.