First wedding anniversary

We stayed in a hotel that claimed to have Gothic foundations dating back to the 14th century on the main Karlova Street - two minutes from Charles Bridge. Aparently, the building originally housed goldsmiths. Looking at the building and its architecture, I could believe how old it was. The entrance was through a big black wooden door and each room occupant had a bunch of old fashioned keys (not chip based plastic readers) to first open this big gate; then, a smaller wrought iron gate; a new(er) wooden door to the gallery of rooms; finally open the room door. It had two levels below the ground level...very interesting, maze like place.

We welcomed THE day, sipping Champagne and watching the hustle bustle of this east european city, the lit up castle providing the backdrop. Having been to Bratislava, we discussed how Prague/Czech Republic looked and felt a lot more prosperous than Slovakia...
12:00 midnight, the city was still bustling, younger generation all set to hit the night life - Prague is so well known for.

 After ages we shook a leg untill the wee hours of the morning at Lavka. The music was not our favourite, the crowd around us was way younger...but what the heck!!

It was definitely cold, but all those Christmas Market goodies kept us warm. There was a lot on offer even for vegetarians like us. The mulled wine, along with some yummy Trdlo, Langose, roasted Chestnuts kept us warm enough to walk around the Old town, braving the weather.

The decorations and lights everywhere with light snow made it all look quite pretty.

Other than the 'romance' of celebrating our anniversary together, Prague, to me, offered lots of interesting aspects that could be delved into and explored further. Some of them are:

• The Marionette (puppets) scene...I learnt that Prague has a long tradition of puppet arts and theatre.
• Walking through the city, browsing various books, looking at paintins, I realized there are very many characteristic styles of illustrations to be found here especially for childrens books and storytelling.
• Wooden toys
• The 'Black Light Theatre' : We watched a 1 hr show 'Aspects of Alice' presented quite a fascinating show.
• The place of Kafka

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Overall, loved being there!

Learning by introspection: 2

For an Indian like me, cultural diversity starts at home. I have been an advocate of cultural diversity all along. My family breeds it. We have different religions, different nationalities in it. I always considered cultural diversity as an opportunity to learn from one another and get different perspectives to things. So, here I am:

• Living and adapting to a new culture in Germany
• Working with the most culturally diverse set of colleagues ever
• Married to my husband who is from north india - a different cultural background than mine. I belong to south india.

While the positives of cultural diversity still remains, I now experience the darker sides. The whole concept of diversity falls dangerously when:

• one culture starts to be judgemental about the other
• one culture starts to force itself on the other
• one culture claims superiority over the other
• when the parties are not open minded to give each other their space and time

A multi-cultural experience can become a nightmare when any/one of these situations come up. There are lots of challenges involved in making a culturally diverse relationship to work:

• Striking a balance between keeping ones own identity and integrating with different cultures so one does not stick out like a sore thumb.
• Stereotypes are the first point of easily available reference of any culture. One has to make efforts to break some of them down and communicate the realities that these stereotypes tend to generalize/over simplify.
• Language and spoken communication has its challenges. The sense of humor is different - phrases mean different things in different cultures.
• Remain objective and refrain from being openly judgemental about a culture (despite personal opinions one may harbor within)
• Sometimes visuals work better than words while communicating...because translation can often miscontrued the meaning of words.

However in my experience a BASIC prerequisite to making any headway and achieving the potential of cultural diversity is to be OPEN MINDED and NOT JUDGEMENTAL.

If we start out with a judgement - especially a negative one, on a particular culture, most often it will be counter productive. This is like closing doors instantly on someone who MAY have been curious or interested in knowing more about your culture otherwise.

The idealistic me still looks at cultural diversity as more positive than negative...and I wish people were more receptive to it - treat it like an opportunity to unravel what was a mystery...treat it with the surprise and delight of opening a gift - not knowing what will be inside...

I also realize that every country has its domestic cultural differences as well. A learning here is that dealing with "international" diversity is RELATIVELY easier than "domestic" diversity because domestic diversity carries the baggage of some deep rooted social stigmas, social heirarchies etc - things one tends to be (initially) oblivious about when dealing with an "international" diversity scenario.

Learning by introspection: 1

It is close to 1.5 yrs of living in Germany for me. The 'starry' eyed and 'settling down' phase is over. I am now in the phase of introspecting on what am I learning, what am I achieving...what do I value being here.

I have been experiencing how my friends here go about with their life. Their priorities, their thinking, their approach to things. Ive met some of the older generation too...
While there are lots of similarities, there are lots of differences too. The different cultural, society set up calls for a different lifestyle and perspective to life.

As a result of experiencing all this, one of the things I have learnt (even more) is not to be judgemental about things. Knowing that there are DIFFERENT ways of doing things, of looking at things, of thinking...tells me everyday that there is no single source of truth. In a world as diverse there can never be. Once has to understand these different perspectives and make their own sense of it before discarding it/ adopting it blindly.

Unless there is some prescribed, 'right way,' I can no longer make statements like, "hey, your thinking is wrong/ your way of doing things are wrong." I can only say that "your thinking is different from mine/ your way of doing things are different from mine." Each has its pros and cons. One makes a choice which one to discard/ adopt.

Things are too relative to be judged upon in a jiffy.

discovering myself

In the last month of being in India, I ralized one more reason (among others) why I like living in Germany.


My parents always encouraged me to make my own choices in life. I was encouraged to use my freedom responsibly from a very early age. As I began to question things around me and make my own sense of things, I realized that somehow I never went in the direction of following the 'perceived' norms. Not because I was a rebel without a cause, but it just so happened that MOST often, norms were not convincining enough for me to follow them.

• Norm = focus on academics and getting high marks
  My path = mix academics (do reasonably well) with extra curriculars


• Norm = serious sports is not a place for girls
  My path = I was in every sports team in my school. I went through a Sports Authority of India cricket camp where I got trained by members of the Indian Cricket team. I played badminton every night with a bunch of men in our apartments in Delhi. (was obviously the only woman playing with them)
  I still play this sport religiously 2-3 times a week in Nussloch :)


• Norm = If interested in music, girls should be learning classical music
  My path = I learnt classical music, but sang in the western music band of my school.


• Norm = Girls should stay home as much as possible and learn to excel in household chores.
  My path = a totally outdoor person.


• Norm = Girls should always have long hair and wear 'girly' clothes
  My path = sported a very short hair cut. jeans and tee shirt was almost like a uniform.


• Norm = Be true to your religion. Follow rituals.
  My path = Be spiritual, try to be an honest and good human being ( i have my own definitions of this too)


• Norm = Take the educational path of science/ engineering
  My path = Took up humanities and arts.

This list goes on...


At the end of the day, I was definitely not a 'role model.' Many parents would not let their children become too friendly with me fearing I would influence them. I never cared because I happened to be around like minded friends - very few in number, but very true friends.

• I was always percieved as someone who is frivilous with life.
• Who wont be able to manage a house
• cant cook n clean. If required, at max I could cook an omlette.

All of these prejudices were bestowed on me simply because of:

• how I looked
• because I choose the paths I did
• i was not pretentious and superficial
• i was not hypocritical
• i was not very talkative

I lived with these prejudices all my life. Fought them, accepted them, eventually learnt to deal with them.


Finally I am in a place where the norms are different. These prejudices are not relevant anymore. V and I jointly set up our home from scratch. Not sure about what others think about it, but I am satisfied with how I am able to manage our home among all the other tasks we are to do ourselves in this DIY country. Tasks which all my fellow indians get done by paying someone.
I have definitely been cooking a LOT more than just omelletes.

When I describe a 'day in my life' in Germany to people here (in India), they are quite surprised. Perhaps because they never believed that this person who they had written off would be capable of doing all of this. Making things worse, they realize I still do all of this with my individuality. Since individuality something that is so hard to swallow (culturally) for Indians, they find new ways to break my self confidence. E.g.

• All the 'non-indian' dishes I try cooking are all branded as 'silly' things to cook and eat. :D
• Since I use gadgets that are meant to make our lives easier (and not follow ancient ways of doing something), I dont know how to do anything/ I simply dont do a good job.

I couldnt help but smile and tell myself, I never was in the race to prove anything to anyone else. But the opportunity of setting up a whole new life; home; making new friends; understanding, accepting and respecting a new culture has somewhere deep down, given me a higher self esteem and a much broader perspective to things. Hence, I will always cherish this phase of my life - the phase where I can live without all those prejudices - the phase of being "me."


As for some Indians, I will always been seen as a maverick.

annual vacation

have not been motivated to write anything here off late.
have been going through a lot in our first trip back 'home' as husband and wife. ceremonies, rituals, traditions, relatives, sweets, crowds, arguments, fights, discussions, debates, food for thoughts, change, friends, struggles at work, treatments, stupid soaps on TV, new age Bollywood movies, emotions, pragmatism...a lot to deal with in a month.

a lot of things are running in my mind, but i have no time to bring them together and blog.
trying to spent as much time as possible with mom and dad before we fly back on Saturday night.

Edinburgh Festival

(one big struggle to get the visa - we were finally in Scotland)

B'fast at the accomodation was different cereals and SCONES!! (yummmm scones)
Walking around, we LOVED everything we saw and SMELT - smell of fresh porridge being cooked.
Very typical 'scottish' landscape...OH so different from what we've seen in mainland Europe.

Discovered HENDERSON's was just there - the vegetarian restaurant (didnt realize it untill we enquired at the counter) "everything here is without meat." yes!! the right place for us.

While placing the order I realized it was hard to orient myself to a place where I could be understood...I can understand people - people are speaking in ENGLISH!! I was still taxing my brain to frame my sentences, pick the words to speak in German.

The Fringe Festival had plenty on offer:
2:20 pm - The Tron 
Stand up comedian Yianni ...
Was DAMN GOOD. he mixed dialogs and music and singing...nice!
 
5:00 pm, @ GRV for some more comedy...this guy was rather imaginitive, wild and evidently gay.
I learnt, I will never sit in the first row during a comedy act again.

11:40 pm - the guy threatened to do the full monty...the audience spared us.

NEVER LAUGHED SO MUCH on a SINGLE DAY before.
We realized we were so starved of this sort of sense of humour (considering we live in Germany :-P)

Other than these specific shows, during the Fringe, there were tons of street performers all over the Royal Mile...acrobats, jugglers...singers...the entire place is alive untill late in the evening. The Scottish weather of unpredictable rain is in no way a deterrant.

Capturing some of the highlights of our days in Scotland post the Fringe Festival:

• Ghost trail took us through the torture sites and 'underground' world of Edinburgh where hundreds of people took refuge trying to escape the plague but eventually died of it..."Edinburgh was a disgusting city in the middle ages" - the tour guide. There was not enough place to bury its dead, so they just threw them over into the river. "The souls of all the dead could not rest in peace...they wander as ghosts..."
  
  They build up the story and the end of the trail well enough to scare people like me...only to have a hearty laugh later. :D
• Baked potatoes with vegetarian Haggis on Hunters Square
• Breakfast with Burns @ Hendersons: Some yummy scones, juices, fruit salar for breakfast while listening to a duo play the pipes, singing songs of Robert Burns.
• The characteristic Taxis
  In Edinburgh, it is possible that a Taxi driver refuses to take you where you want to go. Reminded me of the auto drivers in India :)
• The 'Red' public phone booths.
  In this world of mobile phones, Im surprised this still exists. Some of them smell like urinals...perhaps thats what they are being used as these days. yikes!!
• The drive in the Scottish Highlands (From Edinburgh > Fort William > Fort Augustus > Inverness and back)
• The Thistle growing on the tree less hills of the highlands made the hills look purple. Very beautiful.
• We spotted some dolphins frolicking in the bay of Inverness almost by accident.
• The hike to Crow Hill in Holyrood Park
• While using the Lothian Bus service, its extremely important to have the exact amount (of the ticket price) in coins. We handed some paper currency to the driver and he did not give us the full balance back to us. When we asked about the remaining cents, the driver shrugged his shoulders and said, "i dont have change to give you. if you want the balance, i can give you a note, you will need to go to the main office of Lothian to claim this." phew!! we gave up.
• Again, reminded me of the small change that gets gulped down by all saying, "i dont have change."
• Drivers hit the gas pedal on amber - before the traffic light turns green
• Unruly, misbehaved teenage kids get into a row, fight, argue with a 'government body' - a bus driver on being asked to behave. 

Do I see some legacy here?? :D :P
The cultural experience was very different from rest of Europe. A lot of the older generation we interacted with had been to India/ knew a lot about India. A large digital chain store is called "Curry's Digital" :D
I percieved the 'integration' of Indians and Indian culture with the society here was different from other countries, e.g. USA.

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Cant wait to visit Britain.

Figuring out the German public healthcare system

Am getting to figure out the German public healthcare system hands on.
Am yet to get a grip on it.
One thing that is very clear is - in the month of August either be very very sick (to justify emergency service) or be very very fit. It is the worst month to have health problems that are persistent/ nagging/ not so serious however needs a doctor's attention.

Also, this is one of the situations where knowing the German language is very very much required. While most doctors speak english, the process to getting to meet a doctor, explaining the basic symptoms to the doctor's admin, or to understand the results of a test, is done primarily in German.

similarities

The state of affairs at work strangely resemble the state of affairs in my country.
- The scale of operations too big
- Too much politics
- Power being misused
- Some great work being done at the grassroots - struggling to make them mainstream
- High level changes of government/ officials does seems to have no or little impact on the lower level of people
- Strange mixed emotions of hope and hopelessness
- There are no clear/straight solutions or answers to things. Everything has a strong connection to everything else hence very very complex
- Tight rope walking between modernisation and holding back of culture
- Bureaucratic
- Resistance to change
- Fighting issues that are a legacy
- Has a HUGE potential to be an 'exemplar'
- Has a lot of talented people
- Has a lot of untapped knowledge

humm...i never expected this.
finally, due to all of this, the 'progress' or 'advancements' (when made) are so slow that it earns no appreciation.

discrepancies

The 'design' orientation in and out of work are on opposite poles. Somehow dont fit together. I am amazed to see how much complexity is accepted and dealt with at work (when there are clear signs that we dont need to). On the other hand, outside of work, things seem to be well thought through, things are self explanatory, aesthetic, great examples of engineering and design coming together etc.
I dont get it!!!

One year in Deutschland

Yesterday I completed 1 year as a resident in Germany.
Time flies!!! It still feels like yesterday when I was getting ready to move abroad.

The last one year, has been the longest I have been away from home - living abroad. The last one year entailed some big changes - moving abroad, getting married...perhaps it is true when they say, "its good to move out of your comfort zone once in a while."
I did and I dont regret it.

Things could be better on the 'work' front, but by and large I have been enjoying living here :)

Eagles live

I heard Hotel California for the first time in the 1980s when my brother put that song on air as he hosted the All India Radio international music program "In the Groove."

Since then Ive been hearing it over and over again - in many different versions.

In 2000, I watched Don Henley live in Oakland, California and heard a different rendering of this song. That was as authentic as it could get - straight from a former Eagles member.

Little did I know I would get to see EAGLES play together again - live. On 20th June 2009, Mannheim, SAP Arena - I did.

They introduced themselves as "we are the Eagles - the band that refuses to die and belongs to the last century."

But they were as good. They played a good mix of old favourites and titles from their new album.

Munich Impressions 2: Dirndl & Lederhosen

I was made to understand that like most 'traditional' clothing, this too was scoffed at for being 'old-fashioned' and 'conservative.' So I didnt expect many people in this metropolitan city of Munich to be wearing them.

But I saw plenty of locals wearing them. They were not the ones creating photo opportunities for tourists & we were far away from Oktoberfest too. They were normal locals, going about doing their daily routine.

• young girls
• young women
• middle aged women
• old women
• normal dirndl
• dressy dirndl
• long dirndl
• short dirndl...they were everywhere.
• Men wearing long/short lederhosen
• with/without the classic white shirt and suspenders.

There were plenty of stores selling them too.

I thought they looked nice in them.

I always felt that India is one of the few countries where we still see majority of people (women more than men) wearing traditional clothes. Was refreshing to see that traditional clothing still had its place in Bavaria :)

I want to wear a Dirndl once!!!

Munich Impressions 1

We were there from 11th - 14th of June. We primarily visited Museums and tasted Bavarian beer - both of which seem to be important aspects of Munich :)

Deutsches Museum walked us through some really pre-historic stuff, to war planes and ships...

The Residenz opened my eyes to the very impressive, French 'rococo' style of art, interior design, furniture. Its richness and ornate designs were something I never expected to see in Europe. There was so much gold! Almost everything in the Residenz today is a careful remake of old artifacts. This is fascinating. The entire place was lost during the war - looking at it today, I cannot imagine that.

The swanky, hip, new BMW museum was fascinating too - in a different way. I still think the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart is better. BUT!!!!!!! BMW museum beats it just because there is a whole section dedicated to the BMW design team, their philosophy, their works combined with some interesting audio clips. That made my trip to Munich WORTH everything!!!

We walked around many areas - Hofgarten, other parts of the Englisher Garten, sipped beer at the Chinese Turm...watched the nighlife in Leopold Strasse...hopped in and out of the metro a zillion times...walked...took pictures...walked more...

On our way back, we drove to Spitzensee - did a small hike - ate fresh strawberries, cream and ice cream by a wayside restaurant.

The question: would we like to live in Munich?
The answer for both of us was: 'yes, wouldnt mind it.'

So we both liked it better than Berlin. Why?

1. Found Munich more 'characteristic.'
2. Felt it being more 'compact' (its scale)
3. Encountered many friendly local people
4. More picturesque
5. Is more 'walking friendly' (again scale perhaps)

We liked it so much that within a day, we were back in Munich - on a working day - woke up at 4 am - drove to Munich - to have coffee and croissant!! ;) ;)

Admiration for railways

On the train
Originally uploaded by satya75

First, we drove onto a train to get through the closed Furka pass.
We sat inside our cars, as the train went through the long tunnel to transport us to the other side of the Gross Mutterhorn mountain.

Next, we took a train up to Gronergraat at 3000+ m above sea level to see the panoramic view of Matterhorn and the glaciers around it.

I have really come to admire railways after our trip to Switzerland

• It works during some really bad weather conditions
• It works at various altitudes
• It is so ecological compared to roads

Why didnt the Chinese think of considering a railroad to the Everest Base Camp instead of a motorable road? In such pristine environments??

Why doesnt Nepal consider building railroads to connect some of its remote villages?

Why doesnt India do it either? - we have a history of the largest rail network in the world. why not extend it? why not make it more attractive to consumers?

It would definitely provide employment too!!

Why do we have to build roads up the mountains - encourage road users to drive up - all that fuel emmissions and loss of precious habitats!! There are living, working examples around us. Why cant we learn from them?

AC/DC in Hockenheim Ring

It was amazing to be able to ride our bikes through some woods to go see a rock concert - AC/DC in Hockenheim ring! So close to home. Ofcourse it was a very prudent thing to do considering the jam cars were stuck in.

My skepticism were laid to rest once they started playing.

THEY WERE GOOD!! Next to Rolling Stones concert in Bangalore, these guys come in a close second. It was a great show.

They first had an engine on the stage, then a life size, air blown 'Rosie'...cannons, and finally ended with fireworks.

I am SO GLAD I WENT.

The energy levels were just amazing.

Ah! we need one in Germany too

I have always wondered WHY bottled water is so popular in this country. Tap water in Germany has among the highest quality standards. I find it appalling, that I cannot get a glass of water from the tap in a restaurant. I have to BUY a bottle - sometimes it costs more than a tall glass of Beer!! Ridiculous. So I have started carrying a bottle of water with me from home.

I fully support this campaign done in UK and any such countries where Tap water is as safe.

Here are some reasons why...

Read more about this campaign at We Want Tap...

One industry thats NOT hit by the economic downturn - why am I not surprised ?? :D

The global crisis has been eating away at popular confidence in bankers, in managers, estate agents, politicians and even journalists. But not bakers, oh no, not bakers.

Bread sales were up again in Germany, the tenth year in succession; the business is worth 16.7 billion dollars and looks set to do well as long as Germans eat their weight – 87 kilos – in bread rolls every year.

Kudos to the german backeries - (and Germans) I am definitely a small but regular contributor in keeping this industry growing ;)
Read the full article

Verdict: Signature food is always unhealthy!!!

• Waffles, French Fries & Chocolates in Belgium
• Deep pan, Chicago style Pizzas in Chicago
• Sinful stuff at the French patisseries
• German backery products (everything but the breads. everything that just calls out to you when you enter the backery)
• Quattro Formaggi (Four cheese) pizzas in Italy
• Cheese platters all over Europe
• Masala dosa in Southern India
• Samosas in Northern India
• The list goes on...
  (I havent even included ANY of the wines, or other forms of alchohol in here)

Being vegetarian, perhaps I manage to filter OUT quite a bit already. But still!! Gastronomy is such an integral part of 'experiencing' a place but unfortunately experiencing it, comes with loads of guilt too :(

How THE HELL am I supposed to keep my weight in check?? Do I now start living in the gym?

Brussels impression

On our way back from Brugge, we briefly stopped in Brussels. Since we didnt have a whole lot of time nor a map, we decided to hop on to a tour bus. we got to see all the important sights around...
Interestingly, Congo was a colony of Belgium (didnt know that). There were actually people on the streets that seemed to hail from there. I wondered...wow! thanks to some historical incidents, life of some people has (hopefully) changed for the better. Considering the conditions in Congo, I would imagine, life in Brussels would be better in many ways.

Perhaps one of the 'positive' sides of colonialization.

Brugge Impressions: 2

Handmade 'lace' is all over Brugge. I learnt about the legend of lace making, the industry, visited the Lace museum etc.
However it was sad to see, despite its beauty, popularity, the 'clothing' made of this was rather unimaginitive and lacked any style. They were very obviously mass produced - meant for tourists. While I can understand that, it was a pity that I didnt find a single store in Brugge that sold clothing using lace in a more stylized fashion. The only interesting pieces of 'clothing' were aprons.

Something about these traditional hand made crafts that somehow do not get integrated with 'fashion.' Even in India, such rustic, traditional hand made crafts tend to not make their way to the drawing boards of fashion designers.

While there are organizations that try to do work directly with craftsmen, it is such a miniscule segmet of the industry. If only it became a LITTLE more mainstream - we and our generations to come would continue to enjoy these crafts around us besides being a great encouragement for the craftsmen to continue lucratively.

Brugge photos

Brugge Impressions 1:

I had to buy some special Belgian chocolates in Belgium.
Tourists had lined up to buy chocolates at this store. As each on got their turn to place their order, the lady at the store comfortably and gracefully switched languages to communicate with her customers.

As I waited for my turn, I observed and admired the lady switch from Spanish to Flemish to German to French and finally to English (for me)
Hats off!

Got my Mini today :)

Chronology of my cars:
2009...
Mini Cooper Cabrio
A brand new one again. Thanks to my employer.
Added yellow to the color pallette of my cars...its really nice.
Looking forward to summer!!
I joined the 'Mini Cooper' fans in Facebook!

2006...
Maruti Suzuki Swift VXI
A brand new one this time!! Finally! For the first time.
I waited patiently for Suzuki to launch it in India. Waited for the initial rush to get over (6-10 months waiting time)...finally got my own.
Color: Red
I love it when I see another Swift on the roads here in Europe :)

2001-2006
Maruti 800 DX
A 1987 model, the iconic first car of the great Indian middle class :)
Color: Blue
I was very surprised to see similar cars (Alto, old Polo and Twingo) on European roads.

1998-1999
Premier Padmini
A 1975 model for 25 thousand rupees (my own hard earned money) from my uncle.
Color: White
Its quite close to a Trabi :)

Break the Jinx please!!!

The bike ride to Speyer was really nice. Excellent weather and some hidden treasures enroute.

Our way back was a different story. Despite being dragged out unexpectedly to join us on a bike ride to Speyer, Peter was nice enough to ride back with Vishal to Reilingen, pick up his station wagon - drive back to Speyer to transport me and my bike back to Wiesloch.

No I was not hurt.

My my bike lock wouldnt OPEN!!!

What an utterly silly situation!!!

(Thankfully, I didnt lock the bike to a lamp post/ rail... )

Its perhaps the last time Peter joins us in some unplanned activity like this one :(

Monday morning the 'car' incident - sunday afternoon this!!!!!

Whats next??

First 'negative experience' post on this blog

I found my rental car vandalized this morning.

The lock was broken and the in built navigation system, the music system stolen. The same went for a BMW that was parked in front of my car.
I heard from the Polizei that last night multiple such incidents were reported.

Was so surprised. I always believed that this part of the country was very safe. Obviously I overestimated it.

Im not comfortable parking my car on the same street beside my apartment anymore :(

Berlin Impressions: 2

One Big Art Gallery!
Berlin provides artists plenty of walls to paint on em.
There is graffiti all over the streets.
I have seen a lot of graffitti along city streets in the US, however I found them very different from those in Berlin


To me, the ones in Berlin were not all abstracts/ typography or plain spray of colors. I could tell some of the artists have done more. E.g. combine paper cut outs with color sprays, some illustrate historical events of the past, some have a message in them.

Very interesting - something I would always remember Berlin for.

Berlin Impressions: 1

Big city - lots of new high rised housing - drivers honking...First impression - "its so different" (from the Germany Ive experienced so far)
As we experienced more parts of the city, it started feeling like a history class. Every other part of the city has some story behind it.

• I tried to visualize crossroads with tanks and military checkpoints instead of cars and designer stores...
• I wondered what went through the mind of the 'elders' that lived through this time but were now reading their own history in a museum/memorial
• I wished the world never goes through wars of this scale.

The image of my old black and white TV broadcasting the news of the Fall of the Wall flashed in my mind very often. Somehow I remember that very clearly. This year Berlin celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall.

'Listening to the Winds of Change' (on the car radio) suddenly felt very different.

Spring time...flowers are in full bloom

All of a sudden, there are flowers in full bloom everywhere. White, pink, yellow...some flowe bearing trees have no leaves in em. Very very pretty indeed! The sunshine enhances this beauty...

Keeping with the spirit, we bought some plants for our apartments too. Mainly for the balcony but a few indoor ones too. I like em...hope I can take care of them...

English books

While there is Amazon, I have been looking for book stores to pick up books. Finally found some that sell English books in this region.
Heidelberg: Presence with word
Frankfurt: The British Book Shop
Also another interesting concept is perhaps this one: Book swapp. But I like my books :P

A fresh Monday morning

The rain washed everything clean last night
A seemingly "clear, clean" sun is out this morning against some dark gray clouds
The raindrops are glistening...
The birds are chirping...

Its a beautiful day!!!

Cycling from Wiesloch to Heidelberg

We decided to work up an appetite for our Sunday brunch at Fariba's :) So V and I decided to cycle to HD. The previous day we had noticed cycling paths from Wiesloch in the direction of Heidelberg so we decided to follow the signs. However often times we found ourselves lost - not knowing which direction to proceed...went with our gut...eventually would find a reassuring cycle sign again telling us we are on the right track. These tracks take quite a round about route to get from one town to another. So we ended up cycling for a good number of Kms.
We made it in 1.5 hrs. It was interesting...we saw areas of these towns along the B3 that we never saw before...it was a perfect day for cycling too - with the sun shining...not too cold.

On our way back however, we decided to take the (more familiar) straight road back home. Ofcourse sometimes this meant driving on the cycling track inside the town, along with traffic beside us.

This was definitely a 'shorter' route. Slightly boring but since it was turning dark, it was a good idea...we took approx the same 1.5 hrs to get back...perhaps we were tired...and we had to heed to traffic.

So approx 35-38 kms in a day!!! :D ha! that felt like a nice achievement. Will we do it again?? Yes!!! definitely!!! Looking forward to better weather!!

I can now drive in Germany (again)

2nd March - V and I finally got our German driver's license.
I had heard so many people not clear these tests the first time, I was really not sure of myself. Would have been really demotivated if I had not cleared them, after all, I know how to drive - been driving for around 11 yrs now.

Anyway! I did clear them in the first attempt! phew! Its really quite a relief. Im back to driving the A class - waiting for my new car!!

The Carnival weekend

We shocked a few of our friends and colleagues when we said we are going to Koeln for the carnival. On looking up the program of the Faschings Karneval, we realized we cannot be in Koeln for the big Rosenmontag (rose monday) parade...so we may as well go for the Geisterzug (ghost parade) on Saturday 21st Feb & the Faschings Parade in Mannheim on Sunday 22nd.

(this was also in some way a celebration of clearing the theory tests for the drivers license on 19th :)

Koeln was quite an experience. Having parked our car almost at the entry of the city, we took the U-Bahn to Rodenkirschen. The U-Bahn station was full of people in costumes - so was the train itself. We were lucky we didnt have to get into a train from midway it was packed like a tin of sardines. On such a day, NOT having costumes is unique. We really stood out! :)

We got the chance to walk along with the ghost parade all the way till the end - winding along narrow residential streets...rythemic drumming, dancing...the entire city was in costumes. Parking places were all empty cos every other person was too drunk to drive ;) but quite well behaved nevertheless. Interestingly, we saw a few men wearing a Kurta - as a 'costume' :D :D -- so it wouldnt be too hard for us to wear a 'costume' ;)

V and I decided, we will go back next year with some costumes...on our train ride back to the car - we were discussing our options.

Mannheim parade was also interesting. But we were mostly just watching the parade pass by. I was ofcourse busy with my camera...everyone collected quite a bit of candies and things...

I really wanted to go to Basel for Morgestraich but we couldnt make it this time. Maybe next year!?!

My cycle

After many many years (since childhood) I have a cycle again. For the first time I bought myself one :) Its a Bulls - Sharptail - black with green stickers

So, we V and I decided to celebrate our first Valentine's day (not that we make a big deal of it) biking :D. The other interesting thing to do for us on the day was to test drive the BMW 330D Sports Coupe. We biked from our apartments to Krauth in Walldorf. There was snow all around, it was a bit cold, but the sun was shining and it was great.

The drive was a bit of a let down because the car turned out to be with automatic transmission, had summer tyres, the autobahn was packed so V couldnt really drive it the way he wanted to.

We biked our way back with a breakfast stop at Rutz :) - took a few detours...to explore...

Incredible India (in Deutschland)

Last week one of V's colleagues set up a meeting titled Incredible India to share stories, pictures, videos and experiences of his 5 weeks trip to India. What made it an extremely interesting few hours was the amount of preparation he put into it.
He had organized Chai, Indian snacks, juice etc...
He himself wore a tee with Ganesha and some sanskrit script on it....
He had a story to tell for each of his chosen pictures...

Unlike many 'westerners' who are appalled by the poverty and contrasts in India, he had a different perspective to his captures. He had made the effort to interact with the local people to learn more about what he saw and experienced.

Its always interesting to see what a "foreigner" captures - things that each of us take for granted in our own country(ies).

I also felt it was a great idea to gather people and share these images...a nice new "digital" experience. Ive always wondered what (all) can be done with the volume of photographs resulting from digital photography.
What do you do with your digital photographs?

Whats it like in India?

As 'foreigners' in this country, ofcourse we attract a lot of such questions. People want to know things work in India...compare things...
Ive noticed how I am never able to give a straight answer to their questions.

This becomes especially difficult if there are multiple Indians attempting to provide answers. Each of us hail from different backgrounds...and have had different lifestyles...hence we often end up arguing with each other than trying to answer the question for the one who raised it :)

Everything is so contextual and diverse in a country like India it is extremely hard to make any standardizations (if it wasnt hard anyway)...

Freaks and Drunken Lovers

Indeed!!
I loved the title of their album when I first heard it. It cant be more apt for a band and music as theirs.

As they start playing their music, the entire crowd inside the room starts freaking out. They really really become totally crazy doing the famous ska dance. At frequent intervals we were part of this bunch of crazy people too - getting ourselves a good workout :). This time we were at the Ngobo Ngobo concert at Cafe Central in Weinheim.

During a break to cool off, we had an american guy walk up to us and ask if we were from India and "you obviously speak english..."
He was really curious and asked, "what brings you to weinheim?"
Another of those nice proud moments for us when we said, "oh our friend is up on the stage, playing the sax." :D
(im so glad he asked hehe)

Yes, the genre of SKA music is totally new to me. If it wasnt for Eva, I would have never heard it/ heard of it...but Im glad I did. I really enjoy it.

Feeling lucky

As the weather got a wee bit warmer - enough for us to be able to go jogging again, thats what we did on the weekend. Saturday was a longer run as we kind of got lost following the winding paths around Wiesloch, Rauenberg.
Nevertheless it was enjoyable.
As we were jogging through the wineyards, the farms, I realized thats what I like the most of being here. All my life I have lived in a "big city." Im my opinion, big cities are kind of similar across the world.

So I love the fact that I am able to run past farm fields, an occassional tractor driver wishing us a good morning, interesting birds flying past; avoiding lumps of horse dung; taking a break in a small watchtower; watching children play Boule...basically living in a "rural" set up. All of this, and yet being so close to office; being employed with a large multi-national company and everything that comes with it; not compromising on any aspect of "quality of (my) life"

If I were to be live in such an environment in India, it would mean, living in a suburb - would be very very far from the city (because indian cities tend to be big) - would have to compromise on infrastructure...dont know what else.

Im feeling really lucky to have had such an opportunity in my life.

Germany backery (the real ones)

Almost every tourist attraction in India, nepal has a 'German Backery.'

Most often this is a small restaurtant that sells among other (regular) things, some apple pie, croissants, muffins, some 'bavarian' rolls, danish pastry, an assortment of cookies...

Now compare this to a 'real' german backery!!!

Phew!! its a different world. ofcourse, what else do I expect ja?

Compared to one little glass rack with these goodies , here, the entire store (top to bottom) is stocked up with goodies. There are tons of different options of just bread. Then there are the sinful sweet things!!!

V and I love waking up late on a saturday morning, walk to the Wiesloch Zentrum and visit Rutz to have a cup of coffee/ hot chocolate and some of their lovely backery products. We let the regular customers (who seem to know exactly what they want) go past us in the line, we wait in a corner to make up our mind on how to satisfy our taste buds...!!!

Ofcourse all of this shows on us by now :P

preparing for my driving tests

the past few days i have started studying seriously for the written driving test. at the outset, I have to admit, the question papers are quite well designed. The fact that its is very 'visual' is great from a cognition point of view...
During my first attempt of answering some of the questions, I got the feeling that a lot could depend on a person's mental model - experiences in their home country...
E.g. my immediate reaction to open ended questions, like, "what should you be prepared for?" would be to select ALL options --- anything could happen...however, in the German context, this may not necessarily the correct answer :)

Interesting experience. I am however convinced that once I get past this and clear it successfully, I will be pretty well aware of the rules of the game of driving in this country.

Snowfall in Wiesloch

We experienced the first snowfall this season - since V and I got back. It was really exciting. We were gazing out of the window for hours, just watching the snow fall and the whole landscape slowly turning more and more white...
We couldnt hold on to our excitement, so we found a reason to put on our winter gear, step out and enjoy the snowfall...walked around in Wiesloch.

Marzipanschwein

Our Marzipanschwein (marzipan pigs) - Thomas gave V and me this traditional symbol of 'good luck' :)
...It’s a German tradition to give little symbolic “good Luck” charms to one another around the Christmas Season and the end of the year (New Year's Eve). Marzipan pigs, like this small pig made of Gourmet Marzipan, are Good Luck charms # 1 in Germany. :)

Welcoming 2009

After a pretty hectic time in India, V and I were not up to doing something much on new year's eve. An invitation to spend the night at Thomas and Marianne's house was perfect.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Marianne in a beautiful chikan suit on the occassion. She really looked very nice.

Steven and Marina (Marianne's children) were really friendly and very comfortable quite soon with V and me. Despite our broken English and German respectively.

Some good drinks, great food and the BEST Tiramisu (made by Peter) was a perfect ramp up for THE moment!!! it was midnight!!!

Thomas brought out all the crackers and we were out in the backyard bursting them along with some Sekt to welcome the new year.

Thomas kept to all the BIG ones while Peter and the kids restricted themselves to the smaller stuff.

The one thing that stole the show was Thomas' gun. A gas gun. Was great!!

He had some real loud things loaded into it :) - infact for V and me, the first few moments of 2009 felt like 'diwali' - there was not a quite second...there were fireworks all around us...we had never experienced Germany this way - so loud :)

We went to bed around 4:00 am, 1st Jan 2009 and were up again around 10:30. V and I took a walk around the house to gaze at some really beautiful bunglow's...wished a few people on the street "freues neues Jahr"

Were back for some lovely breakfast.

Breakfast followed by Marianne and Marina playing us some classical music. Marina played her sax followed by her flute. Marianne actually played some Mozart. Wonderful experience.

It was now time to open up Thomas' prized gift - his Hookah!!! He was all set with coal, flavoured tobacco et all. V was given the task to set it up. Then were were all taking turns to turn into dragons. Haha!

V, Peter and I almost stayed over at their place on 1st too. We literally had to force ourselves to move...get set to get out of there. Were on the road around 7:00 pm. They were wonderfully warm, friendly, comfortable and cosy first few days of 2009 for us.

New year wishes to all