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.