träumerei...

some german names 4 u....

2005-09-08T09:22:00.000+02:00

Herr. Holzapfel - Mr. Woodapple
Herr. Freitag - Mr. Friday
Herr. Montag - Mr. Monday(may be the other days of the week are also used....who knows!!:D
Herr. Habenicht - Mr. "I dont have"!!!!
Herr. Esser - Mr. Eater(gadodhgajan pola irukku:))
Herr. Vater - Mr. Father (nnneat!!)
Herr. Pech - Mr. Misfortune(we sometimes scold ppl "saniyaney"...hahahha)
Herr Löffler - Mr Spooner
Herr Hauptmann - Mr. Main man....(Mukkiya Manidhan!!)
Herr Zahn - Mr. Teeth.....

Women have equal rights, dont they?? So, here's their share:
Frau Katze - Ms Cat
Frau Beine - Ms Leg

Some musings from the crazy mohan in me :D :
Person 1 : "Do u have the keys....Mr........"
Person 2 : "I dont have"!!!:)

Person 1 : "Whos ur father"
Person 2 : "Father"!!

Someone said americans have crazy names....germans are'nt far behind!!
On a more serious note ..Majority of the east german folk are aethists...That seems to be a reason to name kids by the day they were born, or the parents' pets.....or sometimes as crazy as "I dont have"!!!!

*cheers*

schön guten Morgen:)

2005-09-02T06:48:00.000+02:00

The last few days have'nt been good for me.....Problems with quite a few relationships...
Was really disturbed last night when i went to bed....Around the world in 8 hours...Not a bit of sleep....
"Wokeup" at 5 and went thru my daily chores...then called my parents on their wedding day....Felt better...Had a nice shower and decided to start the day with some deviotional songs....As I was browsing thru, found the song "Kuari Ondrum Illai" sung by MS...The fact that this is Dr.Rajagopalachari's favourite song(or penned by him??) made me curious....Just 4.1 mins of listening and my mood changed!! This is the PERFECT song to start ur day,really!! So much of optimisim and divinity oozing out of the lyrics....the genius of MS adding to the flavour.... I repeated the song twice and zoomed to the waiting car(of my colleague) below....
We chit-chatted on politics as we arrived at the company....There were tonnes of love waiting to be showered on me....My dear friend,the old gentleman....He was supposed to pick me up today but cudnt ....He had requested his colleague and the colleague obliged....He banged into my room and gave his customary "HULLLOOOO"(reminds me of Amrish Puri!!)....He was so happy to see me early to work!!
This old man had touched me a couple of days back when he hinted indirectly that he wished this relationship doesnt end with my intern...."relationships are of diff types....some are formal, puropose-oriented....some are quite informal but cease once the need is not there....some stay life-long"...he wudve stressed this a thousand times...!!
U mite find this whole write-up vague...but iam really so overjoyed by this old man's affection that i cant stop myself from writing!! i havent planned this....I will not read thru and make corrections....Happiness like this shud be uncensored...
k then...now off to work:)

Where are we heading???

2005-07-29T11:43:00.000+02:00

He was a tall, fair and well-built man when he bumped into her. They fell in love instantly and started living together. Their symbol of love - a cute baby girl with green eyes and golden hair - was born soon. Their relationship went through ups and downs as the child became a naughty kid of age 7. One fine morning they decided they cudnt stay together anymore. Everything about their relationship - love, marriage, kid ,dislike - had been dynamic and fast. And the split followed suit. They were divorced. All that he went thorugh with her was like a fast-paced action movie for him - thrilling twists and turns, intermittent bursts of emotion ..but nothing concrete to cherish or brood over. The only thread still connecting him to the past was his innocent daughter. He loved her dearly and cursed himself for losing her to her mother.
The deal was this - The child stays with the mother. The father pays a hefty compensation every month and is (in return??) allowed to meet the child for 2 hours every forthnight. He had to talk to her, tender her, tell her his long-accumulated bed-time stories, buy her candies,kiss her and above all - remind her that she does have a dad - all in 2 hours!!
It was three months since they had parted ways. He had always paid the compensation on time. It was the sixth time he was meeting his child. Hardly an hour had passed, and the child was to be taken back so that she prepares for her exams due next day. He stood the pain in his daughter's interests and reserved all that was due for the next time. The next time around, the child was taken away in half-an-hour since she had a medical check-up. The ensuing month was Urlaub(vacation) time for the mom and kid...or rather cremation time for his soul.. . Exams,check-ups, vacations -they kept coming ...his soul kept burning ...he slowly became a non-entity in his daughter's world..Disaster struck in the form of a transfer. His fone calls went unattended. His bday and christmas gifts were never opened...But the money never refused...
Two years since divorce, she found a new partner for herself. And as a natural consequence, the "burden" was dumped on him....He cherished every moment with his daughter...He wished the clock never ticked - coz he dreaded the thought of his child's future. Insecurity filled his mind when he tried to answer the hardest question - "How long is this honey-moon...how long will she be under the spell of her new-found partner...how long will my daughtie keep changing her details in school....."
He knew her so well. The new partner wasnt worth a penny - and it showed in his getting fired a year after their marriage. The mother suddenly missed her daughter so much ...coz the affection will fetch a monthly 250 Euros from the givernment...The ball was back to square one...
Years rolled on ...He had long lost his tall, handsome look...Shades of gray had filled his hair....The vacuum pump in his company rolled on mechanically - he was used to this vacuum now....It was his daughter's 20th bday and he knew she was in town......He tried to break the ice and wish her... and got a "have u ever acted like a dad to me??" in return....
60% of the divorce cases in Germany are ruled that the kid should remain with the mother. And the lady in this story represents 95% of the divorced women!!
A light-hearted, silly "german culture is great...u guys can split so easily when u feel like" from me was all that was needed to trigger off this nostalgaic,piteous tale from my colleague...He owns 10% of shares of a prosperous firm, drives one of the costliest BMWs and has enuf reserves to holiday for a month in Florida....Raghavendra Rao, at 92, with eight kids, 40 years of toil , and not even a tenth of his salary behind him is much more content and happy.....
Indian husbands are MCPS ....Patriarchy puts women in hell....they shud have the right to part ways ...all agreed!! But in a land where marriage and an ensuing kid are default, is divorce really a sustainable solution?? We run after money...We believe women's liberation is synonymous to just letting them act as senselessly as men in taking cynical decisions...Where are we heading??
I am not attacking Womenfolk. I am not justifying what has happened to many Indian housewives...I am not generalising this story...But can surely understand why the aunty next door never went for a divorce from her drunkard-husband....

"The Fountain Head" in six words

2005-07-23T00:30:00.000+02:00

I think I do I live
i observe i adapt i exist

http://www.ayn-rand.com/ayn-rand-fountainhead.asp

spits for passports

2005-07-21T00:16:00.000+02:00

It was a shoddy,rainy day. We got out of the train to have our first glimpse of Radebeul - a small town in the east of Germany. The railway station with tarpaulin sheds, the old-fashioned, huge and rigid structures made of those huge stones - all those typical of the erstwhile USSR. As we came out, we started asking around for directions to Mr Jaljhir Singh's Pizzareiha, where we intended to seek a summer job."Entschuldigen Sie..."(Excuse me)... and the old pot-bellied man was gone without even turning to us.We managed to get the whole sentence through with the second one we met- only got a cold, indifferent scorn in return.My friend growled:"He thinks we are creatures from Mars..What ppl these...racist b*******" .The third one was nice enuf to consider us human and give a cold "Ich weiss nicht"(I dont know). After many such attempts, we finally got to know from someone that we must cross the bridge and walk straight...My friend was already burning with indignation when the worse happened- A guy rushing past us spit ..YES -SPIT!! and it just missed my shoulders...."Racists of the 10th grade.....My uncle warned me of the damn thing the moment I decided to come to germany...Dunno how Iam going to live in peace here.....Narrow-minded a*******...blah blah blah..."..my friend kept cribbing and I kept silently , but strongly empathising all along...We finally reached the Pizzareiha and were informed that we could meet the chef only after an hour. We got introduced to the 3 Punjabis working there and began a conversation. On knowing we wanted part-time jobs, one of them quipped immediately: "Papers hai"?? (Papers - legal documents like passport, visa and tax card). "haan ji". ..."Tho mil sakhtha hai..chef se milo"...We were quite happy that we stood a chance. We discussed many things like our studies, germany knowledge, places we hail from and much more..and finally came to german girls. one of the guys asked me instantly:"kuch ladki vidki phasaaya bhai saab"?? "nahin ji...ab tak nahin"....."arre yaar...jaldi se jaldi ek phasaalo...aaraam se ghoomo...fir shaadi karo..passport mil jaayega" ...He said all this in one breath - absolutely no sense of shame in it. We discovered this was the general "strategy" of all of their kind. Somehow get into this country, get a passport and then get ur whole family here. Their chef had done it 15 yrs ago. They were here by his blessings - and will dutifilly carry on the "mission" . When the chef finally come out, we got to know that the position was already filled. The advertisement never vanished from the website. But the job was never vacant. It then got to me that the ad was actually an eye-wash...just to satisfy the government that he was still "searching" for a cleaner and to employ his farthest kin from punjab without "papers" for one-fourth the salary. There are many such ads...many such lost jobs...As we strolled back our way to the railway station, I was'nt bitching about the guy who tried to spit on me anymore...but was feeling ashamed of my fellow brown-skinned who,in the eyes of the "white-skinned" who spit on me, had left the scar of "unethical, money-minded parasites" on my "Race":)The only asian that the "white-skinned" knew was Jagjith Singh. Thanks a ton to the Jagjith Singhs for earning us taunts and spits in return for their passports....by the way, i dont have the right to blame jagjith singh because, afterall, i also DID try to get benifitted by him...the intention of this write-up is to show how foolish and superficial it is to dismiss all germans as "racists":)

when prof became pig...

2005-07-05T15:29:00.000+02:00

Learning a language cud be a funny experience sometimes...My german lecturer was shattered when I, in reference to the lady Prof. Dr.A, said "Sie ist Sau"(She is a pig!!) I cudnt understand the wierd look on his face until I realised I had confused "schlau"(intelligent) with "Sau"(female pig)...:D

We both had a hearty laugh over it later!!

adhu oru kanaa kaalam

2005-06-27T23:11:00.000+02:00

Have been listening to songs from Balumahendra-Illayaraja's "adhu oru kanaa kaalam" offlate...This is one of the best combos tamil cinema has ever produced - and they dont disappoint.
"anda naal gnyabagam" - the jewel in the crown...a simple, catchy number that gets u humming instantly....its a good recipie for dull and happy,relaxed moods alike...Illayaraja once again proves why he is a genius - over the years, he has shrugged his traditional tabla-flute-violin style and adapted to changing trends, and still managed to not lose his uniqueness in carving out melodies ..(kadhalukku mariyaadhai,kannukkul nilavu ,azhaghi are standing examples of this...)

"kaattu vazhi" - who better than Illayaraja to sing pathos and preachy songs?? His voice suits the mood perfectly and the tune is carefully downplayed to bring out the meaning of the lyrics...a very good preachy song....

"kili thattu" - a very sweet song ...but quite a familiar tune.....
its better not to talk abt the other two...even "onnaala" can be somehow accepted coz they may claim "the script needs it" ....but "ennada nenachha ennapathi" .....poooooohhhhhh....my god!! why dont these guys realise the stupidity of trying to imitate rajni!!! its sad that even balu mahendra has had to succumb to the latest trend of "one gana song a movie":(

wings of fire

2005-06-23T21:51:00.000+02:00

Dear Träumerei,
U were born to make me do something i dont have a natural instinct for - write.. Iam happy - I can talk to u with absolutely no pressure ......u will not decide my US admission, job or relationships....u will just take all that i give and reflect when i need...
so , here i go...iam quite happy today...i finished my 2nd book - Wings of fire. The book had just 3 things - science, spirituality and management - thru the eyes of Kalam... One thing that struck me as the book drew to a close was that it never made me excited - as in, there werent any stories that made me bubble with instant energy....It was rather a story of a simple man with lots of passion for wat he did , and knew only one way to achieve it- sincere,hard work...Kalam has a simple prescription for life - be true to urself and word hard....
I have offlate come across(and sometimes been part of) heated debates on "patriotism in today's world", "pseudo-secularism" and the like....Kalam's story has given me a simple,straight answer to many such queries - u dont need to go out of ur way and carry out reforms....instead just do ur work and be true to ur consciene in watever u do....
i cant stop my smile when i imagine every individual doing his work silently - no fuss, no unrest ...just sincerity - the kalam way!! easier said than done,though..

My Berlin visit

2005-06-06T17:16:00.000+02:00

I had been to Berlin yesterday. I covered the most important tourist attractions,getting a good feel of the vital aspects of German history. The first on our list was "Reichstag" - The German parliament. This massive monument took me by awe. The sculptures were typical of the architecture of those times. I snapped a few images with my "6.3 euro use and throw camera"(wish i had a better one:), before we made it to the long queue at the entrance. It was a good 30-40 minutes wait which was enjoyable courtesy two things - the dark clouds giving intermittent bursts of shower reminding me of chennai , and the loud boo of ppl (resembling "govindaaa" of junta waiting to see the lord in tirupathi) every time the door opened to let the next lot in...my borrowed umbrella was fighting hard against those few wind-driven drops which tried to escape it, as i reached the entrance.
On the cieling three initials "F-III", "W-I" and "W-III" were inscribed meaning Friedrich-III,Willhelm I and II -the first 3 heads of the german empire...the inside of Reichstag was elegant. It was an engineering beauty of steel and glass. the spiral steps leading to the dome at the top, and the view of Berlin city from there were amazing. The role of this parliament in German history was displayed as a series of fotos around the dome. One person for whom i was searching all along, and found to be conspicuously missing in the fotos was Adolf Hitler.
My next destination was the Brandenburger gate - the one that separated West and East Berlin. The gate is an appealing monument. There is this little note near that gate that says "Achtung..Sie verlassen jetzt West Berlin" (Attention!You are leaving West-Berlin now). The names of those who tried to cross the wall and were prosecuted have been recorded on small placards on the opposite side. There is also this wonderful paiting of the bombed gate on the back side. These things make u feel as though u've gone thru the pain urself...so touching...
The best part of my day was the time I spent at the "Historische Museum". It had 3 floors - The first one was for the "Legalisierter Raub"(Legalised Robbery) implicated on the jews by Hitler's regime. This had mostly old "over the head" financial documents :) Nevertheless, one cud get a feel of the injustice to the jews when one read the synopsis. The second and third floors were dedicated to incidents before and after World-War -II.... The chronology of events described vividly with a few photos,pieces of famous structures and short videos made me feel like having going through the entire thing myself...One particular video showing how a family was struggling in the undergroud of an about-to-collapse building moved me...Bricks shattered everywhere, all ppl -kids and adults alike, clearing the streets in biting cold.....ppl queing up for that lone piece of bread ....are etched in my memory....Seriuosly, anyone who thinks Indo-Pak crisis shud be solved by war shud visit this place once....
Having been to most of the "must-see"s, we decided to stroll around the streets of the city before we left...The crowded(by german standards...though:D) trams, the weekend "Floh Markt" (remember Burma Bajar!!), the noisy surroundings and the river Havel flowing across(heard of koovam??) - felt like being in antoher chennai...but a bit more organised and clean!!
Hope I can make a longer trip in this "happening" city on a more sunny day.

hii:-)

2005-05-08T15:35:00.000+02:00

hey guys!!
i finally feel like penning some stuff in this space... shall try to put down interesting thots without getting too wordy(which is quite difficult ...actually:)