Hold on to that nut!

Yep, first post from Motown. Another intercontinental move and a week later, here's a couple of videos I dug out of youtube on my new Stadt. They are pretty lame, but me got no energy for a proper post. Later this week,

SCENE: Last week, Tuesday morning, at the coffee lounge, workplace, somewhere in Duisburg, DE

Collegue: "So how was your visit?"
ME: "Er, he was a rather young guy, Korean, but he did have some good advice for me"
Colleague : "Scrat, stop it, darn, you are beginning to sound like a German"
ME: "Aw, shit yes.. sorry!!....he was a nice guy...appeared knowledgeable...and gave me some good medicine"

That was exactly what happened. My skin goes bonkers everytime things turn a bit cold. And the past couple of weeks, it's been just more rain and summer's slowly slinkin away..I have had this "skin-cold" enmity for as long as I remember..And I am talking about growing up in South India here...people actually like the winter that lasts for may be 22 days there....And my skin couldnt take that...Anyways the gist of the story is that I got a recommendation from a colleague about a particular clinic here in Duisburg...Overall was a good experience, nice doc and all that, gave me sensible recommendations and I walked out happy.....

Turns out this colleague hadnt been to this clinic......had heard about this doctor from someone else and was just using me as a lab rat.....yeah and like we want from any good lab rat he wanted feedback on how the trip to the doc was!......

And that was how the conversation went...every bit of it.....If you did not notice, please pay attention to the fact that I opened the conversation with a condescending view on the doctor's age and made a comment on his ethnicity, before turning to actually answer the question. That is probably taking things a bit too extreme, but I seriously feel the bias against youth here in Germany. Any introduction typically starts as "Name, X jahriger". It is the culture here and I can bring myself ( if I try very hard, to temporarily) accept it, but I havent seen age so obviously stated in other cultures I have worked/spent time with.

I mean I am friggin 29 years old...I am considered old in Eastern countries.....mature enough in the Americas....but no in Germany, dismissed as a 'Junge'...And this condescending view of youth permeates into every pore of the society....a 45 year old guy in Senior management ( Vice President/ Director levels) is considered a freak occurence ( a guy who was extremely lucky and was very guileful)....

Another thing is ethnicity and I am not going to make any jokes about this....I am not judging it as good or bad.....But the time I have spent in Germany has made me much more conscious of who I am....make no mistake.....the crowd( German and otherwise) I hang out with is like me.....we'd have the same lifestyle...eat the same food...listen to the same music.....discuss the same things... wherever we are...Bangalore, Phoenix, Berlin, Shanghai or Dusseldorf.....but maybe, just maybe, that I choose only such people into my 'crowd'.....All I am saying is that the space to make that choice is not so wide here....

Like probably gazillions of expats before me, I am doing a surprise trip to India this weekend. Cliché though it may sound, it is indeed a bit exciting and something to look forward too. My folks dont know yet, except for my brother who I've informed and is flying in the same weekend ( No silly sentiments of a family get-together, just to ensure that my parents are at home!). Plan to call them up just before my connection flight inside India and ask them what's cooking for lunch!

And yahoo!!, hopefully I'll be catching up all the summer I missed in D'land (actually the last couple of days haven't been too bad, someone's been reading my posts!). Before you get the 'you lucky bastard!' going, let me tell you, I'm gone for only a week or so! But yeah, it was a sudden decision , made on Wed morning and after a few miracles later (not least of which is a boss who granted me leave from his vacation island, boy, you gotta love those Blackberry thingies!!), I am all set. Doing Emirates for the first time, without the obligatory long stop in Dubai (I think I figured out how to avoid the long lay-over, let me confirm things before I post it!!). Just gonna hang out, no visits or trips this time. C'mon scrat, it's time get that nut roasted!!

That is how my Yahoo weather widget looks for Duisburg for the past few weeks. Ignore all the dramatic lightning streaks and notice Monday, thats how the past few weeks have been. Dont be fooled by the sun peeking out on other days, the cloud cover is just a CYA for the meteorologists I guess. Because its a live update, those sunny pictures can and do infact become sheets of rain in few min. Summer this year has been quite a disappointment so far, Berlin was much better last year. Actually I dont know what to wish for, being in Germany. Wishing for the sun would be a typical European thing to do, just that I dont have air conditioning systems here. Wait a min, make that 'I' a 'We'. Yes, Europe as a rule doesnt seem to have ac's , funny considering they have had a recent history of warm summers. I had one warm summer last year in Berlin in a cramped up apartment and this year, lo, i got my ventilator ( pedestal fan for folks from India) much before the summer began. Why an entire continent would not learn from experience is puzzling!

From my tiny fans to yahoo widgets to forecasts, weather's big business if you did not know, GE ( 3 ways with Bain and Blackstone if you are from B School, go analyze that) just bought the weather channel for $3.5 billion hoping to use the eyeballs from the website to drive the price of its broadcasting assets when stuff is ( rumored) to go on sale later this year. Read some more details here.

Still remember the days when I used to tease a friend in Bangalore for watching out for the weather forecast for the day before leaving for work. Funny how the widgets are changing my world. They certainly have made it lousier by telling me about how miserable the weather tomorrow and the day after is gonna be!

One of the forums I am on is doing a list of stats on things various members have done over the past decade...readin' thru sure scared the hell out of me...man...got me thinking about my last decade....darn....gettin old....here's the list....

• 1 - Number of hobbies - cooking, enough said
• 2 - Number of times graduated, engineering and mba, both times promised myself never again
• 3 - Number of serious relationships fallen in and out of in the past decade, mainly my fault
• 4 - Number of close friends whom I can call up anytime and ask anything, funny enough all in the last decade and most from CIT
• 5 -Number of times I actually planned and did something, considering its 10 years, thats a lot by my standards
• 6 -Number of great bosses I have had, actually I have had only 7 direct bosses in my entire working life, so I gues I have been a bit lucky
• 7 - Number of countries I have actually spent more than a day in ( and so can expertly comment on)

The rest just doesnt flow on or is not important enough, but not to forget the countless moments of cluelessness, the innumerable days spent wallowing in my bed and the infinite number of times I have told myself to get myself into shape.

Phew, that brought in a lot of memories ( like the red horse dangling from the key chain of a lady professor...if you are from CIT's computer science engineering class of '97....u know what I am talking about)

EDIT: For those of you who pointed out that the topic has a typo, thanks, but 'oder' is German for 'or' and is frequently added to the end of a sentence as an Inquisitive Conjunction for confirmation. I dont get older!( hee!)

This is old news, but for all those who did not know...Here's Duisburg...Well, its sorta a take on how awesomely pathetic Duisburg is.....


duisburgbunny has done this before and has a great translation for all those who nicht verstehe Deutsch here!

Yes, if you see a funny bird logo behind the guy in the video, thats the city's mascot ( well sorta, its in the pedestrian zone of the City center) called the Lifesaver.... I personally think its a bird man doing a fat woman!

As you can guess, UEFA 2008 is a BIG thing here. English did not qualify, the French are, er, the French, Italy has lost Cannavaro already and that means Deutschland are the favorites, i.e. if someone did not sneak in like Greece did last time around. Infact this time too, Greece has had the most impressive record in the run up to the championship, so you never know. My personal favorite is the Czech Republic. I expect them to do well, semifinals for sure and from then on one ball play ( or whatever you call it in football) at a time.

So like every decent living being in Germany, I am doing "tippen" too - playing fantasy league with a group at work.

Well it might sound a bit corny, but I am glad that spring is here! Back where I come from, 'bad weather' means too much sun! My city, Coimbatore, was one of the few in the state ('Bundesland' for my German friends) which could boast of a nice weather ( meaning 'colder' than average). My sojourn in the US was also in Phoenix most of the time, so winter was not such a familiar term. Germany kinda makes you crave for the sun I guess. So here you go, across my street , the park in full bloom,

Was at Roermond, Netherlands yesterday with a friend for (his) shopping. My first trip to Netherlands, besides the layovers at Schipol. A bright sunny day was perfect for the classic mall experience ( today it started raining again though!). Pumas , Ralph Laurens, Hugo Bosses all by the dozen ( Ok, I might have been a bit imaginative about the Hugo Boss part, but the rest is true), a much needed fix in shopping desert, Germany. And guess Germans think likewise too, becos everyone and his dog was German there( if you are driving across several kilometres into another country to shop for bargains, remember taking your dog, may be handy in forcing people to give way to you inside crowded shops that had "SALE" signs on!). All the shops spoke German. In fact I got by with my rudimentary German for the first time, knowing well that I was in Netherlands and that the shop folks wouldn't point out mistakes in a customer's language skills ( ha!). It was then that I discovered that speaking German, among other rewards, could help one get free ketchup. Yeah, was in McDonald's, dont ask me why, my friend tugged me along, and ended up forgetting to "order" ketchup ( See earlier Post). Cursing myself, I walked into another counter and asked for "Ketchup" in German ( well the 'ketchup' part is the same, the rest of "May I have a pack of ..." in German). Surprise, The guy looked up, spoke in accent free German ( compared to other Dutch there), asked me where I was coming from (chest up, 'Duisburg'), told me he was from Dortmund and lo, passed the ketchup for free. Now considering that 90% of the crowd there was German ( rest 10% were the original bargain hunters - Indians), I wonder if he did that to everyone!

First things first...er...you might notice that the 'Psychdelic' look is gone...Besides the fact that it was shitty, I cannot afford to annoy my most loyal reader.....MSavig....here you go.......forgive me for just the small piece left.....it was heartwrenching to rip the whole thing off!!

Starting at the bottom of the food chain in the corporate jungle 'again', has its owns benefits. Most mistakes I make at work now are dismissed as that of a 'learner' or 'new guy' while a a year ago I would have had to face some serious shit and appear as an idiot to guys working under me...( if any of you guys is reading this, I of course know that you used to think that I was a 'Vollidiot', mistake or not). But then again its the bottom of the food chain and so everyone who walks by kinda tramples on you.

Anyways, I have a few German colleagues of similar experience levels joining my company over the past few days and I am kinda working with some of them. And everytime there is a discussion involving a senior colleague and there is need of an idea, the new guys kinda say the exact same thing but processed through a 'Simpsons-vocabulary-converter'. The first few times, I thought it was either

a) a serious case of 'lickin it up to the senior guys' or
b) a case of filling up temporary losses of intellectual capacity

or some combination of the two. But then these are really smart guys, even to my 'Klugscheiser' mind ('Smartass') and the thing was too often and too obvious and every time the senior guy acknowledges their 'nods' with a big smile. Besides being bored to death because of listening to the same things in different versions (its like watching Mike Meyers in Austin Powers, even more annoying) this whole parroting thing makes those marathon German meetings seem as if I am living in slow motion through them. Then as I watched it more, I realized that it was some kinda ritual where the senior guy is reassured that the new guys understood him correctly. And the senior guys expect it, the acknowledgement. Its like the <'Master'> sequence in Shaolin movies, I guess

Nirvana moment, and then things were cool. I now realise how much I'd be driving these senior guys nuts with my annoying interruptions and silent phases. I just wasnt following the protocol. Blame my experiences in US and India for that, you speak only when you at least present a new idea ( or was I just too low level in the organization and this is how management functions all over the world?).

I'll stop overanalyzing this now. I AM turning German!. May be it is just a simple case of 'licking it up'.

All the crazy meetings have had an effect. Yeah, I decided to play around a bit with colors and stuff, so here's the result. I know it could have been better, but its 3 pm now and I better have something to eat!

After a month of working with tonnes of hyphenated names ( ending with 'z') which I would have frowned at a decade ago because of all the crappy formulas I associated with such names from the Physics book, I am ready for my take on the German workplace. Here's my laundry list of achievements and headaches:

1. My first 7 hour meeting.
2. Got used to decision making in the higher echelons. You make cool ideas, great ways to implement them, send them to the audience before the presentation, get their approval before you present it and then on D-day go in front of them and present the idea - "Yawn, tha looks familiar, oh I remember, I asked the color to be changed from Blue 132 to Blue 131 and the idiot presenter changed it to Blue 133". Wow, it kinda is tough when you deliver the 'zing' in the idea at 7 pm on the evening before the meeting by email and wait for the response for 6 more hours of work. Is this only a European thing? ( I resist from saying just 'German' because I heard from folks in similar positions that the rest of Europe is even worse). Learn from this,
   
   
   Imagine all the guys in the room getting an email the day before saying, there"s gonna be a bald old guy jumping around like a monkey tommorrow and you are supposed to cheer. I am overdoing it, but yeah you get the general drift I hope!
3. Can decipher English phrases. Well, er, I mean English phases which are direct translations of German ones, like'cut the elephant into two' ( means break/divide the problem, hard not to laugh when you hear "First we go to China, find a partner and then cut the elephant into two"
4. Work till 9 pm, go around pub hopping past midnight and have an insane meeting at 7:30 am the next morning- day-after-day!
5. Never say that a meeting was good. Pick out flaws like, "yeah, the guy in the pale blue tie kept drinking too much coffee and we did not get anything" or I swear this one is real " the power cord could have been longer in that conference room - it impacted the zoom of the beamer"
6. Say "Tschuss!" in atleast 10 different ways ranging from the kiss-friendly to the fuck off variety
   
7. Eat fast, although I must say I am not making much progress on this one. Man, do Germans eat fast! And to think my Mom kept telling me to eat slowly because I dont chew stuff properly and I was the shining example of the perfect kid at the table who finished everything on his plate first. All that bad karma from my cousins!
   
8. Create cool sounding words - nachhaltigkeitverbesserungsmanagementsysteme!
9. Run down four floors, 500m of park, 2 stairs and 2 escalators under 4 min - everyday at 8;20 am if u see a guy doing this around Duisburg Hauptbahnhof (Central Station), it"s me

Ya dawg, have Internet again..Phew, it takes 4-6 friggin weeks to get an Internet connection...And friends tell me I have been extremely lucky....and I guess I am changing ( to the worse?) a bit too...otherwise why would I factor in the waiting time and apply for Internet connection at a place even before I move in there....damn...getting old....will be back soon...

Ok, sorry for the break..will make up for the time.....I was busy cleaning my apartment in Berlin, selling my furniture, arranging things at Duisburg and getting screwed (knowing it very well) by my rental agency at Berlin. Did I say getting screwed? I think thanks to some really really nice German friends ( yeah they exist and are not rare!!), I did not pay the 900 bucks ( Euros) that my rental agency demanded for renovating my ole' DDR apartment. I was ready to pay up, ohne ( that's German for 'no') receipt and in cash, when I was saved ( Thanks P & R). Now I guess its up to the agency to find what the repairs are worth and send me a receipt. More kind German help followed and I think I am clear, atleast for now. Lets see how it goes. But I thought all the pain was a worthy end to a week that's basically been sell furniture, help move it, call up Duisburg to check if my packages have arrived and go through the cycle all over again.

I thought that was the end! Stepped into Bergfest ( which is what the weekly parties at my school are called...where a bunch of MBAs try to get off studies and concentrate on some serious German style drinking for a few or several hours, depending on which part of the earth are you from) for a second to just meet friends. Well since lunch was basically hearing my German friends negotiate with my rental agency ( P....thanks a tonne...but too bad you came to get an MBA, you'd 've made a fine sight in the Bundestag....not too late), I thought I'd get a quick something into my mouth for a change. Well, I got this allergy for ...among all things....damn...sesame. For those who believe in "Everything happens for a reason", the only thing that came out of this allergy is me being forced to learn 'sesame' in every language I come across - sesame ( Eng, pronounced cess-a-me), sesame ( German, pronounced Zay-saam), nuvvulu ( Telugu), ellu ( Tamil), yellu ( Kannada), til ( Hindi) and a few more languages ( I dont visit people who speak these languages any more). The only thing that has come out of this is misery, absolute, but temporary, which is the worst part. It is not easy to be a vomiting ( stuff that's gone down up till your small intestine), scratching ( it iches like when you sit in one of those 6 hour meetings, but all over the body) and spouting rashes and swelling alien ( Something similar to Will Smith in 'Hitch', but without Eva Mendes or the salary) and still convince your friends ( or even worse strangers around you) that you are doing fine and all you need is a few hours sleep to become Superman, er, scrat again. If anyone knows a cure for sesame allergy, please pass it to me. Now I get smartasses who ask me 'If you know you are allergic to sesame, why do you eat it?' Well, for all those out there, a lot of seasonings and stuff just have sesame powder thrown in, especially Asian, Arab and Mediterranean cuisine, the label ( or the waiter in the restaurant) says 'approved spices and herbs'(Approved, but for whom).I never had a problem with American food, just get those burgers with two bottom buns, instead of the bio-grenade sesame topped top bun....On that note, which cruel b...d invented something with a nice meat patty, crunchy lettuce, slices of juicy tomatoes, some nice tasty dressing, sandwich them between two buns and then sprinkle sesame on the top bun. Reminds me of those weird villains from 60's and 70's, especially Sean Connery's Bond movies, those psychos who'd crackle and guffaw as they press the button for a red gas to be released into a glass chamber. More than the pain, it is the embarrassment of having spoilt a fine party or spoiling a restaurant's reputation ( Imagine a guy turning red and throwing up after his first bite). Anyways, I had one of those thingies on Friday night, almost threw up my small intestines and abandoned any plans to leave in the early morning. Left Berlin around 11 am to reach Duisburg by a surprisingly late train ( I am not asking, I know, it's me!).

It's been a quiet day in Duisburg, ah, except ofcourse the McDonalds incident. Woke up at noon and went to the Mcdonalds at Konigs Allee to get something to eat. For some reason the chicken burgers at Mcdonalds all over the world ( bragging rights, well, I've been to Mcdonalds in, lets see, India, US, Malaysia, Germany, Taiwan, China - I consider the last two in this case as separate countries for selfishly increasing my visit count,you can discuss other cases with me) are sold with non-sesame buns. If you are not yet asleep reading this long post, thats a bonus for me. Ordered one here with some fries. Now Mcdonalds was the place where the German business concept was revealed to me, simple, "Thou shalt not give the customer any freebies", not even ketchup. When I asked for ketchup on my first night at the Berlin Alex Mcdonalds, the smiling Mcwaiter/Mccashier told me, "15 cents, and, welcome to Germany". Anyways today was not such a nice day. I got the burger and my drink, but had a token instead of my fries. Everyone else except me had their tokens replaced by food. 15 min later ( yeah, f****kin fries) another waitress came and removed ( even ) my token as she apparently took in as my 'satisfied with my Mclunch' look( I should really be pathetic in appearing angry). Then I did my march upto the waitress and she gave me a "Dude, you're done, what do you want" sigh. When I patiently explained that I still hadn't got my fries, she walks up and starts searching for the girl who had initially served me. Duh, as if I'd dupe the Mcdonalds of their fantastic fries of gold. Then she comes back after a few more minutes of vain search for her colleague( who'd obviously gone into hiding or the toilet, precisely at that moment) and says (nerve), few more min and reaches out for another token. I had obviously had enough, shouted out my disappointment and walked out. Poof!, there goes my lunch. Thank you, Mcidiots...And I thought it was called 'fast food' for some reason!

That over, found a cheap Internet cafe, an expensive Indian restaurant and a more expensive Mexican sports bar ( Berlin, you really spoilt me). Evening, bought my monthly pass for the Ruhr region ( hurray..more public transport!) and went up till Dusseldorf Altstadt with a couple of friends. That did the bit for me, calmed down, before my big day tommorrow. Actually it's gonna be interesting to go back to work ( certainly remunerative, salary here I come!) So life's been worse than normal for the past few days, with the only thing I could hold on to was the thought that I can now make 'em fantastic burritos! Javoll ( yes in Old German), I tried my hand at these thingies a couple of weeks ago and I can shrug my modesty off, and say "boy, were they wonderful". So if nothing goes well, just hop on that Regional Bahn Express to Dusseldorf with that super cheap Monthly pass, reach Konig's Allee in 17 min, and hit Galleria Kaufhof for some serious Mexican grocery shopping and few hours later, burritos from heaven. Nothing can mess that up! Desperately holding on to that nut, yours... scrat.

Coupable....French for 'guilty'..... Finally got to see something at Berlinale.....yesterday was the last day..It's the second year in a row for me at Berlinale that something similar happens...I plan for a bunch of movies.....Never get tickets for any of them....then just take whatever I get on the last day ( some people call me lazy)....Last year, me and a couple of friends saw a Korean movie based off a webomic ( now try decode that)....Dasepo Naughty Girls....no it's not a porn movie....I did not know how to react to it( I have that problem with movies screened at film festivals).....it was funny, crazy and sometimes just downright dumb....kinda ok I guess...

But this year it was a bit different...Coupable was a watchable movie....It started off with some weird stuff about 'People completing each other', ' love makes you complete' and stuff. Duh, Jerry Maguire, not again!!! And the voice over was similar to some Indian romantic tear jerkers...Man, was I in for a repeat....Especially we turned up right before the show and it was a free for all without seat numbers....Well you know my luck, I show up (right) on time, first row seats were all we had..rats....

Then we had a murder and the movie was quite cool after that point...( I dont mean in a macabre sense...the events that unfold, etc were interesting...go read the review or watch the movie).......there's a couple of suspects, a lawyer, his wife and a cop. Now who among them is 'Guilty' ( not necessarily of the murder) is what the movie is all about ( got you there, dint I)... Kinda neat....I realized that I can still decipher a bit of French when spoken slowly......cool...One part I did not understand was that lot of reviews( on the Internet) list it as a comedy...aside from evoking a few giggles from people once in a while ( 6 times, I counted) it wasn't too.... guess I'm just spoilt from too much uncouth slapstick comedy....

Came back with a feeling of success...yeah Berlinale ...one more...like a trophy....and a headache...all that first seat viewing.....phew. My rental agency in Duisburg had sent my apartment contract...Slightly expensive, may be I paid much more than I should have...or just looked for a cheaper place....I may have shacked up with a friend for a few days to search for another place......do I wanna disturb him.....I still havent seen the apartment in person......It doesnt have a washing machine too....darn....But hold on... it's in a nice green locality , 3 minutes from the Hauptbahnhof (and thereon to Düsseldorf, Köln and the rest of the world)and its just a few months...I guess it's better....scratty, quick...hold on to that nut....

One of my biggest concerns on my move from Berlin to NRW has been on the subject of food. Well, I'm one of those guys who you can call a foodie at worst and a culinary expert at best. One of my biggest fears moving to Berlin used to be the apparent lack of good Mexican food here.

All that time spent in Phoenix has convinced me that Mexican cuisine is the world's best. Now coming from an Indian that's a mighty complement. Chino Bandidas, El Bravo and Carolinas, I miss you guys. I especially miss that quick quesadilla, beans, rice lunch at Chinos. I miss that long drive on the I 17 to get to downtown and dig into Carolinas fare. Mr. and Mrs. Jack , thank you for introducing me to the place. Infact I still have a menu from the takeaway somewhere ( Yeah...I have been trying to get over it). There was a Carolinas Nord opening somewhere close to work, wasnt it? All you lucky b*****ds at Deer Valley!! Grrr....

I became such a sucker for Mexican food that even the insipid chimichangas tossed on my plate at Spigas in Bangalore were good for me. Infact Berlin's not been half as bad this last year. I just realized I have to toss away the 'good' in 'good Mexican fare'. I discovered Rosa's Cucina Mexico on Chaussee Strasse ( just keep walking along it till you reach a Total gas station and the restaurant's just across the road) and life's been kinda normal since then. In fact I think I have checked out most places in Berlin which sound out as serving Mexican fare. Food's been shitty at the worst, mediocre at the best. But then, when you go North of AZ and you have to pick your Mexican restaurants ( no...I dont mean Taco Bell here) carefully even in the US, I guess I can take that for Berlin ( I told you I was a sucker for Mexican food).

Now Duisburg, Dusseldorf and the whole NRW region (where I'm gonna move) is so far gastronomically removed from Mexican food, I guess I have to just grin and bear. Google threw up a couple of joints in Duisburg alone(sorry no links), one in the 'picturesque Innenhaven' ( relatively speaking).Lemme see, after all, it's been a descent for some time now on the Mexican culinary scale - Phoenix>Bangalore>Berlin and now Duisburg.

But then I cook a bit too and nothing's easier than a nice cheesy Quesadilla. With most ingredients that can be ordered off the Internet ( thanks again to duisburgbunny), I suppose I can just cook 'em. Considering that I already am the master of the Pollo Diablo, I guess it's just a short trip to burritos, chimichangas, quesadillas and the more real fare. And when they mess up, I guess I can just coat 'em with more vegetables, guacamole and cream, like restaurants here do. Life aint bad. Now hold on to that nut, scrat.

Did I tell you I have a job, a good one at that, er, I think! I still havent joined the place you see. Completing formalities ( believe me there's a tonne here in Deutschland, but I guess it makes me a better man, sigh, how we fool ourselves!). A coupla days ago, after a dinner at a friend's place, I stayed up most of the night, so that I can get to the Foreign Office early enough in the morning to get my temp visa till I get my work permit.

After a couple of months of just lazing around, I finally get to the act of moving from Berlin to Duisburg ( where my job is). Any German friend I have spoken to wrinkles his/her nose about the move. Well ( here) one doesn't move to Duisburg because "due to the awesome beauty and rich culture" of the place, to quote duisburgbunny. I'm going there because I have a job I like and I( keep telling myself that I) still am a stickler for people and not places.

Still Berlin's a place you cannot not miss. Especially there's Berlinale happening these days and there are around three cinemas within walking distance of my place. Not that I have seen any movie yet. I have had my fair share of standing in queues though. Even yesterday I was at Internationale for Happy-Go-Lucky queuing up without any luck. I did my good deed for the day when I helped an American lady behind me get tickets to movies she wanted to check out and directed her to Cubix at Alexanderplatz. Need I say that she got all the movies she wanted. Proud moment of the day was when she said 'you seem to know German'. I guess she misunderstood my groans and grunts at having missed the tickets!

Well ensuring that things I propose get implemented was what I wanted ( man, that is so tough after an MBA, all I was fit for was an advisory role) and I guess like N keeps saying, I got the best one. So, scrat, stop moping and hold on to that nut!

Back again to the blogging world. After a couple of lazy tries, will I be more disciplined the third time around? (You can find me from my earlier avatar at Caffeine. The other one is just gone...poof.. into thin air). Always been lazy, yessir, I have. No lame excuses, the MBA wasn't so hectic that I couldnt sneak in a couple of words here and there. In fact it was fun. I dont remember having had so much free time ( after engineering that is) in my life as in 2007 ( yeah, it's been a pathetic life). What started as an answer to my mid-life crisis at 26( 'gee...you got to be kidding' you may think), but it is true, we Indians live an accelerated life. None of that laid back stuff you see on BBC or CNN ( Man you gotta believe what I hear from my European classmates, some of them think we eat chillies for breakfast, lunch and dinner, watch Bollywood movies,drink milk and chill out, in that order. I did agree, but not all the time, people) .

When everyone around you is changing jobs like crazy, marrying and gettin divorced, you feel suddenly funny even if you are 26. Throw in a job which whacks the hell outta you. Now you suddenly realize that you actually like the job ( or rather the masochism of working all the time). That is when you are scared shit, for the first time. After miserable attempts at learning French, trying to pick up girls ( totally unconnected) and just forcing myself to like TV, I found the MBA. Wow, finally a purpose. After a couple of years of juggling between finances, promises at work ( I told ya, scary) and my laziness, I got into a school in Europe.

Fast forward a year later, here I am, promising myself, yet again, that this is THE blog!. Hold on to that nut, scrat.