Dienstag, den 14. Juli 2009

Guten Tag!
I am right now at the institute, in the Internet-zone and hoping tat i get enough inspiration to type out today#s dpings while thez are still fresh in my head. So, whats in mz head rt now, is:

1. We, in India have tonnes to offer tourists, but barely know enuff or maintain enuff of what we have or make things attractive enuff to visitors. Here, in Berlin, its day number 8 fuer mich, und already i know enuff to guide others arnd.
2. Its very hot here today, it rained in the morning, but the sun is beating down my back and reminds me of home.
3. Morrow is #IOnternationale Essenä day, intnl food day and am thinking what shud i take. pav bhaji wud hv been cool, so wud hv been chole but dont hv the cooker. i hunted for besan to mk vada pav, but havent yet found it. if nothing else happpens, will make alu ki sabji :D

So, today was day 1 of my ´new portable radio. a brand called Gruendig, meaning grounded in German. its cute and very very useful on my walk to class in the morning and back home. Radio Eins 95,8 (u shud know tat decimals is represented by , in German) is prima and today there was an interesting song on men in general .. will publish the lyrics later. I reached a bit late, and was a bit disoriented coz i felt i shud be changing my class and going one level higher. but then i spoke to Frau Maetzing who told me, na ja, i am just right and tat i have a decentlz high level, but tat one level higher may be a bit much. its starnge how much communication helps, i can never get enuff of it :D

The assignment in class was on .Differentiate 2 cities. I partnered with Luda, from Russia, adn we #Vergleiched# Bombay and St. Petersburg. Went off pretty wel, expcept for my Grammar :( and i quckly took the opportunity to talk abt how nice and friendly we Bombay-waalas are and how we make train-friends, wich the class found SEHR (very) interesting.

Today was K-II grammar, that is the Conjunctive (Would, Would have, If I were a millionaire). We also have 2 pieces of hoemwork to do. one a para on -If i were to meet Madonna, what would i do?# and II, a description on a newspaper article.

I have 1´2 a mind to buy a paper daily, but then i feel i mite take more than a day to read one. and then i.d anyways read old-news, so whats the point!

Post lunch, whihc we had at Pizza-Point, near class, we started off on our AUSFLUG nach DIE STADT-MITTE: BERLIN. This is east-Berlin. Highlights of the trip:

1. Berlin has been torn down and rebuilt several times in its history, its been torn apart and joint back also several times.

2. When the British used to import articles from Germany, they used to stamp them with -Made in Germany# marks that came to symbolise high product quality and standards. When Berlin was divided into DDR and Berlin, i.e east and west, DDR would stamp it as .Made in GDR: German democratic republic# nad West Germany as -MAde in west germany.#

ok, will eidt this later.

bis bald, going for a VORTRAG (Lecture) on the times betn 1919-1943.

The topic for the VORTRAG was ‘Politische Geschichte Deutschlands von 1918-1933 (The political history of Germany from 1918-1933)by Dr. Antonis Hilbers, a historian. It’s so much different from what I do at work; to know so much about the history of the world, be able to discuss it for hours with varying view-points, keep a varied audience enthralled is really something.

I learnt a lot of interesting facts about Hitler’s fast ascent to the top; a result of multiple factors; key among them being,
The Versailles VERTRAG (Treaty) Between Germany and the allied forces; USA, France, England.
The WELTWIRTSCHAFTSKRIESE (World Economic crisis) in 1929; that was a result of ‘SCHWARZER FREITAG’; Black-Friday.
DIE VERFASSUNG VON WEIMAR (Lot of freedom in the German republic)
DIE INSTABILITAET DER REGIERUNG; the unstable Government
The presence of Radical parties in the then-German-parliament
An Anti-democratic GESSELSCHAFT
Papen and Hindenburg; 2 leaders who supported Hitler’s entry into the German political main-league, it also goes that they thought Hitler could merely front-end the party and act like a French-marionette (puppet). It’s said that Hitler forced his way into the German political league, but we learnt today that his route was as legal as they come. It’s said that Hitler forced his way into the German political league, but we learnt today that his route was as legal as they come.

It also goes that a former contemporary of Hitler had, in fact, written to Papen and Hindenburg that inducting Hitler would be disastrous for the German republic and that he was capable of single-handedly destroying the entire nation. Prophetic words, those! There are also BILDER (photos) in the then-press showing Hitler emerging from an ice-cream cone, named ‘VERSAILLES’. Then, there are others that show Hitler sitting between Papen and Hindenburg, a leg on each shoulder, displaying the support that they gave him.

There was also a phase in Germany, post WW-I and 1929, (The WELTWIRTSCHAFTSKRIESE (World Economic crisis), where the percentage of those unemployed went through the roof. The law in those times, provided for a unemployment-social-security (called ARBEITSLOESIGKEIT UNTERSTUETZUNG), but the sheer numbers were daunting. Lakhs were unemployed and there was a waiting-period of more than 32 weeks before one could become eligible to receive the security-money from the Government. Post which, one could get a mere 7 DM per week that would buy a family some bread, 3-4 potatoes and maybe a Herring once a month. This insurance did not cover medicines and other essentials. A graphic representation of the HYPERINFLATION in Germany in 1923, post WW-I displayed the absolute rise in prices of daily-essentials. For e.g.: 1 Kg. Bread costing 80 pfennigs in December 1919 rose to 163 DM in Dec 1922 and shot through the roof to about >3 Million DM in December 1923 before stabilizing to 30 pfennigs in Jan 1924. This was also when a USD = 4 Billion Deutsch Marks. People would get paid initially by the month, then by the week, then by the day, then by the hour. The situation was such that the value of the DM could change in an hour or two; so people would spend what they had as soon as they got it. Hard times, those! It was also interesting to know that theatres in those times had advertisements stating:

DER BILLIGSTE PLATZ : 2 EIER
DER TEURESTE PLATZ: 1 PD. BUTTER

The least expensive seat: 2 eggs
The most expensive seat: 1 pound butter

Those were also the days when the Government was held responsible for everything that was negative. Such was the hopelessness and despair among the common people, that Hitler’s party (The DAP: Deutsche Arbeitspartei) found it relatively easy to make its mark. The former party (SPD: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschland) was literally wiped out in the 1932 elections, with the DAP and KPD( Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands) obtaining almost 50% of the votes, from a zero-presence in prior years). The VOLKS (people) had no choice and probably chose Hitler’s party with the hope that something positive would happen.

The lecture ended with ‘WAEHLT EINEN MANN, NICHT EINE PARTEI: 28.02.1932. Choose a person, not a party.’

The lecture perfectly coincided with the class-trip to DIE STADT-MITTE (The city-centre) in East-Berlin. This needs a little more history-research, so will stick to telling what I know till now. The city plan has changed a lot since forever, there are times, when the political vision (capitalism/ socialism) reflected in the plan of the city; e.g. housing vs. open spaces, parks vs. homes, price-worthy vs. expensive. Interestingly, when the city needed hands to build itself, the then-leader invited AUSLAENDER (foreigners) who were in-exile from their own countries. One such nationality, the French lived close to the RATHAUS (Town-hall) in the area that now houses the GENDARME MARKT. Our guide, Herr Mathias Rau, passionate, energetic and enthused, hates the fact that Ku’dam is considered to be the centre of Berlin and not the RATHAUS-area. The STADT-MITTE walk comprised of: Marien KIRCHE (Church), the RATHAUS, NIKOLAI VIERTEL, the river SPREE, The Berliner Dom and the MUSEUM-INSEL ( 4 museums in an island all their own). The church has a beautiful mosaic painting ‘TANZ DES TOTES’ the dance of the dead’, that depicts the impartiality that death shows towards rich and poor, young and old, prince and pauper. The church has created an incomplete collage of the same, made of tiny pieces of stone. One can buy 1 or more stone-pieces, each for 2.5 Euros, and help towards completion of the collage, and consequently contribute towards the restoration of the painting. Innovative idea! I also lit a candle in church, there’s something amazingly reassuring about lighting a candle. By the way, you should know that one difference between east- and west-Berlin is the presence of trams in the former. Plan to hop on it some day soon!

Anyways, for now, post the lecture, that got over at 8p.m., I trooped back home; on the way picked strawberries (not picked-picked), potatoes, garlic and chilies. Strawberries, am not sure if I’ve mentioned it already, are YUMMY over here and available in abundance, at least in summer. Also, DIE DEUTSCHER prefer buying their fruits and vegetables fresh and from local markets, you can see many of them in the squares, the corner selling a range of fresh produce. There is this Polish store close to home that stocks a variety of produce, along with several tinned products, sauces, powders that are Russian/Polish in origin. The advantage of living in an international city; you get to hear multiple languages, read multiple scripts, see a variety of people from all over the world. Not much can compare to this!

Anyways, I trooped back home with ‘Walking in Memphis’ playing on Radio EINS. The 1st thing I did after reaching home was; I cut the potatoes, onions and garlic and prepared a Potato-sabji, with the home-made masala that mom thoughtfully placed in my bag. Hilda came home at around the same time, and agreed to be my guinea-pig. I had the sabji with tortillas, heated on a tava with butter (as close to a chapatti as possible) and must say, not bad :D Hilda tasted some of it and actually liked it, and gave her go-ahead for the INTERNATIONAL SPEISE-TAG (International food-day). I likes!

Now, I am settled in front of the TV and watching Mile-High, the series on flight personnel, nothing exceptional but good TP. Not sure why this series follows me everywhere, it has played in all the televisions that I’ve had the privilege of seeing.

And now, I realize that I have tones of homework and also need to hopefully reach early tomorrow; OK, make that on-time, so its bye for now. Bis bald, und haben Sie einen schoenen Tag!

Tschuess,
Anya