A painter is born...

...if you think Ravi Varma or Picasso…well its your own imagination that you have to blame because reality is an adult with a faded jeans and an even faded pullover with some white paint sticking to her curly hair, a paint brush standing on a stool in the middle of the living room wondering which part of the wall she painted last...

The story begins with Ashok and I deciding that we need to move to a bigger apartment (apt from here on). We answered the “budgetla thundu vizhume” Q with a solemn decision to reduce our travels (and ignored the “haha, like that’s ever going to happen” responses from within). Moving has always been a distant concept for me. I have lived in the same place and completed my schooling in the same city. Besides a brief sojourn in Trichy when appa got transferred (and the bank took care of all the moving, house hunting etc.) I have always called the same place my ‘home’. Moving to Munich from a furnished student apartment was also a piece of cake given that I had only 2 suitcases with some books and clothes (and no I did not have a dozen pairs of shoes then!). So this is my first official move and frankly it feels like I ran a double marathon over and over for a week!

The house hunting was unbelievably short and I liked the first apartment I saw and what’s more it was close to work and suited our needs perfectly. Just when I was beginning to think that moving is not all that complicated I got a letter from my house owner saying that I have to leave the apt cleaned and painted. After hours of packing (I couldn’t believe I had 4 cartons of books and no, I didn’t have the heart to throw or give them away) and multiple trips to the new house, we finally emptied the old one….except for some of the furniture. We had made a decision to throw away a futon and a writing table for very good reasons (read they were so beyond their prime that even ebay couldn’t help in selling them), only we didn’t know how. You cannot just throw the furniture into trash but you have to drive them to the Recycling area and even if we manage to get it down 2 floors, we didn’t have a truck to transport them (one needs a special license to rent and drive such trucks). So we called the city to pick them up, only they charge like crazy when you want them to come at a time that’s convenient to you – 50 bucks for every 15 min. So we had to get everything ready and just bite our nails and hope that they didn’t send a couple of slow moving lazy men….

Painting a couple of rooms white sounded quite simple to begin with but the catch is covering all other places that you didn’t want to be white (like wooden floors, electrical outlets) and then using varnish for the rest (door frames, window frames, heaters etc.). After painting came the cleaning….ohhhh… the cleaning…I think its excruciating to scrub a bathroom floor knowing that you will never use that bathroom again ! The worst part was the lunch break in-between when we were too hungry to make do with a coffee and croissant but also too dirty (and smelling of bleach) to go to some place decent. Those were the times I fondly remembered people moving in India….where friends/relatives or neighbours’ take care of the food for those days and painting is left to the house owner (of course at a small price).

Inspite of having a friend help and getting a day-off from work (In Germany, I get a ‘moving day’), we had to work all weekend and I couldn’t remember where I was when the alarm went off this morning! I slowly realised that I was in my new apt and that I have to go to work even if I couldn’t feel my arms and legs and go I did…wearing a cotton kurta at -2 deg C because I was too tired to look for the carton containing my pullovers....

Snow, snow, go away....

....come again, another day - actually the only day everyone (or atleast I) want snow is on Christmas day, just like we expect it to rain on Diwali !

In the last week of November, the weather in Europe (and of course Munich) took a turn for the worse when Mother Nature decided that the snow should start as early as possible, apparently the earliest in centuries, according to BBC. Since then I have been contending with dressing up like a barrel (If you mention winter fashion now, I swear I will punch you), walking like adi pradakshinam (for fear of slipping on icy roads and losing the few grey cells I have left) and above all doing the thing I hate most – living in a closed heated apartment (now is not the time to remind me of homeless people!). I am sure glad that I don’t have to drive!

For someone who grew up in Chennai in an apartment from which one can see the ocean, closed windows and doors are horrors. I still remember how the evening breeze would rock everything in the living room that amma would make sure that everything that is outside is nailed to the wall or inside a closed showcase! Summer evenings always meant going up to the terrace with cousins and of course with food, a music system, cards, blanket and pillows and we would come back home only when the hot sun woke us up the next morning ! Even during Agni natchathiram, sitting in the balcony was a welcome break from the AC rooms. Now I realize (or rather in the past few years I have realized) how much I had taken the sun for granted. Sorry Surya Bhagwan.

I hate using the heater, no I am not exaggerating, I plainly hate it! It makes me feel suffocated. I usually leave the windows open when I leave for work and when I come home I run the heater for a couple of hours to bring the house to a livable temperature and then I switch it off. Running the heater throughout the night is unthinkable for me. But these last few days have been so cold that the couple of hours are not really enough. Hence I have been playing switch-on-too hot-switch-off-too-cold with the heater and it frustrates me! The only consolation I have is I can still shower in cold water (yes, you can gasp, everyone else has). I have never (really never) showered in hot water and I simply cannot. Even as a baby, I apparently took kindly only to cold water and the habit happily still continues. The first few drops send a shiver down my spine but then the rest really wake me up, shake off the depression from the dull weather and leaves me refreshed. Only the shivering time is now getting longer with the weather getting worser.

I know I have grumbled too much but I had a bad week. Ashok is traveling, am home-sick, had some bad news, some issues at work, got hurt by a friend and all this gets worse when I step out the door and get hit on the face by a blast of cold air. I have new found respect for people in Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska and all other places where 0 deg C is considered warm!

But I am sure it is going to get better this week – my parents’ 30th anniversary coming up closely followed by my Christmas vacation, even this lousy weather can’t take away the Christmas cheer from me….here is some to you too !

Kerala in Munich

After having seen a couple of ads about a new ‘South Indian’ restaurant, which is a rarity in Germany (read, never heard of in Germany), we decided to go there with a couple of our friends to check if we could finally find something other than Mughlai kofta, Chana Masala and Palak Paneer !

As soon as I got in, I was impressed – finally an Indian restaurant with no huge paintings/posters of the Taj Mahal or skimpily clad women doing household chores, instead there were some beautiful statues of Natarajar, Krishnar, Pullayar, potted banana trees (with banana leaves), tasteful hanging lamps and red draperies that did not shout the color. I was even more impressed when I saw Idli, Dosa, Uttapam, Kesari, Tamarind rice, Lemon rice etc. in the menu…I was fervently hoping that it was some franchise of Saravana Bhavan that for some reason did not choose the same name (its silly I know, but hunger can do weird things to you!).

Our German friends were not there yet. So we ordered the usual mango lassi and started looking at the menu in detail to make sure we had some suggestions for our friends to whom we had promised that there was more to Indian food that just Nan, paneer and kofta ! While we were at it, the waiter brought some appalam (the South Indian rice appalam and not papad) and I was once again impressed. The 3 kinds of chutney dips were also a welcome change from the usual mint and mango chutneys that one usually gets in all other restaurants.

Among the 4 of us, we tried a lot of the dishes, so here is a quick run through them
- Uttapam with sambar: Sambar was perfect, Uttapam was decent
- Vada with sambar: same sambar, same perfection, Vada was crisp but needed a little more salt
- Masala dosa: dosa was perfect (how did they get the dough to ferment in winter ??), masala needed a little more salt (I am guessing the chef has high BP)
- Chola Bhatura: Chole was really good, pooris were too hard, I would NOT recommend it to anyone, well at least anyone I like ;)
- Spicy lamb: I was told it was very good
- Kesari: Too dry, very less sugar (was more or less like a German cake - maybe that was the idea!)
- Gajar Halwa: very good (was obviously made before and was just microwaved before serving, if I may add at a much higher temperature than necessary but its winter and I really don't mind)
- Beverages (Coffee, Tea): bad, would never try them again (Indian restaurants in Germany always serve bad coffee but this one even had poor chai and I was heart broken at there being no mention of South Indian coffee in the menu...schade!)

The waiter who served us first was very friendly and polite but the one who took orders for dessert and coffee was quite rude. It was obvious he was in a hurry and the tone he used was always ‘come-on, lets get this over with”…well I am going to give him the benefit of doubt this time.

Verdict: Excellent décor, good food, decent service

PS: As an ardent fotographer, I should've taken pics but like I said, hunger does weird things to you !

Tango the night away

A long time ago, Ashok and I had decided that we should go to the theatre (not the movies) often and try and catch at least 4 shows a year. This resolution was after we saw a great Beethoven show in February this year.

Yesterday morning, as we were lazily sipping our coffee, Ashok reminded me of this decision and said we were falling way behind and there were only 2 months left in the year. So we quickly googled (yeah, its a verb now and where have you been??) and I was shocked to see that there were 140 different events happening in Munich that day. After a quick perusal, we decided on the Tanguera and were glad to see that there were still tickets available.

The show was for 80 minutes and to my surprise, without a break. It was more or less like a musical with a storyline and all emotions - love, anger, passion, anguish - were expressed solely by tango dance moves. Although it was an age old tragic love story (boy loves girl at first sight, girl works for a cruel club owner, club owner beats up boy, girl sold as a call girl, boy rescues her, they have a brief moment of happiness, club owner kills them both), the execution was amazing. The music, the costumes, the lighting (that totally fit the mood), the scene settings (which were changed at a lightning speed) and above all the dancers from Buenos Aires were all brilliant.

What was interesting to note was when the story began with people coming from Spain to Argentina, there was a dance piece where they celebrate their life in a new land and the dance had tapping steps similar to Flamenco clearly showing (what I considered) the Spanish influence in Tango Argentino.

The cabaret performances when the girl is stuck as a ''show girl'' were a tad monotonous and lacked variety but I guess not many people will complain when the long legged girls tango in skimpy costumes. This is the only part that makes me retract one star from the otherwise 5-star performance.

If you are even remotely interested in Tango, you would enjoy it immensely. But be aware that this is a show for adults and not for the whole family.

Picture Copyright: BB Promotion GmbH

Endhiran screening in Germany

For those in the Munich and Stuttgart area, who missed it the first time, here is another chance to watch Endhiran on the big screen (which is actually the only fun way to watch it) and at half the price. It is screened on 23rd and 24th.

You should be able to get tickets directly at the theatre if you walk in half an hour before the scheduled time.

O'zapft is

...yes, the October fest is over and this year when the Mayor tapped the keg (that's right) and said ''O'zapft is'' (you thought I was swearing, didn't you? Its slang for “the keg is tapped”) it proudly celebrated its 200th Birthday.

The October fest ends today (and yes, it starts in September) and I am going to miss…

…the heart-shaped Lebkuchen (cookies)

…people in traditional costumes

…staring at the rides and the Zelten (tents - don’t be thrown off by the word tent, it can hold 100s of tables, 1000s of people and atleast 10,000 litres of beer!) of the different breweries as I walk by the Theresienwiese

…general festivity in the air with office goers taking 2 hour long lunches with one too many beers

I will however not miss…

… buses and underground system being so full (and usually they are half empty) that its better to walk

… people drinking beer at 10 am being considered normal

… watching pretty girls in beautifully dressed Dirndls horrifying innocent bystanders (like yours truly) by throwing up on the road

… Theresienwiese taken away from Joggers

… and finally stone-drunk people who go around breaking glass doors (the pic shows the handiwork of one or more of them on my building entrance door - click on it to see the cracks up close)

This year the biggest highlight was the ‘Historische Wiesn’ that showcased 200 yrs of October fest. It had:

- A Museum that showed the mobile homes people used when visiting the October fest in 1925, for example.

- Rides that were almost 100 yrs old (Doesn’t the photo remind you of poi kal kudirai ??)

- A Horse race arena (pity there were no actual races since that would require extra security measures). Apparently, it was all about the races when the October fest first began

- A festzelt where people can eat and drink (I loved seeing old people attired in those really traditional costumes. One old lady actually had 4 fresh roses pinned to her blouse!)

...and it will start all over again in another 49 weeks ! Auf wiedersehen !

The neighbourhood bar ?!

There is a bar in my neighbourhood and the only mistake the owner did is being friendly and close to my house (if you are looking for silly drunken stories..naah..ah..you are in the wrong place). We have a node-and-smile-when-our-paths-cross relationship and I have abused it twice already....

It’s a Saturday night; it was cold and snowing like crazy. A friend of mine decides to surprise me by showing up at my door step at 11pm...sounds like a good plan, right ? I missed a few details: she has a 1-yr old kid and she realized that she forgot his ‘dinner-bag’ only on arrival. He refuses to go to sleep or wake up without a big glass of milk. Here is the embarrassing part: I had no milk in the house (In my defense, I was on a coffee break and I cook my oatmeal with water). For those not living in Germany: No stores are open on a Sunday and all stores close by 8pm on a Saturday. Gas stations will be open but the nearest one is at least 3 km from my place and the little guy was already hungry. Neighbours (or people I see in the stairway often) will not be pleased if they are disturbed close to midnight. I just wrap myself up and go out thinking I will have a brain wave once I get to the street and lo ! there is a bar. Bar also serves coffee => bingo, a place with milk. I pop in, explain the situation and ask him if I can buy 2 cartons of milk from him. He has this totally perplexed look on his face and I did all I could to not laugh at that. Finally though, he went to the kitchen and came back with what I wanted and while I was leaving the bar, 2 more people were coming in and once again, the same perplexed looks but this time I laughed :D!

Few weeks later, same situation, only this time I am looking for sugar for guests who cannot live without coffee. Same bar, same story and I walk out with a packet of sugar cubes.

I am pretty sure that if I did this one more time, he will hang up a sign saying ‘only drinks, no groceries’. I wonder if I should feel sorry for the bar owner or be embarrassed about my pathetic grocery stock or be proud of my ‘healthy’ eating habits…hmmm....

Dinosaurs - (A)live !?

When I first saw the walking with dinosaurs ad, I immediately decided to see the show (in spite of it being in German – seeing Godzilla in German wasn’t fun, but was a good way to learn the language since you know what the dialogue is going to be from the English version)…but what I had not counted on was the fact that I had already been pampered by Spielberg and Crichton, with the former giving a larger-than-life meaning to the latter’s words.

The show was for 80 minutes (with a 20 minute break in between) and was more or less like a live discovery channel documentary on dinosaurs….note the keyword is ‘live’. It was great to see the dinosaurs walk across just a few feet from me and it was amazingly realistic (I almost nodded when the host told us that we should use the camera flash at our own risk as the dinosaurs might react unexpectedly to modern technology!), but a walk with the dinosaurs also pushes up your expectations to something more exciting and dangerous than just the bellowing of a Tyrannosauras Rex. When you especially see a group of raptors, the mind automatically switches to the Jurassic Park mode and the tidbits about how they are very sharp and hunt in groups cross one’s mind and then when they just eat pieces from a carcass and leave the stage, you can’t help but feel extremely disappointed.

Two Brachiosauras in Love ;) :)

Tyrannosauras Rex with its baby (did you note the dinosaur-tamer in the arena ?)

The journey basically began with a paleontologist (I couldn’t help but think of Ross, his watch with the dinosaur-tail-hands-pointing-to-the-time, and all the dinosaur related stuff he did to drive everyone else crazy!) who explains everything from an egg hatching to reveal a baby dinosaur to the flowers and bees (which finally came into existence in the Cretaceous period) , with all the right stops in between – pre-Jurassic, Jurassic and post-Jurassic periods (depicted with a couple of Triceratops). The music, lighting, and the video screens (for those not positioned well to view the stage) were all right and it would have been one of a kind, had they included a fight or a chase (ok..maybe a chase is too much to ask for considering the size and weight of the dinosaurs!) or something a little more exciting for someone who is not 6 years old and is not scared of a dinosaur crying out in rage at its child being attacked or a carnivore spotting its prey !

Although one can appreciate their efforts in bringing the dinosaurs ''alive'' into the arena, that excitement wears off after a while when you realise that all they do is to walk around and the herbivores occasionally eat conifers while the carnivores try to scare them away.

You should go to the show only if you fall into at least one of the following categories
- you got free tickets to the show (duh!?)
- you have kids who are less than 10 yrs old (all the kids were hopped up with excitement!)
- you are a dinosaur-dude (like Ross :D)
- you have a girl friend who scares easy and is likely to hug you every time she is scared ;)

PR in Germany

I was at the Munich Ausländerbehörde (ABH – International office or however you want to translate it) this month for my Daueraufenthalt EG (PR for EU). I had submitted the documents before and the lady who took them had asked me to come and collect the PR in 2 weeks unless she contacts me for additional documents and so there I was. She was on vacation but there was another person who asked me to wait for a few minutes and he gave me some reading material for the waiting time! While I was already surprised by his courtesy, he adds ‘This broschure tells you all about how you can apply for citizenship’ and I was literally open-mouthed. I have never seen someone at an international office voluntarily asking some foreigner to consider the citizenship option ever! He came out in a few minutes and asked me to pay the fee and collect my PR – no interview, no questions, nothing at all!! Either I should flatter myself that my application was so impressive or this ABH is really one of a kind! Truthfully though, in all my time in Munich, I have only seen friendly people and I have absolutely had no issues with any of my permits here. Even when I was there for the Niederlassungserlaubnis (PR for Germany), the whole process was over in less than half an hour.

Although this link is outdated, I really like the gist, the list of documents needed and especially the table at the end that enumerates the differences between the Niederlassungserlaubnis and Daueraufenthalt EG. Here is more information from the ABH itself.

The only extra document I provided was the ‘Rentenversicherungsvorlauf’ – this basically lists the time periods during which I have paid to the PF (Pension Fund) and this should add up to 60 months (Even a Hiwi or RA counts towards this). Depending on if you have public or private insurance and your DOB, your contact person will vary (It took me 5 phone calls to find mine) and with your ‘Sozialversicherungsnummer’, you can get this document posted to you. The whole process takes 2-3 working days. You can also request for this online but the phone call works faster.

Please be aware that the list of documents needed, processing time etc. changes from state to state. I know of a friend whose Daueraufenthalt application was processed for 6 weeks and he was asked to submit a letter from the Finanzamt (Tax office) that all his taxes were paid.

I think, for someone working at the ABH, there is nothing more annoying than someone who just walks in with an incomplete application, no supporting documents (irrespective of the details being explained in the website) and with absolutely no ability to speak German in spite of having lived here for years! As long as one doesn’t belong to this category, there shouldn’t be much friction in the process of getting any permits.

Note: I don't think anyone would wonder but for the one exception that does - PR implies Permanent Residency :)

Good Samaritan or Nosyparker ?

It was 6 pm on Christmas eve. I decided to go jogging to the Theresienwiese (October fest grounds) since the winter festival was over and the place will be deserted - no people and more importantly, no small annoying dogs. As I expected, there was no one in the whole place. If you know the Theresienwiese there is an alley of trees with a path in between (shown in the photo), which runners frequent. As I was going down this path, I spotted someone in a distance standing and looking at something. As I got nearer, I got scared. I was seeing an old man staring at a park bench and on the park bench was a transparent plastic bag and inside it was a man - all weird thriller movies flashed through my mind in a few seconds. But curiosity got the better of me and so I approached the old man. He turned to me and he looked so benign that I felt a little less scared. Then he points to the park bench and says ''es gibt's doch nicht'' (roughly equivalent to ''can you believe it?''). Then my heart rate slowed down and I saw that a man was half-lying half-sitting on the park bench, with a huge plastic cover for warmth. I tried to talk to him but he appeared to be sleeping, so I just murmured ''schade'' to the other old man and continued jogging.

After finishing the 2km stretch of the alley, I was jogging back home and it was getting much colder (It was -2 deg c) and while I crossed the park bench, the fellow was still sitting (still inside the plastic cover) there. This time I decided to find out why he was there.

Me: Ist alles in Ordnung ? Is everything ok ?

Him (peeking out of the cover): Ja

Me: Frieren Sie sich nicht ? Are you not freezing ?

He just grunts, so I continue

Me: Sie werden hier nicht übernachten oder ? You are not going to spend the night here, are you ?

Him: Doch. Yes

The St.Paul's church is a 2 min walk from there. Being Christmas eve, I knew it would be open through the night.

Me: Warum gehen Sie nicht in die Kirche, da ist es bestimmt warm. Why don't you go to the church, it would definitely be warm there.

Him (raises his voice): Ich gehe da nicht hin. I won't go there

Me: Möchten Sie jemanden erreichen ? Do you want to contact someone ?

Him: Nein

Since I didn't know what else to do, I continued home. After coming home, I had to close all the windows and turn on the heater since the temperature had dropped a few degrees and I thought of the old man.

I made up my mind and first called the red cross. I couldn't reach anyone. Then I called 112 assuming I could reach first aid (yes, this is not a first-aid issue but I didn't know who else to call).

Me: In der Theresienwiese liegt ein Mann mit einer Plastiktüte als Decke. Er muss nicht da sein, er wird sich bestimmt frieren. There is a man lying in the park bench in Theresienwiese. I don't think he should be there, he might freeze to death.

112: Ist er bewusstlos oder krank ? Is he unconscious or sick ?

Me: Nein

112: Hat er Sie um Hilfe gebeten ? Did he ask you for help ?

Me: Nein

112: Scheint er so aus dass er Hilfe braucht ? Does he look like he needs help ?

Me: Ich weiß es nicht aber wenn er da übernachtet.....I don't know but if spends the night there....pause

112: Wir können nichts machen wenn er selber keine Hilfe wünscht und bewusstsein ist. Sie können die Polizei anrufen und sie können vorbei schauen. We can do nothing when he wishes to have no help and when he is conscious. You can call the cops and they can check on him.

I am silent and he continues...

112: Sie sind bei der ''....'' ? You are calling from ''....'' (he says my address) ?

Me: Ja

112: Sind Sie Frau Gopal ? Are you Ms.Gopal ?

Me: Ja

112: Also, bei der Polizei melden. Danke. So, call the cops. Thanks.

This time I dial 110. I repeat the whole story again. After hearing me out, he starts talking

110: Ihre Adresse, bitte. Your Address, please

I am thinking - I call from my landline and you do not know my address....dhoda ! Then I give him my address

110: Ihre Name, bitte. Your Name, please

110: Wie sind Sie da gekommen ? How did you get there ?

Me: Ich bin joggen gegangen. I went jogging

110: Wie alt ist er ? ein 50ger, 60ger oder 70ger mann ? how old is he, would you say 50s, 60s or 70s ?

Me: Er wird mindestens 50 sein. He is definitely over a 50 years old

110: Ist er Wohnungslos, was würden Sie sagen ? Is he homeless, what would you say ?

Me: Keine Ahnung. No idea (Since it was dark and he just peeked out of the cover, I couldn't even see his clothes right)

110: Die Theresienwiese ist echt groß. Beschreiben Sie bitte so genau wie möglich wo er sitzt. The Theresienwiese is really huge. Please describe exactly where he is sitting.

I describe the alley, the position as detailed as I can

110: Alles klar, wir schicken jemanden hin. Wenn alles in Ordnung ist und er keine Hilfe wünscht können wir leider nichts mehr machen. Ok, we will send someone to check on him. If he is fine and needs no help, we can do nothing more.

I thank him, hang up the phone and went deep into thought.

He could be there for a number of reasons - homeless, drunk, fight with the family, something against christmas, visiting someone (but has no money for the hotel) etc. But it bothered me so much because it was cold and he was old and I think dying without food or shelter is the worst form of death.

Then I felt horribly guilty as my mind wandered on to when I was in Nainital 4 years ago in November. I was visiting a cousin and we were shopping along the banks of the lake and it was getting chilly by the minute. As we were hurrying home, I noticed a number of huts and a huge number of people sleeping on the platform. We talked about how terrible it would be for them to stay outside in such temperatures and then got on with our work. I didn't think of calling anyone or doing anything about it.

When I am ready to spend so much effort on one man who is lying outside and who assures me he is all right, why did I not think of doing anything then ? Is it because in someway I am more socially responsible now or is it because I knew that my phone call here would make a difference while no amount of phone calls would help those people ? I don't know......

Today I went jogging along the same route and who do you think I saw ?? The same man, with the same plastic cover and he was drinking what looked like a coffee. He has survived the night, the visit from the cops and is braving himself for what looks like another night......this time I just shook my head and went on running. God and people can help only those who help themselves....

Ben Hur - Live

It was a cold day, 4 deg C outside, so wrapped in our pullovers and jackets, we set out to watch the much anticipated ''Ben Hur - Live'' at the Olympiahalle in Munich; having purchased the tickets more than 2 months ago.

(click on the pictures for a better view - tip for the not-computer-friendly people)

Intro:

The show had popular names when it was first advertised and the website boasted of a lot of numbers - right from costs of production to types of animals/birds used. It creates the effect needed but I think it also pushes expectations to levels that might leave a slight tinge of disappointment at the end of the show.

Story:

You have seen the movie, right ? For those who haven't, Messala and Judah Benhur are childhood friends who grow up to have different political views, the former in favour of the Roman empire and the latter in favour of the Jews. One thing leads to another and Judah ends up in the galley as a slave while his mother and sister end up in prison because of Messala. Judah swears revenge - how he manages to do that and how he is reunited with the family is the rest of the story and as in countless movies, the ''taking revenge'' part is made all exciting; with a chariot race in an arena in Rome.

So why is this called the tale of the Christ ? when Judah is sent to the galley, he is beaten up and lies nearly dead from thirst and Jesus offers him water. Judah repays this kindness by offering water to Jesus before the cruxifixion. Judah's sister and mother, who are affected by leprosy, are cured by Jesus and Judah is touched by Christ's love and message (shown in pic above).....subam.

Plus:

- The top place is taken by the chariot race (arena shown in pic, have no good pics of the race itself - horses speed > camera shutter speed) and the gladiators fighting. The sad part is that this only takes about 15 minutes of the 2 hour show.

- The stage props, their assembly, disassembly all coordinated to the second ! Brilliant ! The houses, the ship are all represented extremely well and accompanied by really good music and lighting.

- Messala and Judah - Both the actors were really good and looked the part.

- Horses - beautifully kept, wonderfully trained horses !

- Doves - they practically flew where they were asked to and returned to the cage ! was quite a sight to watch !

Minus:

- Too much drama and less action: The broschure is kind of misleading. I think I am being biased here because I have been pampered by the Stampede (not people dying.....its a rodeo) in Calgary where I enjoyed a 45 minute chuckwagon race - completely real and adrenaline-pumping ! That day, I actually understood why people get addicted to horse racing. I have also been pampered by the Ritterturnier at Schloss Kaltenberg, where one gets to see jousting, sword fighting and horse riding at its best (check out the link, you will be completely amazed !! I was gaping the whole time and the show lasted 1 hour !! should write about it....)

- Too many people: At any given time there were around 50 people in the arena. I understand that it is a city (Jerusalem or Rome) but like in the movies, you expect to give your attention to only the hero and heroine or the hero and the villain

- Too many themes: One can see that they have had trouble deciding what sections of people to satisfy, there are acrobats, fire spitters, dancers and almost everyone from a circus....every scene lasted a few minutes and you never know where to look and you can find the hero/heroine or the hero/villain only if you are really focussed.

- the narrator in the black suit (show is in latin, narration in German). How difficult would it be to give the narrator a costume too ?

On the whole, an enjoyable show that falls a little short of expectations.

A Wednesday !

I was woken up at 7:30 am yesterday morning by a phone call (when one has the luxury of staying 15 min away from work by foot, one can indulge in one's beauty sleep until 8 :D !) and it was one of those rare occasions when I din't mind answering the phone in a sleepy groggy voice.... it was my dearest friend calling me to wish me on my b'day (thank you, thank you readers, for your belated wishes).

After the regular what did you buy, what are you going to do questions, started the late-twenties girly discussion of how we are growing up, how we are facing more and more responsibilities (:D) and when the call was over, I was awake and ready for the day. I opened the curtains while sipping my coffee and was greeted with snow flakes !! This is the first time I was seeing snow on my b'day, couldn't believe my own eyes !! October is when you expect the leaves to change color and get chilly but not snow and temperatures below zero (if only we left Nature alone, she would leave us in peace too !)

I then switched on my laptop getting ready for the next rarity for the day - more personal emails than forwards and spam. When I clicked on some of the e-cards I was thinking about how I used to have atleast 20 e-cards and how many people would end up sending the same e-card (remember the times sifting through the animated cards in 123greetings or the extremely real lakeview cards ?).....we have evolved past that, atleast most of us have and seeing the couple of e-cards made me feel like I was in school :D

Appas and ammas had already called the previous day at midnight in India and obviously had showered upon me more blessings and wishes than I can handle (and since my wedding, this is inevitably always followed by a subtle hint of asking me to think about starting a family). Ashok Appa always insists on me following the age-old tradition of wearing a new dress on my b'day. Well...I mostly did, I wore my brand new winter jacket (that I had reserved for december) to work !

On my way to work, I was checking all the sms wishes and taking pity on my fingers, I decided to reply by email. There is a colleague of mine, who plays amma's role for me in Germany and she gave me a big hug and some flowers. We usually have a cake party at 3 pm when someone has a b'day and I usually make it a samosa and lassi party :D but this year the party has to wait as I have another huge reason for celebration coming up (Keep guessing!). The phone calls went on - wishes from cousins, friends....thanks to my patient colleague who shares the office with me (he would simply grin everytime I spoke in Tamil since he knows about me and my family)

Then came the phone call of the day - Ashok saying he is at the airport and will be home in an hour. It is not convenient when one's b'day falls exactly in the middle of a working week but like Ashok says, something simple like this is not going to deter him :) ! At 4, I was ready to walk home in the snow and since the sun slightly came out, we decided to go for a run. We were about a km away from the house when it began snowing again. Since we were well dressed to combat it, we did continue and were back home after 1.5hrs, wet but not cold (running does help combat the weather :D)

In less than an hour, Ashok took me out to dinner to a vegetarian restaurant, Prinz Myshkin - my first time in 6 years in an all-vegetarian restaurant in Europe. Although the name of the restaurant sounds Russian, the menu had Indian and Italian dishes and vegetarian sushi. The restaurant had excellent reviews online but I thought there was nothing exceptional about it except for the fact that they were purely vegetarian and cooked with no preservatives/chemical additives. The food was decent but was exhorbitantly priced (too late to worry about prices).

I had Potato-Zuchini-truffel au gratin (in simple english it refers to potatoes, zuchini, cheese, a bit of spice cooked in an oven slowly for a really long time) with honey and nuts sauce. Ashok opted for a Indian thali just to see how well they do it and that was a mistake. The thali was good but there was nothing Indian about it except for the names. It was nearly bland and I believe the Chef has a problem of understanding that spices in Indian dishes should be cooked and not just sprinkled upon vegetables like pepper.

I loved the desserts though. I had the Crème Brûlée (French dessert - custard with a caramel layer) and the sugar was caramelised at the table :D) while Ashok had the delicious Apfelstrudel (apple pie) with vanilla icecream.

We were so full and the night was so crisp (the snow had disappeared as fast as it had come down) that we decided to walk a good stretch by getting off the tram a couple of stops before our destination. By the time we got home, we knew we were still too energised to go to bed; so we stayed up and watched 'Newyork' - a brilliant must-watch movie (will write about it in my next post).

It was a good day although I realise that the excitement of a birthday is gradually waning (well, am growing up :D) and I thought it was taking a morbid (but practical) turn when I reviewed the life insurance I had and decided to get some more. I have a long due post about this topic too (too many drafts, too few posts!)

I had a fun-filled interesting day (even got a tamil b'day wish from a non-tamil friend - பிரண்ட நாள் வாழ்த்துக்கள் ...ROFL!) and I hope I have a year much like it too :)