Multifaced Me and Contradictions.

“Sandeep, du bist wahnsinnig” – she says that to me - often. It means “Sandeep, you are crazy”. She also says “du bist lustig”, which means “You are funny”. This is a friend from Poland.

Another friend says that I am very clever, intelligent and smart. :)

Someone else says that I am a little nerdy, still a cool guy. :D

There is someone else who thinks I am a very helpful person who would be there when any kind of help is needed. Wow! :P

A person who spreads positive ideas/emotions, a positive person – yet another comment – hence the name of this blog.

Someone opined that I am a person with a heart made of stone – an emotionless person. Hence the name of my Malayalam blog.

And the latest comment I heard is – I am the second most emotional person she has ever met. Of course, this comment made me smile and think simultaneously.

The strange thing is that the last two opinions - ‘stone hearted’ and ‘emotional’ person – contradict* each other. And apparently, these comments come from two people who know me well.

So, what am I actually? A real fake? ;)
Multifaced isn’t it? :) (Everyone has many faces)

One cannot show emotions to everyone, especially in a world in which being emotional is seen as a weakness ;) … Can I tell others that I cry while watching films? (well, I just did say that. Didn’t I?)

It’s been running in my mind for the past few days that, when someone crosses a threshold, ‘the circle of trust’ as said in “Meet the parents”, that person gets to see you in a different light. And it takes a little while before that person’s eyes get used to the new light.

Naturally, I haven’t heard about any bad face of mine [no diplomatic person would want to say that to me. :)] except from two dear fellows that I am an idiot/&^&^%/%$@#^! ;)

Signing off, Sands.

* – Not really.

PS: I need to slow down with blogging. Three posts in a week?

Wake-up Calls

I had been growing very absent-minded and very much arrogant, lately.

Just got two wake up calls – one each for the aforementioned issues.

Fortunately, no permanent damage done. So fine. No need to cry over the spilt milk, but I am not spilling milk anymore.

Perhaps I forgot the principle of “Never underestimate anything, and Never overestimate yourself”.

 

I got to get SERIOUS.

Signing off, Sands.

First time now

It’s now more than a month since I turned a complete vegetarian. There were of course one or two or three times when I really wanted to eat meat. It was always “sauer-/schweine-braten + semmelknödel” which I wanted to eat (some German yummy dish). My mouth did water by the thought of it.

20-plus years of non-vegetarian life won’t go away so easily, right? That too I was a pure-non-vegetarian!

But these two-three times, all I had to do was think about my causes (anti-torture, anti-unnecessary-pain), my mouth stopped watering and the thoughts brought me back to the world of reason.

I am going strong with my cause and decision. If you can successfully pull it through for a month, then it can be done well for life.

And today, for the first time, my vegetarianism is causing a little bit of inconvenience to a friend who has invited me over - for dinner. When I called him to remind, he had to change his plans a bit. (Here is where I think about what my mom says, to which I agree that one should be ready to accept and adjust to whatever his host has to offer, so that no discomfort is caused to the host. A bit of a sad thing it is, to cause inconvenience)

I regret the inconvenience, but dude, this is me, you got to cope with it! :)

Signing off, Sands.

PS: The very same way I used to be addicted to Brian Adams in 2005, Elvis Presley in 2007-2008, now it is Beatles for 2009. And the song of the day/week is:

Something in the way she moves,
Attracts me like no other lover.
….
…. … believe and how.

I also love the “While my guitar gently weeps”

PPS: Going off from internet for one or two days.

Bottle with two necks

A year ago or so, I was at the first neck of the bottle. I am talking about the language bottle. I could understand most of the conversations in German, but I couldn’t have been an active partner.

Time flew and I came out of that neck to the world where I can speak German. A million thanks to those two ladies who helped me a lot. Apparently, along with my skills, the friendships too grew stronger. Perhaps we were learning to express ourselves better.

Now, I am stuck in the second neck. I can manage to speak if I choose to. But my talkative nature is non-existent when I enter the German world. I don’t want to get stuck here, you know? Something like I want to talk, but I don’t want to.

If I want to be active in group conversations, then I need to start with single partner conversations. My principle (from IIT days) about languages is acting like a small hindrance. 

I don’t like to choose a language because I can learn it better. I choose the language more comfortable to both the persons, so that the conversation is of higher quality.

Unlike past years, many many Germans happen to speak English and then my aforementioned principle makes me speak in English. Should I hunt for people who don’t speak English? or should I rethink about the stubborn principle?

Whatever might be the choice, I am going to be a good orator in German too. Wait and see. Let me get out of this neck as well. I might want to start with some books. Should I look for suggestions? or simply choose for myself? Or newspaper?

I am not setting a deadline for myself. But I am going to put this thing on the top of my list. Then, in a few months’ time, I am going to start with French.

I don’t like this post. I am in a little melancholic mood. Still, since I wrote it, I let it stay.

I wish you all a great weekend.

Signing off, Sands.

The corridor has Alleppey

Before you frown, let me say that I am not intending to use the name Alappuzha right now in my English blog. I stick with the good old name Alleppey. 

We, mallus (or even Indians) are such hypocrites – we use English words in every sentence except for the prepositions and conjunctions but cannot accept the names of the cities, some of which were named by British who couldn’t perhaps pronounce the original ones.

I live here in a country, where people resist, much more than mallus, the infiltration of English (foreign) words to their language  (perhaps not as much as the Tamil and French). Even these people don’t seem to have problems with our calling the city of München as Munich, or calling their country Germany when it is Deutschland for them.

But we cannot accept the English names of cities and change the names of them when we keep forgetting the last “M”of KeralaM.

If you ever listened to Radiodumdum, you’d know their trademark slogan thing - “Tune to Radiodumdum, the first internet Malayalam radio” – yes they praise/advertise-for themselves in English for being the “first Malayalam channel”. What an irony! isn’t it?

So, what is all about the post title and all the rants I wrote above. Actually nothing. I just got lost in the state/city name.

A couple of days ago, on my way to the very bathroom I’ve been using for the past couple of months, I saw a picture on the corridor wall. Well, the unique beauty of Kerala(m) made it easy to pinpoint the location.   (I hadn’t noticed the picture every before).

The picture was of backwaters in Alleppey. I just had a look at it and was surprised. How can a not-so-great, normal picture of Alleppey happen to be in an average house in a small German city?  And I knew I wasn’t wrong because, there isn’t any place in the whole universe to confuse with any place in Kerala(m). The greenery and lush is obviously unique.

Apparently, my house owner’s daughter had been to India in 1991 or so. She was there in Kerala too. And the photo is of course from Alleppey. So, the corridor has Alleppey.

Signing off, Sands.

PS: Half asleep blogging – too long one as well.

PPS: The pictures here are just from the internet. The picture on the wall is not here.

IA3, 13B and Holes.

After a long long time, I watched a Hindi film – 13B. I watched the first one third and was in fact impressed by the way the story was developing. But, as usual, just like most Hindi films, it didn’t fail to disappoint me. For the first 1/3 of the movie, I’d have given 8 out of 10.

But finally it ended up with some 3/10!  

Especially if I compare it with the last two movies I watched, the disappointment becomes stronger. Amelie and Ice Age 3 were my last two films.

We don’t see movies of normal people any more – do we? Nowadays, the characters are almost always super humans. If you are bored with that, then I’d suggest you to watch something in the class of Amelie – a film of normal, lovely characters.

Then of course Ice Age! :) It would suffice to say that I’ve decided to watch the first two parts after watching the third one.  

Lately, I have been travelling in Germany - a little more than usual. I always plan to read while travelling – but never manage to read because my mind enters a special state whenever I am in a moving vehicle. But as an exception to that, I managed to finish a book totally* while travelling.

When I found the book was kept on top of my bag, I didn’t even ask about it. I just put it in my bag because I knew that it if was recommended to me, I am supposed to simply like it without questioning. It turned out to be a nice book. :)

The book managed to make me read it without taking my eyes off, until the twilight was gone and it got dark inside the car. Holes – that’s the name of the book.

It started with a simple enough story of a teenager, then split into two stories running 100 years apart in time, but parallel in the book. Of course, it ends in a much predictable way. The narration calls for special attention. (Without worrying much about copyright, I shall reproduce some of it here.)

 

Here’s a good rule to remember about rattle snakes and scorpions: If you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.

Usually.

Being bitten by a scorpion or even a rattlesnake is not the worst thing that can happen to you. You won’t die.

Usually.

But you don’t want to be bitten bye a yellow-spotted lizard. That’s the worst thing that can happen to you. You will die a slow and painful death.

Always.

Did the post turn out to be a little too long? Well, since I write after a long time I shall take the liberty to do so. Right?

Signing off, Sands.

PS: From where do you enjoy a film the best? The front rows in the theatre? or the back rows?

PPS: Does someone think that I should update my blog’s templates? Colours? Theme? Fonts? Anything at all?