The local packet-station

At 7:30, I heard the bell ringing. I was in the shower and was sure that the REDGIRL would be sleeping. I wrapped the towel around and opened the door. No one was there. Then I realized that the bell was from ground-floor and I knew who it would be. I pressed the button and he replied - "POST". Just as I had expected.

Isn't 7:30 in the morning a little too early for post? Well, he came up and delivered my packet and then two more packets - for some other guys in the same building. Then he would go and put a notice in their pigeon-holes that their packets are with me, so that they can collect from me.

This happens a few times every week. Even when there are no packets for us, he comes and delivers packets for others. This German DHL guy even knows my name and how to spell it - he has to get my signature for confirmation of delivery and he writes my name every time.

Note: It's not an easy thing to remember my surname which is full of "A", "D" and "N" - without making mistakes (Even Indians make a mess out of "SADANANDAN"). Yeah, practice makes man perfect. :)

We have a designated place for those packets - which is our local DHL-packet-station. Well, I wanted to take a picture of this place and figured that it might be interesting to show the surroundings too - full of footwear.

Most of the footwear belong to my app-mate. A pair of roller-skates belong to me.

I was wondering, why would this selected person be me? But today I figured it out! Perhaps ours is the one of the few apartments where someone is awake when he comes to deliver the packets. Most of our neighbors wake up at 10-11, even my app-mate. :)

Time to go to Uni. Signing off, Sands.

~

Energy... Raw Energy...

Perhaps for the first time here, I don't know how to explain my feelings/thoughts. What I want to write is about Tamil and Tamilians. I don't know many Tamilians nor do I have expertise in Tamil. But I can very well say that they have lot of raw energy. Their emotions are neither smooth nor modulated as that of malayali's (or anyone's for that matter). Their emotions go really high - both good and bad emotions. When they love, they just love without thinking. When they hate, they simply hate to the core - without forgiving.

How do I explain raw energy better than this? I just don't know. The example which I could give will be a negative one. If you compare the way people play/enjoy in the beaches of Kerala and TamilNadu, you'd find that the Tamil children's games are of a little extreme nature compared to Kerala kids'. This is the first thing which I noticed in Chennai beaches. It's like, they go to the extremes of everything.

Well, I could be giving a message like Tamilians are bad. NO NO NO - I love the way they are. I just love they way they are. One best example I love would be Friendship - just raw friendship - without thinking anything but the love for your friend. This could be rare in many places on earth, not in TN. There are no boundaries to feelings.

All the same, mallu's are totally different. They mostly make sure of being on the safe side of everything. Or rather not being in extremes of anything. Be mediocre - in everything. Sorry guys, I am doing a bad job here. Not doing enough justice to what I think.

Why would Tamilians be different? I don't have any clue. But the only comparable thing is their own language. It's beautiful. I haven't read even a single paragraph of Tamil literature. My only source of Tamil are films and songs. But I'd say that they themselves are enough to show the beauty of the language. Emotions can be portrayed easily; very easily. I shouldn't write more about this. You readers could just go and listen to the songs from (say Youtube/Raaga/MIO etc).

I have always loved them and their language. Now, I too am going to extremes ;) . This post is dedicated to the one who acted as cupid.

Signing off, Sands.

Notes:

1. I feel bad that I did a bad job with this entry. Now, mallu's might come arguing. No dudes, I love the way we are too. And I think, our way is the practical and intelligent way. ;)
2. I have a new Tamil-friend who is a poet. I loved both the poems he recited.
3. Have been thinking about writing this since long ago. Didn't know how to..! :(
4. Watch some Tamil movies (Genre: especially Romance, Revenge) and tell me your opinion. Listen to Tamil songs of any genre and tell me about them too.

~

Bad enough, isn't it?

The air is so humid that you can feel it. It makes you go and check in the weather sites to see how bad it really is. And indeed it is bad - it is 94%.

I would think that even Kerala is better in the aspect. I checked for Cochin, and it is 89%. (but it stays all around the year)

Well, may be since I am from there, where it is always humid, I don't find here that bad. It just feels like being home and not being able to sleep because of sweat [Hint: Power failure, no fan]. (Bad enough, isn't it?)

The RED GIRL doesn't seem to be very happy about this warm humid atmosphere. :)

Next weather report.... whenever I feel like. ;)

Signing off, Sands.

~

Lovable Chaos

I have never had such a long break from this blog. I simply didn't feel like writing anything. I can't say that I didn't have anything to write - just that I was a bit confused about which of the many topics to write.

Am I complaining a little too much in the blog here? Perhaps I am. I am blaming people, complaining, arguing and doing similar stuff. I guess, it reflects my state of mind. Things are changing drastically and some of the changes are not of my best interests. I even started complaining about the weather a lot (well, Munich weather is definitely not the best in the world; Still I shouldn't be complaining about such silly thing.)

Anyway, right now, I have gotten over all those troubles and have come out clean. Let me take you guys through a small little experience and to the title.

On Saturday, I went to Hugendubel (Germany's Higginbothams - a large bookshop chain) to look for the German version of the well celebrated malayalam novel Chemmeen. I went around the bookshop. I took a book - "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" - the sixth best-selling-book of the week. I went up to the coffee shop, ordered one cappuccino and just read that book. It took about 4-5 hours to finish that 270 page book. By the time I finished it, I was feeling really good.

Once finished, I got up, bought the very book I finished and came home! :)

While reading, there was a person sitting at the next table. Once when he took a break, he started chatting with me. This guy was really polite and nice. After two minutes of conversation, we figured out - we both are doing PhD@TUM, we have a couple of common friends, he plans to go to India and he might want to talk more about it - later.

But that got me started talking about India. Something general and detailed; a lot about Kerala.. etc.

When I summed it up, this is what I told - "India is something which you can call - Lovable and Enjoyable Chaos". Well, that sounds like the best description I (or anyone) can give. Isn't it?

Signing off, Sands.

PS1: There is something peculiar about that book. I can't say it is great - but there is something special. Recommended as a good read.

PS2: The picture was taken yesterday - from my neighborhood.

PS3: Didn't get the book I was looking for.