Until 35

I realise that I haven't been particularly happy with my life over the last few months. The reasons are many and I do not want to get into those here. Ironically, I am in a new land and there is so much that's 'new' in life. Ideally there should be no space for boredom but my own motivation to make the most of the situation is not exactly sky-rocketing!

Inspired by a post that I read on facebook, I've decided to create some excitement, vowed to live by a new pledge to keep me going. Further, I think I already do a lot for others around so I've decided that this is going to be about 'me'. About doing things that make me feel good inside.

So here's my new campaign: "Until 35". And what it entails is that I am going to target the following until my next birthday, when I turn 35:
- I want to see 35 new places
- I want to find 35 ocassions for pampering myself
- I want to find 35 things that I like about myself and my life
- I want to make 35 new things - could be food, or other
- I want to gift something to 35 people with the intention of simply feeling good

I intend to build this list as well as populate it as I go along. But then it has to be flexible enough to allow me to have fun too. The last thing I would want is another binding! My new diary to record notes is ready and I feel so electrified already!

The one thing I don't miss about home

Today is Ganesh Chaturthi. There's no way to forget that, is there? Of course there is that Kalnirnay calendar hanging in my kitchen. And then there are scores of posts on social networking sites which ensure you are constantly reminded. Photos, chants and celebrations galore.

This is the time of the year when I would be fuming. At the loud music, at the so-called festival enthusiasm all around, the chants of bappa moraya and the utter waste of money and resources that goes around all over the place. Step out on the streets and there are these people dressed in their finest waiting to make merry at the cost of overall social peace. I pity every year the infants, the old, the ill, the minorities (including atheists like me), birds, dogs, cats and the cattle. I hate to imagine what people do in case of eventualities with clogged roads and unconcerned crowds.

I find no sense of enjoyment in putting together plaster of paris with environmentally unfriendly colors and then dumping them into our water resources. I find no serenity in those loud aartis with no relevance to modern life. I find the hypocrisy even where there is a pertinence unbearable. As a strong follower of Lokmanya Tilak and his preachings, I feel that this is one instance in which he failed to see the Frankenstein his creation would turn into.

To tell you the truth I have come to hate this festival over the years. And this is perhaps motivated by, but in no measure exclusively becoming from, my agnostic tendencies.

Here in Germany this year, I look out the window into glorious sunshine and hear my heart beat. A moment that would have been unimaginable back in my own country this day every lunar year. I know for sure it is one thing I will NEVER miss about not being back home.

Disclaimer: these views and opinions are my own. There is no intention to harm anyone's religious sentiments. I would not dare to do that, would I?

Keeping your house - and street - clean in Germany

I learnt when I moved to Stuttgart about the (rather strange) tradition of "Kehrwoche". There is perhaps no literal translation of the term but it means "cleaning week". A Swabian tradition that puts each household responsible for the cleanliness in the apartment for that particular week. And that means sweeping the stairways or wiping the window panes or shoveling the snow off the entrance, the household takes care of it all during that week.

I come from a country where labour is so abundant that for a few rupees all of this would be taken care of by someone else. Cleaning your house too is a job that is done only if the household help does not arrive. Given this, it felt rather strange initially to be put in charge of cleaning. But it took one week of doing the job to see that it wasn't so bad after all. In fact, it was easy to see that it would increase social responsibility and boost overall levels of cleanliness, as well as a collective sense of responsibility.

I reluctantly changed my mind in just a few weeks after our first Kehrwoche. I realised that hardly anyone actually does it in our apartment block, let alone meticulously. I have been keeping a watch on the state of the building just to find no change in it for days on end. My own motivation to clean has, not surprisingly, gone down rapidly since the first kehrwoche. What a pity that in a country known for its strict, upright way of life, the tradition of kehrwoche has turned into mere lipservice!

In the last few days I had reason to justify a further deteriorated opinion of the so called attitude to cleanliness. The family who lived in the house below ours shifted out last week. On their last day here, they put together all the trash that they did not need in a heap on the pavement outside our building and just left! For a whole two days after that, several people came and picked up stuff that they wanted from this heap - toys, baby gear, electronic equipment, utensils. This happened round the clock - even at 4 am (wonder if it was so that no one would notice them doing that). They also did not do it nicely - they ripped apart bags and threw away what they didn't need right there on the street. I just wish I had clicked a picture of the dirty mess that was the result.

How disappointing that both those who left the trash and those who dug through it did not care about the consequences of their actions. Of course, no one will come to clean that street and over time the trash will dissipate due to the rain or wind. Thankfully it was not my turn at kehrwoche, for if it had been, I would have surely been extremely disturbed about it.

Amazong?

Anyone who uses Amazon knows what value it brings to our lives. Undoubtedly. I have picked up gems and ended up with unbelievable bargains myself. But all is not always rosy, ain't it?

I want to recount a rather strange incident involving Amazon.

My sister recently gifted us a Kindle. Then she also gifted me some ebooks on the Kindle. One of those ebooks she paid for was 'not available in Germany'. Amazon then offered me the option of converting the value equivalent of the book into a gift voucher. Left with no choice, I went for it.

I almost forgot about that credit until I got a great book recommendation from a cousin's wife and decided to purchase it online against my voucher. To my dismay, I was compulsorily directed to amazon.de to purchase the book but the German site would not allow me to redeem my voucher since it was one issued by amazon.com and not .de.

For the last two days I have been writing emails to Amazon's customer service and trying to get this changed to no avail. Basically it means that my sister can't get back the money in the UK. I can't redeem the amount here in Germany. Purchasing from the US-based site and getting it shipped makes no sense whatsoever. What a waste!

I'm really amazed at this strangest policy from Amazon. Fair enough that they encounter tax/VAT based problems if they transfer credit across countries but I read on some forums about many other people facing similar issues. Surely there can be a better way to handle this? If the site automatically detects my location, then why can't my account be automatically credited to be used only on amazon.de?

My brother-in-law suggested that may be someone from the US could login to my account and try to redeem the amount. I am yet to try that out with the hope that Amazon may still offer me a solution. However, if anyone has a better idea, do comment!