Out of all the Diwalis I celebrated in Germany, this Diwali was something special...mainly because of my mom's presence...had a great Indian evening with all my friends with special South Indian dishes...can you imagine...we prepared 12 different dishes...Idly, Dosai, Poori, Potato Subji, Kuruma, Chicken 65, boiled eggs, sambhar, cabbage poriyal, pakoda, fried rice, pachadi... great moments...amma asirvatham amma samayal....:) Took an off from the work and watched all special programmes in Sun TV, Vijay TV...I loved it...I hope to celebrate the coming Diwali's in the same fashion if I am lucky :D
A small narration: When I was a child, I used to travel to my father's native place Salem in Yercaud Express sitting next to WC because of the crowd...slowly it changed to travelling in 2nd class reservation compartment...after that it changed to Air Conditioning (AC) compartment...and then to British Airways travelling via London...and then slowly to 15 countries in Europe...and finally it came to a situation of my beloved mom coming to Germany for my MBA graduation ceremony :)
There are various moments which I cherished in my life to the core but nothing can be compared to this...my mom's presence in MBA graduation ceremony and it certainly healed lot of pains in my heart...
1. This moment healed my mom's thirst of me not being a doctor....mainly because of the fact I left the Medicine seat which I obtained...
2. This moment healed my pain of not studying in US...but the country with which I didn't expect anything gave me hell lot of things...Deutschland hat mir viel gegeben....:)
3. This moment healed the pain which I suffered when Prof. Killat who stripped my ass in the mid-term presentation of my Master Thesis...But thanks Prof...now I feel whats happiness :)
4. This moment healed the pain which I suffered when I was hunting for jobs in Germany and the rejections which I got mainly because of the strict visa regulations and language constraints....
5. This moment healed the pain of loneliness, depression and the disappointments which I suffered during my tough times in Germany....the sacrifice which I made in Food, Entertainment, Friends, Cricket, Movies, Indian girls ;)
My friends always say that I am always an unsatisfied guy but now I should say to the mirror that, "I am satisfied with what God has given me :)". I love you amma !!
Any Indian who has stayed in Germany for a considerable amount of time shouldn't miss Ham Amman temple in North Rhein Westfallen state and the case holds good for my beloved mom..She was thrilled, excited, happy when she entered the praharam...This temple has been sort of important spot for all the desis in Germany...Whats special about this temple is the Gopuram and the ambience it presents in a foreign soil...Thanks to Sri Lankan tamils for their strenous efforts to build this shrine...
Got delayed because of the connecting train...was searching for some accomodation in the 11th hour finally my good friends Vijay Anand and Karthick turned in to the show...The kind of hospitality shown by Karthick to my mom....my goodness...No words to describe...Thanks Karthick...A day to remember!!
Followed by a German evening on Saturday, was a typical Indian evening on Sunday in Bhagavan uncle's house...Special thanks to Sudha aunt who prepared delicious Indian food - Thayir Vadai, Sambhar Vada, Fried Rice, Apple pickle... Had a chance to meet another Indian family with their kids...followed by a funny discussion of marrying a German or an Indian...finally the argument settled for marrying an Indian girl...:D Mom felt very homely....One more day to remember!! Thanks once again to Bhagavan uncle and Sudha aunt...
Recently my colleague Mark Rueter invited me and my mom to a typical village festival in his place Wetzen....Initially I was skeptical about bringing mom to this fest, but Mark forcibly took my mom to this fest in his car....Drunk a big bottle of beer next to mom along with Mark ;) I did shooting for the first time and I correctly targetted the nucleus and won a prize.....the prize was none other than 3 Kgs of chicken ;) followed by wonderful music and food...Mom danced along with other German ladies....it was a great opportunity for her to see how Germans celebrate their special evening...Thanks once again to Mark for the invitation... A day to remember!!
What could be the best place to make my mom happy in Europe... Switzerland, Paris, London..No!! Then what else....Yes... Celebrating Navarathri festival in Hindu temple... She felt really happy to see Navarathri celebrations in foreign land...the festival was marked with traditional slokas and mantras and followed by arathi...The most important event in this Navarathri festival is DANDIA...played it for the first time and I cherished playing it like gilli ;)....More importantly mom enjoyed to the core... :)
When I say to my friends in other parts of the world that I live in Germany...the next question what they will be asking is "Have you been to Octoberfest ?".. Having stayed in Germany for three years, I didn't find the right time to go to Octoberfest...finally the time has arrived to go to this wonderful fest in Germany...The highlighting feature of Octoberfest is the typical Bavarian dress and the beer...with thousands and thousands of crazy drunkards roaming in the streets and babes exposing their assets ;)
First we went to BMW museum...a must see museum for all the Automobile nerds...this place is highly picturesque with small hill top...lush green grass near the lake...feast to the eyes..I didn't drink much in this fest mainly because of the fact that I need to pick my mom next day from Frankfurt...otherwise the story would have been different....:D Anybody who has spent some time in Europe...never miss Octoberfest!!
If at all one weekend which will reside in my memory forever, it will be none other than Sep 26, 27 and 28th.....after stressful hours of programming in the office on friday had a wonderful memorable party with my MBA classmates in the evening...this party was special because it was a kind of get together for everybody...the party was amazing with wonderful lighting arrangements and most importantly the drinks... ;) After partying to the core, slept at around 4 and got up at 6 on saturday morning to catch the train to Munich for the Octoberfest....
Just 2 hours of sleep...took enough rest in the ICE from Hamburg to Munich....Once I reached Munich, I got the sprits back...the city was bubbling around with lot of tourists marching towards the Octoberfest...a must see fest in Germany...with thousands of people...in typical Bavarian dress..the Brat wurst and the Beer...with some amazing rides and games...no words to describe...I enjoyed this fest with my school friend Parthi and his colleagues...took some snaps with some beautiful babes passing by ;) ... went along with Parthi to Stuttgart by car..again just slept for two hours and was excited about mom's arrival in Germany.... :)
Started from Stuttgart in the early morning on sunday and reached Frankfurt airport by 7.30 in the morning....Waited on and on in front of the visitors place...Finally the door opened and could see amma coming out of the door....Rest...No need to explain :) Travelled along with mom from Frankfurt to Hamburg... Certainly a weekend which will reside in my memory forever !!
Out of all the Diwalis I celebrated in Germany, this Diwali was something special...mainly because of my mom's presence...had a great Indian evening with all my friends with special South Indian dishes...can you imagine...we prepared 12 different dishes...Idly, Dosai, Poori, Potato Subji, Kuruma, Chicken 65, boiled eggs, sambhar, cabbage poriyal, pakoda, fried rice, pachadi... great moments...amma asirvatham amma samayal....:) Took an off from the work and watched all special programmes in Sun TV, Vijay TV...I loved it...I hope to celebrate the coming Diwali's in the same fashion if I am lucky :D
