Sri Lanka, truly Asia :)

 Sri Lanka country known for its bloodshed, civil war, thirty years of bitter experience between Sinhalese and Tamils , the LTTEs but honestly the country is simply stupendous which many of us wont even imagine in our dreams.  Had a great opportunity to travel to this Island Nation with my travel guru – my beloved dad. It was really hard for me to convince him to come for this trip. Apparently, it happened to be his first foreign visit outside India. Well I was pushing him to visit me in Germany but unfortunately it never happened. It was definitely an experience which every son would cherish in his life to travel alone with his dad at the age of thirty :)

The visa regulations are quite easy because country strives on tourism. Just online application has to be filled up and meager amount has to be transferred to them. We had an hour’s flight from Chennai to Colombo by Air India. Colombo is highly crowded, congested as any sub-continent cities. Some of the notable places to cover in Colombo are Parliament house, War memorial, Galle face, Lotus temple, Gangarama Buddhist temple, Premadasa stadium if you are Cricket fanatic.

Kandy is geographically situated in the middle of Sri Lanka. If one stays in Kandy, one can cover most places in the island. Temple of tooth (Lord Buddha) is definitely one of the picturesque and artistic temple. The main place which one shouldn’t miss out in Kandy is the Botanical Gardens, one of the largest in Asia. Was really amazed with the diversified flora which they have got. It was green green everywhere. The white budda at the top of the hill is a must see in Kandy. One gets a panoramic view of the city of Kandy from the top. The striking animal in Sri Lanka is the elephants. In any corner of the country you would see an elephant. The elephant sanctuary named Pinnawala is definitely worth going. One gets a chance to see around fifty elephants at a single stretch. It was too good to see the newly born small elephants. 

Unfortunately, we went at the wrong time. It was raining all along the day with strong thunder showers. The local mentioned the best time to visit the island nation is on April. Out of many Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka, the golden temple at Dambulla is certainly the masterpiece. One can climb up the mountain to see the lord Buddha carved out of the single stone. One gets a panoramic view of the small city of Dambulla. Near to Dambulla is the must see place called Sigriya.  Because of bad weather conditions, we couldn’t climb up to the top of this rocky mountain. 

Anuradhapura, the previous capital of Sri Lanka was a great place to hang out for a day. The city is full of various Buddhist temples with very old history and tradition. If you love Buddhism, don’t miss Anuradhapura. The gigantic Buddhist stupas in Anuradhapura were breathtaking. Could you believe, I stayed in Sinhalese house as a paying guest in Kandy? Interesting isn’t it that a tamilian stayed in Sinhalese house. 

One shouldn’t miss Nuwera Eliya if you are nature lover. The picturesque mountain peaks, the tea estate, the water falls piercing through the mountains, driving in the midst of those are certainly which will reside in my memory forever. It’s about two to three hours of journey by car from Kandy to Nuwera Eliya. The major attractions in Nuwera Eliya are the Horton Plains but due to adverse weather conditions, we were not in a position to explore those places. We had a chance to look at the tea factory, their manufacturing process. Also had a chance to go to diary farm which gave us the opportunity to see New Zealand cows.

After Nuwera Eliya, we went to another coastal city, Galle in the extreme south. The train journey from Colombo to Galle is something which will linger in my mind for long time. Since my father worked in Indian Railways, had a chance to travel in many trains, but this journey from Colombo to Galle is a pick of the lot. The tracks were laid just few meters from the beach. Never seen any railway line which was so close to the coastal line. Just wondering what would have happened to those people traveling in train when Tsunami came in. The Galle international stadium was in the heart of the city and one could easily see a cricket match from the Galle fort which is about 50 meters away from the stadium. I still remember the double hundred scored by Shewag against Murali and Mendis in this ground and squared the series in 2008.

The strange experience in this Island nation was the entry fees for the foreigners. In major touristic attractions, the entry fee for the local would be 50 rupees but for foreigners it will be Rs.3000 which is something ridiculous. I had the same experience in India in major tourist attractions, where foreigners paid 10 times more than the locals but to taste the same pill in another foreign land was not easy to accept. In some places bought some local tickets since me and my father looked like Sri Lankans but they asked to speak Sinhala but I spoke in Tamil stating I was from Batticola.  The moment they asked my ID, I had to buy the foreigner’s ticket: P I can agree to the fact that the country thrives on tourism, but if Sri Lanka are to attract tourists from India, they need to relax the price for SAARC countries. 

It was always my dream to explore this island nation right from my childhood and ever since I watched Cricket matches played by Jayasuriya, Muralidharan, Arvinda De Silva, Ranatunga etc. It all happened that I explored this wonderful nation with my beloved dad. Thanks to my good friend Kaja who helped me in all aspects to explore this scenic country and made my stay so wonderful and pleasant. Thanks to my new Sinhalese friend Supan and his mother who showed the beauty of Nuwera Eliya and gave us a chance to stay in their guest house in Kandy. 

What was more fascinating about this island nation was, one stretch you have hill stations, mountain peaks and within 200 kms one hits the coastal line and within 200 kms one sees the cultural heritage with Buddhist monasteries. I could see all three languages Sinhala, Tamil and English written in all information and sign boards. I wish Sri Lanka as a country to strive in all aspects in south east asia in the coming years after all the bitter experiences of what has happened in that country. 

Many believed, the former Ceylon would be an example of thriving economy after Britishers left the sub continent. But unfortunately, became the totally mismanaged country of the world with all bloodshed, civil war and petty politics. But I could realize that every individual in the island nation are glad that the war is over and hoping for a new beginning. Sri Lanka, must see island in south east asia and perfect location for holidays during winter in Europe.

Cheers, 

Sathish Kumar S

Cycling in East Coast Road, Chennai

I traveled humpty number of times on East Coast Road in Chennai but I never imagined one day that I would do cycling on Sunday morning with sun rise across the coastline. Thanks to Suresh who gave me the wonderful opportunity to do cycling on East Coast Road by bringing his own sports cycle and motivating all along the ride. Our target was to finish less than an hour covering 25 kms. Finally we ended up at 57 minutes. It was a beautiful sunshine with mild breeze blowing across the coastline. I never imagined that there are quite a number of avid passionate cyclists in Chennai. Hats off to Tamil Nadu Cycling Club which conducts all these events in a more professional and organized manner. Certainly a day to remember for a Chennai boy J

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Business trip to India....

My long dream got satiated of making a business trip to India. Thanks to Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Hyderabad and Werum Software & Systems for making this to happen. The main motivation why I left India for higher studies to Germany is to increase the chance of doing trade relations between India and Europe. In fact the idea behind the studies by German Universities is to increase the trade relations between the countries.

Honestly, it was a special feeling to represent a German software firm for Indian giant Pharmaceutical manufacturer. It was the first time that I traveled with my German passport and my OCI card. It was just a formality in the immigration checks. After the business trip, my colleague Florian wants to see my city Chennai. We had a nice time together exploring Mahabalipuram, east coast beaches and typical South Indian dinner. Certainly an experience which will reside in my memory for long time!

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Isle of Skye, Scotland

Scotland, Wales, England together form Great Britain, Great Britain along with Northern Ireland form United Kingdom. Had a great chance to visit Scotland especially Isle of Skye during our trip to London. We rented a car in London and drove first to Glasgow. It was about 450 miles (650 kms) from London and took six to eight hours with frequent breaks. It was bit challenging for the first half an hour because they drive on the opposite side of the road unlike Europeans and sign boards shows Miles instead of Kilometers.

The drive from Glasgow to Broadford (Isle of Skye) was breathtaking with wonderful landscapes. The mountain range along with beautiful lakes on a sunny day was simply awesome. Probably one of the best road trips in Europe next to Bergen to Oslo in Norway. Norway and Scotland are different landscapes where the mountains in Norway are bit high and fjords add extra beauty to it. Scotland has got some lovely medium high mountains and many lakes. Benn avis the highest mountain range in Scotland gives panoramic view of the lovely landscape. 

The movie Harry Potter was taken in Scotland and one gets a chance to see those shooting spots while driving to Isle of Skye. Eilean Donan castle is worth visiting on the way to Isle of Skye. The bridge connecting the mainland and Isle of Skye is breathtaking. Portree is the biggest city in the Island followed by Broadford where one could stay overnight. The round trip along the coastline was a great experience and Dun vegan castle is a must in Scotland. What one shouldn’t miss in Scotland are the boat trips and seals tour. 

 The boat trip takes you to the middle of the sea and gives a great chance to see the seals. It was indeed an experience which will reside in my memory for long time. There were quite number of sheeps in the middle of the road and driving amidst them was a different experience altogether. Thank god we had three drivers who could frequently switch so that nobody is tired. The return trip from Isle of Skye was to Edinburgh where we could connect our flight back to Germany. We were lucky that it never rained during our stay in Scotland. Definitely for nature lovers and road trip adventurers, Scotland especially Isle of Skye can offer lot of attractions. 

I must honestly admit that it was bit difficult in the beginning to understand Scottish but with time, you realize it’s yet another dialect of English. I heard from my cousin there were quite of lot of Scottish settlers in New Zealand. I could presume both the countries have similar landscape one in the northern hemisphere and the other in southern hemisphere. Scotland wasn’t that expensive when compared to London. All in all we all had a great time in the Island, drove around 1000 miles (1600 kms) and thanks to weather god; she was so kind enough for us for the whole trip. 

Cheers,

Sathih Kumar S

London bridge is falling down.... :)

 When I was conversing to a friend in US, I said travelling in Europe is lot of fun and I enjoyed travelling around twenty countries in Europe, his next question was did you see London. I explained United Kingdom doesn’t belong to Europe ;) They don’t use Euros, they ride their cars on the other side of the road, they don’t use Kilometers instead miles, sometimes yards and sometimes when they are bored meters.  It was always my childhood dream to visit England since I was brought up during post-colonial era reading about British in history books and learning English as the first scientific language in school.

I must honestly say London definitely didn’t disappoint me for the expectation which I had for it. The most striking feature in this city is the multi cultural aspect and every one out of three there is a foreigner. Thanks to my school friends Ramesh and B Sathish who were working in London for their kind hospitality accommodated us in their apartments. When compared to other big European cities, I must admit the transportation network in London is the most complicated networks I have ever seen with undergrounds, metros and different names they give to it. 

Had a great chance to satiate my childhood dream of going to Lords Cricket stadium, the Mecca of Cricket. The guided tour showed the different facets of the stadium, the statistics, the dressing room of the players, the exclusive media centre, the famous Lords balcony where former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly removed his shirt and waved to Andrew Flintoff as a revenge to his act in Mumbai. Thanks to my wife who had the same interest to visit Lords and I am so glad she can watch Cricket matches with me even if not to remember the statistics of Cricket matches. 

Another notable place to visit in London was the Swaminarayanan Temple in Neasden. Was totally amazed with the architecture of the temple, just shows an example of the vast Indian Diasporas in Great Britain. Thanks to Anita who stayed in London for a span of six months during her spinster time with British Telecom made our travel more easy and pleasantry. The other common places which are worth visiting are Buckingham Palace (money looted from different parts of the world are stored there), Trafalgar Square, Houses of parliament, London Eye, Tower bridge, Cruise on the Thames river. I must admit London is one of the really expensive cities I came across. 

The happiest moment for me during my stay in London was it never rained. Could you believe it? It never rained in London Lol. I was really amused with the number of Indian restaurants, theatres showing Indian movies and I can assure as an Indian you can never get bored in London. Thanks to Torsten, Angela, Lara (Nötzold family) who accepted our invitation to visit London along with us. All in all it was a great time in London. Had a chance to catch up with my old friends who are working now in London. Special thanks to Anita, Ramesh, B Sathish who made our stay in London most memorable and enjoyable. 

London must see city in Europe!

Sathish Kumar S

Project Management Professional (PMP) certification

Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is the industry-recognized certification for project managers around the globe. Project Management Institute (PMI) brings various project managers from around the globe under one umbrella to follow standardized methodologies in various projects. I was never a big fan of certifications ever since I started my career but got motivated when I intially had some project mangement training in my office. Initially started to browse through the concepts of Project Management from Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) which is considered as a bible for this exam.

This certification requires 35 contact hours regarding Project Management concepts. Thats where most of the training institutions make a lot of business by conducting boot camps and offering intensive training to crack the exam. I was searching for such boot camps which were conducted in English in Germany. There were quite a lot of instituions which offered PMP boot camps in English in Germany. I settled for PMSTUDY mainly because of the number of PMPs they produced, boot camps were conducted through out Germany and most importantly their policy of Money Back Guarantee i.e 50% of the examination cost will be refunded when one failed in the first exam and it continues till third attempt. PMP is a costly affair where the examination fees costs up to 555$.

 The boot camp gave me a chance to interact with Project Managers from diversified field where I learnt that the management concepts to be applied to various fields are pretty much the same with respect to managing resources, time, cost etc to successfully carry out the project. PMP exam mainly focuses on nine knowledge areas with respect to integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communication, risk, procument management. The exam also focuses on ethical concepts of managing the projects with respect to various cultures. The inputs, the tools and techniques and the outputs of various project management processes have to be memorized to the core but the exam always ask application of those concepts in real-time scenarios. So just mere memorizing can help to answer few questions but to crack the exam definitely one needs to apply to the situations explained.

Around 20 to 25% of the questions doesn’t relate to any specific areas from PMBOK but tests the general approach to problem solving in the real time scenarios. The best way to get prepared for the exam is to have a general reading of PMBOK (4th edition), then take lot of practise tests as much as one can. The exam is for four hours so its better to take a sample test by sitting dedicatedly for four hours to get used to the long streching examination process. Rita Mulcahy (Preparing PMP exam 7th edition) gives detailed overview and explanation of the concepts which gives thorough understanding of the various tools and techniques which one uses in project management. Attending boot camp is a nice idea when companies sponsor for it. Most of the companies I came across sponsor for this boot camp.

At the end of the day, Project Management is all about soft skills and managing and extracting the work from others. But but but Project Manager with technical expertise are really the ones who are more successful in the longer run. It was definitely a good learning curve preparing for this exam. I would definitely suggest to take this exam who wants to be a Project Manager or the ones who wants to learn various effective ways to manage the project. Please get back to me if you have any questions or doubts of how to crack this exam, I will try my level best to guide you to this process since its also utmost duty of PMIs to spread the knowledge acquired J I am so glad that I wanted to finish this certification before my 30th birthday and it happened. Thanks to my family who constantly supported me in various stages of this certification.

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar PMP J

Related Links:

www.pmstudy.com

www.pmi.org

http://www.oliverlehmann.com/

http://www.oliverlehmann.com/pmp-self-test/75-free-questions.htm#providers 

3rd Vattenfall Cyclassics with Sports Cycle

I never imagined when I took part in the first Cyclassics for 55 kms, and then it would continue for the third time. This time it’s so special because I had a chance to drive with sports cycle and the legs clipped to the pedals. My target was to finish less than 2 hours but ended up finally at 2 hours and 2 minutes at a rate of 27.6 km/h.  Thanks to Stefan, Rene and Suresh who provided all the motivation to try with sports cycle. The weather stayed absolutely fine with nice sun shine and good breeze. Probably next year will try to target 100 kms. 

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Jule, Yvo's Wedding - Another Sachsen's experience.. :)

Recently I had a chance to attend yet another German wedding in Chemnitz, East Germany. This time it was the marriage of Yvo (son of my project manager Torsten) and Jule. This marriage was quite different from the marriage which I witnessed in Northern Germany. I could smell the fragrance of Sachsen’s culture in the wedding. As usual, the event was very well organized to the core with interesting games, talks, presentations etc. Yvo and Jule are relatively young at the age of 22 to go for a marriage in Germany society but if they have found their love, why not.

 Its worth mentioning about one interesting game which happened in the wedding. The bride was asked to sit in the chair and aunts of the bridegroom tore the wedding shirt of the bridegroom in to several pieces. Jule was totally shocked to see that because no body wants to have this punishment on a wedding day. But the real drama is, it’s not actually the wedding shirt which was torn in to pieces, it was simply other cheap dress which looked like the wedding dress was torn in to pieces. I could see a big sense of relief on the face of Jule after this drama.

The wedding took place in a nice cosy hotel with excellent dishes and deserts which was followed by a big party and dancing for the whole night. Thanks to Yvo and Jule who invited us for this wonderful occasion and of course the friendship of Torsten and Angela which I will always cherish to the core at any time.

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

"Ein herz für Kinder" - Run around the alster lake for 7.5 kms

When one has lived considerable amount of time in Hamburg, one can never forget the beautiful picturesque view of Alster Lake in their life. Recently had a great chance to run along the Aussenalster (Outer Alster) for a distance of 7.4 kms in 51 minutes along with my MBA classmates and my good friend Ratheesh. This event was sponsored by Allianz, the German insurance giant for a good cause “Ein Herz für Kinder” – Love for Children.

Thanks to Northern Institute of Technology Management who initiated us to take part in this event. There is another program running called “One of us”. It’s an initiative taken by all the alumni’s of NIT to sponsor one student from under developed or developing nation enabling him to study at NIT. Part of the contributions of this run goes to this cause as well.

It’s a great experience to run along the banks of Alster with perfect sunshine. The event was organized to perfection with lovely T-shirts, start kits, massages after the run and of course beverages. Hats off to Raghav, three year old kid who ran 200m race along with his counterparts. It was a great day of picnic near the Alster Lake. Thanks to my good friend Prbau who motivated me to practise after the work. It’s a good feeling to run for a good cause and simultaneously keeping an eye on the tummy ;)

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Converting Indian driving license to German driving license

 

There were many questions from my friends of how to convert Indian driving license to German driving license. Hope this article answers some of the common questions which everybody has. When one has Indian driving license, one can use it for the first six months in Germany. But after six months of stay in Germany, one necessarily has to take German driving license. How absurd isn’t it? Does one forget driving after driving for six months? ;)

Mandatorily, one has to take theory exams by memorizing around 1500 odd questions. This exam can be taken in English. Please go to ADAC and make the translation of Indian driving license in German. Submit this translation certificate from ADAC to local transport office issuing driving license (Strasseverkehrsamt). When one has driving license in India, one need not take mandatory driving lessons. One can totally skip those lessons.

Just take maximum of five lessons to get a feel of driving in German roads, learn the rules and try it in Autobahn. After five lessons, register for the exams immediately because registering of the exams takes two weeks. In this meantime, please take five lessons. Make sure, you don’t take more than ten driving lessons. If you are lucky, you clear the exam in the first attempt; otherwise throw the dice till you get your driving license ;) But never miss the chance of driving in Autobahn in your life.

Run for Help - 9 Kms in Lueneburg

Summer is back, need to burn out the calories which I accumulated during the winter, can't find a better opportunity to run through the city of Lueneburg for a helping cause for around 9 Kms. Initially, I was always skeptic about the distance of 9 Kms, but thanks to the motivation of my good friend Prabu with whom I trained twice a week after the work. Special thanks to my colleague Rene, who is my inspiration and motivation for all the sporting activities of running, cycling, swimming etc. 

Thanks to Werum which takes special care to sponsor for many sporting events in and around Hamburg and motivate the employees to do some sports rather than sitting before the computer all the time. It was a great chance to run in and around the streets of Lueneburg along with thousands of people. The registration money from the participants is used for a noble cause. Thank god, the weather stayed absolutely fine and it was not raining. My target was to finish it well with an hour and I could manage it on 59,47 minutes :) But what I felt discrepancy in the race is, my jog tracker application showed just 8.3 kms and my friend also confirmed the same. But who care whether its 8.3 or 9 kms, when the running is for a good cause. It was certainly a day to remember!

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

German Citizenship - Ich liebe Deutschland!!

Just a short wittiness: When I first landed in Hamburg airport for the first time, I had to pay 50 cents to take the trolley for my luggage. My mind said should I have to pay 30 rupees (50 cents) to use the trolley instead I can take the luggage by hand but once I came out of the airport my friends told me that one can get the 50 cents back lol. From that day till now, it has been a tremendous and challenging journey for me in Europe. I can not imagine myself that I am a German nationality now when I am writing this article.

Unfortunately, India doesn’t support dual citizenship. So for acquiring German citizenship, I need to give up my Indian citizenship. It was certainly not an easy decision for me to give up my Indian nationality. So what made me to go for German citizenship? There were quite a number of reasons which prompted me to go for this decision. The first important advantage of possessing a German passport for me is traveling becomes easier. For example, if I want to visit my cousin who is doing his Phd in New Zealand, I just have to book the tickets and fly directly to NZ. Same holds good for US, UK, Australia and other Asian countries. I had to face quite a lot of bureaucratic procedures for applying tourist visa to US, UK or UAE. Especially for travel freaks like me, it’s definitely a handy feature to have German passport.

I really thank god that I was given the opportunity to experience both the European and Indian culture to the core. Even though my roots are Indian, I should honestly admit that German society is one of the more idealistic Utopian societies after I witnessed around twenty countries in the European Union and which I read about in my history books. The most striking feature about this country is the health insurance. Every Tom, Dick and Harry is completely insured by the state for his health. Even giants like United States are not in a position to offer this luxury to its citizens.

Next striking feature is the School and University education. I always feel money shouldn’t be a barrier for somebody in their lives from pursuing their dreams of higher education. You can send your kids to the same school where Einstein went but you don’t pay extra money for it. Same holds good for pursing higher education and pursuing research. I am pretty sure this is not the case in countries like United States, UK, India, and Australia where one has to shell out considerable amount of money in schools, colleges and Universities for their children to get high quality of education.

Another thing which I really liked in Germany or for that matter in Europe is the gap between rich and the poor is very small. A barber can dream to drive a BMW, can go to holidays to Spain and lead a healthy life on par with snobby white colored employees. The standard of living is equivalent for almost every individual and the respect for each job is simply awesome. Having been brought up with so many economical differences in the society from the childhood, definitely Europe gave me a chance to see the other side of the globe.

What strikes me more about European economy is the word Security. The sort of insurances involved during unemployment and during retirement. It can never happen in Germany that you are fired one fine day unless and otherwise you stole something from the office or harassed some beautiful girl in the office ;) It was never German way of life style to spend lavishly with credit cards and go bankrupt. Hardly I have seen people spending here more than what they have in their pockets or by taking lavish credits from the bank.  Many of my German colleagues always complain that Scandinavian countries have the best social security system but honestly they haven’t seen the other side of the world. Germany is no doubt definitely on par and top when compared to other western countries. The point which is of worth mentioning is about the maternity holidays which last for three years before mommies could join the same job. Well of course, Germany needs kids or who else will pay the insurance for the oldies. As per statistics, every German family needs minimum 2.5 kids per family to sustain their economy and to balance their social security system.

Besides all these benefits, the amount of holidays which one gets in a year is something worth mentioning. The most striking part is, when one is sick, its goes as sick holidays and it will not be deducted from your normal holidays. The German work culture which is organized and structured to the core where one definitely take their work close to their heart but they never miss out of their nude holidays in sunny beaches and drinking beer along the shores;)

My first target when I came to Germany was to complete my studies and go either to United States or to India. After my studies, I felt why not have some German work experiences for some years. After rubbing shoulders with some smart Germans and tasting German work culture, I thought why not live in Germany with my wife here for couple of years. After leading marital life for some years, I felt why not have kids here and I realized time ran so fast and it’s almost six and half years since I left India and now I got my German citizenship. The other reason where German citizenship will play an important role for me in the future is to work in India for considerable period of time and can return back to Germany anytime if I want. Alarm bells are always ringing from my mom every day that I should return back to India as soon as possible since I am the only child and it’s my utmost duty to take care of them during their last phase of their life.

One good thing done by our puppet Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh is the introduction of OCI card for all foreign nationalities of Indian origin. The card which enables to live in India as long as possible, work in India, start business if needed, buy some property and have the same rights as Indian citizens. Only bottleneck is one can not vote, one can not work in Government organization, one can not become a politician  I am sorry to say that our house street in India has been completely taken out of voting list. It’s been some years since my parents caste their votes.

So I will definitely not going to miss out with respect to voting and becoming a politician in India is never possible for people who are academicians and from middle class ;) But working in government job, that’s kind of bit tricky. I always wanted to give back to Indian society simply because that’s where my roots are. It was always my dream to work as a Professor in Anna University at the fag end of my career or even contribute some coding lines to Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). But it’s too early to think on those lines, one never knows what comes out in the future and especially when the diplomatic relations between India and European Union is increasing at a rapid rate.

If you have made up to this line of my article, thanks for your valuable time. The reason why I wrote this article is mainly for people who still think and relate Germany to Second World War, Hitler and Nazism. Times have changed, world has moved a long way. There are always stray incidents which happen here and there but that’s quite common and happening in any part of the world for foreigners.

I thank each and every German, my fellow countrymen, friends from different countries who helped me in one way or other to come to the level of attaining German citizenship. My special thanks to my Technical University Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH) and Northern Institute of Technology Management (NIT) and my company Werum Software & Systems which provided me a great opportunity to taste German way of life. With out all your help, warmth, love and affection, it wouldn’t have been possible. At the end of the day, German passport is yet another piece of paper but that shouldn’t eradicate my roots or the values which I imbibed from Indian society.

When I first left my hometown to Germany for my higher studies, I never ever imagined that I would become a citizen of Germany. As Tamil scholar Kaniyan Poongundranar said before 1000 years, “Yadhum Oore Yavarum Kelir” – the whole world is my family, every person on this earth are my kith and kin. It’s just the politicians and humans have created borders and division among people but I always believe those are just imaginary lines to separate people. So it’s just yet another piece of small book stating German citizenship which is going to lie in my shelf.

I always had a small feeling that I didn’t land up in United States before some years because of language constraints here in Germany. But once I could manage most of the stuff with my dilly dally German language and when I look back my days, I am quite happy that I landed in Germany for many good reasons. Not to forget, I got my precious gift (Anish) here with the help of German Medical Insurance system and sophisticated modern medical facilities. . Well one can always make holidays in United States with German passport. I really have to admit the fact and sentence which my mom said when I informed that I am going to be German citizen. “I sold my son to a foreign land”  But let me also admit the fact that I love Germany to the core as I love my mom.

One of my German colleague said on a lighter vein during the lunch time, ‘Jetzt haben wir den Salad”. Now we have a salad after the arrival of Sathish in Germany ;). I thank Germany from the bottom of my heart what it has offered me in all spheres of my life.

List of countries which I trotted during my studies and during my work in Germany.

1.    Germany
2.    Spain
3.    Italy
4.    Swiss
5.    Austria
6.    Latvia
7.    Slovakia
8.    Hungary
9.    Netherlands
10.    Belgium
11.    Denmark
12.    Sweden
13.    Norway
14.    France
15.    Portugal
16.    Turkey
17.    Czech Republic
18.    India
19.    UAE
20.    United Kingdom, Qatar (only in the airport)


Ich liebe Deutschland!
I am indeed a proud Indian!
Sathish Kumar S

First name of dad becomes surname for the kid... Do you know this?

Recently I had complication to get the right surname in the birth certificate for my son in Lueneburg, Germany. Normally in South Indian culture, the first name of the father becomes the surname for the son. For e.g. my first name is Sathish and my son gets the surname as Sathish. This concept of naming seems to be totally new and weird for Germans in the Standesamt (Birth Certificate office). Because in Germany, the kid gets the surname of either mom or dad. So in our case, my surname is Shanmugam and Anita’s surname is Muruganandam. So my son will get the surname as either Shanmugam or Muruganandam.

In the first instinct, I was kind of ok with this rule and sort of proceeded to have Shanmugam as surname for my son. But my wife was very adamant that it’s quite unusual to have grand father’s name(Shanmugam) as surname for our son. I can totally understand her position and wish. So I thought I should fight it out with the local authorities to get Sathish as the surname. I took the example of my other Indian friends in South Germany who had the similar situation and they didn’t have similar problem with their local authorities to have father’s first name as surname for their kids. I scanned those birth certificates with the similar situation and went to the concerning officials in Lueneburg.

I had to argue with them if other Standesamt (Birth Certificate office) in Germany can give father’s first name as surname for Indian kids, why not Lueneburg. The lady was arguing that according to the rule of names in Germany for Indian kids, it’s not possible to give that way and I can only go by the phrase in the rule book of names for Indians. What was surprising for me was she said, Indians don’t have the concept of first name and family name and we just have names written together. I was shocked to the core with her statement. If that’s the case, why in Indian passport we have first name and surname. She reiterated that only because of internalization and global mobilization, Indians have agreed to the naming conventions according to western rule.

I said, I can even get a letter from Indian Embassy in Hamburg stating that it’s acceptable to have first name of father as surname for the kid. The lady was so adamant that she will go only by text books and she can not change her mind. I can agree to the lady if my son is given German passport and nationality, then it makes sense to abide by the rules of German naming convention. If the kid is Indian, I thought why I should be submissive with my approach to her. I said, I will go to press if she carried with this approach. If other offices in Germany can give such birth certificates with out any fuss then why not Lueneburg. She got frightened after I said I will go to press.

She gave me a work around to get Sathish as surname for my son. Since the kid is born in Germany, the kid can be named according to German naming convention but the parents won’t be given any surnames. It’s the birth certificate of my son, what’s important is the first name and surname of my son and it totally doesn’t matter if the dad’s and mom’s name is written as one full name or split in to surname and first name. So I finally agreed with this solution after discussing and arguing for nearly two and half hours.

The kids can also get international birth certificate in Germany. I requested is it at least possible to get surname and first name correctly for the parents. She argued international birth certificate is an exact copy of German birth certificate and she can only issue as it is in German birth certificate (Geburtsurkunde). I asked her to show the rule where it’s stated that International birth certificate is an exact copy of German birth certificate. She said she will get back to me in few weeks finding this rule ;)

I made great experiences with different sections of people in Germany but not definitely with the government office people. They have a different attitude towards foreigners. Had it been before some years, I should have just accepted what she said. But this time I thought I should fight it out to practice my German and pass time with bureaucratic snobs ;) I felt it as a total waste of time just for the shit paper works. There are so many issues and problems to concentrate in life but sometimes people in government offices are bogged down with petty things.

Conclusion: My son's first name: Anish (Anita + Sathish) Kumar
surname : Sathish

Isn’t it a nice feeling in the future when somebody calls my son Herr. Sathish (Mr. Sathish) and not Herr. Shanmugam (Mr. Shanmugam).

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Istanbul - West meets East

After one spent considerable amount of time in Germany, at least one time or other, one should have gone to Turkish shop to eat the famous Döner Kebap or Durm. After hearing about all the stories about Turkish culture, food and historical cities from our Turkish friends in Universities, Istanbul was always in my list of European voyage. Thanks to the cheap air tickets by Condor Airlines from Hamburg to Istanbul. If you are having Indian passport, one can get on arrival visa by showing the hotel bookings and return tickets for two weeks.

Istanbul is a sandwich city between Europe and Asia and so is the culture of Istanbul with the conglomeration of east and west. One side you see the tall skyscrapers, modern outfits and western style and on the other side one sees the traditional Mosques, Bazaars and trademark Islamic buildings. The lovely Bosphorus bridge connecting Europe and Asia and one of the busiest bridges in the world is a treat to watch especially with lights in the night time.

Had a chance to rent a car to explore Istanbul and near by places. Driving in Turkey is more or less similar to driving in India. Hagia Sophia, Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Basilica Cistern, Dolmabahchi Palace which shows the richness of Ottoman empire are some of the must see places in Istanbul. The Grand Bazaar is the oldest and one of the largest covered markets in the world and strolling across this Bazaar is definitely a life time experience.

A cruise ship on the Bosphorus on a sunny day is a must in Istanbul. The same cruise ship on the Bosphorus in the night with belly and Turkish dance and Turkish cuisines on the ship is yet another great experience ;) Had a chance to go to Sile, a small beach located by the Black-Sea shore and is just 45 minutes drive by car from Istanbul. The most fascinating aspect of Istanbul is the restaurants. They have marvellous and huge varieties of Turkish food and sweets which one can savour to the core.

Thanks to Özge and Ismail, my good Turkish friends in my University hosted us in a traditional Turkish Restaurant and their hospitality was simply awesome. It’s a special feeling to catch up with friends with whom you rubbed shoulders in German Universities and to meet them in their homeland. Thanks to my good friends Prabu and Aishwarya who accompanied with us for the trip and we had loads of fun with both of them and they gave a great company. Prabu made excellent pictures with his SLR camera and the ladies as usual posed for the pictures ;)

All in all it was an excellent trip which will reside in my memory for long time. After exploring Istanbul, I should say Turkey is no way developing country, it is indeed developed nation. Probably the same quality of life is not to be seen in other areas of Turkey. By far, in my opinion, Istanbul looked grand and rich in all aspects. Istanbul must see place in Europe. Oh I am sorry in Asia Oh no Europe and Asia ;)

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Insurance - Way for quality life

During my student time, I always cursed myself of paying certain amount to the medical insurance. It even got aggravated once I started working that the amount got increased considerably. Whenever I used to say to my friends working in different parts of the world like India, Dubai, USA that here in Germany we pay nearly 40% taxes, they were shell shocked to the core. Even I felt the same that the amount of tax deductions here in Germany was very high and totally needless. I never understood the concept of Insurance since I was brought up in Indian society where spending to a doctor is a waste of money and we never had a situation in our society where monthly contribution was given to health system.

But I really understood its significance and importance only during the time of pregnancy of my wife. She has to be in the hospital for nearly two months and all the expenses were taken care by the health insurance. I never felt at one instance the financial stress during this tough situation. Thanks to the medical insurance system here. It was a good learning curve for me regarding Insurance because as one grows older and older, more and more complications can occur in body and during that time, one can not afford quite a lot of money for medical expenses from one’s own pocket.

I really feel this system should also be introduced in Indian society where part of the monthly contributions goes to Medical Insurance system and when dire straits arrive in one’s life, no need to worry about the financial situation to treat the patient. I feel insurance should also be introduced in various fields which definitely make the quality of life much more cherishing and happy.

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S