Herzlich Willkommen!!!

Ich lerne Deutsche!!! – Hold on! If this sounds as Greek and Latin to you, you are little away from the country that speaks Deutsche – In other words German! I just mentioned that I learn German!

Learning foreign languages have always been my vision! It opens an arena of the rich culture of the people who speak those languages. Coming from a country that is rich and diverse in culture, it is no surprise that I was interested in learning more about the cultures of other countries too. The European culture is one that always fascinated me. Right from Greek to Roman to the English to German and French, the culture is diverse and captivating.

Language makes us know more and feel closer to the culture of different people and countries. One of the inspirations to learn foreign languages was my aunt who happened to work for Mitsubishi (Perhaps Mitsubishi’s Lancer cars will throw light about the company!), who had some Japanese books in her shelf and the language and the script never failed to intrigue me. Nevertheless, I understood not a single character in that book! However though, it was a book filled with pictures and Japanese characters.

My uncle who has traveled to many European countries has been an inspiration to know about France, England and Germany. It is these interests that were sowed, made an attempt to choose French as my second language in Higher Secondary Education (Hmmm – Now I hardly remember any word there in French!). It was the lazy days post college final year days, awaiting my day to join the software company, I happened to see an advertisement for enrollment to Learn German in the Goethe Institute. This Institute is a world known organization for teaching and certifying German to people. The Goethe Institute in Chennai is called The Max Mueller Bhavan – honoring the German who was responsible for spreading Indian culture to the West, by translating Vedas and many of our consecrated texts!

The proximity (about ½ hr travel and 15 minutes walk in the not so hot July sun of Chennai!) was fine enough for me, that I enrolled along with my best friend to learn Deutsche. Learning German was such fun and the lecturers were the best I had ever come across. It was the type of teaching and learning that inspired me so much – There was so much of interaction between the 20 odd people in our class, the bunch being between 18 and 25.

There were so many songs, videos, small plays, dialogues, audio quizzes, crosswords, picture matching and what not that we came across as a tool to learn! It was learning with fun and there are so much that I still remember in Deutsche, even after 4 years of no Deutsche! I happened to attend the weekend classes and I would expect with child like eagerness who waits for chocos and toys, for the weekend classes to come. Such was the people who learned with me, such was the ambience, such was the lecturers who taught, such was the method of teaching – Also to mention the wonderful hot snacks that we had for breakfast on our Sunday mornings – The whole group would chit chat and there was a variety of people from different stages of lives. Few were working, few were still in college, some in their schools and few were waiting to join work – It was an enthusiastic mixture of people.

I was unable to continue the second level of German, however some day I really want to join and go up ahead in completing the 7 levels (It had 7 levels for completion then!).

As an appendix perhaps, here are some beautiful words/sentences from the language

Herzlich Willkommen – Hearty Welcome – This was how my teacher welcomed as we entered the class!

Guten Tag – Good Day!

Danke – Thanks!

Wie ghets – How do you do

And most importantly

Ich liebe dich! – I love you!!! – My my, what uproar it caused when my teacher wrote these words within a heart shape and translated it!!! – Those are ever green memories…

Auf Wiedersehen…(See you again!)

Greek Mythology

Myth is generally termed as a traditional story accepted as History; It serves to explain the world view of a people. It so happens that we sometimes feel that why should few Myths not just be real and not reel. I still remember the day when a colleague friend of mine introduced me to such a Myth, which I really am sure that many would feel that it is real or would atleast wish them to be real! This myth was known world wide by the famous poet Iliad’s two most laudable works in literature – Homer and Odyssey. The “Godly” world of Greeks, the life, the death, the relations of mortals and immortals alike plays a crucial portion of the Greek Mythology.

It was a “thought munching” and “digesting” time, post an important conference call, that this friend of mine explained me about some of the key personalities of Greek Mythology. I was so fascinated that I browsed a lot about this subject and gained little knowledge by the end of that day itself. Some of the most intriguing characters in Greek Mythology are the God of Gods “Zeus”, his wife “Hera”, Zeus’ twin kids “Athena” and “Apollo”, Hercules the Hero, The Goddess of Love “Aphrodite”, and of course the very famous “Helen of Troy!”

The mythology is so powerful and an interesting read, that the tinsel world went ahead to make movies out of the myth, the latest being the hit movie Troy starring none other than the American heart throb “Brad Pitt”. The episode of “Helen of Tory” (Or shall we say “The Trojan War”?) is definitely the most interesting piece of Myth. There are of course funny moments in the Greek Mythology and one of the best happens when the Sun God Helios finds the secret relationship between the War God Ares and Love Goddess Aphrodite and summons everyone including Aphrodite’s poor husband “Hephaestus”, who comes to know of his wife’s paramour.

Lovers of literature will always honor exceptional works like Iliad and Odyssey. It is not needed to go to the depth of literature to relish the intricacies and beauty of any mythology. Hearing, discussing, reading small snippets, watching movies about such Mythologies itself grabs our interest and attention and we land up loving and adoring them. I am one such person who does not go into such great depths, however enjoy learning them in bits and pieces.

With more thoughts…

The Not So Long Saunter

Every morning, rather most of the mornings, I happen to go to the Office by walk. It is definitely not a long walk, however long enough to satisfy my own self, as back home in my country I would never have walked this long. Of course to be honest, I feel very bored and lazy, when I realize that I need to walk early in the morning for twenty five grueling minutes. However, by the time I come out of the apartment, I generally feel “It is not bad after all Ram, you know you can make it”.

The last two thirds of the walk is the portion that anyone can enjoy, provided the person is a nature lover. I would not call it the most scenic place in the world, nor are there an assortment of greenery and flowers. However, the little change from the sheer buildings in the first part of the journey to a wide spread of greenery and the increase in the number of tress would make you feel better. Also a particular small portion where an awesome mixture of colorful tulips is a must see sight. You can never admire the beauty if you travel in a car. It is in such walks, that you get time to enjoy nature. You will have to leave alone all your issues and troubles and devout your sight and thoughts to Mother Nature.

I really am a great lover of flowers and those botanical beings which are of all sizes and colors never fail to attract me. It really does not matter if the flower has an associated fragrance! I know not the names of all the flowers that I see, but I know to smile back at them, when they bloom and lay in the ground waiting to be admired.

The sun comes out very fast in the June sky, here in Utah and nowadays it is hotter. However it is not too hot to relinquish your morning walk. It is no longer the season of tulips here, but it is of roses. You name a color and I will show you a rose flower in that color. Oh! Yes, such is the diversity of their colors. Many gardens have a potpourri of roses and most commonly they form a sort of a separation between houses!

Now it is not these wonderful natural beauties alone, that make your walk so amiable, but also the man made jog track. Most of the mornings I see few people walk or jog in this jog track that lies only a few feet away from the pavement. Sometimes you do see people who smile at you, some say their Good mornings and few others with a charming “How do you do? I am doin Good”, conversations. These are very small things, however it makes you feel so much better. A stranger wishing you a very good morning, asking how are you doing, the flowers smiling at you, so much of greenery and the wide range of trees, they do give you a peace of mind and they make your heart light.

If you happen to find a not so long trail to saunter and enjoy, do not fail to make it a habit to walk – and if you have your loved ones near by accompanying you for the walk, I would re quote an apple a day saying to “A walk a day keeps the doc away!”

With more thoughts…

Picture Perfect

One of my room mates/friend has recently purchased a Handy Cam. It’s a Sony DVD writer Handy cam and this is the first time I have operated a Handy Cam in my life. This lifeless piece of electronic device that captures our life comes with us in almost all our outings. Atleast to begin with, when it arrived, we carried it to the nearby grocery shop and clicked a couple of snaps in front of it! We walked around our very own apartment and took 4 dozen snaps. And to top it all, we even took a cool snap of the blender that we just purchased. I really wonder if there is a person who takes snaps of their cars and here we are, two eager, ebullient adults, taking pictures of every small thing that might excite them.

It’s just not the snaps that I am going to write about. It’s also about the short video films that we took. My friend here took a very interesting video and the hero of that film was none other than me. The only difference being, I never knew he was talking a video. It was a short one, which captures my rule in the kitchen and that day I was making a side dish with cauliflowers. My ignorance about the fact that he was taking a video made this a very natural film that came out very well. It is these films that one would really love to save, cherish and feel happy about even after many years.

Capturing precious moments have always been an integral part of everybody’s life. And happiness knows no limits and bounds, when we share those moments with your near and dear ones.

My friend is calling me now, to capture few more elements that surround us. I am going off for taking every Picture Perfect.