Travel tales: Austria

This is crazy! I didn't intend to account my travel stories, but here I am in bed at 5 am & my brain is itching with titles & adjectives for anecdotes from my trips. It has been days since the last trip, but talking to a friend about the places I visited, has ignited the desire to pen down everything I recollect from it. Though my last visit wasn't to Austria, my head is bursting with its memories, so I will just delve into that.
I love travelling & I have to admit that it was my ulterior motive in choosing Europe for Masters. After exploring very little of Europe with my family 2 years back, I fought tooth & nail to get into a good university in Germany & hop on the next train/bus/flight to a new destination & turn that 'little' into 'lot'. And here I am! Though sadly I haven't covered as much of Europe by now as I wanted to, all my trips have been memorable & unique.
So, a few months back, we went to Austria (obviously!). 12-hour bus ride, a change at Munich & you are in Innsbruck. Very wrong weather to visit Austria if you want to see some of its wonders, but very good weather for the scenic mountains. So, win-win or lose-lose. Doesn't matter! It was winter, but the sun still shone through the white mountains. White & bright Innsbruck. And freaking expensive too. One of the reasons why we chose cheaper accommodation far from the city centre & travelled 1 hour each way for next two days to get 'home' after the day of exploring. But I don't mind that because the huge & luxurious apartment amidst the mountains was worth it. The bus arriving once every hour with the final destination's name very similar to other end points, was our only way to get to the house. Innsbruck started out with buying groceries & daily tickets & waiting for that bus. Chasing snow covered mountains & roller coaster lookalike roads, we reached the accommodation. It was at much higher altitude than the main city, hence more beautiful, closer view of the mountains, colder & lacking in public transportation. Discovering that the entire top floor of the house was at our expense, complete with kitchen & a bathtub, was like finding a newer, richer independence. Anyway, we freshened up & headed for the city. Innsbruck, like any other European city has a similar architecture, but also has its own beauties unique from others. That day was dedicated to city tour by foot. So, all the tourist attractions in 7 km radius were on the agenda. We covered a rather disappointing Anatomische Museum after a lot of walking and getting lost. But we got to see the Triumphforte or Triumph Arch, beautiful historic buildings & while walking towards the Goldenes Dachl (Golden roof), came across a splendid sight by the river Inn. Yes, Innsbruck is named after this river, literally translated to 'bridge over the Inn'. The other side of bridge was lined with colorful houses in possibly every primary color. With the sun close to setting, the orange & purple of the sky mellowed the bright hues of the houses & this symphony was made complete by the blue of the river. It was breath-taking! After marvelling the view for hours till the sun set, we moved on towards the Golden roof. It was indeed all gold, sparkling on its own with no help from any other illumination. Walking ahead, it led to Maria Theresien street. This street started out with a church and blended into clothing stores. While everyone was looking ahead and walking, I was looking sideways instead, peeking into the store windows lined with fabulous gowns. The night ended with rounds of rum at the apartment while talking about music and books (yes, we are the nerd kinds)! The next day was equally great. We explored tons of museums, Swarovski diamonds, the castles and zoo. We climbed up and down tiny hills, took a tourist bus ride introducing the sights as they pass by and stopping at spectacular panoramic points and ate pastries. Apparently, Austria is known for its chocolate cake! And it was splendid. A meal of Schnitzel ending with famous chocolate cake. The adventure of the day however, was the ride back. We got off at the wrong stop because we took the wrong bus and were dying of hunger. When I said before that all the roads in the village which housed the apartment, looked same, well it was more evident now. We kept walking uphill through the snow covered mountain roads and after walking for hours, finally saw the house. That night, my legs just said goodbye! With only 5 hours of sleep left before we travel for Halstatt, I bid farewell to second day in Austria. I will write more in next post as this has gone on long enough. See you in Austria part-2.

Git - magical version control

I know this is a very late post as compared to the time Git has been rocking the world of distributed code management, but I was introduced to it 18 months ago and I am still too ecstatic to just let this post go. So, for those who are unaware of git (though I highly doubt it), it's a way to do version control for code which you know is going to be messed up one way or another by your teammates before it's pearly white and ready to deploy. So, to avoid tiny heart attacks, every time you get back to your code and see a minute change giving null pointer exception, git is the solution. The people behind designing this masterpiece have taken into account every scenario and have devised simple and efficient ways to handle them. Some of its 'magical' features that make my life easy breezy are branching, pull, safe boundary between commit and push and so on so forth. Branching will let you create your own working space branched from the current version of the base code. You may start with cloning (or copying) the base code to your local drive and creating a branch after that. When you switch to this branch and make your changes, those are reflected in your section only and can be worked on in your local drive. When you switch to another branch, the same location in your drive gets altered. No other folder or copy is created to increase confusion, but the same root gets altered. Don't panic! It will just reflect the stuff from the branch you are in. This property amazed me the first time and I still find it quite smart. Next would be 'pull'. If you want to update your branch or create a new one with changes from another branch, you can do so with just one command..pull. It is easy as the name. It will merge the remote master branch into the current master branch leaving your changes alone, so basically an incremental update. Another feature I like is that the commit states are saved. You can always rollback or simply check the status of the branch at a certain point of time. It allows you rollback for all the past commits, not only a few recent ones. Now, separation between commit and push. Say you want to make sure that your current progress is saved but you don't really want to change all the files because you are not quite sure. Well, you can commit your code. It will save the state of your code at that instant without making explicit changes to your codebase. When you really want to update, 'push' your code and you have it in your branch. Merge is another great and maybe the last thing to do in git. This will combine your solo branch to the mother ship (or any other branch). This should be done at the final stage as you are submitting your finished code to its origin. And git has so many flavors, the commands and rules are same everywhere and you can prefer whichever you like. There's github, gitlab, bitbucket and maybe more. There are some thumb rules that you can follow if you are new to git and rest you can learn along the way.

They are*:
1. Always leave a commit message. Make it precise, preferably short but not vague. And do not repeat them; it's confusing and makes no point.
2. Clone:

git clone [--template=<template_directory>]
 [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare] [--mirror]
 [-o <name>] [-b <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
 [--dissociate] [--separate-git-dir <git dir>]
 [--depth <depth>] [--[no-]single-branch]
 [--recursive | --recurse-submodules] [--] <repository>
 [<directory>]

3. Branch:

git branch [--color[=<when>] | --no-color] [-r | -a]
 [--list] [-v [--abbrev=<length> | --no-abbrev]]
 [--column[=<options>] | --no-column]
 [(--merged | --no-merged | --contains) [<commit>]] [<pattern>…​]
git branch [--set-upstream | --track | --no-track] [-l] [-f] <branchname> [<start-point>]
git branch (--set-upstream-to=<upstream> | -u <upstream>) [<branchname>]
git branch --unset-upstream [<branchname>]
git branch (-m | -M) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch>
git branch (-d | -D) [-r] <branchname>…​
git branch --edit-description [<branchname>]

4. Commit

git commit [-a | --interactive | --patch] [-s] [-v] [-u<mode>] [--amend]
    [--dry-run] [(-c | -C | --fixup | --squash) <commit>]
    [-F <file> | -m <msg>] [--reset-author] [--allow-empty]
    [--allow-empty-message] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author=<author>]
    [--date=<date>] [--cleanup=<mode>] [--[no-]status]
    [-i | -o] [-S[<keyid>]] [--] [<file>…​]

5. Check status

git status [<options>…​] [--] [<pathspec>…​]

6. Push

git push [--all | --mirror | --tags] [--follow-tags] [--atomic] [-n | --dry-run] [--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>]
    [--repo=<repository>] [-f | --force] [--prune] [-v | --verbose]
    [-u | --set-upstream]
    [--[no-]signed|--sign=(true|false|if-asked)]
    [--force-with-lease[=<refname>[:<expect>]]]
    [--no-verify] [<repository> [<refspec>…​]]

7. Merge

git merge [-n] [--stat] [--no-commit] [--squash] [--[no-]edit]
 [-s <strategy>] [-X <strategy-option>] [-S[<keyid>]]
 [--[no-]rerere-autoupdate] [-m <msg>] [<commit>…​]
git merge <msg> HEAD <commit>…​
git merge --abort

8. Pull

git pull [options] [<repository> [<refspec>…​]] 

9. Tools to make life easier - if using command prompt is not your thing, then there are tools and extensions available to allow fetch, pull, commit etc. only a click away. You can use git gui, git extensions and many more tools to visualize what you're doing.

It could get a little confusing seeing all the splendid things git can do, but the documentation from these guys is extremely easy and quick to grasp. Also, when you are writing a tutorial or blog about a project, you don't have to store your code on some third party cloud service, instead you can give the git link to it. Git kinda acts as a CV of your projects. I would much rather prefer giving the git link instead of writing about my project without a proof. And if someone checks out my git repository, that's even better as I don't need to list my code-based projects on paper any more! So, hack your heart out and leave the rest to git.

*www.git-scm.com

Finland - Tiny Bundle of Kindness

Prague and Budapest - 3 days each, Austria - 6 days, Hamburg, Bremen and Rottenburg - 4 days. These are the number of days I spent exploring some cities and a country. Compared to all of this, Finland, primarily Helsinki demanded that I stay for 2 weeks because of Summer School. But while travelling from Berlin to Helsinki, I thought that wouldn't be a big deal. With the daily lectures and assignments, it's good that I am going for 2 weeks as I will get to explore the country more in depth, for once. But boy, was I wrong! Indeed.
Helsinki is beautiful. No doubt about it. It's minuscule and clean and well connected. The modes of transport are bus, tram and metro. Where I came from Berlin that has complex subway and train lines branching from one end to other like the maze from Tri-wizard tournament, Helsinki's metro line boils down to one line branching to two. Done.

Well, that's always good news. Easy to get around and get accustomed. But the size of the city? Helsinki defines 'small' in truest possible sense. You could finish exploring the city just by walking, in 2 days. Enough about the area and space, lets talk about what makes a city, city. The people. In one word, Finns are ADORABLE. They are so polite and humble and helping, that I feel guilty asking questions. If you ask a passer-by where a certain bar is, they would make sure you get there. One girl fished out her phone and got directions to the bar for us just because she didn't know where it was. In Berlin, one would just reply 'I don't know' and go their separate ways, but not Finns. Those who know the way, would explain how to get there for 10 mins, describing landmarks and signs so that you arrive exactly where you want. One guy simply got off his bike in the middle of the road and asked us if we were lost. Their willingness to help just makes me hug them and say 'thank you' 100 times. But that wouldn't be so good as I noticed they are not very social. You could find them drinking or hanging out in small groups and with other Finns. But they are warm and welcoming, nonetheless.

Now, about the city. It's beautifully laid out. It boasts of old and majestic to modern and admirable architecture. I was awestruck by the creativity of even the simplest buildings here. The minimalistic yet fancy looks of the buildings is commendable and the centre pieces in front of museums, parliament houses or office areas are absolutely unique. Where at one place stands a hybrid of snake and fish, the other place hosts a huge statue of a bald guy peeing an endless stream. Other places have abstract art and some hold age-old men-on-horse statues.

Apart from the architecture, this tiny city gives way to water bodies every 20 metres! You keep walking on a sunny warm day hoping to sit by the water, and bam! there's a lake right before your eyes. Lakes, then give way to oceans, narrowly stealing land from the already small city. Yachts and boats are anchored everywhere and the majestic ships and cruises floating at the harbour. You couldn't even stroll back far enough to see the whole ships...they are that huge! Amidst such giant structures, I felt like a timid mouse dreaming of climbing up and seeing the horizon growing farther and farther as I sail away. Even if not on a ship, I got the chance to explore the nearby islands by ferry. Rushing over the water with wind in my hair and sun in my eyes, it was refreshing to get out of Helsinki and explore Suomenlinna, a small island which used to be a sea fortress owned by Sweden and Finland and now belongs to Helsinki. It is an exotic little place complete with tunnels that were used to store ammunition and massive naval guns from the period of Russian occupation. The island also hosted a few stowed away sandy beaches and rocky ocean-sides covered with moss and yellow daisies. It reminded me of so many scenes from Game of Thrones that it felt like maybe I was in Westeros after all. On one of the days, we visited a city nearby, called Porvoo which was a serene cobbled town surrounded by private islands and second-hand stores. We were greeted by a small band of folk musicians playing GoT theme song on local string instruments which somehow made it sweeter and less ominous than how it usually sounds. The people again, were a delight and we met a couple who had left Norway to come stay in this far-off town. Everyone could be seen relaxing by their boats as if owning one was quite commonplace.

Now, about the social events and celebrations in Finland. As a capital, Helsinki was quite fancy when it came to night decorations, especially on the day of festivals. Everything was lit up in colors of rainbow at night. We had the chance to attend an art festival which was not localised at a certain place, but was spread over the entire city. Within a few meters from each other, people were presenting their skills in creating melody out of discarded glass bottles and metal spoon or challenging passer-by to make it to the top of a simple rope ladder and win 100 euros (which was humanly impossible because of the way it was woven) or street dancing. It was quite a lively evening as we walked by the streets witnessing bizarre acts of expertise and ended with sitting by the colossal staircase of a cathedral reminiscing about how we all met each other and drinking wine while gazing at the illuminated city. It was indeed a perfect reunion. I did a lot more in Helsinki though, like swimming to an island with 4 other lunatics in freezing cold sea (or lake, gauging from the mild current), walking through the cemetery feeding and chasing squirrels as we walked to the beach almost everyday, peeking into museums and monuments as the entry costs were too high and ending up paying anyway to have a glance at the beauty inside, trying to finish the summer school assignments fast enough so that we could hit some bar nearby and realizing that the night was 'oldies special' and the bar was filled with old people on dates trying their luck to meet someone but getting drunk instead only to end up in a puddle at their feet. It all led to a fantastic experience that made the 2 weeks in this city much more revealing (about my friends!) and memorable that I wouldn't trade for the world. Still, goodbye and see you never again Finland!

Business Courses and Me

I have never ever ever thought that business courses were worth paying attention to. It just doesn't seem important to get lectured on how to make decisions, presentations and especially not by a motivational speaker shouting and jumping up and down the room telling us to stand up, shout and jump around with him because that somehow gets you inspired and helps you present an exemplary pitch. Well, I say that's complete horse-shit! I am an engineer and I honestly can't be made to sit for a whole hour or two unless you teach me something technical. For your information, all this is going on in a summer school on Smart Spaces, I have to compulsorily attend in Helsinki and sit for 8 hours everyday listening to all sorts of topics very unrelated to Smart Spaces. Where I thought this was going to be related to IoT and how you could integrate sensors with spaces to achieve a more intuitive shopping/exploring/dwelling experience, this is more about making money and all the shortcomings associated with an idea before you even have to chance to let it flourish in your head. Nonetheless, I continue to daydream and sleep with my eyes open in the class. I have gotten surprisingly very good at it.
It's not like I don't want my innovation out there. I want to be an entrepreneur someday, to be responsible for a huge change in the world and what not. But I want to do it without the fear of it being a failure and constantly worrying about the possibility that I may not make any money out of it. If I ponder over these aspects even before my idea is born, I am afraid all I am doing is suffocating and killing it before it sees the morning light. In this summer school however, I am somehow thankful that I got a better project than other groups as we are more about innovating a new product to promote smart spaces than marketing the existing product through ads and promotions which is what other groups are doing. At his point I would like to introduce Nimble Devices  who we are working with to implement Indoor Positioning System (IPS) inside one of the biggest department store in Europe, Stockmann's Herkku. This is aimed to help customers navigate through the myriad of items at the store to easily find what they are looking for. We are also trying to provide added functionalities in this service like making your own grocery lists, getting notified about your turn in the queue so that you can roam around and shop instead of waiting in in-store queues and instant payment using your online account. Well, I hope this turns out to be a reality as then I would have contributed or spent some part of my summer school doing something remotely technical even though I wished for more.
In spite of all this, at least I got to explore a new country and met a lot of really polite Finnish people who speak English (Yes, that's a huge factor!). But I will write about Finland in detail in the next post anyway. And at the end, I still think rocket science is much more interesting and easier to wrap my head around than business.

How to have perfect days?

Agreed that perfect days are hard to come by. But then again, definition of 'perfect' varies from person to person. It's peculiar how a day of not doing anything could qualify as perfect too. Don't believe me? Well then try bunking all lectures & just relaxing the whole day. Don't do this everyday as too much perfection can be boring too. You sometimes need a bit of bad luck or imperfection to make the day exciting & later think about it & smile at your misfortune. Isn't that feeling perfect too?
Putting aside defining all this crap, let's talk about how to have a perfect day. If you are too much of a pussy to skip classes & it's your day off, then there are many things you can do to have a perfectly entertained day. Read below:

1. Write a blog while listening to music. I am doing that right now. This way, process of writing isn't too heavy on your head & you come up with happier thoughts and ideas instead of depressing, petty dramas of your life.

2. Music is bliss! If you want to be productive, but are procrastinating study or work, music is perfect. I know that during studies, watching movies and youtube are huge distractions. But when you are soaking in your favorite beats, you don't want to pause & go back to doing something else. Now that you got nothing to do while listening to music, open the unfinished assignment & see how fast you tame that bitch. Many-a-times, I have found this process highly effective when I have to wrap-up a code & swinging to your beats while working makes it so much less boring. How this contributes to your perfect day? Well, when you have finished a dragging assignment, isn't that feeling perfect?!

3. A perfect day is when you catch up with your family or 2-3 precious friends. I bet the conversations with them are pretty long & after hours of talking, you are cheerful for the rest of the day. This is such a simple pleasure & yet contributes so much to the day. Yesterday I talked with my best friend for 2 hours & my face still hurts with all the laughing!

4. COOK. Yes, not kidding. As you are so free today, go ahead, prepare something you have been craving for days. May it be a complex dish or a simple improvisation, go crazy. However it turns out, the cooking will definitely cheer you up. It's so calming and absorbing.

5. Movies. Some days I just want to curl up in my blanket & watch movies. Get that cup of hot chocolate & binge watch movies, series or whatever that you have been missing out on due to the hectic week. I sometimes love to drench myself in the ideal world of movies & steer clear of the real world. Love gaming? Go for it! When you get bored (which I seriously doubt you will), go out, meet friends. That's always an option.

6. Go out. Go to museums, parks, lakes or just to a friend's place to hang out. Museums are perfect. You steal away from your usual ambiance & stroll through a myriad of historic marvels. Parks & lakes are perfect if you have been trapped indoors the whole week. Breathe in & get rejuvenated for the next week. Walk around or ride in the parks. Chill with friends. Have cook-outs if the weather is good. Numerous options!

7. Attend every event you come across. Facebook is a great source of all the events going on in your city. Go to every single one. It's enriching & fun. Meet people, talk, drink & just let everything go. Go to after-parties & don't come back home till 5 in the morning. There you go, perfect day.

8. Go shopping. Fancy stores, second-hand stores, flea markets. Anywhere. Cheap & good stuff makes one happy, obviously! Expand your style, buy designs and patterns you never wore before & play with them. Explore outside your styling options by buying vintage & bizarre accessories. T-shirts with cocky quotes are definitely another viable option.

9. Indulge in old hobbies. If you like painting, reading or poetry or whatever & have been too busy to pay attention to them, now is the time. Trust me, you haven't lost your talent. It's still there, dying to crawl back to surface. I was astounded when my paintings turned out so well even though it had been ages since I last held a brush. It's refreshing to delve back into your interests. Live a little!

10. Go to art galleries. If you are an art lover, you will obviously enjoy it & if you are not, make fun of the pieces. If it's abstract, then even better. Decipher the meaning behind a meaningless piece of art. Goof around. But don't get caught & get kicked out for creating nuisance! But even that's fun, so yeah, do it (if you have the guts)!

11. Attend concerts. If it's your favorite band, spend the money. Enjoy a night of shouting with the rest of your counterparts (fans) while engulfed in your favorite songs.

These are only a few things you can indulge in, but YOU define how to perfectly spend a day. So, go ahead, do whatever makes you happy. Any additions to this list are welcome.

Berlin - arm, aber sexy! part-2

So, moving on about why Berlin is amazing & what all you can do here. I already wrote about how you can socialize even if you are not a party-lover and how you can prevent socializing as well. In the category of having some me-time, apart from reading by a lake or in green gardens, I mentioned before that you can set off to anywhere in Berlin & explore the diversity in its nooks & crannies. Take a camera along, so you can capture everything that you find enchanting. For me, this includes plain walls given life by graffiti, alleys lined with old houses, exquisite glass buildings, flowers by the road-side, blossoms during the onset of spring, chairs arranged outside a restaurant, shedding trees and so much more. You can see the results of my spontaneous explorations on my Instagram page. At the end of the day, when you compare these pictures, you will see how different yet similar Berlin is from end to end. If you have a bike, it's even better (and I am really jealous!). You see a side of Berlin that cannot be afforded by people using subways. The bike lanes' network in Berlin is commendable. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to get a ride on my friend's bike. Following the route which I take everyday from uni to home by subway, I got to explore it through bike lanes. It was so different & enriching. More like taking a city tour bus. We passed through concrete to cobbled streets, theatres to churches, parks to supermarkets & it seemed as I had never seen this side of Berlin. Some places even looked like certain corners of Mumbai! And obviously each time I exclaimed. So, you see how much of Europe (and sometimes Mumbai!) you can see with just Berlin.
One other thing I like about Berlin which makes it much homier & diverse than other German cities, is the numerous number of languages I hear around me. It's always comforting when I pass by an elderly couple who seem to have been in Berlin for ages & hear them speaking English. Students, of course, especially in my dorm, are from every continent. I hear Spanish, Hindi, English, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese & so many other tongues in the uni, parties, supermarkets & my kitchen. But this doesn't mean you shouldn't learn German. Knowing German is obviously a great advantage. You can participate in numerous Facebook groups for finding Tandems. And this is not only for German, but for any language you want to learn. One of my German friend, for example, is learning about Japanese culture, cuisine & language from his Japanese Tandem & teaching her German. He is also acting as my Tandem for now & teaching me German in exchange for Hindi. It's a win-win & so much fun! You not only learn the language for free, but also enjoy the cuisine of a region other than yours.
In summer, Berlin is even more fun. The sun doesn't go down till 9 pm! So, you have a longer, more productive day than usual. To add to this, it's warm enough to forget your jacket at home. Nowadays, I never want to come back home till it's completely dark & a bit chilly. Even after my classes are over, I just roam around the uni or my house with an ice-cream cone in my hand. You can see that nobody wants to be indoors during this time, by the crowd at the eateries & kids skating in parks.
Also, Berlin is a house of constant festivals. On May 1st, it was Labour Day. Where it started with friendly demonstrations in the morning, it changed to partying on the streets by 12 pm and went on till 2-3 am. For three consecutive stations, you could see all the pubs in the area playing loud music & the streets turning into dance floors. The places lacking lot of pubs, had people performing & music vans rocking some sick beats & people dancing & drinking. It was a whole lot different experience, seeing students & working people alike, shedding their work/study-time masks & donning on party hats. Looked like their agenda of the day was, Party, Drink, Eat, Repeat. I have no idea how my 6 hours got spent there. This was a one-day event, but the whole week celebrated Baumblütenfest, which is a wine drinking festival. Large crowd enjoying all kinds of wine on a huge field with some great music. What can bring down this city....nothing! It's merriment, unpredictable weather, medley of cultures & people, make it an assortment of surprise gifts where each gift is stunning! I think I found my dream place.

PS: Pictures of Berlin & other places I explored - https://www.instagram.com/way_of_eyes/

Berlin - arm, aber sexy! part-1

Translated, it says 'Berlin - poor, but sexy'. I agree. But another quote I agree with more is 'Why be normal when you can be Berlin!' (Didn't use that as the title because it's too long).
I mean, come on, have you ever heard of such quotes about any other city in the world! I bet, no. It's because Berlin is so unique & diverse & lunatic & modern & customized that no other city can be compared to it. New York is known for its fast-paced life, Mumbai for its maddening crowd & Budapest for its party life, but that's the thing, they are all known for one or two particular staples and Berlin is known for many!
I am not a person who likes to go clubbing or partying all night long, but Berlin has such a huge bounty of activities you can indulge in, that you never get bored or left out. If my friends go dancing or drinking at a pub, I am not at home feeling 'I got nothing to do'. At such times, I always have much more to do instead, like cook-off with my neighbours or trying out a new cuisine at a restaurant I have never set foot in or the regular house parties in our & other dorms where you can just enter unannounced & meet so many different people. I should also be thankful to the innumerable get-together & networking events organized by my university. Free food, people of countless nationalities & enriching conversations, guarantee not only new acquaintances but also so much knowledge; knowledge about ideas, innovations, startups, businesses, technology, experiences, travel, life & so much more.
But this is about when you want to mingle, what about the times when you just want to shut out the world & be in your own bubble. Well, in Mumbai, I did that by staying at home & painting or writing or reading or watching movies end to end (I know, sounds pathetic), but in Berlin, the lonesome soul has quite a pallet to choose from. You could just leave your house with a camera or phone (and wallet, of course), get on the train, hop out somewhere, for example a place whose name sounded intriguing to you & wander about the street, capturing anything & everything you like. I did so & found that Berlin changes drastically from station to station. Where one corner is lavish & adorned with majestic, historic buildings and broad streets, the next station is a complete contrast lined with graffiti covered walls, narrow cobbled streets & loud music. This is also the only city I found where a fancy restaurant is flaunted by a shady tattoo parlour on one side & a bike store on the other. Berlin truly gives amalgamation a new definition! Speaking of amalgamation, it's very evident even in the communities that reside here. You find cultures in architecture, food, walls, streets, houses, supermarkets & just about everywhere. I have tried so many kinds of food here without paying heftily at world cuisine restaurants, but by just entering small, stowed away eateries. You can get Chinese, Arabic, Indian, Turkish, Japanese or any kind of food here. In my 'solitary' moments, take-outs from such places is one of the frequent things I do. Then you can find a spot in any of the numerous gardens that this city hosts & perch down on the grass with a good book. And nothing shouts 'me' time like reading a book in peace, that too outside. To sit peacefully & soak in the nature, you can take your pick, of course. Whether you prefer the gardens or lakes. Yes, lakes! What Germany lacks in oceans & seas, it makes up with vast, clean lakes inhabited by ducks & swans. But I would recommend that for summers as otherwise it's a bit chilly to be not moving near lakes.
Anyway, I want to write more about things to do in Berlin, but I feel this article has gone on too long. It's better if I continue this as a second part. After all, this is a blog, not a novel. Bis bald!

How to binge-watch movies?

Putting aside the fact that I am an engineer & a book addict (in civil words, a reader!), I am also a movie & series addict. I generally binge watch a series till I finish all the seasons before I move onto a new one. Also one of the the reasons why I like to start a series after it has been completely aired. With movies too, it's a similar story. But binge watching movies doesn't mean picking all the hits in a row or picking randomly either. No. The pleasure lies in finishing an entire genre of movies from the old to the latest! I am not writing 'oldest' because honestly, in my case, I don't have the patience or tolerance to watch those black and white, 4-hour long movies that leave me with a headache. I go for 1980's to recent flicks. Once I come across a movie that I really like, I research the hell out that genre, listing all the movies that are similar to it, read the abstract IMDB plots (obviously not to give away too much), filter out & discard the shitty ones based on rating & 'critical reception' from Wikipedia (I need a reason why a movie was rated low. In all fairness, ridiculing a movie demands justification, not only to its makers but also to me!). After I am set with the list of pearly white, praised movies, I glue my butt to the chair (metaphorically, of course) & wrap up the genre. The only times I watch movies in random is when I don't come across a good movie & hence have no reason to exploit that genre. This seems like a futile, time wasting exercise, but to a movie nerd like me, this is systematic indulgence. Take for example the time I watched The Italian Job. A heist movie aimed as a revenge, starring Charlize Theron, Matt Wahlberg & Edward Norton. This led me to discover so many other heist movies that were released years ago & would have stayed hidden from me if I hadn't followed my 'binge watching algorithm'. The thought shudders me! I discovered movies like The Bank Job, The Heist (simple & clear & all in the name, I know), The Inside Man, The Town, Man on Wire & similar ones like Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and so many more! This is the same way as discovering Donnie Darko, Requiem of a Dream, Mulholland Drive, The Fountain, Holy Motors, etc. after watching Inception & Source Code. I could go on endlessly about how many amazing masterpieces I have discovered this way. Time Travel, Cons, Robbery, Sci-fi (and its sub categories like, future of planet, new invention, alternate scientific theories), Romance, Comedy, Animation, Historic movies, are only some of genres I partially exploited & can't wait to explore so many more. So, if you are a movie geek like me, I suggest you give this method a try. You may find something spectacular, who knows! 

A day in the "forest"

Out of the blue, David suggests we go to his mom's summer house in winter (or rather a bit close to summer). It's in the not-so-outskirts of Berlin, in a vast expanse of "forest" called Grunewald. I use the double quotes to describe forest as it's not exactly the unruly home of trees and shrubs and animals, nor is it one of those places for which you need sturdy shoes to venture into. The paths are paved & tall trees are strewn along the sides. Throughout the walk, you can hear the birds chirping & smell pine in the air. To steel away from the hustle-bustle of the city, Berliners have small gardens in this forest with a small house, generally with a kitchen, a small living room & bedroom. David's mom has a cute little place like this with a fireplace!! (I loved that. Could imagine myself snuggled in a blanket, reading a book by the fire). With the onset of summer, she has planted peach, tomatoes, potatoes, tulips and more. Can't wait to go back in summer & check out the garden. Thankfully, the days are now really long in Berlin, it's light outside till 7.30 pm! So, my day in Grunewald, even though it started fairly late, was still well-spent.
I had lunch with them in the courtyard. I and David were incharge of the food, so we had hastily cooked Indian style chicken & rice in the morning (which fortunately, she liked!). After eating, we went to their neighbour's place. They have a cute black shiny pug named Daffy. We played with her for hours and later they (both Daffy & her owners) joined us for evening coffee. I tried futilely to ride an old bike, but alas it was too tall for my tiny self. Even though I could ride it (not in a straight line), I was deemed unfit to go on the street with it. Well, atleast I gave it a try! Then I rode one of those tri-wheeled scooters for kids and tumbled sideways about 4 times. Then we climbed up on the roof of the house, the slant ones with no fence & peeped into other people's courtyard. No juicy details! With the evening coffee, we rampaged the whole house & abducted all the sweets we could find. So, the coffee time was more eating than drinking. Sitting in the courtyard & arguing if Germany is bigger than the biggest state of India, discussing recent news & events around the world, made me realize that tea/coffee break conversations are essentially the same everywhere in the world. We kept chatting till the sun decided to go to bed & the wind got chilly & Daffy was put in her fancy jacket as she was cold. That is one hell of a pampered dog! Anyway, after the sunny, yet nippy day in the forest, it was time to get home. To stretch the peaceful day a bit longer & delay the monotonous homework that awaited us, we decide to take the long bus ride home through the picturesque neighbourhood with stone houses & typical German bakeries followed by the city lights & streets decorated with supermarkets, Chanel & Armani. Our familiar grocery shop at a distance marked the nearing of home & I happily jumped back into my daily life with lingering memory of an uneventful, calm day.

All things beloved

Of all the things you value in life,

there’s one you always swear to strive.

It could be money, family or legacy,

but the fact, everything ends, makes it idiocy,

to worry & fret & spend sleepless nights,

to protect the thing you love, to see morning light.

Ever wondered that things paramount to you,

may not even bother a many or few?

Because life isn't same, nor is the mind,

So even if you search long, you cannot find,

a single thing that matters to all,

which when lost, would cause all to fall.

Miser values money, mother the child,

where knight fears no death, coward writhes wild.

In the face of death, there’s always that fear,

that even crumbles men so brave, to lose what they hold dear.

So it’s better to learn this sooner than later,

that nothing will endure on,

that we embark on this world alone,

and depart, again to be born. (The shit starts all over again..)