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.