The Trailing Spouse

Getting familiar with critters in our new home...

2011-08-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

After living for 6 years in Cincinnati and then Dusseldorf, Germany both in the temperate weather zone…we moved to Austin, TX earlier this year…We bought a house with a pool in the backyard surrounded by over 30 live oak trees…The month we moved in the live oak trees in our backyard were shedding their leaves…Even though we had a pool robot, I needed to clean out the two filter baskets beside the pool and the filter bag on the robot cleaner as much as twice a day and then use a long handled net to remove all the leaves which were floating on the surface of the pool…

Since the pool cleaner ran for half the day, every time I needed to empty the filter basket I had to manually shut off the cleaner on the pool control box before I began…One morning I went to open the control box and startled a snake at the base of the control box…I rushed back into the house to grab a broom and wear some closed pair of shoes…but before I got back the snake of course had long disappeared. I left the broom near the control box if ever there was a next time…

When the pool guy came for the weekly cleaning I told him about the snake and he said that every time I opened the covers of the filter baskets I should check if there was a snake there – because they often like to stay in cool areas. I almost had a heart attack as I had been blindly sticking my hand into the filter baskets to pull up as much leaves as I could before I could find the handle to lift the basket out and empty it. Since then I borrowed my husband’s long handled barbecue tongs to empty out the baskets rather than using my bare hands.

The pool guy also suggested that I pull up the large decorative grass growing near the control box. When the lawn people came on the weekend, I promptly got them to uproot more than 3 of these clumps and throw them away…

Next was seeing the bright green lizard on my back porch…the first time I saw him I thought of the lizard in the Geico ad…I had never seen such a bright green colored lizard before. I rushed to get a camera but as usual when you are searching for something you can never find it easily and before I got back to the porch – the lizard had gone. Since then I have seen him so many times that I am becoming nonchalant and just look to see where he is when I go out on the porch.

We needed to get some minor renovation done to our house and I had a contractor come to look at the work to be done. We were going to enter the shed below the deck when he stopped and said we should not go in there as he could see a Yellow jacket nest and that they are quite vicious. I had no idea what a yellow jacket was. Apparently it is a kind of wasp – with a bright yellow upper body – hence the name. I went to the nearest supermarket and went to look at sprays for the yellow jackets. The sales people told me that I should get one which I could spray from 8 ft away and also that I had to do it early morning or at dusk when the yellow jackets would still be in their nest and I had to be downwind from them when spraying the nest.

All these instructions were sounding too scary so I called the Pest control company and told them about the yellow jackets. They sent someone out the very next day and went all over the house and under the deck – they found and removed 4 of the yellow jacket nests – one was just beside the stairs we walked down to the pool area everyday and we had not noticed it.

We do have pleasanter visitors though – one is seeing the humming bird stopping on the live oak trees in the evening and now that we finally have some plants on the deck – they visit the flowering plants at dusk as well. Another is a kind of blackbird with a very long tail. I went on the native birds of Texas website to find a name – they are called boat tailed grackle…they have a very musical call, but are akin to crows and other pests…so far they have not bothered me much – I just hear their calling one another early mornings or at dusk…

Socks - the fourth member of the Prasad Family

2010-12-29T01:40:00.000-08:00

I guess it is time to tell how Socks came to be a member of the Prasad Family. We had just moved to Singapore in July 1995 and one month later, Aditya and I were having this intense discussion. He wanted me to get him a brother one year older than him or one year younger than him. I was trying to explain to him that with all the advancements in medical science, I did not know how to get him a 9 ½ yr old brother or a 7 ½ yr old brother. Anand patiently heard us go back and forth on this topic for about half an hour and suggested why didn’t we get a dog instead and the thought excited Aditya as well.

Aditya then had another stipulation – we could not buy a dog, but we had to adopt one. As I mentioned earlier we had just moved to Singapore a month ago and knew just one acquaintance there and was not sure how we could go about adopting a dog. Thankfully the Straits Times Classifieds came to the rescue and after perusing it for a few days – we found an ad – Puppies to good home. We called up the advertiser and she asked us to come to her house to see the pups. One Friday afternoon when Aditya returned from school we drove off to find the advertiser’s home armed with a Singapore Street Directory.

We drove and we drove and we drove. At one point Aditya asked if I knew where I was going as we had been driving for quite a while. I told him the Street Directory showed that we needed to drive further. When we finally reached the advertiser’s residence it was at the Seletar Camp and beyond the camp was a narrow stretch of sea and across the sea was Malaysia and we could actually hear music from a radio playing in Malaysia. The advertiser was a humanitarian who rescued dogs and cats in distress. When we visited her home she had 7 dogs 3 pups and innumerable cats. Of the litter of pups two were male – one all black with white spots, one like a Dalmatian and a female – almost all black.

Aditya was very sure that he wanted a male pup – but the lady told him that was not how to decide on a pet to adopt. She asked him to pick up each of the pups and see who bonded with him the best. He picked up the two male pups first and put them down and then picked up the female pup – she gave him one look with her melting eyes and Aditya did not put her down at all. He carried her all the way in his hands to the car and both of them sat in the back seat all the way home. We did not have any dog paraphernalia – no leash, collar, food or water bowls, food etc., We stopped at a pet store near our home and walked in and told them that we had acquired a puppy and they sold us the needful.

When we arrived home, we knocked on the door of our neighbor – a Swiss German family who had a dog and told them about our new puppy and Judith was kind enough to tell us how to take care of her. Our new pup was all black except for four white paws, white on the tip of her nose and tail and a big white patch on her chest. We named her – White Socks – (after the Chicago White Sox baseball team,) but no one called her by her full name – everyone called her Socks and I called her Girl. She had the most pleading eyes of any dog I have seen – as though she had not been fed for a week and we all had to take pity on her. Socks did not know how to bark at all for the first six months – the most that she could manage came out as a strangled cough. We finally heard her bark during a severe thunderstorm which is quite common in Singapore and found that she was terrified of loud sounds. Ever since then whenever Socks barked everyone at home who heard her would go to check what it was that had frightened her.

When she was less than a year old – she ran through the house one day to greet me when I was sitting in the study room with the sliding doors closed as the airconditioner was on. She did not see the glass doors and ran right into it. The door of course came crashing down and Socks ran away. We ran to find her and there were blood drops all along the way. I somehow bundled her into Aditya’s bathrobe which was drying on the clothes line and rushed her to the vet. She had to get about 14 stitches on her chest and paws but thankfully escaped with no damage to her eyes or face.

The vet said I had to run her everyday and I hated running, so I taught myself to ride a bicycle for the first time at 35 and then taught her to run beside the bike. She loved doing that – except when she saw something which frightened her. Her reaction was to sit still and since I was in motion, I would fly over the handle bars of the bicycle. To this day I have scars on my legs from my initial ventures with Socks. Once I had trained her to run along with the bike, Aditya had this bright idea of taking her for a run while he was rollerblading. She took off with all her enthusiasm and Aditya could not keep up with her pace at all and shouted for me to rescue him. If we all went out together on the bicycle, Socks had to be in the lead, no other bicycle could go ahead of her…

After three years of living in Singapore we moved to Kobe, Japan. Socks was extremely friendly with everyone she met and also all other animals. Other animals did not return the favour though. Our very first week in Japan, on our evening walk, we could hear some animal rustling in a small wood near our home and Socks of course went off tail wagging to say Hello. The ‘Eno Shishi’ or wild pig was not at all pleased and came charging at us and Socks and I ran all the way to our gate and shut ourselves safely behind it. We stayed in Kobe for just one year and returned back to Singapore. Strangely though she was born in Singapore and was returning there, she needed to be quarantined for 30 days. She had never been in a closed room ever since she was born and when we brought her home after the 30 days, she wanted to see us all the time and chewed down two doors – when we were away from home running errands.

We stayed in Singapore for 6 more years and then moved to the US. Socks had always been an outdoor dog – (she has short black hair typical of Asian dogs) till we went to the US – when she became an indoor dog due to the drastic change in weather…I would say US was the place she enjoyed the most for many reasons – she had so much room for herself. Our house was on a 1 acre lot and none of the properties have boundary fences. So we put down an electronic fence at the perimeter of the property – and she wore a collar which detected the electric charge if she ventured within a couple of feet of the fence and she stayed well within the fence. Everyone who came to the house – friends, workmen, service people, and delivery people – all of them would make a fuss over her – pet her and talk to her. This was a strange contrast to the 9 yrs she had lived in Singapore – where most people would first ask to leash her up when they came to the house as they are all terrified of dogs…

She had the largest number of beds in our Cincinnati home. Her official bed was in the butler’s pantry but she slept there only when we went to our bedroom at night. If we were in the kitchen, then she had a mat under the kitchen island. If we worked in the study, then she lay down on the carpet in the foyer so that she could keep an eye on us. When we sat in the family room, she had a huge 6 ft 12” thick furry pad in which she was almost lost. Her fifth bed was her travelling cage piled with her blankets in the garage when we were away at work.

She was diagnosed with arthritis about 6 months before we came to Dusseldorf so she was put on pain medication and glucosamine tablets for her joints. When we moved to Dusseldorf in end March last year, she was fine in the service apartment. Two months later we moved to our present apartment and this apartment had two balconies which literally hang over the pavement below. Since she used to like the outdoors so much we put her travel cage which was her bed again in the balcony, so that she could see all the people walking below and in the park across the road. But one of the very first times I left her alone at home and returned, I heard like a child crying and was wondering who was not picking up their little child.

On entering the apartment I found that it was Socks crying, she was sitting inside her bed in the balcony and crying like a human child. Ever since then we found that she preferred to stay inside the apartment when we were away rather than in the balcony…

She also had the maximum number of visits to the vet since we came to Dusseldorf. She was losing sight and hearing and was put on another medication to help build up the blood vessels to her eyes and ears. Just this year she had been X-rayed twice, had a full sonogram (it was the first time I saw images so clearly on a sonogram), steroid injections on both her back legs at regular intervals after a bad fall in July and protein supplement in her food everyday to build up the muscles in her legs in addition to her arthritis & sight & hearing medication….

The end came very quickly. The kennel owner rang up Anand on the 22nd of Dec saying that she had licked clean a 2 cm patch on her left foreleg and pus was oozing from it. They took her to the Emergency clinic the same evening and cut open the abscess, cleaned and bandaged the foot and put her on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. By the 25th she had licked clean another patch on the joint of her right hind leg and by Sunday she had done the same to her right foreleg and pus was oozing from it too. The vet at the Emergency clinic told us that if it was just one abscess they would even amputate her foot but it looked like all her joints were hurting her too much and she was biting them in order to relieve the pain – so we decided to let her go…

Not at all an easy decision to make after having her for 15 ½ years through 4 countries and 9 homes, but we could not bear to see her so helpless or in pain. We are hoping she is happily running around in doggie heaven somewhere…

Winter has come early to Dusseldorf this year.....

2010-12-08T01:30:00.000-08:00

We had our first snow on 27th November. Just for a couple of hours everything looked like it had been dusted with icing sugar and then it all melted away. We had our first serious snowfall on Monday, 29th Nov. I had gone to German class as usual and when I came out of class 4 hrs later there was snow all over my car. We get such little snow here (last year the car was always parked in an underground garage when Anand was at work and in our cellar while we were home), that we did not feel the need for a snow scraper at all. So when I saw the car covered in snow, the only thing easily available was the cover of my mobile which I used to scrape the snow off the four windows. I used the car’s heating and wipers to get the snow off the front and rear windows and drove off.

Since I had the car, I had to go pick up Anand after work – this normally would take me 15 mts, but that day it took me double the time to get there and of course it took twice as much time to get back home too. Since the snowfall had come so quickly the roads were not cleared at all and that makes for very slow driving….

Throughout last week the temperature stayed between 0 to -5C (between 23 -32 F), so the snow did not melt away. Then on Sunday it began raining which of course melted the top layer of the snow and then promptly overnight the temperature fell below freezing and of course now this has turned to a thin layer of ice – this is most apparent in the park where Socks and I have to go for our walk at least three times every day..

We make quite a ridiculous sight walking in the park as I am bent over and walking as low as Socks – as I have one arm under her belly in front of her back legs to support them as her back legs keep sliding apart in two directions when she encounters ice. We only have to take about 20 steps to cross the road in the park to get to the grassy area area. But we have to do this twice once on our way into the park and on our return.

Yesterday I had to return my library books – I normally take my bike and go across the park to the library and decided to do this as usual. I had not even travelled 500 ft into the park and saw the entire path covered in a nice sheet of ice and was congratulating myself on having taken the bicycle rather than attempting to walk when of course my bicycle slid and down I fell. Another bicyclist stopped and asked me in German if I was alright and I replied to him in English – Of course, except my pride. I attempted to do this a second time and promptly fell down again. Because I was taking the bicycle I had not put on my heavy snow walking shoes, but half boots like I would normally wear to the office and these were no help at all on the icy surface…

Finally I walked on the ground adjacent to the path till I got to a major road going through the park which they had salted in the middle. Since I was wearing my thick walking jacket and heavy pants with thermals – I did not get hurt much except for knocking my elbow hard when I fell. I also knocked off the rear warning light on the bike and one of the reflective strips on my rear tire.

While returning I stuck to center of the major road even though it was a more longer way of returning home. People use the park everyday to go to work, for their errands, mothers with children in buggies, school children going to and fro to school. School kids especially have a great time; they can skate across the park just using their normal shoes. I guess I am growing old and afraid of falling and it gives me the shivers just looking at the ice all across the paths or I am sympathizing too much with Socks….

Onam - a South Indian Harvest Festival

2010-10-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

(This blog post of mine was just published in the American Women's Club newsletter - Radschlaeger - thought I would share with all of you too)

I think most of you would be familiar with the Thanksgiving festival celebrated in the US which is a harvest festival . Today I am going to tell you about a little known harvest festival from my home state in India namely Kerala – called Onam…

Legend goes that Kerala prospered during the reign of King Mahabali and everyone in his kingdom was happy and prosperous. There was only one problem - the Gods became jealous that the people liked King Mahabali so much and decided to teach him a lesson. They sent down one of the Gods – Vishnu disguised as a monk. When the monk was admitted to the king’s audience, the king told him that he would grant whatever the monk desired.

The monk told King Mahabali that he did not wish for anything much - just enough land that he could measure with three of his footsteps. The king readily agreed to the monk’s request. On hearing this, the monk who was actually Vishnu in disguise grew larger and larger in size. With his first footstep he covered the earth; with his second footstep he covered the sky. Since he still had to take his third footstep, the king offered his head and Vishnu placed his third footstep on the king’s head and pushed him into the underworld.

Since the king was so loved by the people in his kingdom, the Gods allow him to visit his people once a year for 10 days. And so the people of Kerala celebrate the festival of Onam, just after the harvest to welcome King Mahabali ‘s time on Earth which usually falls between the months of August and September.

Some of the following customs and traditions are observed during the 10 days of Onam celebration. The ladies of the house make elaborate decorations in front of the main entrance of the house using different kind of flowers called pookalam.

During the festival days young girls and women perform a traditional dance called Kaikotti kali dressed in a special costume.

Snakeboat races are held in various locations called Vallamkali.

We often have all night kacheris – traditional Kathakali dancers in elaborate makeup and costumes reenacting the story of Onam through story and dance.

Growing up as a child my favourite memories of Onam was the beautiful meal that my mum made – it had to have three main ingredients: papadam – traditional Indian flatbread or cracker made from lentil flour and spices, pazham –the small sweet bananas (sometimes referred to as honey bananas) and payasam – a sweet dish made from rice, broken wheat or lentil boiled in milk with sugar. All the items in a traditional Onam meal is vegetarian and most exciting of all the entire meal is served on a banana leaf.

The Onam sadhya (meal) can have up to 24 dishes. My favourites of course are
Erissery – made from yellow pumpkins and red karamani beans
Injipuli – made from grated ginger, red chillies, tamarind and jiggery
Aviyal – mixed vegetables cooked in a coconut yoghurt sauce
Kaalan – green plaintains cooked in a coconut yoghurt sauce
Thorans - vegetables in grated coconut – a dry preparation
Mezhukupezhati – vegetables steamed and stir fried in oil with mustard seeds, chilli etc., again a dry preparation.

My mouth waters just thinking of the various goodies of the Onam meal and this is one of the traditions that I have tried to observe for my family and friends over the 21 years that I have lived outside of India…

A Tale of Service in two cities

2010-08-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

I needed to go to a pet food store within two days of arriving in Germany as Socks was arriving that evening and I needed to buy her dry food before the pet couriers delivered her. I have been patronizing the same store for the last 17 months that we have been living here…for replenishing pet food, treats, new collar and leash, two dog beds, doggie bags etc., They had a loyalty card which they would stamp for every 20 EUR purchase and when you had made EUR 200 purchases in all – they would give you a 10% discount on your next purchase. On one such visit of mine I had forgotten to take my loyalty card, so I asked the cashier in my broken German to write on the back of the receipt that they had not stamped my loyalty card and I could do so on my next visit with the receipt in hand. They flatly refused to do so.

We visited Palm Coast, FL almost a full year after staying in Germany and went to CVS Pharmacy to stock up on out vitamin tablets. They had a promotion of Buy 1 Get 1 free on their own brand of vitamins. I did have a CVS card when I lived in the US, but had not taken it along with me on my trip. The cashier at the checkout said it was not a problem – to give him my address and zipcode and he would find it in the system. I gave him the details, but he could not find it in the system as our house is rented and we have new tenants living there with a new telephone no. The cashier immediately said that it was not a problem and issued us a new CVS loyalty card and scanned the new number to give us the store offer.

During our trip we also went to an Outlet Mall in St. Augustine and visited the Jockey/Lee stores and the cashier at the checkout asked us if either of us was over 55 and she could give us a senior discount – my husband said not yet – but in two months and she said not a problem and still gave us a senior discount.

And the strangest thing was that the cashier who served us was a German who had been living in the US for the last 20 years….

A recent bag I purchased....

2010-08-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

Nordstrasse is one of my favourite shopping streets in Dusseldorf, there are quite a few stores which I love popping into, even if I do not want to buy anything. On one such foray of mine I spotted a handbag in my favourite colour – maroon. I immediately picked it up from the shelf and was quite astonished to find that it was very lightweight. The bag surface almost felt like parchment. I did not quite like the idea that it was so light, but then I opened the bag and looked inside and found this stitched into the inner zip pocket – genuine eel skin, Made in Korea.

I gave in to the temptation and purchased it and have not regretted my purchase. In addition to finding a bag in my favourite colour I found it had some really nice features. The zip of the bag does not just stop at the handles like most bags do but goes up all the way up the handle as you can see from the photo below:

On one side of the bag is a pouch in which I can safely store my handphone

and on the opposite size a zip pocket which is large enough for my keys or a small coin purse

Unusual Bridal Mannequin

2010-07-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

I think in one of my very first blogs I had written about the numerous bridal shops within a couple of blocks of our apartment. I see their window displays almost on a daily basis either when I am going up and down on the strassenbahn or jus t going about my daily activities – like buying bread or water from the nearest supermarkets.

The mannequins display beautiful gowns and sometimes really unusual ones like a floor sweeping gown cut away too knee length in the front and unusual colour schemes like red and black, bright yellow etc.,

But the other day I noticed something which made me turn around and have a second look and a third and finally the next time I went on my errands I carried my camera and took a picture of the same.

One of the bridal mannequins in the display window had a baby bump and was wearing a beautiful strapless bridal gown and here are the pictures that I took….…

And a close up

One German conversation I have mastered so far..

2010-07-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

Since I have Socks with me, it is taken for granted that I need to walk her at least twice a day, these days given her advancing age it is more like 3 or 4 times a day. Almost from the very first day I have had this conversation with other people who walk their dogs at the same time…you would think that after all these months I would meet the same people walking their dogs but no, I have this conversation if not once a day, definitely once in two days and it goes like this…

Somebody will be walking their dog in the park and of course as the dogs come close they are always straining at their leashes as they have seen one another.

The owner will then ask me:

Junge oder Mädchen (Boy or girl)

And I say: Alte frau (Old lady)

Na ja (not so), wie alt? (how old)

Last year I replied: Vierzen jahre (14 yrs old), this year I say Funfzen jahre (15 years)

Aber schön na…(but she looks good doesn’t she for her age…)

And then I say:

Sieht nicht gut, hört, nicht gut und hat arthritis…(Can’t see very well, cannot hear very well and she has arthritis)…

Aber schön hund….(And they still insist that she looks good for her age….)

Different kinds of rads (cycle) we have seen in Dusseldorf

2010-07-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

I think I have been living in an insular world, but I didn’t realize there were so many different kinds of cycles which people use for getting from one place to another as I have seen ever since we got here…

Sure who has not seen the two wheeled bicycle – children start with trainer wheels and then you move on to 16”, 20”, 24” 26 or even 28” wheels.

But the children here start learning on yet another bicycle called the ‘laufrad’ or literally translated a running bicycle. This looks just like a bicycle you have seen except that the wheel diameters are no more than 6 or 8” and they don’t have any pedals. The kids move them forward by pushing their leg against the ground and propelling the bike forward and they will be wearing their helmet and all. Looks like watching their parents’ bike all the time, they want regular bicycles and hence a miniature one just for them…

You must have of course seen the scooters we used to propel ourselves along as a child and these days it has become popular with adults too with the Razor brand introducing it as a cool gadget…

But I had not seen adult scooter with almost 10” or more wheel diameters, till I saw someone going to work on one of these one morning during my usual walk in the park with Socks..

But my biggest shock came one day while I was driving and waiting at a traffic signal for the light to turn green. Someone crossed the road on the pedestrian crossing in front of my car on a unicycle. He reached the end of the road and then grabbed the traffic light pole and stood parallel to my car. When my light turned green, he began riding his unicycle parallel to me on the bike path beside the road…

We found unicycles are very popular here, when we went to watch the METRO sponsored Marathon in Duesseldorf this year. 30 mts before the start of the Marathon, bicyclists were allowed to begin, then 15 mts later unicyclists were allowed to begin and then finally the runners…Hats off to the unicyclists for sitting upright in the saddle – a virtual balancing act and riding for 42 kms…

Frustrating time on a weekend....

2010-07-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

A couple of Sundays ago, Anand and I had this bright idea of taking our bikes on the car and driving off to Bonn and then riding our bikes along the Rhine to Linz or as far as we could go. First we tried putting the bikes in our Audi station wagon. This involved putting down the back seats, removing the bar holding the back shade, but we found to our dismay that the bikes were too big to fit into the car. So we reversed the process, put back the seats and reattached the bar.

Next we put the same bike rack that we used all the time in Cincinnati on our present car. The bike rack went on OK, but when we put both bikes on the rack we found that the bike wheels were covering the tail lights and this was not allowed when driving on main roads, highways etc.,

All this took 45 mts and we were still in our cellar car park. Finally we decided to just start riding our bikes south along the Rhine and ended up having a good ride. We rode all the way past Benrath and took the car ferry to Fest Zons. Had a lovely lunch in an old inn and then rode the bike path on the other side of the Rhine river north towards home. I think we had a good 60 km ride – about 2 hrs each way…Weather was perfect too, cloudy and just cool enough…

My Unusual Rome Vacation

2010-06-02T05:42:00.000-07:00

End of March saw us go on a much needed holiday. We visited Italy for the first time, flew directly to Venice, spent two days there, and took the train to Florence, two nights there, then train to Rome…

My rakhi brother lives in Rome and I had not seen him for over 7 years. I had been corresponding with him ever since we decided that we were going to visit Italy. He is in the travel business and gave us sound advice. He suggested our itinerary and told us what we should not miss seeing etc., He also arranged our train reservations, and booked our advance museum passes. He had asked us to let us know our train arrival time in Rome as he wanted to send us a car and driver.

I was a bit taken aback, thinking that it was not safe to take a taxi in Rome, as we had been doing in the other cities. He said – No it was perfectly safe to take a taxi, but I need not worry about it, as the person he was going to send was just a private taxi service.

So we got off at the main railway station in Rome and there was a man in a suit standing at the head of the platform holding a placard with our name on it. Once we identified ourselves to him, he took our luggage and led us to a beautiful Mercedes van. Anand had really gone overboard and booked us into the Waldorf Astoria in Rome and the driver brought us to our hotel in style.

We rang my brother after checking into our beautiful hotel room - it was a huge room with a separate sitting and working area and a balcony outside with seating which looked out over the city of Rome, as the hotel was on one of the seven hills of the city…

Next day again on the advice of my brother, we got up early, breakfasted and then took a taxi to the Vatican Museum and reached there before it opened. We only had a 15 mt wait and were able to enter the Museum.

The Museum is so large that we followed the advice in the Frommer’s guide to Italy which said to concentrate on exhibits that appealed to us. Since we had got there first thing in the morning, it was a little less crowded and had a wonderful time seeing all our preferred exhibits.

The Sistine Chapel containing Michelangelo’s most famous fresco painting on the ceiling was of course breath taking but it was almost claustrophobic with a large number of people including tour groups all crowded together in such a small space.

After the Museum, my brother had suggested visiting St. Peter’s and then the Dome to see the view of the city. We walked to St. Peter’s and found that the queue of people waiting to enter the church, was all around the circular piazza and queuing down the centre of the piazza. It looked like a 2 – 3 hr waiting time to enter the church.

I called my brother and he said that he would come and meet us at the piazza and we could go to lunch and then visit St. Peter’s in the afternoon. So he came and met us and took us to his office nearby. We met his assistant and then we went out to lunch at a nearby trattoria. We caught up with each others news for over two hours over lunch…

After the long leisurely lunch we walked back to St. Peter’s Piazza and found that the queue was 1/4th the size that we had seen before lunch and we were able to enter the Basilica quite quickly. Of course the interior of St. Peter’s is awesome. The very first thing you notice as you enter the Basilica is of course Michelangelo’s Pieta – the sculpture is so lifelike that it is difficult to imagine that it is carved out of marble. These days it is behind a bullet-proof acrylic panel after someone attacked it with a hammer in 1972.

We wandered down to the famous Bernini’s Baldachin or bronze canopy over the main altar.

It is amazing to see such a huge structure made out of bronze above the altar, but in St. Peter’s it does not seem to be out of place, due to the sheer size of the Basilica…In fact we felt dwarfed inside the Basilica and were not overwhelmed by the sheer number of chapels, marble sculptures, reliefs and paintings. No wonder it is the largest of any Christian church in the world and can accommodate 60,000 + people.

After we visited the Basilica, we rushed to join the queue to climb the Dome (which was Michelangelo’s design as well), before it closed for the day and were lucky enough to be admitted. We took the elevator as far as it went and then climbed the remaining steps to the top. At one point you could enter a gallery inside the Basilica high above the altar and I was pleasantly surprised by my first view of the Pope. He was celebrating Holy Thursday Mass with a small congregation in the chancel at the back of the main altar of the church.

We continued our walk to the top and had a magnificent view of the beautiful St. Peter’s Square or Piazza outside the Basilica, the Papal residence and gardens inside the Vatican and of course the city of Rome all spread out in front of you.

We then walked down Via della Conciliazone the main street in front of St. Peter’s Piazza towards the Castel d’Santangelo which held the remains of many Roman emperors. We walked along the Tiber River and tried to reach Piazza Barberini - the hotel shuttle pick up point. As we were tired after being out the entire day, we stopped and ate dinner at a restaurant on the way before taking a cab back to the hotel.

Next day my brother sent us a car and driver to show us all the important sights in Rome. Christian our driver first took us to Piazza Navona which has two well known fountains. The most famous one is Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers which has four God like figures representing the major rivers of the world known at that time – namely the Nile, Danube, Ganges and Plate topped by an Obelisk. In the same Piazza is also the Fountain of Neptune which is a carving of Neptune struggling with an Octopus in the centre of the fountain with walruses and cupids in the basin.

He then took us to the Pantheon, which is one of the best preserved of all the Roman buildings. The piazza around the Pantheon is pedestrian, so Christian took us to an alley at the side of the Pantheon. At his recommendation we first tried a small espresso at what he called the best coffee house in Rome – the traditional way, no milk in a tiny cup. Definitely gives you a double shot of energy for the rest of the day. It was in this bakery that we first saw the brightly wrapped Uova di Pasqua – chocolate Easter eggs. Most of them are made of milk chocolate and usually contained a surprise. They ranged in size from 10 gms to 8 kgs.

We then walked through the short alley and turned left and there was the Pantheon beside us. It was astonishing that other structures have been built so close to these old buildings that we almost stumbled upon it before we realized that it was the Pantheon.

It is amazing to see that such an awesome structure was built so many hundreds of years ago and with such perfect symmetry. The dome of the Pantheon (said to be the inspiration for St. Peter’s Dome) is open to the sky and the floor has been laid with an angle towards the centre to let the water falling through the opening in the dome to drain away…It is consecrated as a church and maybe that is why it survived destruction for all these years.

Christian then drove us to the Campidoglio – a beautiful square in front of the Capitoline Museum again designed by Michelangelo with perfect symmetry.

We then stepped out of the car and walked beside the Roman Forum and Imperial Forum to the Colosseum and walked around the Colosseum. Christian picked us up on the far side and took us to a spot to view the Circus Maximus - training ground for the gladiators who were chosen to perform at the Colosseum. The gladiators walked through a tunnel to the Colosseum so that they were not visible to the spectators until they entered the Colosseum.

Next he drove us to the Knights of Malta headquarters in Rome. If you peek through the keyhole of the Knights of Malta garden, you see a garden path ending in bushes perfectly framing the dome of St. Peter’s in the distance which is definitely a surprise. Next we went to the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. In a small gallery at the entrance of the church against one wall is a statue of a lion with its mouth open called La Bocca della Verita. Legend goes that if a liar puts their hand into the mouth of the lion, they will lose it. You might remember it from the movie - Roman Holiday where Gregory Peck scares Audrey Hepburn by pretending that his hand was bitten off…Well both of us decided to put our hands in the lion’s mouth by turn and had our pictures taken for posterity.

Christian then drove us to the famous Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain. Both places were crowded when we visited. We had really good weather when we visited Rome and of course this would result in a large number of visitors to these attractions. Christian kept reassuring us that it was not yet tourist season, I would shudder to think how many more people would be there during tourist season.

Trevi Fountain is a beautiful fountain with a palace in the background – I think presently being used as government offices. The central piece is a chariot in the shape of a shell drawn by seahorses guided by Triton. Before the central niche stands Oceanus and Abundance and Salubrity are to the side. It is said that if you throw a coin into the Trevi fountain over your shoulder you are bound to return to Rome. I just wish I could enjoy its beauty with fewer people around.

We went to lunch in the old Jewish quarter at a beautiful Italian restaurant. Since my brother had called ahead, we were seated at the last available table on the outside of the restaurant and enjoyed an authentic Italian meal. My brother had asked Christian to bring us back to his office after lunch as he had got tickets for us to attend a service in St. Peter’s. We were dumbstruck as we had not thought of such a thing at all.

After lunch Christian drove us back to my brother’s office, we picked up the tickets and then Christian drove us to St. Peter’s Piazza. Again the crowd of people waiting to enter the church was all around the piazza and coming down the centre of the piazza. I showed my tickets to a couple of policemen standing at the periphery of the piazza and they told me that I had to join the queue like all the rest of the people there.

It seems these tickets could not be bought, but one had to reserve them online over two weeks before and they were long gone. My brother through his connections had got us two of them. There were many religious in the queue – priests and nuns from all over the world and of course thousands of people as well. The queue seemed to move slowly as there are elaborate security checks before you enter St. Peter’s. It was almost 5.00 pm when we were ushered into the Basilica.

We saw that the main body of the church or the elongated cross was full – half with cardinals and bishops and the rest with people. We were led to the left arm of the cross which was also full, then the ushers showed us to the back of the cross i.e. the place behind the famous Baldachin or main altar of the Basilica where one normally is not allowed to enter at all. We were in the third row open to the public – there were about 8 rows ahead of the public rows, but only the clergy and altar servers and choir were seated there.

The pope and his attendants were sitting on a platform in the front of the main altar against a side wall, so we had a nice profile view of him throughout the ceremony. The Passion Service which began @ 5:00 pm was entirely in Latin, but thankfully they gave each one of us a booklet and we could follow along and during ¾ of the service the Pope is standing on the dais for the readings. When it was turn for the Communion service, he came behind the altar and at that point we saw him at the closest. Anand has several pictures of the Pope serving communion and of me with St. Peter’s Chair against the back wall of the Basilica.

Anand was telling his family later that he had never entered a church before for a worship service and the first time he broke this rule is when he received a pass for St. Peter’s Basilica and how could one turn down that kind of offer. In the courtyard of St. Peter’s is a gift shop and a Post office. I bought two cards and sent it off to my parents in India and my sister in the US with the stamp of St. Peter’s. We were on such a high after that experience that we just went and had dinner and went back to the hotel.

Next morning my brother had reserved tickets for us to visit the Borghese Gallery at the Villa Borghese set among a beautiful garden. The Borghese Gallery is filled with beautiful statues, sculptures and paintings. We fell in love with some of the sculptures Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne, Pluto & Proserpina, his David and another one titled Truth Unveiled by Time. Many many famous paintings as well – to name a few – Carvaggio’s – David with the head of Goliath; Raphael’s – the Deposition; Jacob Bessano – the Last Supper.

After our visit to the Gallery we walked along the famous Via Veneto to the Piazza Barberini – finally stumbling on this square two days after we had gone in search of it. This piazza has another of Bernini’s fountains - the Triton Fountain – four fish hold an open clam upon which Triton sits (a mythical sea God with the body of a human and tail of a fish), blowing water from his horn…

We then took a taxi to the Colosseum…We had to stand in queue of course to buy tickets and this took some time, but at least the queue moved quickly…Standing inside the Colosseum (even though more than half of it is in ruins) one can still very vividly imagine how vast this structure which was built so many thousands of years ago was and the huge number of people who would have stood in the very same spots that we were standing…

We wandered all around the Colosseum and looked at the tunnels which were partially excavated and the best stands in the house – where the Emperor and his guests would have been seated etc.,

We left the Colosseum and walked to the Palatine Hill which was nearby and best of all did not have to queue up again for tickets. Our Colosseum tickets also gained us entry to the Palatine Hill and the Roman and Imperial Forum. Rome as you know is built on seven hills and the Palatine Hill is the most central of all. This hill once had palaces of the emperors and even a temple dedicated to Apollo. At the moment these are mostly in ruins but the views overlooking the Circus Maximus and the Forums are very nice. Many people come here to have a picnic on the grounds.

The Roman Forum next door is one of the most important sights in Rome even though it is mostly in ruins. Thankfully our entrance ticket also provided us a good map, which allowed us to find the main points of interest without going on a guided tour. It might seem unbelievable when you’re looking at the ruins of the Roman Forum that such a small area could be so important, but it was the political, economic and religious centre of the ancient city of Rome and hence the entire Roman Empire.

Some of the buildings which you can see ruins of include temples dedicated to Saturn, Romulus (Rome’s legendary founder), Vesta (where the Vestal Virgins came from) and Caesar himself. There are triumphal arches built by some of Rome’s emperors, the house where the Vestal Virgins lived and the largest building in the Forum - the Basilica Maxentius, the Curia Julia – where the Roman Senate met – one of the more intact buildings. You can walk up to the door and see the intricate marble mosaic floor on which senators walked over 2000 years ago. Just walking on the cobbled streets of the Forum is like walking through time - you can still see the ruts made by chariot wheels on some of the stones. Even the funeral of Caeser is said to have taken place here. You will also find the Umbilicus Urbis – this was the designated centre of the city, from which the distance to all points in the Roman Empire were measured (Rome’s belly button!)

We entered the Roman Forum from the Palatine Hill end which is one of the entrances. We exited near the Capitoline Hill where the famous Capitoline Museums are located. In front of the Capitoline Museum is the Campidoglio Square. After having walked through so many places of interest that morning we had no energy to tackle the Capitoline Museum. We went back to the Pantheon neighbourhood to buy an Uova de Pasqua as we were invited to my brother’s house for dinner and were going to meet his wife and two little daughters for the first time…

We went back to the hotel, rested for a while and my brother had arranged for a car and driver to take us to his house. When we came to the entrance of the hotel we found Christian again waiting to take us to my brother's house. We had a wonderful time with my brother and his family. His little daughters were adorable and they made me Zia Annie within a few minutes of entering their home. They showed me their room and drew me pictures to take with me.

Next morning – our last day in Rome, it was raining. I abandoned my plans to go to Saint Peter’s for the Easter Service as it was going to be held outdoors and instead went to a neighbourhood church. After mass we decided to visit Castel Sant Angelo which is the tomb of the Emperor Hadrian. It was built as a mausoleum but also served as a fortress, a castle and now as a museum. It seems there is secret passage from the Vatican to the Castel Sant Angelo – but whether this is fact or fiction is not known. Again you can have a grand view of Rome from the garden on top of the mausoleum but because it was rainy we could not spend much time admiring the view.

By the time the Easter Service at St. Peter’s had just finished and Anand and I had an interesting time walking against the crowd towards St. Peter’s to buy rosaries for my family which I had forgotten on the two previous days that we had been there. Also because of the rain, we could not find any taxis for love or money and spent a scary hour trying to find a taxi to take us back to our hotel. We finally managed to return to the hotel, check out and leave for the airport in time for our flight back home….

Guardian Angels watching over me....

2010-06-02T02:25:00.000-07:00

Guardian Angels watching over me….

Some people would prefer to call it glucklich or lucky but I prefer to believe in Guardian Angels watching over me. They have been working overtime ever since I got to Dusseldorf a few months ago. Here are a few instances I was convinced that they were especially looking out for me…

First was the week I successfully parallel parked on Nordstrasse at the first attempt as I had found a two car empty space. I was thrilled with myself that I did not have to reverse multiple times to squeeze between two cars and I was about to open the driver’s door and punch my fist in the air. Don’t know what instinct made me look in the driver’s side mirror and saw the tram approaching less than 1 ft behind my door – now this is a street which is open to two way tram traffic and only one way vehicular traffic and you park half on the pavement and half on the street. If I had opened the driver side door without looking the car door would have been history and I felt I had to thank my guardian angel for watching over me

Second time I followed a delivery truck into a pedestrian only plaza and got really wild stares from pedestrians who were walking there. I knew I was in trouble when the delivery truck parked and carried items into one of the stores and I found myself in a cul de sac with no exit.

I parked my car and walked into the first store that I saw. It was one selling infant clothes. Since my German was rudimentary, I explained my predicament in English. The store keeper could not understand me, but she found a colleague who could. I told her I was new to Dusseldorf and did not know my way around and had followed the delivery truck into the pedestrian zone.

Both of them conferred with each other and then the lady who could speak English told me to go out the opposite way and drive to my left and I would join the main road. I drove out in the direction that she had pointed and found myself on tracks which were solely for trams and not open to other vehicular traffic as they were doing some major renovation work on that stretch of the road. I had visions of encountering a tram going in the opposite direction and drove off with my heart in my mouth as there was no way to turn and go back. I reached a traffic light and found I was perpendicular to other traffic.

As soon as the traffic light turned green I made an illegal left turn to be on the same side as the rest of the traffic on the street. Was definitely sure that my guardian angel was looking out for me both on the tram tracks and at the traffic light and that is how I escaped becoming an accident statistic.

Third time I found two guardian angels in physical form. I was out doing my weekly errands – laundry, throwing away the different recycling items – paper, glass bottles etc., Some time back I had lost my wallet, so I was extra careful to lock the car door after I had the boot opened. I placed the car keys in the boot, so as not to accidentally throw it out with the items for recycling.

I threw away all the papers, cardboard and the coloured bottles in the different recycling bins and then shut the boot door with the keys safely in the boot of the car. So there I was locked out of my car with my handbag with wallet and phone sitting in the passenger seat of the car.

I must have looked totally shell shocked as I crossed the street and met a couple walking on the opposite side. I asked them if I could use their phone – they looked at my face and asked me what was wrong. I told them that my car was on the other side of the street and I had accidentally locked myself out of it. They asked what I would like to do and I said I wanted to call my husband who could give me his keys and I would be able to open the car door and drive away.

They asked how I would get the keys from my husband and I told them that I would take a cab there. They asked if his office was too far away and I said no, just 15 mts away and they offered to drive me there to get the keys as long as I could direct them. They were new to Dusseldorf like me and had arrived just 10 days earlier. They drove me to my husband’s office, where I collected the second set of keys and money for the cab and returned to pick up my car and went on my way to finish rest of my errands...

Changing to Winter time...

2009-11-03T07:30:00.000-08:00

Europe changed to winter time one week before the US i.e. the last Sunday in October. Somehow Anand and I were not clued into it much at all. Maybe because we don’t know the language well, did not hear much comment on the radio or TV as we would have back in the US. Anand said he had not even been aware of it at work – (God I remember how paranoid we would be about our appointment calendars back in the US during the time change process).

So last Sunday – 25th Oct, we woke up at our usual time and did the morning routine, sit down breakfast with coffee etc., We wanted to visit a ceramic museum in town and we knew it opened at 11 am so took our bikes and reached there promptly @ 11.

The doors were of course shut – we looked at our watches and then decided to walk to the back of the building – thinking that we were at the wrong entrance. We did not have much luck when we got to the back of the building as well. Next door to the Ceramic museum was the Film museum and we saw some activity there – a lady was behind the ticket counter and there were a couple of other staff as well.

We went into the Film Museum to enquire what time the museum next door would open. The lady at ticket counter was getting ready for the day by counting notes and coins etc in her cash box. She took a break from counting and told us – elf uhr – which meant 11 o’clock. I showed her my watch and told her it was elf uhr and of course she went into an explanation in German – which I could not follow. She looked around and spotted a man having coffee and asked him to translate and he repeated what she had said in English. When we pointed out it was 11.10, he said no – it was only 10.10 as we had just turned back the clock by 1 hr.

We felt so stupid at our mistake and promptly changed our watches. We then wandered around the quiet streets of the old town or Altstadt till 11 am when we went back to the museum. It was more than worth our 1 hr wait to see the museum.

I guess the best thing about turning back the clock is that now when I walk Socks in the morning it is light at 7 am, but I hate it that it gets dark at 5.30 pm and I have to take her for her evening walk in the pitch dark. I guess the reason I hate the dark evenings is that there is no possibility of seeing light till the next morning….

Had a wonderful laugh early this morning....

2009-10-27T06:17:00.000-07:00

I took Socks for a walk in the Hofgarten around 7.30 this morning. Met one of my friends returning from her morning walk with her two small dogs. As usual, the dogs always want to say HELLO to each other before moving on and the two of us started chit chatting. Just then another one of my neighbors’ joined us with her dog. I was introducing her to my friend in the park and told her that my neighbor had been here just ein monat. She asked us whether we were married to Germans. I told her no - my husband was Indian like me and my neighbor and her husband were Japanese.

She asked us what brought us to Dusseldorf and we told her our husband’s work. Next she asked how long we would be staying here and we told her about 2 – 3 years. She asked us if we didn’t mind that we had to move again in 2 – 3 years and we told her that we had been doing it for the last 20 – 30 years. She said that must be hard.

Her next comment was that our husbands should be paid well if they keep going to work in different parts of the world and that they should give us nice houses, pets to keep us company, waitresses (I think she meant maids) to help us adjust to moving around the world every 2 – 3 years.

I really laughed aloud at hearing her words. She thought it was only fair and asked us to pass on her compliments to our husbands. We wished her a schon tag and continued on our walk… I thought my early morning laugh was a wonderful way to begin the day..

Driving alongside trams in Dusseldorf

2009-09-23T09:23:00.000-07:00

I grew up in Mumbai, India and am familiar with city trains but they always had their special tracks and the only time that vehicular traffic would interact with them is at railway crossings which have gates and lights and alarms which would open and close to allow the trains and road traffic to cross one another safely. This was similar to the other countries I lived in – US, Singapore and Japan.

However coming to live in Dusseldorf, I have had to learn to drive alongside trams on streets sometimes with scary results. My first experience of driving alongside them was my venture into Nordstrasse in the first week that I arrived here. I was in search of mundane things a dustban and brush, large towel for exercise etc.,

Parking along Nordstrasse is itself a nightmarish experience as I was re-learning to parallel park again after almost 4 years of never using this skill in the US. You also park seitenstreifen – which means half on the pavement half on the street. This is not helped by the fact that the street is only open for one way vehicular traffic but two way tram traffic. I had just managed to parallel park my car on the one available free space on the right side of the street, when the first tram came by. He patiently inched past my badly parked car. The second tram driver was not at all that polite. He came and stopped right beside my car and opened his window and rang his tinkling bell very much like a cycle bell.

I had to perforce roll down my window as well and he vociferously proceeded to tell me to tuck my car in further into the sidewalk all in German of course. Though I did not undertstand a word of what he said, his manner and demeanour was loud and clear. After another four attempts I managed to park my car with no inch of free space between the car tires on the right side and the sidewalk. I was so thrilled that when I returned home I posted on my FB page that I had successfully parallel parked my car.

On most streets which have tram traffic you see two sets of traffic lights at every signal. The first is the usual red, orange, green for vehicular traffic and the second is the same set of three lights but these light up with a white light - a horizontal line, a circle or vertical line. When we first arrived here we would notice these two sets of traffic lights at every junction. When my husband asked someone in the office they said we should not worry about the second set of lights just concentrate on the vehicular traffic lights.

But I learnt to my dismay that you very much had to pay attention to the tram traffic lights as well. When you drive beside trams on main streets – vehicular traffic is on the extreme right and left of the road while the tram traffic goes through the centre of the road. Often when there is a tram stop, there is a traffic light which lights up just behind the end of the tram with the words Linien verkherfrei (I guess literally means leave the road clear ahead for the tram stop) and this turns red and you stay behind this line so that the tram doors can safely open and take in or let out passengers who have been waiting on the sidewalk.

On one such occasion I found myself right beside the tram driver at the head of the tram both of us waiting for the traffic light to turn green. At this particular traffic light I had to make a left onto a main street and since there was no dedicated left turn signal as soon as the light turned green my usual practice was to go forward to the centre of the road and wait for a clearing in traffic from the opposite side before making the left turn. Most of the time I would only be able to complete the left turn when the lights were turning orange and the opposite traffic were slowing down in anticipation of the red light.

On this particular occasion on receiving the green light I made the usual move into the middle of the street to make a left turn. What I did not realize is that the tram driver had received the green light to move ahead as well in his case the vertical white light on the traffic signal and usually trams have the right of way in such situations. I unfortunately did not know this so was blocking the tram driver who needed to go straight across the main street to the opposite side. He was furious and kept ringing his little bell at me and I had no hopes of making a safe left turn until the last minute when the lights were turning orange and by then the tram driver had a stop signal as well.

My husband when I narrated this story had visions of getting summons in the mail for huge fines for having hindered tram traffic. I learnt a valuable lesson to look at the tram traffic lights as well when I am beside them at traffic junctions.

The neighbourhood I live in.....

2009-09-09T01:56:00.000-07:00

The first time I thought that that the neighbourhood I live in was unusual was when my husband gave me instructions to drive to our new rental apartment. He said from the main road I should turn right into Arnoldstrasse and the landmark was a boutique selling wedding dresses called Veronica which was at the corner of the main road and Arnoldstrasse. Sure enough I saw the boutique first before seeing the street name due to its large picture windows which were all filled with mannequins displaying beautiful bridal dresses.

Once I had got familiar with driving to our new apartment I noticed that just two blocks around the apartment there were at least 6 if not more bridal boutiques with names such as Honeymoon, ATV Design, Braut Modern etc. Did not understand what the mystery was till we came to collect the keys to our rental apartment. We live two doors away from the City Registry office for marriages and births. Not sure whether the abundance of boutiques in my immediate neighbourhood is supposed to make people crave to get married and they can fulfill their desires by first buying or renting proper wedding gear before proceeding to the registry offices.

On the very next day after we collected the keys and the packers were busy unpacking all the doors and windows of the apartment were open, I could hear shouts and clapping sounds and found that I had ring side views of various groups of people going to the City Registry office for weddings. The ceremony itself is done inside the Registry offices but often the wedding parties stand on the pavement outside posing for pictures.

Other times since the Hofgarten is just across the street from the Registry offices, they put up tables and have champagne and music and hors d’ouvres etc., Living on the first floor and having a balcony which juts half way across the pavement below I get a bird’s eye view of all the events. Some weddings are simple with just the bride and groom and a couple of friends.

Others are more elaborate with families and friends and parties in the park. I have seen a fiddler serenading one of the wedding parties. Other times the bride and groom being driven by someone in full livery and a top hat in a decorated cycle rickshaw in the park. Often at the end of the festivities the group of cars with the wedding party will go honking down the street to announce the happy event.

All in all I think we have found a happy neighbourhood to live in as both weddings and babies celebrate life.

Navigating underground car parks in Dussseldorf....

2009-06-26T05:23:00.001-07:00

I am very glad that living in Singapore taught me to reverse park. Almost every commercial building you went to in Singapore, you would find signs on pillars either saying reverse parking only or the aisle ways were so small that reverse parking was an easier way to get in and out of the car park – especially since we always had huge cars. And I think I got the hang of it over the 3 + 6 years we lived there… I did not want to forget this skill and all through the 4 years we lived in the US I would reverse park into my garage every day and try to do the same at car parks at work etc., I am glad I did because now I have to use the same skill on a daily basis.

Here are my adventures of getting into the two residential car parks on a daily basis since we arrived in Dusseldorf more than two months ago. We had picked up our rental car at the airport and drove to our service apartment in Felix-Klein-Strasse. Our instructions were that the keys to the apartment were in a lockbox right next to the apartment main door and we were given a code to open the lockbox and get our keys. The apartment key also opened the entrance door to the apartment complex. There was another key which was to enter the garage.

The entrance way to the garage was right beside the apartment complex a tight single lane, which had a wire fence on one side and huge concrete planters on the apartment block side. At any point of time only one car could go into or come out of the car park. This is quite common in residential car parks. You drove straight for about 150 ft and on the driver side you found a post with a keyhole in it. You put in the garage key and turned the lock and you would see the lights outside the garage come on. Basically traffic lights but only red and green.

As soon as you turned the key to open the garage door, the red light would come on both outside & inside the garage. This signaled to someone inside the garage that a car was on the driveway outside and to you that the garage door was not fully open. The entrance into the garage was a curved 90 degree ramp into the underground car park. We would inch forward down the curved ramp and as soon as the doors were fully open would enter and park inside one of the marked car parks. Again we had a huge car, so I would try to reverse park my car every day, unless I had to take Socks somewhere. Since she had to get into the trunk, I would park forward and have to go back and forth at least a couple of times to stay within the marked lines.

While coming out of the carpark, we would turn the key at the beginning of the up ramp and wait till the signal light turned green before turning out as you had no visibility of any cars trying to enter the garage. The rule was that if there was anyone driving into the car park on the straight entryway as another car was exiting the underground parking – the entering car had to back out all the way into the street so that you could exit the car park as it was more difficult to reverse back into the car park on a curve.

I have had this happen to me twice as I was driving into the car park and had not yet reached the key pole. It is scary backing out into the main road especially because there was a high school on the other side of the wire fence and restaurant delivery trucks parked on the street. Many of the students would be hanging out in the driveway and I would inch my way backwards hoping that I would not run over anyone’s shoes or get hit by some vehicle on the street. Anyway got the hang of doing this at least twice a day over the two months we lived in the service apartment and then we moved to the rental apt. And I have had to relearn the process of getting into the underground parking at the rental apt…

The entrance to the new apartment car park is from the street behind our apartment building. I have to make a sharp 45 degree right turn to enter the car park driveway and there are always cars parked on the street up to the entrance to the carpark and just beyond the entrance, so that at any point of time only one car can go in or out. Again there is a green hedge separating our car park driveway from the street and the key post on the driver’s side.

We put our garage key into the key post and here we have just one light outside the garage door which lights up orange to indicate to someone inside and outside that the garage door is opening. Once we enter the car park, we make one right angle turn and immediately another right angle turn to our car park which is numbered and allotted to an apt. Ours is number 21. I have become an expert in reverse parking with about 6 inches to spare on either side of the marked lines.

Getting out of the car park is a whole new process. We make the first right turn and the key post is right in the middle of the second straight stretch on the extreme left and your car is in a curve, so we almost drive up to the garage entrance and then back up and straighten the car and drive forward till we reach the key hole, put in the key and wait for the garage door to open before exiting the car park. This was really getting on our nerves and we asked if there was a solution. The house meister said yes, we could order a remote which we did. It took two weeks to arrive, but now we don’t have to back up and get close to the key post inside the garage, just point and aim as we are approaching the garage door to go in or out…..

Third time my wallet was stolen....

2009-06-09T01:43:00.000-07:00

I have had my wallet stolen only three times in my entire life. First time was over 27 years ago. I had just started working and in the second month my dad insisted that I should ask my company to give my monthly salary as a cheque rather than cash. I had just arranged for this and I was carrying my monthly salary home that evening in cheque form. As usual travel to and fro to work was in Mumbai’s famous/infamous local trains which are packed like sardines in a tin during peak travel hours. I had squeezed into the ladies compartment and did not find a seat so was standing between two rows of seats and since there are no handholds there, put my office bag on the rack up there. Sometime in between Churchgate and Santacruz I got one of the 8 seats in those two rows and sat down, but did not take my bag off the rack, thinking that I would pick it up when I have to leave the train at my station. Big mistake….

I did not realize my wallet was stolen, till I got into the bus from Santacruz station to go to my house in Kalina. Opened my bag to take out change – 80 paise to pay the conductor and found no wallet. I searched desperately through my bag and had visions of asking the conductor to stop and let me off the bus to walk home as I had no money when to my relief I saw someone from my neighbourhood on the bus. I sheepily asked him if he could buy my ticket as my wallet was stolen – which he was kind enough to do so. Did not lose much money because it was towards month end and thankfully my monthly salary was a cheque, which I got reissued when I went back to work the next day. No bank ATM cards or credit cards in those days so that was not a hassle.

Second time my wallet was stolen I was carrying Aditya – he was about 1 ½ yrs old and I had his diaper bag on the other shoulder and we were traveling in a very crowded BEST bus. My wallet was in the outer pocket of the diaper bag. This time I had already paid for the bus ticket, so I did not notice my wallet was stolen till I returned home and emptied the diaper bag and found no wallet. Again did not lose much money, but I had two long distance train tickets to Kerala in my wallet. I went to the main railway station the next day and gave them my compartment and seat nos but I had to pay 10% of the face value of the tickets to have them reissued. Again no bank ATM cards or credit cards just some cash and coin change.

The third time my wallet was stolen happened this last Friday – 5th June of all the places in IKEA in Dusseldorf. I have been haunting IKEA these last two weeks after we moved into the new apartment. First to find some blinds to cover the bathroom windows and bedroom door, then to find curtains for all the rooms in the house. I had just finished over an hour’s discussion with the seamstress @ IKEA about the master bedroom curtains which had to be custom made through an interpreter as she spoke no English and I speak no German.

I next went to the curtains department and was walking around with my shopping cart purchasing rails to install the curtains in all the rooms. I had my notebook and pen in my hand, the huge IKEA blue bag and my handbag in the shopping cart. I was going through my notebook and ticking off room by room – 2nd bedroom – room width 312 cm, tracks come in only 140 cm length, hence 3 needed, hanging pieces for the tracks – 9 nos, checked them off the list, then on to bathroom, study room etc., My cart was getting filled up with the 140 cm tracks all standing @ 45 degree angle inside the shopping cart.

In between I was haunting the staff in curtains with questions like what kind of hooks would go on these rails, would the hanging pieces help to hang the rails from the ceiling. I must have been muttering to myself too working out the width of the rooms and dividing it up by 140 to see how many rails I needed per room. I think I must have spent almost an hour in this dept. Finally I was making my way to the cash counter with my loaded cart when I saw that my handbag wasn’t in the cart.

I rushed back to the curtains department and told the staff that my handbag was stolen at the same time desperately looking around to see if I could spot my bag. The staff first said they could not do anything but call the police – I told them to do that as my phone, car keys, driving license etc was in my handbag. One of them was kind enough to accompany me to my car in the parking lot and asked the house detectives to keep a watch on it. At the same time he was calling the police from his phone. We went back to Customer Service who helped me use their phone to call Anand and Aditya to get the spare keys of the car and come and collect me from IKEA. While I was making the calls they asked me to come to the Information Desk. The policeman and I got to the Information desk at the same time. They had found my handbag in the Bedding section on the 1st level. All the zippers were opened, I dumped my bag upside down and these were the items that were in the bag - my bag holder, my compact, eye pencil, chapstick, lipstick, comb and car keys.

I guess they only took the important things namely my wallet, coin purse and cell phone. The policeman gave me his notebook and asked me to list what items were taken – I started listing – Leather wallet with two Amex cards, one Visa card, bank ATM card, Delta Skymiles card, Library card, Metro store card, US driving license, about 50 Euro in cash and change, all the family wallet photos, ND leather coin purse and of course my Tmobile DASH.

The policeman and I walked back to Customer Service and he asked the IKEA staff if they had given me the numbers to cancel the cards, they scrambled around to get it for me. I tried calling the numbers from IKEA but the automated message was in German and the very first thing they ask is the card number which I could not remember at all, as all the cards I had were new. He said that I should go home as quickly as possible and call and cancel the cards. I called Aditya again and asked him to tell Anand not to come and pick me up as the policeman said that I was free to leave.

Got back home and started calling the various 1-800 nos to cancel the credit cards. Learnt something new about bank ATM/Debit cards in Germany. Anand and I always have a joint account and individual ATM cards. I got through to an English speaking customer service agent, he asked me to verify my name and bank account number and Bank Leizl number similar to a routing number and then proceeded to tell me that all cards under this account would be cancelled. I immediately protested and the customer service officer said that I could argue with him all I wanted but this was the procedure in Germany. Apparently the automated message in German told me that all cards under this account would be cancelled before I got to the Customer Service agent and since I don’t understand German all this went over my head.

Anand and Aditya were at that moment on their way to buy a frame for the washer/dryer which was delivered that morning to stand securely on top of each other and this store only accepted cash or ATM/Debit cards. I also had to go back to IKEA on the weekend and they only accepted cash or Debit card. The bank customer service officer said that the card cancellation would take effect within one hour. We could only get the cards reinstated at the bank when it opened on Monday but that would be too late for our weekend needs.

I immediately called Anand on his cell phone and asked him to go the nearest ATM and withdraw money that we would need for the weekend as he would not be able to use his Debit card after one hour. He did so and when the bank opened for business yesterday, we got his card re-instated. My cards will arrive in the mail in about 7 – 10 days time. I am glad I was not in the US as I would have many more cards to cancel such as Macy’s, Target, Kohl’s, TJ Maxx, Chase etc.,

Of all the things that were stolen I think I am going to miss my Tmobile DASH the most as I had over 400 contact details including wedding dates, birthdays etc and notes and for the last two months I had not synced it with the computer as the cables were in the sea shipment..I guess it was baptism by fire and I will remember to never leave my handbag in my shopping cart ever again

All those who have moved to other countries can relate to experiences like this...

2009-05-27T00:29:00.000-07:00

I had an adventure last month going to the City Office to apply for a “Bescheinigung fur Integrationskurse” – Certificate to attend an Integration Course that consists of a language course and an orientation course for new comers to Germany.

I did have the address of the City Office - 7 Willi Becker Allee, Dusseldorf which I input into the GPS in the car. It was my first time driving there and I faithfully followed the voice instructions and drove part way on a single lane road which had tram tracks running through it. Gave me a start when I looked in the rear mirror once and saw a tram following me on the road. Almost turned left on to a tram track only path at one point but reached the City office and wonder of wonders parking (or Parkhaus - as it is called here) was in a multistoried building right next to the City office building @ 6 Willi Becker Allee.

Entering the car park was a new experience as I was driving Anand’s new car which is much bigger than the rental car we had for the last 25 days. The approach into the car park is the usual curved ramp seen in such buildings. Only difference was that both the up and down ramps were beside each other, so at every level there was an open area where cars from that level could turn into the up or down ramp.

I was going up the ramp I think at about 10 km per hour speed. I am sure the cars behind me must have been wondering about this nutcase who was going in fear of her life, because I had reached there during office opening hours. Anyway could not park at the ground or next level as these were reserved so I went up to the next level and parked the car. So far so good. Did not remember to note down either the floor or the parking bay number – big mistake. Started walking towards an exit and noticed one which said E and marked Ausgang or walking exit. Went down two flights of stairs and reached the outside. I was in an area which was cordoned off for construction but they had a sidewalk you could walk on.

Exits from the car park opened out into a pedestrian plaza and the buildings were all around it in a circle. While entering the car park the City office was right beside it, but from the ground floor plaza could not see it at all. I almost went around in a full circle and saw other street names but not Willi Becker Allee. I did what I usually do in these situations ask the first person I see – I am lost can you tell me where Willi Becker Allee is. We always have an interesting conversation trying to interpret my English and their German. Anyway this office going girl knew that it was nearby but she could not find it. She asked another person and he pointed us towards an opening of the round plaza and there it was Willi Becker Allee.

Went in the main entrance and showed my slip of paper to the person sitting at the Information desk. He asked me to go up to room 171 and take a number and wait for my turn to be called. Went up to room 171, could not locate the machine to take the number. Thankfully saw a young Indian man sitting inside and immediately asked for help. He said the machine was just outside to the door to my left. Got my number and started talking to him. He had come for his work permit registration and he then took out his papers to get ready as his number was about to be called and that is when I had noticed that I had forgotten to take my passport. I had taken Anand’s work contract, our rental contract etc., but forgot the most important item which was my passport and I knew nothing could be done without it.

Went back downstairs asked the information desk to validate my parking ticket, found the Kassenautomat – machine to pay for parking and went to the same entrance that I had come out of. That is when my adventures began – to go in the door you needed to put your parking ticket in an opening. I put in the ticket, the device spat it out and then I could open the door. I was at the ground level of the car park which was reserved parking but for the life of me could not find a staircase to go up to the upper levels. I saw someone parking their car and I asked her did she know how to get to the upper floors. She said it was her first time at this Parkhaus and she did not know either. We both walked right up to the entrance but no staircases to the upper floor. Went back out through the door and back to the Kassenautomat. There were lifts there, decided to take one to the second floor as I remember walking down two flights of stairs before I reached the ground level

Could not find my car on this floor even though I walked the entire length and breadth. Went back to exit E and walked down one flight of stairs and then found that you could not open the door to the first floor from the stairwell – so walked all the way back to the ground – back to the Kassenautomat. This time took the elevator to the first floor and went in the door and found my car. What I realized is that there are several exits from the car park marked A through F. The main exit is D which houses the Kassenautomat and only through this exit you can get to other floors. All other exits only take you down to the ground level.

Drove out of there back to the apartment, picked up my passport and went back. I think this time it was a little faster as I remembered the GPS instructions from my earlier drive. Parked the car, found the correct entrance for Willi Becker Allee, went to room 171, took a number and waited for my turn which came in 10 mts. Went to room 165 gave the lady there the slip of paper with the request for the form I needed and my passport. She started furiously typing something into her computer. Didn’t know what that was about, but quietly waited. She finished typing and told me that I had to go to waiting room no. 129 and someone would come and call my name or ask for people without appointment. She had just emailed the correct colleague who was responsible for such certificates. I thanked her walked out and started walking towards room 129. Just before I got there a lady came out of room 135 and called Frau Prasad.

I was so surprised that I told her that email was instantaneous. She laughed and said yes, took my passport, punched in something into her computer and my photograph and details appeared on her computer. She said she would print out the list of schools and the Instruction sheet for the Integration course, explained to me that I had two years to register for such a course and then printed out the actual certificate itself. After my previous adventure it was almost an anticlimax getting the actual certificate.

But I am sure each one of you can relate to something similar…. HAVE A WONDERUL DAY….

Socks is too old to be trained....

2009-05-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

I guess it is right that the oldest member of the family is the person who visits the doctor first. Since we moved to Dussseldorf I have been trying to set up contacts of doctors for the family but Socks needed to meet with a vet before anyone. Reason being she is on a prescription medication that is a pain reliever & reduces inflammation for her arthritis condition diagnosed about 6 months ago and we were running out of the supply we had brought with us from Cincinnati and I needed to get it refilled as quickly as possible.

I took the help of the Newcomers Guide: Welcome to Dusseldorf-Rhein-Ruhr and the Relocations Service Desk Info Kit and rang up an English speaking vet to help refill her prescription. I took Socks to see him couple of weeks back and in the course of our visit mentioned the possibility of training Socks to behave like the German dogs. They accompany their owners to supermarkets, shops, cafes and stay close to their owners even without a leash.

The vet said that Socks is too old to be trained - the way he put it was that - 'you know the saying - you cannot teach an old person new tricks'. I think what he meant to say was that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. He went on to explain that dogs learnt best between the ages of 0 - 3 and that I should not waste my money. Ah well, there's goes my pipe dream of getting Socks to walk without a leash and lie down under the table in the outdoor cafe while I am having kaffe & kuchen with a friend. The dream was great while it lasted, but I guess it is back to reality