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

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

(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

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....

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

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..

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

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…