The day before, I took a city tour conducted by the New Berlin Tours which I think is one of the best things this city has to offer! New Berlin Tours is a part of the Sandeman’s New Europe which conduct free and paid tours in many famous European cities, apart from providing accommodation booking and other travel related services. They have great guides who come from various parts of the world and walks of life and are actually volunteering there, they know the history of the places they show inside out and and do a great job in keeping the tourists engrossed throught the 4 hours of the tour.

Starting in front of the Starbucks cafe at Brandenburg Gate, which itself is the postcard of Berlin, we saw the Holocaust Memorial right beside it, followed by all major attractions in the vicinity, including Hitler’s bunker, the former headquarters of the Stasi, Berlin Wall, Topography of Terror, and then reaching Checkpoint Charlie. The latter is a really interesting and vibrant tourist spot which was 1 of the 3 checkpoints in the erstwhile divided Berlin.

Walking along the brickmarks of the Berlin Wall, we met hundreds of enthusiastic tourists and atheletes who had come to participate in the marathon the next day. Bebelplatz, the French and German Cathedrals, The Humboldt University (home to 29 Nobel winners!!), Unter din Linden and finally the imposing Berliner Dome brought to end a small but exhaustive trip of the great places to visit while in Berlin.

I was lucky enough to find accommodation in two of the many super-inexpensive but ultra comfortable hostels of Berlin for my 2 nights of stay, as Sunday being the Marathon day, there were hundreds of thousands of non Berliners in the city for the marathon, who had already booked most of them.

The characterists of Berlin which made me a fan of this city are its great cosmopolitan and international culture (for a change in Germany, I did not see raised eyebrows on talking in English!) and the balance which it has maintained between the new world sophistication and old world charm. The Fernsehturm (TV Tower) standing 350+ metres over the swanky Alexanderplatz makes for a great click when you stand in front of the Berliner Dome! The magnificent concept of the Reichstag (Deutsch Parliament) complex which allows ANYONE to walk in the German Parliament and go up to the top dome, which is an architecural masterpiece, astounded me completely. They not only talk of having transparency in the administration, they actually have it! The transport system of Berlin is as extensive as it can get with the S-Bahn (overhead rail/metro), U-Bahn (underground metro), trams, buses and every possible kind of transport networking the huge city that Berlin is. Not to mention costwise it is one of the cheapest capital cities in Europe offering unlimited party options as well as great historical and cultural insights of Germany.

Thanks to my dear friend Giovanni Dicesare from Milano, with whom I spent the 3rd day and enjoyed the sunny weather

And what a ride it turned out to be! It’s impossible to explain the feeling that you get while bumping on those chicanes at almost 200 miles per hour! I was fortunate to be beside the driver, Manuel, and toook the following video. Also enjoy few pictures of the Porsche museum having all cars in its line – from the Carera GT2 to the Cayene to vintage sports cars!

Everything happened so fast that I didn’t even get the time to realize that I’ll be away from my country, family and friends for 1 year, and the last 1.5 months before coming turned out to be the most strenous days of my life so far!

As for Leipzig, its a historic city in the eastern state of Saxony and about an hour away from Berlin. Whatever I’ve explore of it so far, it seems to be a calm and nice place to stay and is extraordinarily beautiful with thousands of old buildings all around the city which have been renovated ornately after the reunification. Leipzig used to be one of the foremost industrial cities of Germany until the 2nd world war, with a great publishing industry, textile industry and obviously the Trade fair capital of the world. But since most of the city got destroyed in the WW, and thereafter in the GDR regime, Leipzig lost most of the industries, business and its old charm. However, it was in Leipzig that the peaceful protests started for the reunification in 1989, and thereafter its been a happy story with many industries coming back and city attaining past glory.

As for HHL, its an awesome place to be in and study, as we have a batch of students representing more than 12 countries from all around the world. The facilities are great and industry exposure unparalleled in Germany. With tie ups with BMW and Porsche (both having plants in Leipzig) and associations with almost every big German company, it surely is the place to learn your business!

I’d be posting pictures and more details of my wonderful stay here soon, and am looking forward to the Welcome events next Monday-Tuesday for M9 (our batch) having participation of JP Morgan CEO, trip to the Prosche Cayenne facilty and thereon!

Tchus! (Deutsch for bye )

Yet, I’ll be posting a travelogue covering our journey to Pindari-Kafni Glacier, Nainital, Delhi and places in between. Also I’m busy now sprucing up my Ajax Picture Gallery so that I can post the hundreds of beautiful pictures which we took while on the trip.

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2) It has to be an entry to the Oscars 2009.

3) It depicts the backlash Muslims faced after 9/11.

These were the only notions which I had before I went to see the movie – Khuda Kay Liye – In the Name of God. I had no clue about the history of its director Shoaib Mansoor, his multi-talented background, nor was I aware of the reason he made this movie, until I bumped into this blog post by Adnan Siddiqui. Now as I am a bit more learned about the circumstantial aspects of the movie, the inspiration behind the character played by one of the main protagonists – Sarmad , i.e. Fawad Khan, and the hullaboo (read: outrage) regarding the subject of the movie in Pakistan, I guess I can give a better shot at narrating what I experienced.

The movie has 2 parallel plots running – based on the experiences of 2 young brothers, who come from a so-called modern and unorthodox financially well-off Pakistani family. Both the brothers are into music and while the elder choses to go to the US to attend a course in music, the younger brother is inspired by an influential Islamic cleric – who is said to depict the real life Maulana Tariq Jamil, and foregoes his love for music and eventually is brainwashed to become a Mujahideen fighting for the cause of the fundamentalists supporting the likes of Taliban.

However different paths were chosen by both, destiny had the same irony in store for them – being USED in the name of God, albeit in completely different geographies, starkly opposite social and economic backgrounds and being victimised to such an extent that even the most gruesome acts of inhumanity would be put to shame. A 3rd victim of the whole fuss was a British born Pakistani girl, 1st cousin of the brothers, whose character threw light on the medieval treatment still being meted out to women in many parts of the world, especially in conservative societies.

What makes the efforts of the director a feat ever unheard-of, is the conviction which he showed in the subject and had the audacity to not only complete the movie, but release it as well in Pakistan and around the world to an astounding critical acclaim. Seldom has an artist dared to touch such tantalizing issues which are no less sensitive than a ticking bomb, and in societies such those of India/Pakistan, where self-acclaimed guardians of the religious/moral values are always on the prowl to harp on anything which displeases their hollow and chauvinistic ideologies (or lack thereof?), such heroics are all the more commendable.

The issues addressed were plenty – position and rights of women in a Muslim society, the conflicting views on the inclusion of arts and music in what is called Halaal in a Muslim society, fundamentalism being preached in the name of God, violence being retorted to belittle one’s enemies, the various codes of conducting oneself with regards to dressing and appearance as per Islam, etc. Apart from these, which would irk any average Muslim devout (as I’ve been witnessing in this case), there were other issues raised too – the ones which tried to show Muslims in a light, most non-Muslims fail to see. The misconceptions regarding them which westerners have had, particularly after the 9/11, the oppression which many had to undergo just because you have a surname similar to Khan or Ali, or simply because you are a Pakistani citizen, even today the situation is not so easy for Muslims around the world – these are the areas which the director interspersed fantastically well with his depiction of the more controversial. But unfortunately, people as always prefer to nitpick only matters which can generate more buzz and cause less good.

I won’t go into the details of the movie plot or what happened of the characters, partly because it is much more than a movie – an experience which one should see for himself to get aware of the facts, and partly because the finesse of the craftsmanship on view is beyond any words. Myself being a non-Muslim, I have been close to many a Muslim friends, peers and have been among people who hated Muslim-haters, was intrigued by seemingly strange characteristics of Islam, and of late had been critical (rather skeptical) of what most of us believe it preaches – was taken aback by the mind-numbing sequence of events as they unfolded during the movie.

It definitely was a food for thought for hardliner Muslims, fundamental Muslim-haters and moderates alike, as the legendary Naseeruddin Shah deposed in court to deliver about 10 minutes of what according to me should be made a compulsory read/listen not only for Muslims, but also for Hindus, Jews, Christians and all those who are still refuse to open their eyes and see what the reality is, rather prefer to mould the preachings of their sacred texts to satisfy their mythical traditions. For one, nothing that does not cause any harm to anyone, and further provides a way of life to many, can be classified as being blasphemous, whatever might be the interpretation by the people.

Obviously I’m no Islamic scholar and have no authority over their religious preachings, but surely I can sense that the beliefs which are said to be the WORD OF GOD have been misconstrued since centuries to falsify the only truth that is humanity. Ditto can be said of almost every religion, however, such intensity of fanaticism and unawareness is rarely witnessed among them.

If only such cinema can be dared to be made in more places and more frequently, and people actually be allowed to learn what they can and should, and not what they mustn’t construe of something which is not there in the fist place – we can have a better world to give to generations to come. Only after watching RDB was I so stunned that I deemed it much more than a movie. If it was something that made a generation awaken w.r.t India, then KKL is something which should make the world awaken w.r.t. religious fundamentalism.

Hats off to Shoaib Mansoor.

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So, who were the movers n shakers for the year ending today, to whose tunes n charms, we shook our booties, what were the news that made us sit up n take notice, what were the no-news but all nonsense at which we had to sit up n take notice, and what was IT for which, the past 365 days n a few hours deserve a few minutes of my self proclaimed literary insanity Let’s peek-a-boo into retrospective — in no chronological order of course –

The hooplahs which flattered to deceive can’t be listed without the mother-of-’em-all –
The Ganguly-Greg Saga, the follow-ups to which left a taint in Indian Cricket which can not be matched by any other shame. Next could-be-smaller story was that of Big B on the stretcher. We all knwo he’s THE GOD..but gimme a break… Dont ya guys think the man deserves a life.. I mean there can’t be scoops on deathbed! can there be!

Well… lots about duniya .. On a personal front too i’v had an eventful year. And with the revival of Open Space happening also this year , yours truly gets a chance to manifest a few of ‘em. Gettin into my current job (the orientation, a.k.a the incubator, sucked though), learning how to write code (still learning how to write good code), meeting up with new fellas, and having a blaaaast@work…. Man if there’s anything next to fun@skool, its work@123. Always on the prowl for greener pastures though, none of us can deny the fact that whatever we are, are coz of this otherwise catle of monotony.

And for me, the personal highlight of the year has been laughters and more laughters and more n more laughters… Courtesy The great Indian laughter Challenge . With a break from the ever crying sitcoms,we finally had a respite in the form of the flambuoyant Sidhu n ever-fresh Shekhar, in the company of scintillating Perizaad.
The high points of the year included the TOI editorials by NR Narayn Murthy and APJ Abdul Kalam. With such visionaries showing you the first light of the day, getting inspired is just a matter of time. And what better thoughts to end the old year and start a new, than our Prez’s these lines —-

Dream, Dream and Dream.
For, dreams give rise to thoughts,
Thoughts give
rise to actions.
And actions maketh a man.
So, only if you dream enough,
you’ll be able to turn those into reality.

Cheers… n GIMME A HELL YEAH … Hic

Happy Independence Day to Fellow Indians..VANDE MAATARAM!

Hi guys…..
The last 7-8 days have been quite eventful (or rather shall i call it undesirably EVENTFUL) for me. It all started when i was inducted (so called promoted) into the ONLINE PROGRAMMING department from INTERNAL PROJECTS. And seriously speaking, since then the only terms I seem to be aware of are recursive functions, multi – level hashes, infinite loops and whatever crap one may come across while coding across the web! Indeed its a coveted position (according to most of my colleagues that is !), and believe you me…. the work assigned to me was as easy as…probably… device a plan to hunt down Osama Bin Laden (dare you guys raise your eyebrows) ! BTW, its been as usual all around, but for the absence of Pradeep, busy with his Level A exams (No one ever told me that people prepare better by continuing to forward tons of emails — i’ve 55 unread till now, thanks to my not-at-all-easy-and-couldn’t-be-tougher job!). Though, having some respite this week, will be trying to catch up with the lost time. And yes….. Osama has almost been tracked down