The Christmas Party

'I am addicted to research' Reihanrd Selten(1994 Nobel Laureate in Economics shared with Nash)

The last few days I was involved in writing an extended abstract of a paper i wish to write.. so i could not keep you posted.. today there were two lectures at the institute.. and as every other lecture.. they taught me how to present and how not to present yourself..!!This time I was a mute listener..contenplating most of the time on the many many new things that I should study..!!(The world is expanding pretty fast..)

The best part of today however(i expect) will be the dinner (christmas party) that we are having at Kerstin's(she is our boss's secretary) Russian Restaurant(all people in our group are coming).. I had been there once before.. and ..i loved being there.. now that i have converted to vegetarian food once again ..i need to be pretty careful about what I eat.. vegetables.. and vegetables ..and vegetables..!!

After 7 days!

'Time is flying'.. i cant believe that this is the last month of 2004. I came to Germany in April and i donot know how this happened.. but it was one of the most eventful years of my life..

I recollect the major events this year and the manner in which they moulded my life...

2004 :

January: I attended the visa interview at the German Embassy in Delhi..
My 25th Birthday

Feb : I went to Germany Embassy every monday and friday to see if my visa had been approved.. Met many of my family members after a long time in Radhi's(cousin) marriage..

Mar : Received a communication from the Embassy that my visa would be issued soon.. Mom n Dad were pretty happy.. but were little worried that I am going without a scholarship..

Apr : Landed in Germany.. in the beautiful town of Goettingen and met my German Prof.

May : Started living in a different world than the one I knew before.. the world created by Germans.. Aquired a mastery on the prices of vegetables in different super markets..

Jun : Time FLEW. I got selected for the Graduate School in Statistics, Goettingen. Went to the Afro Asian Meeting at the Mahatma Gandhi House in Goettingen.. I was also invited to talk about India sometime in future..

Jul : Created the Yahoo Group 'Suryavamsham' ..for my family members..(around 80 in number).. Many cousins abroad appreciated this idea.. as this brought us in touch with each other once again..!

Aug : Selected for two Scholarships: Goettingen University's and the Max Planck Institute's.

Sep : Joined the Max Planck Institute .. Shifted from Goettingen to Jena... The institute is in a beautiful setting and the experience of being here is simply 'FANTASTIC'

Oct : Simultaneously joined the Graduate School in Statistics in Goettingen;but I continue living in Jena and doing my work at the Max Planck Institute.

Nov : Got my 'DELL' Laptop ..Started getting up early in the morning ..the German WAY..! Met Muktieshwar the only other telugu fellow in Jena..

Dec : Christmas time.. Lets see ..

This year saw the most cherished dream of mine fructifying.. the dream of pursuing research in Economics .. I thank my God a billion times for making a dream turn into a real experience..!

Anya: Its good to drink!!

Beautiful Cool Evening Jp!!

Kerstin and Iris: Ready for the Photo!

Adam Erik and Madeleine!

After 14 Days!

The last time I had written.. I never thought I would be writing only after two weeks..

The frequency of snowfall these days has increased.. surprisingly it is sunny today... I went for Thanksgiving dinner organised by an american colleague last evening.. it was fine.. but for the fact that I started feeling little out of the crowd.. everyone was eating the big roasted TURKEY.. (other than me ofcourse.. I am vegetarian these days..).. The dinner was one of the most expensive dinners I had in Germany.. ha ha.. next time I should find an american sponsorer for 'ThanksGiving'..!

The first snowfall ..

For the first time in my life,...I have seen snow.. wow...yesterday when i was travelling to Goettingen the climate was normal ..the temperature dropped to sub zero degrees today.. and the entire lanscape is filled with ice ..snow is falling continuously from heavens above and my heart exhuberates immense joy as i see snow everywhere.. I am now in the train on my way back to Jena from Goettingen and am writing all this on my new DELL Laptop..

The thinker in me..

I came to Goettingen with an intention to attend a short course on M Estimation. I came to the lecture room and knocked the door..apparently I was late for the class.. to my utter surprise I found that no one was opening the door.. and it was locked.. I went to the professor's room just to be told that the gentleman who was supposed to lecture had an accident the day before and hence the course was cancelled..

Goettingen was much colder this time.. i can even see the cold wind blowing.. i didnot meet anybody in Goettingen..not even my professor.. I am sitting on the platform number 8 of goettingen railway station as I write this..

There are two ways of living in this world when it comes to the way we perceive things around us..one which makes us see the bright things of life ... the other makes us see those things that are wrong and not so comfortable truths that people experience in life.. one leads to optimism and the other to pessimism and every human unconciously chooses his way of perception..
Our perception of life appears to be the most honest opinion of life that any human can have in this world.. we are justified when we cry and when we laugh.. both co-exist to make an elixir of this life that we are a part of..

Is the world a mere perception of our cognitive faculties, is it a illusory construct of our thought or is there a realistic basis for it? Does the world cease to exist when we cease to exist(for us)?

Bible Discussion..

Are you not surprised? I went for a Bible discussion yesterday.. It was fun to see people worrying about a place in the heaven.. i tried to tell people that there are other religions in the world as well and there are many paths to heaven .. and was severely criticised for having such opinions!

'Be a King in Hell rather than being a slave in the Heaven' .. used to be my philosophy .. but now i have come to a decisive conclusion that Hell and Heaven exist only in our minds.. not as figments of imagination but as realities that we live in every day!

Dinner!

Yesterday my Australian friend and his wife came over to my flat for dinner.. I made Indian food and they loved it.. I am still wondering how the curry had perfect taste.. they got wonderful cake for me.. and i kindof celebrated my birthday with them once again( i celebrate my birthday whenever I cut a cake.. lol)..

The Weekend!

This weekend was a great one.. I was invited to watch a video show with some of my new friends here.. an american, two germans, the australian couple .. We watched 'Cabaret'.. it was all about life in Germany before the war .. and the hero of the movie was pursuing his Doctoral studies when he falls in love with a dancer..

I drived home a lesson for myself...'never fall in love while pursuing your doctoral studies'..

Music

I was born in a typical religious hindu 'Brahmin' family of South India. In my childhood classical Indian music was heard in the wee hours of early morning .. It somehow used to fill me with unknown happiness.. I still feel blissful when I listen to that music.. it inspires creativity..peace and happiness in me..

Some sites where you can listen to indian music online are..

www.raaga.com
www.musicindiaonline.com

The beautiful experience!

What is the most beautiful experience for a human being?

Is it eating the most exotic food on a sea shore or reading a fairy tale while flying in an aircraft or enjoying the beauty of wild forests sitting on top of elephants..(the list in endless).. In my opinion the most beautiful experience that a human soul longs for is the experience of being loved and admired by people! It longs to love and to be loved! This is the real desire that underlies human existence!

However ..if you ask me.. then I would probaby vote for getting stranded on an island with a cute dame! Ha Ha!

Can you believe this?

As per my expectations bikin up the hill was FANTASTIC!.. I often got down from the bike ..and walked ..and walked.. but ultimately we reached the hill top ..had some ice cream over there ..enjoyed the view of the woods and the city down! I loved seeing the trees as their leaves turned yellow and orange..

Biking down was DANGEROUS ADVENTUROUS and THRILLING..the steep slopes just needed my concentration and nothing else! It took two hours to get to the top and 10 minutes to come down and it was 10 minutes of REAL EXCITEMENT

Gonna Go Biking!

I am going to go Biking(Cycling) this Sunday with a German and an Italian .. Unlike Goettingen, Jena is hilly ..which means.. biking involves great pleasure when you are coming down the hill and is certainly pretty much pain when u are climbing up! ..

This was why I prefered the local trams and buses for commuting till now and even walking for long hours looked better than Biking! Whenever I wished to experience the pleasure of biking I also wished someone takes me and my bike in a truck up there!

The time has come for me to relish the pleasures of biking (and the pains too) as there is no one with a truck in tomorrow's biking group!

Hard Working or Hardly Working!

There are some people who work seven days a week.. they look pretty impressive and hard working.. but in fact these are the people who do the least possible work! .. They work on saturdays and sundays also( here both these days of the week are holidays) ..coz their heart tells them that they have not worked as much as they are needed to through those other early days of the week!

I gladly announce that I am also one of these fellows! Truth wont hide for long times and one feels great inner relief when the truth is told to everyone!

8 hours of work * 5 days = 40 hours of work a week! (This is what everyone does here)

6 hours of work * 7 days = 42 hours of work a week! (This is what people like me do )

Wow.. I didnt know till now I am really working more than everyone else here!

Safe return to Jena!

I have safely reached Jena !! Ha ha.. There were times in India when travelling to even nearby places needed lots of time and involved risks.. people were uncertain about reaching their destinations.. This made it necessary for someone who is on a journey.. to inform his relatives about safely reaching the destination. Though it is not necessary now-a-days to inform about 'safe arrival' we Indians still do many things which our ancestors did !!

In Goettingen.. Part-II

You find smiles on many faces here.. when it is sunny and warm.. and this day turned out to be a bright day! The discussion over the lunch table was on India ..its politics ..its corruption..its coffee ..and its numerous languages ..everything about India sounds interesting to German ears .. they are not so used to such variety dear!

Today is my mom's birthday and i will speak to her and wish her.. today is also 'Mahanavami'.. a festival day for Indians..Happy Bithday Mommy.. and 'Happy Mahanavami' to my fellow Indians.. and to my fellow Germans here.. ' Happy Bright Day today'!

In Goettingen.. Part-I

Germany's landscape is beautiful.. I must confess! I really loved the two and half hour train journey from Jena to Goettingen.. I felt almost 'At home' as I walked on Goettingen streets..(Goettingen is the first place in Germany that I had come to) !

In Goettingen ..after one of the meetings with my professors got over ..I strolled in the city centre rest of the time! Young beautiful faces ! ..You should understand the rest.. I also got Indian spices in huge quantities..(They are expensive in Jena) . Its been raining the whole day ..and I pretty much am happy with the cool climate!(In fact I am becoming fairer.. n ..fairer as days go by!!) I also looked for some winter jackets and digital cameras.. but found none suiting my tastes..(or wallet)!

I am going to go for a lunch with my boss tomorrow and attend a meeting with another Prof.. and then I will be off to a pub with him and the gang!

If I had known German!

If I had known German...

I would know ..

1. what my university website says!
2. What is the menu at the University Canteen this day!
3. What the newspaper is all about(I didnt see an English newspaper till now)
4. After how many days I start paying fine for keeping a library book with me!

I would get an opportunity to..

5. To speak to a beautiful dame
6. Understand what a fellow next to me is speaking to me in a train
7. Make out whats coming in the TV

The benefits of knowing German are overpowered by the feeling that I have an excuse when I do something that I should not.. 'I didnt know I shouldnt.. the rule was in German'

Haha.. I am much happy as I am ..!!

Going to Goettingen tomorrow

The best part of Goettingen is the city centre ever bubbling with energetic youth! I shall go there tomorrow for attending some official meetings and for visiting a local pub with my Professor and other students..!

Some unimaginable events for an Indian..

1. Drinking and smoking with Professors
2. Addressing them as John and David
3. Meeting them once or twice in a month
4. Going with a girl friend to meet them!

Whether freedom with Professors improves research output is still a research question!

Uff.. WORK

Give me a second.. i am constantly workin on things using the best of my faculties.. still wondering whether if they are the things that I am needed to work on currently!

Someone told me today that he reads news sitting in office and sometimes plays chess.. wow..wonderfully sweet distractions.. i confessed to him gladly that even I do indulge in these involving activities that absorb my attentions and make me feel a part of that section of human race that is overtly concerned about what is happening to the world with an innate belief that such a concern would contribute immensely to human welfare!

I also wrote down few important research questions that I would like to answer .. ha ha.. or at least find out how scholars before me have answered .. Trust me.. I am still wondering at the nature of duty assigned to me.. I am needed to see how scholars answered some questions of intense importance and see what they have missed! Wow.. that sounds cool.. and inspiring and yet at the same time .. makes me realise that I am a drop in this vast ocean .. of intertwined and contradicting opinions and results and feel glad that I as a drop in this ocean am very much a part of it!!

'Exams'

Hope..one day we study no just because of exams but .. out of love for studies.. I have studied more than 50 different courses in the University and wrote around four exams in each of them!! The fact remains that it was only these exams that made me study really!

'Learning is for the sake of learning.. and certainly not for exams..' nice goal..I hope to realise it in the process of climbing the academic ladders !

Leader for India

Individuality and Nationality bloom in young minds.When I was told how rich my culture is and how diverse is its expression in my childhood,I developed a sense of reverence and love for my motherland!

This is true with every Indian. Inidan-ness should flow in every drop of blood, thought and cell of an individual..and this is the essential qualification for someone to take up the post of a leader of India.

To have an Indian who has such an enormity of love and concern for India,which springs forth naturally is the right choice..and I immensely thank god for making Mr Singh the PM Of India.