Resolutions

The year 2022 flew by in the blink of an eye.

So many interesting things happened last year.

Starting a full-time job at a German company filled me with excitement and confidence.

Trips to Luxembourg and Südtirol filled me with gratitude and respect for nature!

Getting the licence after a lot of effort boosted my self-confidence immensely, and now I look forward to driving my own Mercedes A 160 in Germany to begin my driving journey.

My parents visited me for the first time in Karlsruhe, and my dad had an accident on the same night. The experience with hospitals and doctors in Germany was an eye-opening one.

These experiences helped me grow, changed me as a person, moved me to tears of joy, and sometimes made me sad too!

What do I wish for myself and my people in the new English calendar year 2023?

We have all been through two years of Corona, and we have learned our lessons. During this pandemic, I realised that health is of the utmost importance. One can earn the lost money or get a new job, but a life lost due to poor health or bad habits can't be brought back.

I want to concentrate more on my mental health rather than getting fixated on a number on the weighing scale. I want to explore meditation, pranayam, and mudra shashtra. I want to help women come out of their shells, out of their daily ruts, and take time for themselves. For that, in collaboration with Sneh Forum Germany, I am going to start a workout challenge on January 15, 2202.

I want to promote and advocate a simple tool called fasting among women. It's easy to use and free, and it has immense benefits. I have been following it for 5 years now, and I can't stop raving about its benefits. Recently, I got hold of a very comprehensive book on fasting called "Fast Like a Girl," which is designed especially for women as we are wired differently and can't get the same results as our male counterparts even if we follow the same regime.

I want to do something more for my Maharashtrian culture and my mother tongue, Marathi. I plan to start a YouTube channel where we, as a team, will be explaining the meaning of Sanskrit and Marathi strotras like Ramaraksha and Maruti Stotra, as well as the great Gita.

I want to laugh more and judge less.

I want to embrace more positivity and give less importance to negativity.

I want to learn how to enjoy my own company more. I want to just spend more time with myself, reading, writing, and understanding my emotional state.

I want to drive, explore cities, towns, and villages, and spend most of my free time with nature and books.

I want peace to prevail in the world. We need to respect and love each other, not undermine and hate each other. We are, after all, one human consciousness!

I wish you all a lovely year of good health, good times with loved ones, and personal, spiritual and professional development. May you find the right path and the way to happiness. May your happiness be dependent on your inner peace and strength and not on people and things!

Let's try to make this world a better place!

Blog Marathon - October 2022 - Day 31 - German driving licence ✅

A project called the German driving license

I had been vying for it for more than a year now, and finally, when it landed in my hands, I felt on top of the world. I feel elated, proud, and independent! What is it that you say has made me so happy today?

It's the license to drive in Germany! It's the much coveted German driving license for which I have spent a lot of time, money, and energy!

I have not celebrated my birthday this year yet. Though it was on October 4th, I refrained from celebrating it around that time. I had promised myself that my birthday gift would be my German driving license, and I have successfully achieved it in this birthday month. Now it's time for a big party, and my parents will be coming in the next week.

The process of getting to this day was not easy.

The first thing that one has to do is do an eye-test, a first aid course, and then go to the local Drivers and Vehicles Licencing Authority (DVLA) office to submit these documents along with a translated copy of their previous driving license. Once these documents are accepted, an invoice is sent to you where you have to pay the fees for the theory and the practical exam well in advance. From the time your documents are accepted by the DLVA agency, you have a time limit of one year to complete the theory and practical driving. Your time starts now :D

The next step is to start preparing for the theory exam. The driving school where you enrol gives you a code to the online app where you can study for it. There are mock tests, explanations, videos, etc. People don't show up for the theory exam unless they practice all 1000 questions and pass every practice test. Out of those 1000 questions, only 30 questions are asked in the exam. I studied for it from January to March this year; gave the exam in March; passed it on the first attempt; and started the driving lessons in April.

I chose a driving school with a one-man show. He was the owner and the instructor himself. He did not discuss with me how he planned to do the driving lessons. On the first day itself, he took me on a highway to see how good or bad I was driving. The reason was that I already had an Indian license and he thought that I was a perfect driver. We all know how we drive in India. Rules and traffic signals are followed on one's whim and fancy. But here it is altogether a different ball game. People drive here with a sense of responsibility towards others and the environment. It's very systematic and within the rules and regulations.

The driving instructor was inflexible and hardly smiled or talked. For the first two or three lessons, he kept on shouting at me, and I couldn't understand what I did wrong. I slowly started ignoring his cold nature and concentrated only on the end goal, which was to get a driving license. I blocked all his tantrums and coldness toward me and kept the driving license as the only target in front of me. I could hardly do three lessons of 90 minutes with him as he was extremely busy and proudly boasted of working 60 hours a week. But he had no empathy or understanding of how to deal with people. Maybe he dealt differently with youngsters who were his regular students. But for me, it was not easy to face him and do the driving lessons. But thanks to my resolve in concentrating only on the final product, I was finally able to have the license in my hands.

I watched a lot of Youtube videos of different driving instructors in Germany, and that helped me a lot to understand things that my driving instructor never told me. Parking, watching the traffic, predicting what other drivers will do, and doing other similar things are all good signs that you are becoming a better driver, and the videos talked about these finer points.

God bless the driving examiner who came to examine my driving skills. I have never seen a person like him. He was very warm, friendly, and very helpful. He gave me chances to make corrections and, in the end, told me that the exam was not perfect but good enough to hand over the license to you. He discussed the improvement areas with me and asked me to be a responsible and vigilant driver on the road. I can't thank him enough for bringing a ray of hope and happiness into my life, which was otherwise marred by the cold attitude of my driving instructor.

Nevertheless, all's well that ends well. I am elated today and won't be able to sleep tonight. I would like to thank everyone who helped me achieve this; my family and friends, especially my husband, who was confident that I would get the license soon. He stayed at home when I had driving lessons at odd hours and took care of our son and the home. I also thank my instructor. He taught me to drive and brought me to this point, though my driving style was not very great. I would never want an instructor like him ever again in my life.

I hope to be an inspiration to other female friends in Germany. Nothing is impossible. If you set your mind and heart to it, you can achieve anything. Managing a job, house, and kid and doing this side-by-side was not short of hiccups, but was also not unattainable. Being able to drive gives you a sense of independence and a lot of mobility. It gives you a sense of achievement and fulfillment.

If you have any questions about the driving license in Germany, I would be able to help you with it. I've completed a thesis on it by now. ;)

Blog Marathon - October 2022 - Day 30 - Do what you love

It's almost the end of October. It's also the second-last day of the Blog Marathon challenge that I started on 01.10. Many people had shown interest to join me in this challenge, but sadly no one completed the challenge, due to festivals, and personal goals. I started the challenge and I am proud to have completed it successfully. Tomorrow is the last day and then I will be relieved and will have completed the word given to me. Commitment is commitment, come what may, isn't it?

Today the time in Europe is set back by one hour and people can sleep one hour longer till the end of March. But the evenings will be shorter and by 5:30 pm it will be almost dark. That's something I don't like about wintertime. There is a change in weather, the days become shorter, and a feeling of sadness creeps in somehow. I don't know if it's in my head, but shorter days mean the shorter presence of the sun and if there is no sun, there seem to be no signs of life. But life has to move on, we have to look ahead. We have to utilize the time in winter for causes that give happiness. 

I see to it that I go out in nature, no matter how cold it gets in winter. Nature brings me peace, and helps to connect with myself. I do a lot of self-reflection when I go for walk. I also do a lot of meditation and chanting and listen to songs that lift my mood. Having a hobby, and being passionate about something in life helps to attain peace, balance, and happiness. It could be a small thing, a small ritual of doing something with a whole heart. It could be half an hour of walking, jogging, writing, singing, running, painting, or praying. Anything that connects you to that supreme power and your inner energy channel, anything that helps you be hopeful and look forward to tomorrow should be taken up in life. Dedication and perseverance go hand in hand and it brings the best qualities out. It helps us to be on the right path and gives us the energy to move ahead in life. 

Things that we like don't let us be lonely and they fill our hearts with gratitude, empathy, and love for others. 

Blog Marathon - October 2022 - Day 29 - Forgive and forget?

Yesterday my son came with his German friend for dinner. I had prepared Upma for dinner because we had noodles late for lunch and no one was feeling very hungry. They both were talking about a third friend with whom they fought. That friend cursed them and said bad words to them it seems. I have no idea what exactly transpired between them. But they both came home leaving that third friend alone. That German friend had bread and butter for dinner at our place, they played for some time, and then my son and my husband accompanied him home as it got dark.

Today morning that German friend who came yesterday went to that third friend in the morning and they both called my son out to play. My son very happily, forgetting everything that happened last evening went to play with both of them as if nothing had happened. I am now kind of used to this behavior of kids. One time they fight and the next moment they forget it and come together. Can we as adults ever do that? Are we able to forgive and forget so easily? I know many families who have stopped talking to each other just because there was a misunderstanding and they were not able to forget and move ahead and the relationship has been spoiled forever. They have not met or seen each other for festivals or any other important things in each other's lives. How much time do people lose in taking unnecessary ego trips and spoiling their lives by hating their family members? We just have one life, then why not spend it loving each other, and being there for each other? Why have grudges against each other? Why spend time having negative feelings for people when we just take birth on this earth only once? Life is too short to fight over trivial things. 

Seeing my son and his friends fight and come back again as if nothing has happened fills my heart with hope. I want them to be happy and always together. With time, they will become mature and have a better understanding of people and things. And I am looking forward to this journey with him. 

Blog Marathon - October 2022 - Day 28 - Beauty Sleep

I am a very light sleeper. I wake up to the slightest sound and light disturbances and have a hard time getting back to sleep again. I have to sleep in my bed on my cushion on the same side of the bed every night. I can't tolerate any change in that, but otherwise I am quite flexible. When I visit my parents in Mumbai or visit my in-laws in Pune, I take at least a week to get used to the surroundings there, though it is not completely new to me. Count the stars the first few nights. I count the dogs barking outside or the insects making noise outside. I also count the different wavelengths at which my husband and the other people in our family snore. All my family members can sleep at the drop of a hat, and I am the only odd woman out who is a night owl. My mother-in-law says that I think too much and that is the reason I can't fall asleep soon, but I have stopped wasteful thinking long ago and have become calmer and more mature and patient, at least I think ;)

Today, the circadian clock in my body woke me up at around 5 am. I realized that it's still time to get up to make my son's tiffin box. I just lay in bed and next to me was my son, who also got up at 5 am today. He usually gets up just 15 minutes before he leaves for school, does everything fast, and dashes off. But today it was different. We both got up unusually early and just whiled away the time till it was 6:15 am.

A good night's sleep can't be bought even if you have a million rupees, and sometimes even if you have nothing, you can go to sleep fast. It is such a paradox, isn't it? Sleep is one factor that is very conveniently ignored or mistreated by many people and is not taken very seriously. Sleep is very important for rejuvenation, for back-end activities of the body to do cleaning, to restore the balance of the body, to repair dead cells and to help in the creation of new cells. I know many people who sleep late at night, around 11:30 or 12 on a daily basis. And get up again by 5 or 6 am the next morning. Many people watch back-to-back movies on Friday and Saturday nights and sleep through the day. And that fatigue carries on to the next week also. In the long run, it takes a toll on the body and the signs of aging and fatigue set in quickly. Lack of sleep or less sleep could also lead to many diseases. It's definitely not something that should be taken for granted, is what I feel.

When I faced problems with falling asleep, someone suggested that I listen to Lalitha Sahasranaam while sleeping, and it really worked wonders. I also took up a book called Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, and it helped me understand the intricacies of sleep patterns and dreams, etc. I found the book quite informative and it cleared many of my doubts. I also started exercising regularly, either a short or a long walk, and that helped me too to fall asleep quickly at night. But there are a few nights which are not like others, and it's hard for me to stay awake when the people around me are sleeping soundly.

What do you do to fall asleep quickly? Do you have a self-care routine or a pattern that you can share with others?

Blog Marathon - October 2022 - Day 27 - Extraordinary Attorney Woo

 After getting bored of watching the Marathi serials on Zee Marathi, I completely stopped watching them. The stories have no logic and no effect to hold on to the viewer's attention. Even if I watch it after two months, the story hasn't really moved ahead, and I completely lost interest and stopped watching it. I get updates from my son and husband sometimes, when they watch that 20-minute episode in 3 minutes by fast-forwarding it!

Extraordinary Attorney Woo, a Korean series on Netflix, was a welcome change. The series was released a few months ago. I had watched the teaser, but didn't delve deep into it. It has 16 episodes, and currently it's just one season. We watched one episode daily after dinner. It was quite a long time, about one hour. It's a story about a brilliant junior attorney who has an autism spectrum disorder, which is a developmental disability, and that hinders social communication and interaction with people around her. She joins a firm and finds her way among her peers and bosses, sometimes awkwardly, sometimes in a funny way. She also fights cases in the courts with the help of her photographic memory. She is a genius and can ingest loads of information about the law, rules, and regulations in a single reading. There's a parallel story about her birth mother and her father that also makes up an important part of the story-telling.

Woo Young Woo has an obsession with whales, and every time a brilliant idea hits her, it's usually the whales that she sees floating and dancing around. Her colleagues adapt to her being different and help her in every possible way. They learn to accept her for her character, and she tries to understand normal human beings in her own sweet way. The love story between her and the assistant, Lee Jun-Ho, is brought out very delicately and beautifully. All the supporting characters have done good justice to their roles, and they all seem very relatable and real.

All the episodes are done well, and it definitely brings a smile to your face after one episode ends. The Korean community, people, and circumstances are so Asian, so very much like us Indians!

The character of Woo Young Woo is acted so well by the Korean actress, Park Eun-bin, that you almost fall in love with Attorney Woo Young Woo. Her awkward body language, her eye movements, the way she responds with short syllables, irritation at loud noises, and sudden changes in the environment around her that lead to outrage have all been brilliantly portrayed on screen. Kudos to her and everyone else who worked on this refreshing K-drama, which was different but still fun to watch.

I strongly recommend you watch it!

Blog Marathon - October 2022 - Day 26 - Mad over Fridge magnets

When you go on a vacation to a foreign country or a different city or state, what do you bring back home as a souvenir from there? Do you have the habit of bringing some or the other thing from that place, or do you prefer to just go, visit, eat, click photos, have a good time and come back?

I don't remember the exact moment when it all started, my love for fridge magnets and its collection, perhaps from the first trip to Germany in 2002. And then I kept going back there in the coming years.

My trips outside Germany to Croatia, Turkey, Russia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy helped my love for fridge magnets grow exponentially. I told all my friends who traveled to different destinations than these to get magnets for me. So even though I haven't really travelled to Brazil, Spain, Bulgaria, the United States, China, Japan, Scotland, and Ireland, my friends and family got me fridge magnets which adorn the new refrigerator here. I have a heap of magnets in Bangalore, which I left there and couldn't bring to Germany. Those magnets are carefully packed and stowed away in boxes. I wonder if they will ever see the light again!

I've tried to stop buying magnets many times, but I can't! If I don't utter a word about buying the magnets, my son or my husband make sure to buy one! I don't know what attracts me to these magnets. Those are the snippets of the wonderful time I spent in those places, I think, and I like to relive those moments by looking at the magnets. It's like taking a world tour from the confines of your home!

I don't know when the next trip will be. But there is surely a fridge magnet waiting for me somewhere to become a part of my collection.