The Violin maker of Cremona

We are in Italy for a week, back in Como our lovely Lombardian city. This time it is so nice to have my parents also with us and like every other year we just decide every morning which city or town do we drive into and explore. Cremona kindled our interest because of several beautiful traditions associated with the place and especially because it was renowned as a center of musical instrument manufacture.


Cremona is where we met Carlos. Carlos is from Argentina originally, he is a violin and chello maker living in the beautiful city of Cremona. Carlos came to Cremona 25 years ago for a 2 week artisans course on restoring violins. But the 2 weeks turned into 25 years and now he is one of the luthiers making his living creating new violins and Chellos for musicians coming to this city from different parts of the world.

Carlos was kind enough to show us how he moulds the spruce wood into the desired shape. The wood used in making a violin is seasoned for many years. It was very clear that making a violin requires great patience and it was also obvious that Carlos had a lot of patience as he nicely explained all the details of the art to eager tourists like us. I just loved gazing at all the intricate instruments he used and was thinking about how he would have used those instruments to mould the instruments of musicians playing in different parts of the world.

He was happy to hear that we lived close to Heidelberg as his good friend Babette who also graduated from the university of Cremona is a renowned violin maker living in the beautiful town of Schwetzingen. We were delighted and though none of us are musicians or Violin players we decided to go visit Babette when we are back home on one of the weekends. Such a small world and you always end up making a connection which makes the place such a beautiful memory.

Next time I see somebody playing a violin or a chello I am sure to think about Cremona and ponder if the instrument was made in Cremona and if Carlos had a hand in it :-)

Getting educated about the Education system

D had organized a session on the education system in Germany via the Interkulturelles Zentrum in Heidelberg. If you would be interested in having a similar session conducted then you can reach out to the IZ i.g. and they will be happy to organize a session for you. I found the session extremely informative and honest about the positives and the negatives in the system. Some of the key takeaways I took away from the session:


1) The German education system is quite complex so it is important that you figure out how the system works and how you can work with it

2) There are different paths a child can take – important – not all roads lead to Rome sorry A levels or Abitur I mean….hmm

3) Grades are important from third grade – very important if you want your child to attend grammar school!

4) Your target for grammar school should be grades better than 2.5 with 1 being outstanding. More on the academic grading in Germany can be found in this informative Wikipedia link. Thank God for Wikipedia!

5) If you want to send your child to a private grammar school or the so called ‘Privat Gymnasium’ then you need even better grades!

6) Grades are not just based on the results of the exams conducted or the content that your child reads or writes as part of the standard curriculum – but the grades are based on the overall aptitude of the child and his/her all-round personality and development. In quotes this also means ‘no one has a freaking idea on how your child got a particular grade’ sometimes this is also referred to as the Pedagogic grade ;-)

7) Make sure that you meet with your child’s teachers atleast twice in a year and understand where your child stands and how he/she is being rated and how he/she is doing in class. I mean of course you would do this and get invited to the usual annual meetings but use these opportunities to get your questions answered and make sure you clearly understand how your child is fairing in class.

8) Support your child at home – the whole education system is based on a contract between school, parent and child. You will have a better support system from a private school, but trust me you need to work with your child and make sure how he/she is doing in school. Get involved, NOW!

9) Fluency in German is critical for success! So make sure that you create the right environment for your child so that he/she is exposed to native German. You don’t have to start speaking to your child in German, but of course audio CDs, books, music classes, and friends all these mediums help. Comprehension of the spoken language is very important. In case you still think none of this is working then make sure you get additional help like tuitions also known as ‘Nachhilfe’ in Deutsch

10) Reach out into your network of other parents, like in everything else you learn more if you network more. Use your network to better understand the options and what are the pros and cons of each option. Oops, not to forget if your child is extremely gifted 'hochbegabte' and has an IQ of 140 or above then you don’t need to bother with any of this :-)

10 things about Stockholm

Was in Stockholm on work for 2 days. But in just these 2 days in the city I formed such a positive image of this beautiful place.

Ten things that stuck in my mind.

1) Swedes are obviously very proud of their culture and heritage. You realise this as soon as you arrive at Arlanda airport in Stockholm, you will find pictures of famous Swedes like tennis relic Bjorn Borg hanging in the corridors of the arrival hall produly welcoming us to their beautiful country.

2) Wondering about transportation? You want to get to the center of Stockholm from the airport then hop on to the Arlanda Express and you have a high speed train that takes you to the city center in a matter of 20 minutes

3) In case somebody back at work is crying to have an updated version of a powerpoint and you need to send it out, don't worry there is free high speed wifi access on the trains. Wow this was so cool!! Even Deutsche Bahn offers their Internet connection for free only for first class passengers...hmmm..I also used the wifi to update my Facebook status declaring my arrival in the city...big big plus :-)

4) It is clean everywhere in Stockholm - normally big cities are not really clean - Though I observed this immediately I only learnt later that Stockholm has long had the reputation of being one of the cleanest capitals in the world! The city was granted the 2010 European Green Capital Award by the EU Commission, becoming Europe’s first "green capital".

5) I found the Swedish peoople to be super friendly and they all speak excellent English too. Everytime I tried to eavesdrop into a Swedish conversation on the next table I did not understand anything and I was again thankful that everybody spoke English

6) Hotel rooms are small and very expensive - only realised that when I checked out on day 2 and was happy that I did not have to foot the bill ;-)

7) The famous Pippi Langstrumpf or Pippi Longstocking the fictional character from the children's book series by Astrid Lindgren is from Sweden. Now reading out her stories to the kids will have a special meaning for sure.

8) Beautiful, beautiful buildings surround the city. If you only have very less time to check out the city make sure that you atleast visit Gamla Stan the old town of Stockholm dating back to the 13th century. Here you will find alleys which are less than a meter wide and also restaurants, cafes, bars and places to shop. Don't forget to visit the Nobel museum devoted to circulate information on the Nobel prize and I learnt that the Nobel Prize awarded each year since 1901 happens in Stockholm.

9) Want to have a food Nirvana in Stockholm then you are in the right place. If you have time visit the Östermalms Saluhall which is the world's 7th best food hall. Unfortunately the place was already closed by the time I reached there after work :-( And if you like to drink coffee, Swedish coffee seems to be good in just about any place.

10) Last but not least I did not have the need to convert my Euros to Swedish Kronor. Every little place accepted credit cards. Even the tiniest shop in Gamla Stan from where I got home couple of my refrigerator magnets accepted credit cards.

So have I inspired you enough to visit Stockholm? Trust me, you will not be dissapointed :-)

Normally don't blog about politics...

Normally don't blog about politics, but sometimes I am jolted into harsh reality about the craziness that exist in the world. I was deeply horrified when I heard that Todd Akin, suggested that 'legitimate rape' rarely resulted in pregnancy because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,”. 'Shut that whole thing down????' for heaven's sake... I refrain to call the guy Senate candidate Rep. How can such an uneducated guy qualify to be Senate Candidate representative? I am assuming that he did not attend any biology classes in school where the fundamental learning is - if you put sperm near an egg - women can get pregnant! Now if the guy does not believe in abortion then he should just say that instead of making such atrocious statements.

As a counter statement to what Todd Akin said, President Obama made the following statement
‎"We shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women." I am glad that he made this statement, but on the other hand I can't still believe that these statements are being made in this century that we live in!! And it's not like these statements are being made in any of the developing countries but in one of the supposedly most advanced nations in the world! What a shame!

Masking reality

A compliment or a comment from a sweet friend yesterday prompted me to start thinking about this. On social media sites like Facebook it is so easy to wear a mask and hide the real you. I regularly use Facebook to share happy moments from my life with a network of friends and family. Some of these friends I know for many years, went to school with together but some are also friends whom I occasionaly meet when there is a social gathering for example. Some are also colleagues from work and of course relatives and family scattered in different parts of the globe.

I don't bother posting pics of myself when I am ill, tired from a hard long day at work, feel completely drained or when I reprimand the kids when they sometimes morph themselves into little devils. But then, why would I?  I don't think anybody wants to be bored about these real aspects of somebody's life right. After all social media sites give you a chance to go into a world where you can have some fun, look at vacation pics of your friends, find out who partied with whom and of course 'like' status updates like 'Just finished flossing my teeth and they feel squeaky clean'.

I personally think it provides a medium for comic relief from daily life and also helps me enjoy my daily morning cup of tea so much more, browsing through recent updates from friends. Also I think I need to be on top of all of this now cos soon I think my children will be using these channels as well to collaborate with their friends. I want them to accept my friend request and make sure that I am their best friend also in the virtual world :-) Ah, ha hidden agenda too..

So three cheers to virtual collaboration, lets embrace it, enjoy it and also thank God that we don't need to worry about bad hair days anymore :-))

Bangalore beckoning

Work took me to Bangalore some weeks back. I am always excited when I get the chance to go to Bangalore, the city I was born and brought up in. But more interesting was the flight to Bangalore. I happened to sit next to another colleague who also worked for the same company that I work for. He also had moved to Germany and made it his home for the last 13 years. Very similar in that sense to me as well, but he moved from a small county in South Africa. It was extremely interesting to understand how he had gotten used to life in Germany and how we could come to some of the same conclusions about different facets in the last decade or so. We also got to comparing the traffic conditions in India and Germany. One of his remarks was very interesting – He said that despite the fact that there are no real traffic rules followed by anyone in the Bangalore roads, somehow everything works out fine because the people take care of each other. It is not the rules of the law that guide them but it is the basic human feeling of taking care of another human being that makes it work. Whereas in Germany traffic is so well regulated mainly because everybody is following the rules diligently. I was thinking aloud if the reason they follow the rules is also because of the human care that people have for each other. Interesting observation and conversation.

It was lovely to hear the officer in the immigration counter at the Bangalore international airport smile and ask me in Kannada the local language, if I am back in town. But he was kinda disappointed to note that I would be leaving back in few days. Told him that kiddies and hubby was back home and I need to get back soon, he nodded knowingly. He told me that next time we should all come together for vacation and stay longer. I told him we were here in 2010 and we really had a nice time together. Could not possibly have this conversation with somebody sitting in an immigration counter back home in Germany  but I still imagined how that would play out.

The hotel was nice, the breakfast buffet was brilliant and the best part it was bang opposite the Bangalore office. It could not get better than this, no Bangalore traffic madness for the next days. The only small glitch was that most of the time was spent trying to cross that busy road in the morning. I realized that my dare devil run across the road skills had slightly diminished, but I was gonna work on that. On the last day I managed to crush the fear within my head and glide through the road, knowing very well that all the Gods were on my side.

The thing that always hits you when you walk into the offices in Bangalore is how energetic and young the crowd around you is. The negative though is that I can no longer be content thinking that given 99% chances I am the youngest one sitting in the meeting room. You can be damn sure that everyone in that room is probably half your age, what a bummer. But you also realise that everybody has so many options in Bangalore, and I wondered if they all share the same sense of commitment that I felt when I started off in my corporate journey 14 years back. Something to ponder about I guess.

The highlight of the trip was definitely the chance to meet with family and loved ones. On this front nothing had changed, thank God for that. Lots of yummy food, unconditional love, warm hugs and enquiries galore about hubby dear and kiddies back home in Germany.

Everybody sighing and awing about hubby dear and how he manages everything singlehandedly when I was away. Yeah, hubby dear is indeed my secret weapon that actually makes all this possible for me. My strength and solid foundation for everything in life, I could’nt wait to get back and see the delight in the kiddies eyes and the sense of relief in hubby’s eye.

No matter what

Saw this movie last Friday evening called 'Trust'. The movie was a good one, all about how kids in their teenage years can very easily get lost in the cyberworld. Lost in such a way, that they start trusting strangers whom they have never met in person more than anybody else including their own parents! Trusting them so deeply and also falling in love with these strangers completely.

The movie left hubby and me quite concerned. Well, anybody with two little girls would be. Especially with kids these days being exposed to a lot more technology in the form of ipads, iphones etc than we were when we were kids.

But the key question really is, is it only about the technology? That really is only one part of the whole puzzle, is'nt it? There are so many aspects out there that could influence your children and their decisions as they grow up. A strong loving nest @ home is very important and hopefully the effect of this surrounds them like a protective sheath when they are out there in the world on their own. But as a parent I think the most important aspect from my point of view is to be there for your children, no matter what and that's the key 'No matter what'.

I am excited thinking about the years ahead with the girls, there will be a lot of joy, there will be dissapointments, there will be anger sometimes, there will be a lot of successes, there will also be failures, maybe there are some heartbreaks :-), crushes etc etc...but no matter what we will be there for them...no matter what :-))