Business Trip To Munich,Germany

Guten Tag, was the first word in German which I heard when I landed to Munich after a continuous 8 hour long flight from Delhi.
Well before proceeding ahead, lets get in to flash back for a while,the day when my boss informed me and my colleague that we have to fly to Munich for a Business trip we both were stunned at that time and we were not able to believe what we heard at that time.Ohhh mannn.....yes....we are going to client site...finally we got the opportunity....humara number bhi aa gya...we both were very excited as this trip was our first trip outside India.We both were used to saw snaps of our friends on orkut who are onsite and who used to post their snaps every week,we both used to discuss with each other that "yaar hum kab jayenge...humara number kab aayega".
I don't know why,suddenly whole atmosphere around us got changed as soon as people around us come to know that we are going to Germany.We both were busy in filing visa forms and completing all visa formalities,planning of what to take what not to take there,scheduling dates and times for shoppings and arranging other stuff.Along with us other people around us,our relatives,parents,cousines all were excited.We used to get phone calls every day from friends and relatives,all asking same thing "Dude,whats going on? when you are flying".I was able to feel excitement in their voice and they were able to feel excitement in my voice.Finally the day arrived and we were at IGI Airport,Delhi and left India for Munich.

(Flash Back over...)
Guten Tag, said a taxi driver when we came out of Munich airport.This was the first German word which i heard that day.Taxi driver was saying some thing in German and we were not able to understand what he was trying to say although he was not able to understand what we were trying to say in English.A man who was passing us came to know that we both were not able to communicate and he came for help.He acted like a translator to both of us and helped us to get to the Hotel by explaining hotel address to Taxi driver in German language.Well hear I saw how help full Germans are.When our taxi arrived,it was Mercedes and we were looking at each other and thinking in our minds that we are going to sit in a Merc....wow....we never imagined that we will get a chance to sit in a Merc.When we were on Freeway the speedometer was over 120 kmph, we came to know that it was an normal speed there,in India our speedometer ends at 180 kmph if I am not wrong.
Well, we reached our hotel and checked in.Next day we went to office by train,that day we came to know the system of trains there.Whole Munich city is divided into 16 rings,there are Bus,trams,surface trains (called as S-Bahnn) and under ground trains (called as U-Bahnn) which are used as public transport.With a single ticket you can travel in any of these public transport.There are also various schemes available for the tickets like you can have a partner ticket in which 5 persons are allowed on a single ticket for a single day.Such partner tickets are available for various rings like for 16 rings which covers whole Munich city you have to pay 16 Euros and you can roam in the city for a whole day.There system also have weekly passes for certain rings like we used to take a weekly pass for 3 rings on the cost of 13.8 Euros.Advantage of having such kind of weekly pass is that you can travel up to three rings at any time in any public transport.There is a central railway station from where you can get trains for going outside Munich.Central railway station is called as Hauptbahnnhoff, Haupt - Central,Bahnn- Train/railway,hoff-station.
As we started work in office we came to know the work culture of Germans,there is a rule by German government that no one is allowed to stay back at office more than 10 hours in a day, a person is not allowed to work more than 10 hours in a day.When we were at office some times we used to exceed this limit,next day our manager came and asked us to leave office at 6:30 pm at any cost if we are coming to office at 9 pm.People there at office used to do only work i.e. in 8 official working hours they just do only work no gossiping or friend visiting in that time,work means work.They believe on a mantra, work hard, party harder and they follow this mantra too.On weekends people used to go for outing.They took their children and go for tracking or bicycling,they spend whole day out.If there is a sunny day than they all go to near by river bank and take sun bath whole day,they take beers,food with them and cook food on a barbecue near river bank and enjoy whole day there.Generally sunny days are only for 15-20 days in a whole year so they do not want to miss sunny days.Germany's temperature remains between 10 - 25 degrees in Summer and below 3 degrees during Winter season and it rains there very frequently through out the year so we used to check whether forecast before going out.
German people are very fond of music, we saw many people in trains and buses who have just put on their head phones and listening music.People there just don't care about others i.e. they don't care what other person is doing,they are involved with themselves.This thing we have observed when we were in trains and buses, we saw many peoples either reading novels,listening music or simply siting with closed eyes.We saw many musicians there who used to play music in night for free at Marienplatz city center.People used to listen them by gathering around them and they also used to give them some money if they liked there music.Many peoples can be seen playing Guitars and pianos and entertaining peoples.German culture is very different,people there used to do things what they want to do but by not breaking any law or rule.If a person have to express his/her feeling towards other person than they will do it right there, they will never think where they are and on which place they are.For example: We saw many couples there kissing each other in trains,trams,buses or on a station.Couple do not include only boy friends or girl friends but it includes young guys and gals,husband and wives,old man and woman.This is there way to express how much they care about each other.Well I must say that German girls are really beautiful and very fashionable.I have never seen such beautiful girls.
German people are very open and friendly.We made some German and Slovakian friends there.I remember a day when we were going in a train and we were talking to each other.One German lady was listening our conversation and she was not able to stop herself and she asked us "I am sorry to interrupt you but in which language we you are talking".Actually she knows about India and she have been to India some years back so she started talking to us.She told us that "this is Germany,so just chill".She also told us some interesting things like on the escalators every body should stand at right side,left side is kept for those who have to rush or those who don't want to stand at escalators.There they have rule of keep right as in India we have rule of keep left.On the roads also we need to walk on right side instead of left side.
There is a separation in the footpath also i.e. one lane is for cycles and other for pedestrians.There people use bicycles most as they are very health conscious.We found many peoples doing cycling and running at any point of time.It seems like every body has fixed his target that he/she has to do this much bicycling or running.They used to do it to stay fit and healthy.Normally private vehicle level is like First vehicle - bicycle, second vehicle - Car.Few people used to have bikes there.
I am not very well aware about the food culture of Germans as I don't eat non-veg food so I used to cook my food myself in the Hotel.But I saw that people used to have pizzas with red wine or beer or some kind of meat every time.They used to eat chickens,lambs,beef,pork and other things.Well there is an very old Beergarten in Munich,Beer garten means beer garden where you will get beer.Beer is the cheapest drink there,no body drinks plain water there if they want to than they will add soda in it.There is an very old beer center named as Hofbräuhaus which is serving beers from 1800.There you can get 1 liter beer in a big mug for 7 Euros.If you really like wines and beers than Munich is the right place for you.You can get wines there at a cost of 2 Euros - 10 Euros.
In Germany, young generation is less as compared to old peoples, in our office there were no young peoples as like us.We used to say Young generation there as smoking generation because we found many youngsters smoking all the time specially girls.Girls used to smoke a lot there.During our business trip, we worked a lot and enjoyed a lot.We were out on every weekend to see many things in Munich.We went Garmisch which is outside Munich.From Garmisch we went to Alps valley which is at the highest peek of Germany.There were lots of snow and we enjoyed a lot there.I had a very good time and experience there moreover I can say that I have a life time there.

Business Trip

I will update here as soon as i got time. I am on a business trip to Munich these days.Want to write about Munich and my experience here but not getting time to think and write with a free mind.

Till then keep rocking!!!!

Flirting

***DISCLAIMER: THIS POST DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY FLIRTING TIPS****

Wikipedia's one liner says "Flirting is a form of human interaction between two people, expressing a romantic and/or sexual interest"

Flirting is often used as a means of expressing interest and gauging the other person's interest in courtship, which can continue into long-term relationships.
Some times it may be done simply for immediate entertainment, with no intention of developing any further relationship but this type of flirting sometimes faces disapproval from others, either because it can be misinterpreted as more serious, or it may be viewed as "cheating" if the person is already in a romantic relationship with someone else.

I observed that we all have a bit of flirting nature within us. We all do flirting but it depends who is the target. Let's do not take flirting in the sense that we are doing it with a girl. When we meet new people or a person with a higher authority like our boss, we always try to impress them; we talk to them politely and try to act intelligent so that they get a good impression.
When we act like a person who is different from our original personality our whole body language gets changed. For example: If I am talking to a girl, my body language and way of talking is far much different as compared to the way of interaction and body language I have when I am talking to a man or to my boss. At work, flirting is usually acceptable only in certain areas, with certain people and at specific times or occasions. There are no universal laws: each workplace or working environment has its own unwritten etiquette governing flirtatious behaviour.
Generally in flirting phase we always tends to be a nice person, we have small or little smile on our face which shows a glowing charisma on our face. A person with Type A personality gets converted in to Type B personality (don't know about Type A and B personalities,refer wikipedia for best example) and vice versa during flirting. Little bit Flirting is also good (I think this way) as it lets us to be a polite and good to all.It is a universal and essential aspect of human interaction.We always want that some body appreciate us and laughs at our jokes. We all try to create environment where all persons involved have a good time with each other so that we can again catch up, well this thing results in formation of small groups.

We Give our complete attention to the person in which we are interested.We laugh ath their jokes,listen to their stories, and we don't get distracted by what's going on around us as It is more important to seem interested than to seem interesting.
Some times some people do not like flirting at all so please read the body language before doing flirting.We look for such person who seems approachable and appear interested in you and then it starts with small smile to small talk (verbal flirting) and than to fun.

Flirting is a basic instinct, part of human nature. This is not surprising: if we did not initiate contact and express interest in people around us.

Roadside Barber

Road side barbers are very rare to see.If We spot them than we just pass them in our every day life.I was wondering how a new day starts for these road side barbers.Each and every day they have an hope in their eyes to earn more as compare to previous day.They used to stand in the shadow of a tree where they have fixed their mirror on the stem of tree, have a wooden chair and their apparatus used to cut hairs and shave.I don't know how much their hair cut costs but may be around 5-10 Rs.Every day they pray to god that at least they should get enough money so that their family can have a proper meal.

These days husband and wife works in a good firm so that they can have a good life for themselves and for their children but a barber and his wife works so that they can get a meal for their children and if possible than save it for the next day.Some times i think how they manage to survive if they don't have a single customer in a day.May be they had enough customer of their level and i am thinking like this as i didn't get chance to see any customer on their wooden chair.

Good thing is, at least they are doing some thing instead of begging.They have the courage to fight eevry single day to move ahead in their life.Taking hair cutting as a profession is good for those who have some amount of money in their pockets to setup a shop with a pair of chairs equipped with various creams and electrical gadgets but it is an obligation for such peoples by which they can earn their bread.

These days barbers have converted small shops to a full fledged saloon with an Air conditioner but a road side barber will never have such things,he will only have the courage to survive with his scissors and razors.

Vaishno Devi,a holy place or a place of Business

When i went to Vaishno Devi i asked myself that whether it is an holy place or a place of business, a place to pore in money in the name of holy goddess.Although Vaishno Devi shrine board provides lots of facilities to all devotees at various places.I got the business kind of feeling when i saw the facilities like battery operated auto rickshaws upto bhawan @100 Rs/ person and helicopter facilities from katra to the point Sanjichhat@ 1225 Rs/person which is just 2.25 kms away from bhawan.

When I stepped down at Katra,lots of people came and asked for Hotel room,all claiming cheap rooms,some claimed that they will charge for taking care of our luggage and we can take bath at their bathrooms and start our journey by giving an charge of Rs 100.Katra is a city which never sleeps and all the devotees keep moving across it on 24x7.

After taking a room and getting fresh we proceeded for taking Yatra Parchi which is an entry pass for beginning Yatra from Banganga check post.When we reached at Parchi counter we got shocked to see the long queue.A long queue of devotees waiting to get Yatra parchi so that they can begin their journey but to surprise Shrine board has closed the Parchi counter as they were not able to handle people at bhawan and they reported to have 50000 devotees at bhawan.They announced that due to over crowded ness counter will get open at next morning 5 am so that they can have control over the devotees.After hearing this i and my friend left for hotel and we planned to come back at around 3 am in the morning so that we can get Yatra parchi in the first slot.We returned to our hotel,slept and waked up at 2 am so that we can again reach at the counter at 3 am.When we were on our way to counter we saw many peoples sleeping at the road side,many people can not afford a room in a hotel,they were sleeping with their luggage with them.We were expecting that there will not be long queue as no one will come so early but we were wrong.We were at the same place in the queue where we left last evening.Peoples didn't left the queue and they were sleeping on the road itself.I saw the devotion towards holy goddess that people didn't bothered to leave for night.I some how managed to enter the line from front where people were waiting for door of counter to open.When door got opened at 5 am,people broke the queue and they were trying to enter the gate,the situation was so bad that security guards were doing lathi charge but still people were entering the gate by climbing on each other.I saw that one woman fell down due to rush and people were crossing her,some how one security guard came and took out that woman.I too flanged the queue and managed to get inside the gate.Internally i was thinking that i am doing cheating with the people who were standing in the queue from last day without catching any sleep and food but every one was doing that.I asked myself that "Is every thing fair to get an glimpse of holy goddess?".

After getting Yatra Parchi,we reached Banganga checkpost.Here we have to go through security check which involves the x ray examination of your luggage and checking of individual by security guards,Beyond this point the Yatra of Vaishno devi starts.We started climbing and took a bath in Banganga river at Banganga gath.Around 9:30 am we resumed our Yatra and kept climbing towards the Ardh kuwari which is in half the way to bhawan.There are lots of shops present on the roads which have drinking water,cold drinks and other things.Vaishno devi shrine board has also installed drinking water taps at various points from where devotees can refill their water bottles.We were climbing,taking breaks in between when we got exhausted as sun was shining along with cool breeze of air.We were reaching higher and higher by crossing mountains to mountains,watching natural beauty of hills in the shining sun light.Awesome,natural beauty.

After a walking of 6 kms we reached Ardh Kuwari at around 12:30 pm.There was so rush that we got the number of next day afternoon to enter the holy cave of Ardh kuwari so we skipped it and moved towards Bhawan. Lots of devotees were coming back from bhawan and lots of people were going towards the bhawan by enchanting Jai Mata Di all the way.There was a excitement in all of us, we all were so enthusiastic and energetic that we were not feeling tired.I saw some devotees who were not just walking like us.They just lie down on road completely and then get up and again lie down from the point where his hands were.My god, was the word which came out of my mouth when i saw them.How much devotion they had for Vaishno Mata.Some of them were walking through their knees.Vaishno mata gave them energy to do so.Around 4 pm we reached at Bhawan.There we took prashad and took a locker to put our luggage so that it can be safe.

There was a queue for final darshan,around 4:45 pm we were in the queue and after 15 minutes we were standing at the holy cave of Vaishno Maa.Queue was moving slowly and priests were not allowing any person to stand there.We got an chance to see the three goddess only for just 3-4 seconds.There was an different kind of feeling, my eyes got filled with tears when i saw Vaishno Maa, I don't know why.We forced to move from there and we left the premises,collected prashad and moved towards our locker to take our luggage.After putting some food in our tummies we moved for Bhairov nath temple as it is said, in order to complete the Vaishno Devi Yatra one should go to Bhairov nath temple otherwise Yatra will remain uncomplete.

After visiting Bhairov nath temple,we started to move downwards. around 8:15 pm.We were so tired that we were not able to walk but some how we managed to get Ardh Kuwari at around 10 pm.We had our dinner,took some rest and again started to move down.God our legs were not supporting us,after every 100 meters we were taking rest and thinking how we will manage to move down.Some how we reached Banganga check post at around 1 am and took an auto from there to our Hotel.When we reached our room,Dhammmm was the sound which i heard and than i lost control on myself and went into a deep sleep after complete 24 hours which included all the hush-hush for getting Yatra Parchi to our continuous Yatra.

Vaishno Devi,a holy place: where devotees are ready to do anything to get a single glimpse of mata.A place where Shrine board provides free medications,free dispenceries,free blankets and free accomodations to devotees.

Vaishno Devi, a Business place: where people earn money by carrying devotees on their back,on their horses and ponies,on palkies (palki is a kind of chair fitted over two bamboos which is carried by four persons to take an devotee to Bhawan).A place where Hotels charges are sky rocketing,where a cyber cafe charges 10 Rs for a print out and 30 Rs for half an hour surfing with an minimum amount of 3o Rs.

Firing Firing all the way

Firing Firing all the way, one has to accept that there is no other way...
Economy melt down,reduction in work,slashing of jobs these are the main and hot topics these days.Every where the common thing in IT industry is Cost cuttings and Firing of employees who are on bench.
Some are saving their necks and some are taking advantage of the term recession.Every body says Recession time is going on but most of the people don't know about recession and they are just taking advantage of it.Well i am not discussing all these things here.

I fired an 12 year old boy.Yes, but may be for his good.
Me and my flatmates appointed a maid for cleaning and sweeping our rooms so that our rooms look more nice and clean to others who come to our flat (I used to saw my room neat and clean before appointing the maid).Initially she used to come but as time passed she start sending her son for the same purpose.That boy is around 12 years old,he came regularly to our flat,sweeps our flat and went to some other place.Her mother was using him as her companion so that she can have more no of flats in her hand which results in good pay.
One day i asked that boy whether he goes to school or not,he said,he used to go school 2 years before and he has attended classes up to 4th,his father was not in a good state of health and family expenditure rose to recover his father's health,that's why he left school and helping her mother.A good emotional story,isn't it? I don't know whether he was lying or telling me the truth but i said to him that you must go school and study.This is not your work to sweep home,this is the time when you must study and make your and your family's future.He gave another excuse that he is not getting admission in any school due to two year break in his studies.
I told him that we don't want him to come for this work and if he continues to come than may be we will discontinue from you.I asked him to tell his mother to talk to me, i thought may be i will convince her mother to send him to a school but her mother gave another dozens of excuses to me.
I told him that he can bring his books on weekends and i will give him free tuition's but he never turned up.As i gave threat to discontinue from them,her mother started to come her flat for cleaning and sweeping and stopped him to come our home.I assumed that her mother got convinced and now she is not using him but my assumption came wrong when i came to know that her mother stopped him to come to our flat and started sending him to some other flat.She didn't wanted to lose her second hand.After some time i also came to know that, that maid have one more son and she is also using him for the same person.Their family is earning from the four hands.
I was not able to do anything in this but i decided that i will not use that boy again.Once i was seeing Shah Rukh Khan's interview on a show and there he said one thing:-

"If we are not able to stop the wrong things around us than at least we should not do the wrong things."
Its really sad to see such things that still childrens from lower class are not able to go school.We say that India is an fast growing and developing country but are we really growing and developing.

Earth Hour

Earth is asking for just one hour from us so that it can help us and we are not helping it.27th March the day when Earth hour is conducted at International level in which we had to minimize the use of lights just for one hour so that the heat produced by all the heat emitting devices across the earth can be reduced by some small amount so that we can reduce Global warming.
Global warming, seems not to be felt by us in our daily lives if we do not want to feel it.We are still using Air Conditioners all the time in our offices,home or Shopping Malls.If you want to know how much heat an AC emits than go in front of its condenser and you will feel a heavy hot breeze, hot up to the extent that if you are completely wet in your clothes than you can dry them by just standing in front of it for 20-25 minutes.

27 th March, time was approaching to 8:30 pm,suddenly power failure occurred in our area 5 minutes before the scheduled time.It was unbelievable that Electricity board was following the schedule of Earth hour or I should say they got a genuine reason to cut power so that it can be saved.Whatever it is, it helped those who don't have inverter at their home i.e. People who have inverters at their home were using it without caring to minimize the power consumption as mentioned for Earth hour.They don't care,they just can't miss their TV serials for one hour duration.But still Electricity board helped.Most of the area was in dark as just like as Black out.Hope we have saved some amount of heat.
Major example of Global warming,This year winter season closed after Holi and summer has to arrive but to surprise before summer, Monsoon arrived in North and its raining from past 2 days.Global warming is making changes in atmospheric cycles.

I think we all have to join hands for reducing Global warming.Every single person can make a difference by lowering the extra use of water,power and heat emitting devices.