Musings from Deutschland -3

Other Animals

One remarkable thing about Stuttgart is the complete absence of any crow or scavenger bird. Perhaps they dont have much spoils to live on, Germans being quite eccentric about their wastes, a parctice which I shall discuss later in detail. I was delighted to find crows and sparrows when I visited Berlin. I instantly felt at home. Probably thats the nearest perching point for crows flying from east and they are no longer allowed to travel any further. Perhaps crows also have border controls and immigration and thefefore crows from east get to move only until Berlin and no further by German crows(if there are any). I have seen Bavarian crows who are much larger in size than their Indian counterparts and much more philosophical (they can sit at a stretch in one place and think, unthinkable for Indian crows). Bavarian crows can be seen on Zugspitze, the highest point in Germany (3000 m above sea level). How they came to fly above 3000 m is anybody's guess, however they sit comfortably near a restaurant, entertain tourists and get some french fries and sausage pieces and generally relax on the railing. Crows are very down to earth. You can see them either perched on some some places or hopping around for food, but hardly flying. I found a sparrows nest near Bradenburg Tor. The Mr. and Mrs. sparrows were making love to each other, oblivious of the peeping Toms, a real blissful life!

Another characteristics of Germany is duck pond. Whichever town you visit, you will always find a duck pond with ducks and a few majestic swans. The ducks and ducklings are generally very adventurous, in that they reasonably tolerate human presence and even indulge children by eating out of their hands. They may also loudly demand food like agitated union workers in Calcutta even though they do not carry a CITU banner. Swans are however more graceful and snob.

Landlady

We do not have any landlord in Germany (in general) unless ofcourse the landlord is a bachelor. There is a well marked territorial division in terms of property owning, German women are de facto owners of the houses (non movable properties) while German men are owners of cars, dogs and other such movable properties. Landlady is always the dominant partner even if there is a landlord. I have a shrewd suspicion that German ladies are always the dominant parner in every affair. German landlady class is however non intrusive. They respect the tenants' privacy unlike their Indian counterparts. I had this landlord in India who used to call me twice a day at the house to ensure that I was still living in his house and not messing around. German landladies are only bothered if rent is not paid as expected or if cleanliness of the apartment is lost owing to some Indian bachelor being not quite proficient in cleaning. I am very particular on the first one, so never had a problem, but no 2 was an anathema. I was literally driven out of two houses before I got this sweet landlady who never bothered whether I cleaned or not but if situations went out of control she used to clean herself. My first landlady who was a Frenchwoman married to a German, was an extraordinary lady. It was a house in Bopser in Stuttgart. I was alloted a one room studio near the wash room. She did not know enough English for a respectable conversation and my German at that time was not even rudimentary. So whatever she explained regarding cleanliness and garbage collection sounded all German to me (it was, really). I assured her that I had understood everything, even though I understood nothing. So garbages piled up and kitchen got messier. She was very tolerant and even politely told me that my singing was really a pleasure and she liked it, only if I could sing before 9 Pm in the evening it would be great. She even brought along her elder sister who knew English to communicate to me the importance of a clean living and high thinking. I chose to ignore at my own peril and as the terms of contract ended, I was booted out. But she left a pesonal letter for me and even enquired whether I got an alternate house from agent, so sweet and nice of her.

My second apartment belonged to a non German landlord. He was an Italian and knew good amount of English. He was another cleanliness freak. He had an Obsessive cleanliness disorder and used to visit our apartments on slightest pretexts to examine cleanliness. He also used our washing mahine and that gave him right to enter our apartments as per his wish, violating all privacy rights. When he demanded that we pay 80 Euro for a thorough cleaning because he felt that there was an yellow spot in the kitchen as a direct result of our cooking (despite our best assurance to him that we would clean all spots) that was the last straw, we broke contract and left his apartment for good, with the help of our agent Frau Maier of Schwaben Stern who was extremely considerate in this matter and even sided with us.

My third landlady was a typical German hardly knew any English but we could still effectively communicate through his son. This time we had a fully furnished double bed room overlooking a garden and myself, Asish Malik, the juiormost member among us, Manmohan Mohta, the affable Marwari whom all of us loved for his jovial nature, and Shailendu Verma, settled down comfortably in the two rooms, myself and Mannu sharing one room. Even if the house was in the prime location in city ( a place called Mittelstrasse in Degerloch), it was overcharged at 1500 Euro. We knew that but we had few options. This time we were wise enough from our previous experiences to make a monthly contract. However we could not stay for long here. I was supposed to relocate to London which did not happen and the other guys were not able to bear the cost, so they shifted while I was on transit. Therefore when I came back from London I was virtually homeless and took to househunting, fell back to my favourite agent Schwaben Stern http://www.schwaben-stern.de/, run by gentle and amiable Frau Carmen Maier. The next house given to me courtesy Schwaben Stern one was in Echterdingen, and was previously occupied by eminent Paparao Venkata and Shoaib Ansari, both belonging to our project team. I remember the day when I was supposed to meet my new landlady and occupy this apartment. I had missed my flight on the previous day while coming back from London and on arriving, found myself homeless and also penniless, and went to withdraw money from ATM. To my surpirse and chagrin, found almost all DB ATMs to be non functioning (some server problem, must have been an Indian IT company which designed the software). This was because I needed to pay the home rent in advance before shifting. The Italian taxi driver who accompanied me on ATM hunting was extremely patient, despite the risk that I was running out of money even to pay his taxi fare. I finally gave up and went and called my landlady and explained her that I was unable to meet her in the morning and would be meeting her in the evening, with profuse apologies. In the afternoon I could finally withdraw money from an ATM in Koenigstrasse and went for my new home, dragging my bags. At first there was a little difficulty in locating in house (Heinzelingweg 1 in Echterdingen) but finally with the help of a helpful couple in that area, I could find the same and waited for my landlady, on the doorstep. She arrived on a cycle within 15 min, my first impression (and also lasting impression) was that she was a most charming creature in her late sixties. Her name was Frau Inge Kremmer. Notwithstanding language constraints our first meeting was a roaring success and we got on with each other famously. I had developed an instant liking for her which only strengthened over a period. She had a son who was a versatile genius, a globe trotter a painter and a photographer, who even visited Indian subcontinents as a backpacker. I have realized that when you really need to communicate, language is no great barrier. Its the intensity of feelings, gesture and nonverbal communication which play and immense role and which enabled me to communicate effectively with almost all my landladies, including the one I had in India in Hyderabad before leaving for Germany.

Coming back to Frau Kremmer, she was most non intrusive and amiable. I hardly had any time to interact with her except on the first weeks when rent payment was due, but whenever I submitted my clothes for washing they used to get neatly washed and pressed and deposited in my room, my restroom used to get clean once in a fortnight and I used to get new covers for my pillows and bed. Missing buttons in shirts used to get replaced. Only once she did complain to me that I hardly had time to sit and chat with her. I really liked this lady. After marraige when I decided to shift she told me repeatedly to come over to her place at any point of time, which unfortunately I could not manage. But association with her will always remain a fond memory to me.