Ani

Ani

Originally uploaded by daniela.singhal.

Long time no write….. thats true! I have to admit that life has become very busy these days. Living the asian slow motion seems to be almost ages away right now.

But at one moment it all came back to my mind: when I heard Ani Choying sing at the Nepalday in Bonn which is close to the city of Cologne where I live. She has been invited by the German-Nepal Friendship association and it was nice to hear “Phoolko akama” in Germany.

Even my mother came, wearing a wonderful Kurtha. (as no other woman unfortunately did) And I met my boss from the German Development Service in Kathmandu with his wife.

There where many interesting speeches about thr Ghandabars and risks of climbing the Mount Everest and the Kamalari. And and and.

Finding some Nepal in Germany

He said: “Why dont we meet tomorrow?” I was notsure if I was ready to see him. Maybe it was too early. Maybe, maybe not. “Come on, tomorrow evening at five. Okay?” I said yes. Actually I wanted to go and see him. To talk to him about what I loved so much the last months. About what I am missing now.

These days life has been getting back to normal. With going to work and going to university. Having a structured German day where everything happens on time, where the buses and trams leave right when they are supposed to, where people cross the street only when the traffic light is green, where you get what you want on time. Still I miss the asian spirit on the street, the colours, the smells (even if they can be bad some time!)… drinking chai on the street, eating pakhora, dealing with taxi drivers, temples, rice fields, momos and ghats….. after all I am still half asian and I feel it.

So I met him and it was a good decision. He reminded me, that you can also find the asian spirit here. You just have to go and look for it. If you walk around with open eyes, you can see: the pakistani running the small shop in your neighbourhood, watching hindi movies in the back  whenever there is no customer; you can find the call shop run by indians which is always packed by hindi speaking people, you can talk to the Nepali guy who is working in a small restaurant around the corner, the beautiful lady from Kerala who is working as a tailor and selling Salvar Kamez suits, the young guy from Kathmandu studying Physics at my university. Yes, they are here.

And then he told me, that there will even be a Nepali New Year celebration on April 15th. Of course I will go. Following him, the Nepali Consul in Cologne

While my guitar gently wheeps

while my guitar gently whispers

Originally uploaded by daniela.singhal.

I made a promise: I promised that I will keep on practising the guitar. So I am using every free minute to play. Well, sometimes I am also using the minutes that are not free. Actually I am playing more guitar then doing anything else these days.

One day I drove to the small lake which is near my appartment in Cologne. It was a very sunny and lovely day, but still a little cold. I sat down and started to play. There was only one other person. A man who had brought his own chair to sit and see the sunset. I started to play. At that time I only new three chords. And I was only able to play three songs. I was quite satisfied. Although I have to admit, that it is not gently whispering while I play it. Its not screaming either, but speaking quite roughly.

After some time the man stood up and left. Guess my playing bothered him….. HHHMMMM. He should just give me some time, because after some months I will be a great, well know guitar player. And he will regret leaving me at the lake.

Driving around

Originally uploaded by daniela.singhal.

This is my familys house in Germany. We have been living in this house for 23 years and now we are getting ready to sell it. Since me and my brother are both living in other city, it is too big for my mother. There are too many rooms for one person and too many things that have to be taken care of. So the next days I will be helping her repair some things in the garden and renovate some things in and on the house.

Tonight I was driving around in the car…. it was unbelievable how empty the streets were. Some other cars passed my way, but very few. On the street outside town I was allowed to go 120 km per hour which is pretty fast. No jam to worry about, no Riksha and bike crossing your way, no cycle or cow you have to watch out for, no man carrying a cupboard on his back, no fruitseller sitting on the ground. Driving in Germany is a lot more relaxed than in Nepal. But I have to admit that it gets boring after some time. Not like riding down the slopes from Nargakot

back in Germany

I am back in good old Germany. After travelling nearly 24 hours i arrived very tired, but safely at my home. It was so nice to see my mother again. We were both very happy after beeing away from each other for such a long time.

But still I was so sad when I had to leave Kathmandu. I was sitting in the Qatar flight and cried a lot. All of a sudden the lady next to me asked for a tissue. I looked at her and saw that she started crying, too. Meryen from Marokko. She had visited Nepal together with her husband for two weeks. He lives in Saudi Arabia and she in Marokko, so they also had to say goodbye for a long time.

Arriving in Frankfurt everything seemed so big to me. It is a very large airport and people are just rushing with their luggage from one gate to another. I felt a little lost in all that crowd. I stopped to smoke a cigarette. And at the smoking point I recognized two guys talking in Nepali!!! I was so happy and started talking to them with my few words of Nepali. They were very surprised and happy, too. And so the first people I talked to in Germany were Nepalis;-)

Right now the wheather in Germany is still cold and the sky is all grey and it is raining. It is also very quiet. You dont here honking bikes and taxis and poojah bells. Only sometimes a bird.