Danke Schön

Heute ist mein letzter Tag hier in Augsburg, ich möchte all jenen danken, die dazu beigetragen, dass dieses eines der besten Erfahrung, die ich je hatte.
(You guessed it right, two months here and all German I know is .......... this much!)

Kinder

Kidos

I met all kinds of them here; the big, the small, the naughty, the budhas, the mowglis, cindrellas, all disney characters.... The best part was having a kindergarten right next to where I live and be defeated while playing football with them. :P

Universitat Augsburg

University lake

I spent most of my time here in amazing company of people at the software engineering department working on my organic computing project and learning plenty new stuff which I can broadly classify into layman keywords like robots, simulations, traffic, manufacturing systems, touch screen computing (Microsoft Surfaces), safety and everything else that you can connect with them. I would thank Prof Reif (Even though he had been all over the world and I met him like 2-3 times only , that was adequate) and the DAAD for the opportunity and of course Mr. Khaldy and his team for the Berlin 'towel' trip.

University lakeside 2

The university did provide a lot of glimpses into European culture as the above picture does not illustrate. I added Mexico and Turkey to the places i would go to and met people from Central Asia (China,Japan, Kazakhastan, Afghanistan,Pakistan, Iran,Palestine, Iraq, Turkey,...), Eastern Europe (Hungary, Romania, Russia,...), Africa, North America (Canada and U.S ob), North pole (Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Eskimoes,.. ) , Australia, Honululu and of course my favorite being South America (Mexico :P and maybe venezuela, Brazil, ...). Apart from the numerous Barbeque parties, the picnics, hikes and trips I learned a lot of history from all the discussions and deliberations with Mathhias, Frank, Jan-Philip, Nina, Hella, Flo, Simon, Kurt, Alwin, Andrea & Andreas, Michael,... and yeah thank you all for the amazing company!

And my interest in all kinds of Flora and Fauna, animals and birds helped me gather knowledge like which animal is responsible for the maximum number of deaths in Germany.

Rhinos!

Nein, it wasn't that mean looking creature, but rather the cute looking Hippo!

The very efficient and exorbitant transport system constituting the trams, S-bahns( Surface trains) and U-bahns (Underground metros), buses that are long enough to be mistaken for trains and the Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo (which the entire world knows about and they come from here!), Toyotas and Suzuki's and people being impressed by the Nano and yet guzzling gears on their sedans on the AutoBahn @240km/hr with ease. The bicycle friendly roads with streets and signals especially meant for riding bicycles and the routes along the rapids which are used for the Kayaking World Championships constructed during the Munich Olympics 1972.

Trams in Augsburg

The Food which I still am not able to name but was amazingly delicious, the desserts and chocolates and icecreams and the Turkish food I discovered just recently and not to forget the Italian Pizza's which were cheaper than bananas and water made sure I got my daily bread and butter: milch brot and chocolate cream to be precise. I also had my fair share of cooking and burning my taste buds with the chilli powder and garam masala added to camouflage the taste of the food.(Mayonnaise and Sauce too helped :P)

There are too many things here to thank, the friends on gtalk, facebook and orkut who stood by me in all those times of 'imboredandineedyoutoentertainmesomehow!'.India is famous and for plenty of reasons as you can see from the city gallery shop above.However what came as a bigger surprise is below:



Well i had met people who had been to Goa and loved it and rest who were curious about its beaches and spirituality (!?). Well I love Goa for my own reasons but nevertheless I had people who shared common objectives here too. That's some globalization!

..and yeah not to forget the costliest smses I had to send for both silly and sweet reasons.Thanks :)

So Danke Schön, Auf Wiedersehen.

Chao

See you in Goa :)

Pratik Mandrekar

DAAD WISE 2009 Internship Feedback

Some tp..

This should help you while away some time while you yawn..

Hello, reader! I am a young boy from the United States, and like most other American children such as me, it seems there is nothing I enjoy more than lazing about from morning until night, eating sweets, and wantonly disrespecting the wishes of my elders.

But I am beginning to realize that my behavior—and the behavior of all typical American young people like me—is in every way unacceptable. What is more, my lack of obedience goes completely unchecked, since my parents, teachers, and government authorities will do nothing to stop it.

Sleep, eating, and Mickey Mouse. That's what I like best. Most days, when I am not gorging myself on cheese hamburgers or wasting my time collecting baseballs, I tend to speak to adults as if they were my schoolmates or mere common insects, instead of figures to be feared and respected. Did you know the amount of effort I put forth in my daily life is not even one-tenth that of children my age in other countries?

Continue reading here

Politics

Nation Descends Into Chaos As Throat Infection Throws Off Obama's Cadence

July 14, 2009

This cough led directly to 1,400 overturned cars and three major prison riots.

WASHINGTON—Looting, fires, and mass rioting swept across the nation today when a mild throat infection threw off President Barack Obama's normally reassuring and confident speech cadence, sources in every major city reported.

"My fellow [cough] Americans, please [cough] remain calm," Obama said during a nationally televised emergency address to the nation that caused the Dow Jones to plunge 50 points with every cough, sniffle, or wheeze. "Now is not the time for [cough]…everything's [cough]. Stop it."

Without the president's fluid, almost poetic tone to reassure them, the American people have abandoned all semblance of law and order and descended into a nationwide panic, burning buildings to the ground, disobeying police, and relinquishing all hope for the future.

Read more here

and some more crap here :

Grandfather Disrespected In Own Home

AKRON, OH—Though he is wise, benevolent, and the eldest male member of his family, grandfather Jerry Morgenthau, 74, was shown a degree of filial piety more fitting a dog or pig Tuesday when younger relatives disrespected him in his own home.

Reports indicate the retired steelworker and patriarch—who, unlike his insolent offspring, has cultivated great virtue in his time upon this earth—was ignored and patronized by his son's family throughout their brief visit.

Morgenthau's own firstborn child displayed unforgivable disobedience by smiling and nodding while dismissing his father's expert counsel on matters ranging from home maintenance to the best methods for attaining low-cost airfare to Florida.

"Okay, Dad," said Derek Morgenthau, who should be harshly chided for failing to glorify his ancestors.

P.S. - That's all that I could do today 'coz i had to put this up for someone even though I have been busy doing stuff..

chao

The Letter

Dear Veronica

I know you would be surprised to find this letter here. Firstly we never wrote letters. Remember how our relationship started? Online chat rooms and Social networking sites wouldn't replace the numerous matrimony sites but surely we were an exception or so we thought. Time has changed sweetheart and I still love you but there's something you need to know

You may be wondering why I did not meet you the entire day yesterday and haven't been receiving your calls. I knew you would come in search for me. That's why this, my first letter to you and don't feel bad..maybe the last. Well we had the routine medical test at the company on Friday. They had interns posted to do the job this time. I had my sample taken and everything seemed fine except for a little dizziness which normally never happened. I just thought that maybe it was the workload I had this week and the nights spent with you (Gosh I'll miss you so much :( ). But then all blacked out. I don't know when I opened my eyes. It was dark. I couldn't see anything. I tried standing but my knees hurt. I groped in the dark for something to support. I hit something, it felt wet. I remembered my cellphone had a torchlight. I took it out and switched it on.

I was standing in a pool of blood. Two bodies lay besides me. Still and cold. I tried turning and looking at the face of one. I instantly recognized it. It was the same guy who had done my tests that evening. Worse, he was stripped bare and had two letters inscribed on him. The flesh could be seen ruptured and a few flies attempting to feast in them. Those two letters were my initials.

I didn't even dare looking at the other body. I swear i didn't kill them. I don't even know what I am doing here. I was supposed to be out there with you and here I am , prime candidate for a double murder with all the circumstantial evidence pointing towards me. I needed you. I took out my phone to call you. There was a message from a private number. I opened it. It read : " Wire 300,000 bucks to 4567889290018902, Stadsparkasse within before 12 pm tonight and you'll be free" I didn't know what to do. Then i did something for which i cannot forgive myself. Remember you had told me once about your mothers insurance policy bond worth 250,000 bucks? I'm sorry but I used your account (Remember never to share your account details with anyone in the future, not even the person you trust the most) and transferred the entire amount. I know that was the only thing you had. Your sister's education depended on that but at that moment I didn't know what I was doing. I just wanted to get out and I just did whatver was spontaneous.

Then i tried escaping from the scene. I could see in the dark now. It was my office conference room. The main door was locked but the fire exit was open. I went out and just ran. I don't know how far I went into the woods because my legs gave way and it was only 12 hours later when my eyes opened that i saw another message on my phone. It was the report from the medical bureau . I know this is going to hurt you a lot. It said that my report said I was positive for HIV and I should report to the lab immediately for more tests. I was scared to go back but I thought I should let you know. Please get yourself checked. There's another thing I need to tell you. The fortnight ago when I had been to Budapest for the meeting I had met this girl and we were drunk...I know you'll never forgive me. I have no option left but to kill myself. I know I have hurt you but you are a beautiful person and I know you will fight back. Will miss you.

Love you,

Yours eternally

(Ashamed of my initials)

Miss you and Take care.


P.S. - My dear sweetheart, a lot can go wrong in this world as you have just seen. So I hope you wouldn't really mind my doggy ripping off your pink Teddy which you can find under the Bed. After you have calmed down please meet me at our usual cafe. I swear everything above the P.S is a lie except of course the I love you part :). See you soon. Tc

Pratik

Yawn!

Its like early morning out here and somehow I still am busy with things that have nothing to do with what I had planned for the night. A lot of nice things keep happening and its fun expecting the unexpected.I wanted to write something about my work but its to heavy for a lightheaded moment like now. Anyway for a brief I came across one of these today:

"There are 64 single men and 64 single women, all heterosexual its is presumed, who want to get married. Each one ranks all possible mates. The problem is how to find the set of marriages so that no two people (one man one woman) that are not married to each other do, in fact, prefer each other over their assigned partners"

Well this is a decent multi-agent problem and BDI systems I work with are adequate to solve it..but damn to Sec 377 , now I'll have to change the problem statement itself to suit the 'real' needs of the population.


Zzzzz...again a few glimpses of past few days (More here)

An Old water wheel used by the flour and saw mills and also to hammer Metal

Baby trying to destroy Public property? Err...not exactly...

Fussen's Lords in the Sky and Me with ice cream (invisible)

One of Fussen's ild houses next to the Ski-Jump and the Mini-golf park

Guess Who? At the farm.. :)

Ostriches et more...traditional Bavarian lunch at the farm in the Alps between Germany and Austria

Thanks for the hike up the gorge and the drive up to Neuchwenstein(People not in Pic, but Swans are)

Busy scaling the castle walls..DND!

Even Cindrella and Disney need to face Real Life problems of Material degradation

Its not just you who are scared up here dear :)

Marienbrucke or wateva- The highest bridge up the Alps

Hiking the Gorge

That's what Traditional Lunch costs and that too tip not included, but well worth it... :)


That's all 4 now...

Chao

Pratik Mandrekar

Another Legendary Weekend :)

The party was planned, the grills were ready, the meat was about to be bought; it was all planned out when all of a sudden there was a storm predicted for the evening.If it were in India, I would have of course switched the channel when the weather report would have started but out here that wouldn't be the case.Even the clouds seemed to obey the weather report and started darkening. It was 3:30 PM and the party had to be called off.It was 5:00 PM and the weather cleared all of sudden.The forecasts go wrong here too :P. So the party was hurriedly fixed up albeit without those who wouldn't be reading their mails again would miss it.

BArbequing at the lakeside

I went with Alwin and Andrea to the mart to get the necessary stuff and an authentic Bavarian Shopping experience.Even the coal comes packaged for barbeque here!So all setup we headed to the lake, setup the grill, got everyone ready, discussed things about the guy who came from the same Romanian village that dracula did and all kinds of blah..with a dose of grilled meat and drinks to drink.Two students who hadn't read their earlier mails (fortunately!) turned up and well..! An advisory to all who go swimming or diving in frozen lakes, take a roap with you 'coz once upon a time a couple of swimmers did go and were lost inside, normally you would just blow the bubbles and see where they head, but with the ceiling packed with ice you have no option but to....so be careful...That was the middle of the week.


The next night I left for Werfen and Salzburg where the Biggest system of Ice Caves in the World and the life of Mozart awaited us respectively.The German trail at Munich for Salzburg was canceled and we had to board the Austrian Express with a DB pass and surprisingly no-one noticed.The Nordic woman sitting with me again had an Indian connection;she had seen 'Little India' in Singapore.Its surprising how everything somehow connects to India here and even Goa.

From the top of the Cable Car at the largest network of Ice Caves in the world

So we finally reached Salzburg, shopped a bit and reached Werfen which is an amazingly beautiful town with the Austrian Snowy Alps,' Gaei ' and deers, flowers with houses or atleast it looks like that, castles on the horizon and our journey to the top of the Alps where the Ice caves with all the stalactites and stalagmites, Elephant like structures with the ashes of the guy who discovered them , chilly high pressure winds blowing us away, magnesium ribbons to illuminate the interiors and Govinda burning his pant at the -10 degree Celsius or so temperature inside the caves will remain legendary! That sure was an experience..

We returned from Werfen only to realize that the optimal solution would mean we skip Salzburg night to spend time at the Munich station so that we could be early next morning to the Disney castle.So our second sleepless night at the Munich station with the blabber king from Pakistan and some more cute people, along with a walk on the street which would put Amsterdam to shame helped us stay awake till we took the train to our next destination

Bridge et Fall

The less I say about this place where Michael Jackson spent most of his time the better.However a few points to note:

1. The Japanese love this place and are have inbuilt GPS systems which aids them reach this place without looking at any map or sign.They have mastered the art of digital photography in positions we would refer to Yoga.
2. No one knows why king Ludwig and his doctor were found dead just 172 days after this Disney castle.It wasn't even completed and the Servants quarters here are too awesome for modern day Kings.
3. One of the many enlightening international conversations we overhead :P
   

Joy(An American lady)-My name is Joy.
Prachi (An Indian girl)-Did you know that Joy means happiness in Hindi?
Joy(spitting chewing gum)-Oh..that's nice !
Prachi- Gum means sadness.....

Next we headed back to Munich where the Deutsche Museum-The worlds largest Science and Technology Museum made us feel tiny and amazed at everything from Nanotech devices that could play football, to the Inside of Space Shuttles to the Sundials and Pianos which almost led to another WW.Dachau was next and we made a bus tour of the concentration camp with a guy holding a knife about to....err I guess he was trying to open the ventilator coz his doggy was feeling stuffy :)

Dum Dum

Allianz Arena, Food, food and time to board for our next destination:Lindau.The plan was to catch sleep at the Lindau station.We reached at midnight and for the first time this station had to close down at midnight.What followed was a nightful of experience roaming on the streets, the seafront bordering Swiss,Austria and Germany on Lake constance providing the perfect backgroud for drunk guys and girls trying to think we were the Loch Ness monster and monsteresses and ofcourse for the set of decent guys et gals who almost ran over us, shocked, awed, made us sleep in the Deutsche Post Office, PDA's that were passe by now and in general A Night to remember.That made three sleeplesss nights for me.Amazing Euro Trip :)

Lindau :)

Lindau is an amzingly beautiful Island and we experienced the Sea and Europe at its best with its set of Ducks, Swans and Lions. Alligators and fishes or poodles and dragons-They all looked same to me in the end, I had seen sooooo...much.

As Pure White as a ....(I did offer my donut, but she wanted a pizza..ofcourse its more than just a birdie :) )

On my way back I was almost fined for having my shoes resting on the seats, simple strategy of not understanding worked and I didn't have to attempt more advanced acting skills like getting hysterical and making monkey grunts and scratches.

....Sing

Finally I was home :) .The sign above is almost home. I love you :)

Another weekend, another week-Time just flies by with or without you...

Chao

Pratik Mandrekar

Check more pics here