on the events of 16th December 2014

I sit here write this post today engulfed in unspeakable unthinkable unimaginable grief over the event when the Taliban stormed into an Army Public School and massacred 142 people from whom 132 were school kids.

A tragedy of this sort has never taken place in the history of the world let alone Pakistan and Pakistan is shuddering with its repercussions. Throughout Pakistan, condemnations have been streaming in. Personally, I dont think any language has a word to describe parents who lose their children, and to think that all those kids perished like the way they did. Deplorable

I could not believe the news when I heard it, for I kept thinking about the kids I have in my family. When I begin to consider what those families might be going through who have lost someone in this senseless barbarity, it brings tears to my eyes.

I picture what might have happened in the school. The kids would be studying, most but not all. Some would be talking to their friends, some might also be drawing something on a piece of paper. Some would have plans to go play cricket, or football or something after school. Some would be in the fear of the exams that they would have to take next month, or maybe excited about getting the winter break.

and then they hear gunfire like they have never heard before and people barge in to their classes carrying weapons. They kill their teacher, I wonder what would the kids have felt when that happened. and to see your friends die right in front of your eyes. and then to know you will be next.

but I wonder, the terrorists would see little children, half their own height perhaps, clad in uniforms. What would have they have seen? I wonder. The look in the kids eyes. What did the terrorists think then, what they think before, They didn't think did they. They aren't humans are they. 

Unfortunate Indeed

So my companion, my friend, my point of contact in needs of time , my lovely laptop, suffered a fate worse than any other when I fell from my bike while it was in my backpack along with 3 soda bottles. What transpired is as follows.

I realized It was going to be one of the last sunny days in Berlin. I decided it deserved to be enjoyed with a flavor (weil ich die Sonne genissen moechte). So I hopped on my bike along with my backpack to a grocery shop which was a bit farther away than the place I usually go to. The sun looked like all those things they say it looks like when writers and poets praise it.

I got there pretty soon, which was good because I was getting tired of riding the bike. At the shop, I purchased all that money could buy, fit it into my backpack with space to spare, and soon was on my way back. This is where the weather and hence this blog takes a turn for the worse. While I was coming back, it started raining, which should have made me ride the bike a bit more carefully but didn't and the unspeakable happened. I fell from my bike. When I got up I realized my laptop was inside and when I finally managed to get it out, it was dripping with water, soda and what not. I rushed back home, disassembled it all I could, let it be for 3 days, tried to switch it on the fourth, and was disappointed that it didn't on the 5th.

The day after? The day after I questioned many things I had held dear all my life. Like how important it really was to enjoy the sun, or to take the bike or to forget it had the laptop inside and that it rained and the events were set in motion.

The day after that, I spent the whole day cursing fate and thinking how unfortunate did I really have to be for it to happen to me. I thought how utterly meaningless and pointless this whole affair was that led me to this state of laptoplessness. I felt so unfortunate, so so unfortunate that it was just a very small mistake, what were the chances of that happening. I am sure that doesn't happen to alot of people. I am sure.

and the subsequent day, Phillip Hughes got hit on his head while playing for a domestic cricket match and died.

Do you speak German?

I am often asked this question "Do you speak German now?".  As of right now I dont really know how I should answer this question and be factually accurate at the same time, for my dilemma is this.
If someone who doesn't speak German at all (which is the majority of the people that I know in my life) listens to me having a conversation with someone in German, he would think I am fluent whereas in  essence I would have to actually learn as much more German as I already do now to be fluent.

So the point I want to make is this. This question is invalid because there is no clear answer that will both satisfy the listener and myself. . All I can hope for is that the listener knows about the "common European Framework of Referance for Languages" and then I can simply say. B2 or whatever I want to say.

But it makes me wonder in how many others things does the same thing apply?  Maybe we are always on a line but instead choose to answer many questions with a "Yes I am fluent" without fully thinking about it.