The Crowd Factor

No Crowd: Stadium Tour, San Siro Stadio, Milan

75000 people: Barcelona FC vs Real Betis, CampNou, Barcelona

Best Comment From Class

Place: Real Estate Management Class.

Prof: Do you know what will happen to the beautiful houses in downtown Frankfurt in 2050?
Students: Nein. No.
Prof: They will be empty because there is no one alive to stay there. We are suffering from negative population growth rate. The average German woman conceives only 1.2 children. That's so bad. We need to do something; I mean you need to do something. I have had 3 kids, that's my share of work.
(Turns to German girls)
Prof: Please do something. Please do something for your lovely country.
(Sudden rush in class. Some girls stand up)
Prof: No no. Please excuse us. No national duties right now. Do it after the class.

And we, the students, were rolling on the floor, laughing!

Sarchasm Anyone?

Today we had a function arranged by DAAD, our scholarship-paying agency in Stuttgart. The arrangements were excellent, and this is one thing where I bow to the Germans. For three days, things took place as per the exact timing given in itinerary. Only once they were late by 2 minutes, and they apologized for the same. Over three days: We had hotel stay, amazing food, free tour of Stuttgart, Visit to Mercedes Benz Museum. So nothing more I could have asked for!

Then we had an interesting lecture by a Dutch Professor, who had been to India, Chennai to be precise. We asked him, what does he miss about India?
His reply: Beautiful Chennai Women!

I resign!

Arbit Experiences

I have been trying my hand at this game for quite some time. The Asian people are quite discernible in European countries thanks to their skin colour, hair colour and may be the colour of the eyes. So I was trying to find a list of features that will help me to identify the country of a person from his looks, especially for the Asian people.

So I came up with a few traits through *net searches and observing people* like:

Chinese looks: Japan, South Korea, China, HK, and Thailand
Indian looks: Rest of Asia


So after coming up with these traits, I started to test it. Every time I saw an Indian looking guy. I used to him * Are you from India?*. And depending on the answers, I modified my traits.

Indian with fair looks: Pakistan
Indian with dark looks: Sri Lanka
Else: India
Fair looks with sharp noses: Turkey, Israel and their Arab friends

But again, this wasn't comprehensive. I met many South Indians who were darker than Srilankans and met many Pakistanis who were darker than North Indians, and many Chinese looked people who were from East India.
So I gave up on finding country from traits. Just not possible!

And finally found the only way to find whether a person is Indian/Pakistani without even talking to him.
If you see an Asian looking guy, talk to Indian friend in Hindi *Train kitne baje ki hai?*. If he doesn't know the language, it will be chaos for him and he won't turn to see us. But if he knows Hindi, he will turn back.

So armed with this weapon, I was travelling alone from Paris to Frankfurt the other day by Eurail. And next to me was an Asian looking guy. Now the problem was, I could not ask my Indian friend *Train kitne baje ki hai?* because I was already in the train. And over to that, since I was travelling alone, there was no one to ask for this question. So I decided to talk directly to the person.

I: Are you from Asia?
N: Yes
I: Are you from *Pakistan*? (*India* had become too cliche)
Neighbor (N): Nope, India
I: Where in India?
N: Bombay
I: Where in Mumbai?
N: Vileparle
I: Where in Vileparle?N: EastI: Where in East?N: Sant Janabai Road
I: Oh, I live on the same road
N (Shocked): Do you have Sant Janabai Road in Pakistan?
I: Nah, I am from India. The first question was Just Like That!

And this way, I found the person who lives on the same road, from the question *Are you from Asia?*