Continued from Day 10745…

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Day 10746
Monday, 21 January 2019

Fun Fact: The first helmet was used in cricket in 1974.

Actually, balls rising to the head wasn’t a regular thing until the 70s. Cricket was played on uncovered pitches until then. These days the pitch (the part not covered by grass) is covered by sheet at all times to keep it away from sun and rain, so they are always of the same moisture, hard and bouncy. Neither wet and muddy nor dry and crack-y.

My legs still tremble when I climb up/down stairs. I am a real grandpa today. Also, I am planning to take my German class friends hiking to Dreilander Punkt on Saturday. Let us see how that goes.

Am I really as much of an introvert as I think I am?

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Wow, there is a lot of cricket talk in this episode. Unfortunately, that is true. A lot will depend on Kohli this time. I am watching the 11th season of Big Bang Theory. They recently put it up on Netflix.

Post-midnight shower. That is something I have never done before. My phone is not charging beyond 47%.

Why is that I look so good in my bathroom mirror and so ugly in all my pictures?

WHERE IS CARMEN SANDIEGO
WHERE ON EARTH CAN SHE BE

LONDON ZOO
TIMBUKTU
CAN YOU HELP US
FIND A CLUE

Cricket, Asia Cup (West):
Match 3: Bahrain beat Maldives
Match 4: Qatar beat Saudi Arabia

Football, AFC Asian Cup, Playoffs:
Japan beat Saudi Arabia , 1-0
Australia beat Uzbekistan , 1-0
United Arab Emirates beat Kyrgyzstan , 3-2

Australia probably gonna win this one too. One big continent and we can’t collectively beat that fictional land down under at football.

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Day 10747
Tuesday, 22 January 2019

“If I have one message to give to the secular American people, it’s that the world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don’t know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same.” -Marjane Satrapi

That is so deep, we could probably find oil somewhere in there, and start a war over freedom and democracy.

I wonder if the British had records of the native people. I would love to find out about my ancestors. There may be a record in the 20th century. We do have a book of family records too, though. I am guessing there would be a record of those that converted to whoever they tried converting us to. That is still 4 to 5 generations back. I already know about that. As far as I know, up until 4 generations back, nobody has left the Mysore kingdom/Bombay province/Karnataka state, let alone the shores of India. I shall know how right I am eventually. I know nothing beyond the grand-generation on my mother’s side. The mother’s side is always going to be a tad harder to trace than the father’s side.

I am yet to see a good rainy day here. Not the tippity drippity shit of a drizzle all day. Some serious rain. But it snowed today, so that makes up for the lack of rain.

Merkel and Macron in town today. I had my first glimpse of German special forces and their snipers, dogs, etc. Nothing interesting ever happens in this little city otherwise.

Cricket, Asia Cup (West):
Match 5: Qatar beat Kuwait
Match 6: Saudi Arabia beat Maldives

Cricket:
South Africa beat Pakistan

Football, AFC Asian Cup, Playoffs:
South Korea beat Bahrain , 2-1
Qatar beat Iraq , 1-0

The quarter final lineup is going to be:
Vietnam vs Japan
China vs Iran
South Korea vs Qatar
United Arab Emirates vs Australia

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Day 10748
Wednesday, 23 January 2019

Weather permitting, I am going to Dreiländerpunkt on Sunday with my German class friends and their families! I think 6 is the perfect amount of people I can be an extrovert and the centre of attention in. I get to live up to the leadership trait that comes with being a “Leo”. On the internet it is a lot more, of course. I have a dorm of 42 to prove it.

Today is pizza day! My right knee… I have been feeling a stabbing pain since morning. Every time I bend or straighten it, which is basically every step I take. I took an Ibuprofen and sprayed some Moov, and elevated it. Let’s see how it goes until tomorrow morning. I have to sleep now, it is almost midnight.

One of the best Ozzy Man videos I have seen.

Cricket, Asia Cup (West):
Match 7: Qatar beat Maldives
Match 8: Kuwait beat Bahrain

Cricket:
India beat New Zealand

The match was delayed by 20 minutes because the evening sun was getting in the batsmen’s eyes. That is the first time I have ever heard of sunlight stopping play.

Cricket, West Indies vs England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, End of Day 1:
West Indies (1st inning) 264/8
West Indies lead by 264 runs

This is from the time India required 34 runs to win in the last 12 balls in the final, and they pulled it off.

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Day 10749
Thursday, 24 January 2019

The Ibuprofen and the Moov helped a lot. I slept well, and I don’t feel the pain this morning. I had never used Moov until I got to Germany. I think the cold is exposing all my vulnerable body parts.

The first time I sat in a car was in 2000. Wait no, 1997. But it was my dad’s colleague’s car. Not many people in India had cars back then. We had our first car in 2000- a blue 1992 Maruti Suzuki 800. Prior to that, the 4 of us would travel on a scooter. My sister and I were little, so we fit in easily.

First it was a Bajaj Chetak, then we got a Kinetic Honda. I stood in the front, between my dad’s legs.

“That sounds dangerous”, says kt.

Nah, it used to normal back then. Everybody did it. Only the rich had cars. There was no rule for helmets either. We never wore any back then.

What is an acceptable time to start studying before an exam?

I dunno, it is a really ordinary picture from across the street, but I found it beautiful.

I got a pair of thermals at Decathlon. I am having difficulty walking because of my sore knee. It started yesterday. Now I cannot even bend it without it sending waves of pain through my body. I am dragging my right foot as I walk, and I cannot even describe how I climbed the three flights of stairs to my apartment. I feel normal when the knee is unmoved. I feel the pain when I bend the joint. I have never been to a doctor in Germany yet. I have been paying 92 a month for over a year and a half now. I think it is time to cash out. I am supposed to lead the hike of a group of 12 on Sunday. I need to get my knee back in order! I need to get myself a Hausarzt first.

This blog earned its 11th follower today!

Cricket, Asia Cup (West):
Match 9: Saudi Arabia beat Kuwait
Match 10: Qatar beat Bahrain
Final: Saudi Arabia beat Qatar

Cricket:
India beat New Zealand

Cricket, West Indies vs England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, End of Day 2:
West Indies (1st inning) 289 all out
England (1st inning) 77 all out
West Indies (2nd inning) 127/6
West Indies lead by 339 runs

Cricket, Australia vs Sri Lanka , End of Day 1:
Sri Lanka (1st inning) 144 all out
Australia (1st inning) 72/2
Australia trail by 72 runs

Cricket, Ranji Trophy Semifinal, Karnataka vs Saurashtra, End of Day 1:
Karnataka (1st inning) 264/9
Karnataka lead by 264 runs

Football, AFC Asian Cup, Quarterfinals:
Japan beat Vietnam , 1-0
Iran beat China , 3-0

That time in 2004 when Tendulkar played the fairytale innings in Australia. He single handedly scored 241 runs and India made 705.

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Day 10750
Friday, 25 January 2019

I have a knee support, but it did not seem to help yesterday. In fact, the compression gave me the impression of heightened pain. I think the cold makes it worse. When I climbed down three floors of my apartment building this morning, it felt relatively fine. After waiting for the bus, standing inside the bus, getting off and walking to language centre, the pain was back again when I had to climb the two floors to the class.

This doctor is closed until Monday. Now I have to wait until then and bear the pain over the weekend, and during the hike. Speaking of which, I pray that it is sunny on Sunday. Since I have never been to a doctor yet, if technically the first doctor I go to will become my Hausarzt, I will obviously prefer this lady because she speaks English. Am mindestens ich kann ihr meine Symptome klar beschreiben.

Here’s something interesting: Remember the 1971 war I talked about on Day 10732? Today, Jenny was telling me that her granddad served in the Soviet Navy on a submarine that docked at Vladivostok during the 70s, and he “visited” India during the time. I’m like, “Wait a minute… Your granddad was on that freakin’ nuclear submarine that almost caused WWIII?!”

It turns out, he was the commander of said submarine. They were actually talking about West Germany and East Germany, and the Berlin Wall, etc. of which I do not know much about. She casually mentioned this, and I did not see that coming. I doubt she has an idea of the shitstorm her granddad was possibly in the middle of.

The main topic was, however, how media and governments brainwash and manipulate. She was telling us that growing up in Soviet Russia, she was taught that Soviet actually did a favour by “saving” Germany, and that the people of Germany wanted them to invade and save them. Only when she moved out and travelled, she realised the facts are something else. Basically, everybody has their own take on “history” even though the facts remain the same. Apparently, a Wikipedia page in Russian will present a different angle to the same event in history than say, the same Wikipedia page in English. Probably the same goes for people from the UK and those from the former colonies. There’s always a preconceived notion from the version of history we have come across. Hopefully with the internet, more people get to see all sides and form their own opinions free of bias.

Speaking of the internet, this blog earned its 12th follower today. I also completed my A2 level in German today. I start my B1 on Monday. Shit is about to get serious now. We’ll also be having 3 new people joining our group. So we are moving to a bigger room with a bigger blackboard. Tomorrow is Republic Day! I will step out in the rain and the knee pain and meet other Indians. How motivated I must be.

It appears both my DNA samples reached Ancestry, but obviously they are going to discard the first one, because they said in case of two samples from same person, they take the latest one into consideration. The sample I posted on 1 December reached on 21 January, i.e. 51 days. Last week’s post delivered today, i.e. 6 days. Ireland is a lot closer in 2019 than it was in 2018. It also could be because I paid an extra €20 the second time.

Cricket:
United Arab Emirates beat Nepal
South Africa beat Pakistan

Cricket, West Indies vs England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, End of Day 3:
West Indies (1st inning) 289 all out
England (1st inning) 77 all out
West Indies (2nd inning) 415/6 declared
England (2nd inning) 56/0
England require 572 runs to win

Cricket, Australia vs Sri Lanka , End of Day 2:
Sri Lanka (1st inning) 144 all out
Australia (1st inning) 323 all out
Sri Lanka (2nd inning) 17/1
Sri Lanka trail by 162 runs

Cricket, Ranji Trophy Semifinal, Karnataka vs Saurashtra, End of Day 2:
Karnataka (1st inning) 275 all out
Saurashtra (1st inning) 227/7
Saurashtra trail by 48 runs

Football, AFC Asian Cup, Quarterfinals:
Qatar beat South Korea , 1-0
United Arab Emirates beat Australia , 1-0

The semifinal lineup is going to be:
Iran vs Japan
Qatar vs United Arab Emirates

Australia are out of the Asian Cup. #PlotTwist

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Day 10751
Saturday, 26 January 2019

Happy 70th Republic Day!

The native population in India somehow outlived the colonial era to be able to fight for independence. Or somehow it was too hot for white people they saw no point in killing us off and settling there.

Europeans be like, “We got land from America and Australia, slaves from Africa and money from Asia. I think our work here is done. Now, let us fight internally and call it World War.”

Wow, I just summarised 500 years of world history right there.

Ari continues, “And then when we get sick of fighting each other let’s go back to meddling in Africa, South America, and the middle east to keep things unstable in the name of promoting democracy. Although now that’s like Europe + England 2.0 USA + friends along for the ride, Australia and Canada. I filled in the last 50 years!”

Rain forecast for tomorrow. The hike is doubtful now.

One of my mum’s favourite Kannada lullabies. I have dozed off to this as a kid more times than I can remember.

This is from one of my all-time favourite movies, Swades. It is about an Indian-origin NASA scientist who goes on a road trip while visiting his hometown. Also, SRK!

Cricket:
India beat New Zealand
Nepal beat United Arab Emirates
Nigeria beat Rwanda

Cricket, West Indies vs England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿:
West Indies (1st inning) 289 all out
England (1st inning) 77 all out
West Indies (2nd inning) 415/6 declared
England (2nd inning) 246 all out
West Indies win by 381 runs

Cricket, Australia vs Sri Lanka :
Sri Lanka (1st inning) 144 all out
Australia (1st inning) 323 all out
Sri Lanka (2nd inning) 139 all out
Australia win by an inning and 40 runs

Cricket, Ranji Trophy Semifinal, Karnataka vs Saurashtra, End of Day 3:
Karnataka (1st inning) 275 all out
Saurashtra (1st inning) 236 all out
Karnataka (2nd inning) 237/8
Karnataka lead by 276 runs

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Day 10752
Sunday, 27 January 2019

1007 h: Time to board the bus. Dijana, Malika, Nick, and Jenny have already opted out. Let us hope at least Giada can make it.

1019 h: Nope. Nobody here. It appears nobody is going to turn up. I should probably wait till 1030. I hate it when people don’t stick to a plan. The route was conveyed on 4 days in advance (Wednesday). I moved the hike from Saturday to Sunday because one person was unable to make it. I even did a test run yesterday to see if the soil/ground was okay to walk on, as promised. What more should I have done?

1030 h: Solo hike it is. Yet again.

1105 h: Bus back at 1135. If I walk fast enough, I might be able to catch it. But my knee is acting up again. I also want to record a timelapse on my way back, unless my phone battery switches off.

My YouTube channel finally has 3 videos now.

1135 h: Phew. I made it. Now my back hurts as well.

1330 h: Everybody is late for lunch as well. Perfect.

1445 h: Everybody is having to speak English because I am the only non-Italian at the table in the restaurant.

1700 h: It was a nice lunch. I ordered a Pizza Verdura, which is basically Pizza Margherita with mushrooms and grilled vegetables, and a Coca Cola. It was fun meeting up with everyone and their partners (also children, in Jenny’s case). Everyone is so sweet, and Jenny has the cutest family!

Cricket:
Pakistan beat South Africa

Cricket, Ranji Trophy Semifinal, Karnataka vs Saurashtra, End of Day 4:
Karnataka (1st inning) 275 all out
Saurashtra (1st inning) 236 all out
Karnataka (2nd inning) 239 all out
Saurashtra (2nd inning) 224/3
Saurashtra require 55 runs to win

Football, Indian Super League:
Mumbai City beat Bengaluru, 1-0

Karnataka is going to lose the semifinal. No IPL, no Ranji… We have the best team but we never win anything!

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The title of this post is something Abigail the wise Aussie kiddo said to me when I non-stop complained of the delay in shipping of my DNA sample back to Ancestry.com. Continue to Day 10753.