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Opthalmologist is the other way grannies

Revamping my photo diary of #Berlin toilets

Homie in the S-Bahn on his second box of cheese slices while staring into the distance. Hope his heartbreaker knows the gravity of the situation.

The way people talk about find a flat to rent and buying a lottery ticket is the same in Berlin. "You just need to keep trying until you find the one" "Have you tried on Monday mornings?" "Try when everyone's on vacation the jackpot is bigger" "Have you tried in the outskirts?"

During the peak of my visa troubles where I was bounced off between caseworker to caseworker it finally took a PoC to find out that I was being chaffed for no reason and told me my rights and handed me the paperwork that gave me the stability I needed after 14 months.

Basque Food > German Food > Italian Food

Got added to a Berlin flat finding group (which is basically a bunch of main tenants subletting their apartments at godawful prices) but the drama here is top notch. Fighting each other for deposits, calling each other scammers, desperation to show closets as studio apartments.. ANMELDUNG IMPOSSIBLE

Germany: Waiting for a doctor's appointment. Waiting for an appointment at the Burgeramt. Waiting for a tax refund. Waiting to find a flat. Waiting to find a kita spot. Waiting for the train to come. Waiting for the economy to recover. Waiting for life to end.

Overheard in a German cafe: "I am lactose intolerant" "Don't worry we have a toilet"

Is there a way to whiteface oneself? Also looking to advertise on Kleinanzeigen for a bio-Deutsch woman to pretend as my partner for a viewing. 50€ cash for 15 minutes work.

That time of the year when it's flat hunting time in Berlin and the discrimination is fucking awful. I decided to do A/B testing with my real name and a German one the results are clear. I've sent 50 applications and received 7 flat viewings with the German name and with the Indian one? ZERO.

Berlin weather report: Deep fried potato

Watched Project Hail Mary and it was surprisingly pretty good fun. All the jokes landed and the sappy ending even squeezed a tear out of me. Made me come back here because I miss my filmicows.

But I guess what's the purpose of all those bombs and mil-tech if you can't use them.

My idea of a time machine is not the kind that takes you back to 2003.

Berlin weather report: So cold that I haven't seen my balls in two weeks.

Had a meeting about digital sovereignty in Europe today, so that was fun. The big European companies waking up to this is interesting. The best time to have done it was in 2016, the second best time is now, I guess.

Berlin weather report: the sky needs some anti-dandruff shampoo.

Through the course of my work I talk to a lot of German professionals and the biggest fear they have now is how dependent their infrastructure is on American software and hardware companies. Life in business Germany is currently bleak and they're all hoping that Trump is an aberration.

Sad to learn of the death of former BBC foreign correspondent Sir Mark Tully. For so many years he was known as the ‘Voice of India.’ As a tribute I play one of the pieces Sir Mark selected on BBC Radio’s Desert Island Discs: Danny Boy.

Earlier this century, the US went to war in the name of fighting terrorism and successfully painted a religious group as terrorists. A quarter century later the effects of that ring back, anyone who doesn't follow the authoritarian regime is a terrorist, the snake comes back to bite its own tail.

Travel everywhere until the only place left is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Berlin weather report: Stop ice.

Berlin weather report: Boycotting going outside till it hits a respectable temperature. I'm not heating the world with my body heat, not anymore.

Need a social media platform without Americans posting about America. Yes Ice sucks, it's all over the pavement here in Berlin.

Having spent months in this job hunting hellhole, the only thing that got me noticed was bypassing company portals and directly talking to people. Job listing written by AI which take in AI applications which are in turn vetted by AI with hallucinations at every layer, these are strange times.

Decided before age and health knocks my appetite out I need to go around the world and eat as much as I can of the creative ways people reimagine ingredients. And a special place for a total Indian revisit. I'm Germany you eat to live, a dream destination would be where you can live to eat.

Berlin weather report: Went out for five minutes today and the skin on the legs is cracked, lips sharp enough to shave the chin and a cold than gone to the deepest possible rungs of the lungs. Stay inside, do nothing.

3. Paprika (movie) This film fully embraces its fascination with dreams. I mean, one of its characters is literally an alter ego of another character's psyche. I wish more movies had the courage to put what interests them first instead of sticking to the same old conventions

My idea of travelling is just go to a place you're not supposed to be and then figure out why you're there in the first place. Always worked for me, even in places that were supposedly dangerous (though I'm told in latin america it'd mean I lose a kidney)

Stopped a couple of tuk-tuk drivers and asked them to drive randomly for a couple of hours with no specific destination just an idea. Agreed to give them how much ever they asked without haggling and no one seemed to grapple with the concept.

Pick up the nearest book. Open to page 42 and post your second sentence. Add #page42 and include this rule as a reply: "2. Cut three scallions slantwise, slice ginger, and chop garlic"

There was a really great exhibition at Gropius Bau in 2022 called Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility that delved into exactly what you're talking about. Also, do you know the Habibi Funk reissue record label? Have a listen.

The Lebanese joints in Berlin are onto something with the really sad songs they play over the speakers. Makes you stare into nothingness for ten minutes and take you to a Lebanon than exists only in the your mind.

Wanted to escape having a calendar full of plans this year and be non-commital about every social event. What do we know, two days after being back my calendar is already full for the next two weeks. I guess I'll save these wishes for retirement (which will be never).

Just make them do all the paperwork that an average Indian tourist has to do and then wait for the fireworks to fizzle.

Berlin weather report: Knockoff northern lights visible to the naked eye over the city. Look to the north, not just through any random window.

Weirdly not attached to the luggage. Hope I get to this level of detachment with everything else in life.

Berlin weather report: Last sun I've seen was over the clouds before landing in Berlin. The clouds were creamy white against endless blue and as we descended it was grey, grey, grey all the way down. Welcome to Berlin, where colour comes to die.

Spent 3 hours in the airport baggage counter and some point was sp bored that I started timing people who were at the counters. The average time was 20 minutes, most of which was because people didn't read their ticket conditions and decided to haul a plane's worth of weight in their suitcases.

Patience in long, pointless lines is one of my greatest virtues.

Want this to be the year of doing and not talking. But what to do is still up in the air, worst case scenario I'll throw up in a public park.

Another world but the caste discrimination still lives on.

Also what explains the really cheap looking cinematography and set design? Every other movie advertises itself with a $50 million budget but the output looks oversaturated styrofoam in different times of day.

Telugu cinema actors, producers and fan bases gives enough reason for people with even half a functioning braincell to not considering working there at all. Which explains the cultural output stuck in the late 90s.

"What're they checking for?" "Drunk driving" "So all that crowd of people is caught driving drunk?" "Yes" "What happened next?" "If you want to go on the spot with your vehicle then it's a 10000 rupee bribe, they even give a QR code for digital payments" "India has really developed" "Yes"

Story across India, it's crazy how car dependent this country is becoming.

Watched the biggest Indian hit of 2025, Dhurandhar. Great action choreography and performances and terrible politics, almost bordering historical rewriting. Bollywood propaganda has come a long way.

This made me emotional. the brotherhood is real.