Friday 15 February 2013

One Billion Rising in Köln (Cologne)

Cologne women joined the global happening One Billion Rising on
February 14, 2013 at the Roncalliplatz near the Dom to protest
violence against women worldwide.

Friday 8 February 2013

Weiberfastnacht 2013















You know it is the Carnival season when your otherwise normal neighbors start wearing colorful outfits from cowboys to bishops complete with colorful wigs. It's the 5th season of the year or Carnival which starts every 11th of November and ends on Ash Wednesday, a pre-Lenten season of merrymaking, German jokes, masquerading and most importantly, non-stop drinking for many hard-core Carnivalists. In Rheineland area, the five main days of celebration starts on Weiberfastnacht, traditionally on Thursday when women in colorful costumes storm symbolically the local city halls, sniff off men's ties throughout the day and can kiss men they fancy. Colorful parades take place on Rosenmontag, Monday before Ash Wednesday. This will be the day when millions of tourists be visiting German cities celebrating Carnival like Cologne, Mainz and Duesseldorf screaming either Alaaaaf in Cologne and Helau in other cities.

Saturday 2 February 2013

The Pomegranate


The Pomegranate
By Khalil Gibran

Once when I was living in the heart of a pomegranate,
I heard a seed saying, "Someday I shall become a tree, 
and the wind will sing in my branches, and the sun
will dance on my leaves, and I shall be strong and beautiful
through all the seasons."
Then another seed spoke and said, "When I was young as you,
I too held such views; but now that I can weigh and measure things,
I see that my hopes were vain."
And a third seed spoke also, "I see in us nothing that promises so great a future."
And a fourth said, "But what a mockery our life would be, without a greater future."
Said a fifth, "Why dispute what we shall be, when we know not even what we are."
But a sixth replied, "Whatever we are, that we shall continue to be."
And a seventh said, "I have such a clear idea how everything will be,
but I cannot put it into words."
Then an eighth spoke-and a ninth-and a tenth-and then many-
until all were speaking, and I could distinguish nothing for the many voices.
And so I moved that very day into the heart of a quince,
where the seeds are few and almost silent.