Travel Guide Germany

The Aquarius Sports Resort Hotel, though it is located in the sleepy western coastal town of Marawila has got a superb Internet and communication facility, which connects the visiting German Praktikum (Internship) students to Germany and rest of the world.

Information & Communication Technology leads the modern world in every field.

One internship student has given me some facts with just a few numbers that will speak louder than words about Germany and especially Bavaria’s success in Information & Communication Technology.

I was surprised that the foremost communications site in Germany has more than 100,000 employees and 1,800 companies of which 586 are U.S. companies, all of which are in Bavaria.

In fact, Bavaria shares the number one primacy with London for all of Europe and it ranks number four worldwide.

How did this happen you may wonder. While there is no single answer, there are numerous contributing factors why so many companies in any imaginable industry felt they needed a base here.

Certainly, it has a lot to do with the Bavarian government’s tremendous initiative and support through financial incentives and action programs.

An early foray into Internet communications also ensured a rapid dissemination of information and communication technology.

Their “Software Initiative” aimed at developing and marketing software sees a close cooperation between research and industry.

Last but not least, there are 20 municipal and 9 technology-based incubator centers providing excellent infrastructure close to wherever you may want to locate your company.

Let’s talk about tomorrow. After a brief talk with me, she went and sat with her parents.

Bavaria has its own merits to be proud of its economic achievements.

If Germany could be proud as one of the major components, making the European economic-power base, Bavaria could also be proud of its vital role in making Germany a powerful economic nation in Europe.

The motorcycle and automobile makers BMW, Bayerische Motoren-Werke or Bavarian Motor Works and Audi, the consumer electronics Grundig, the electricity, telephones, informatics and medical instruments Siemens, Adidas and Puma have or had a Bavarian industrial base to give Bavaria economic super status.

Some students are proud that Bavaria is the only state renowned for its spectacular vistas and unparalleled beauty and comprises more than a third of all German employees in the aeronautics and space technology sectors.

They further said that no other single state could make this claim.

Furthermore, they pointed out that that is because the state government recognizes the importance of fostering new developments and encouraging the enhancement of existing technologies.

They once again proudly pointed out that it is no surprise that, DASA, Germany’s equivalent of NASA, is located in Bavaria.

The students went on to say that since 1990 Bavaria has spent about 200 million DM for the promotion of aeronautics and space technology projects called TETRA to develop new materials for reusable space transport systems with an additional 50 million DM spent for research projects.

Now the sky is their limit.

German students naturally glow with a sense of pride.

Rajkumar Kanagasingam is author of a fascinating book on German memories in Asia and you can explore more about the book and the author at AGSEP

Tags: Bavaria, economy, Europe, German, Germany, Industry, Intern, internship, London, Technology, USBavaria, economy, Europe, German, Germany, Industry, Intern, internship, London, Technology, US

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The German tsunami relief convoy reached the Paranthan junction, which is the last northern point in the mainland of Indian Ocean’s war-torn island, where people lived in the midst of the civil war in 1996.

I had been there for a brief period of time when I was working with CARE International. The Elephant Pass strategic military camp of Sri Lanka Army was stationed there. The camp was a major coveted target for LTTE since their failed attempt in 1991 along with heavy losses of cadres.

When I was staying in that vicinity in 1995, the vulnerability of that area was an every day presence. The artillery shells were pouring at times like thunderstorm. Some of the shells had fallen near my house and in one incident I narrowly escaped. But a known girl nearby died, of shock caused by the heavy explosion of an artillery shell. I was able to recall how her two sisters were crying when her body was being taken for cremation along the same high way on which I was traveling with the German intern students in the relief mission.

After that incident and continuous artillery shelling, the Area Director of CARE International in Kilinochchi asked me to get away from that area a number of times. But I was reluctant to leave as I was used to the artillery shelling and aerial bombings since my childhood in the war-torn northern Jaffna Peninsula. But for the Area Director, her upbringing in the New York City in a calm and quiet atmosphere made it hard for her to accept my explanation.

Finally I left that area for a while. But memories still came alive when I was looking at the demolished buildings and the surroundings on the way. Our five-vehicle convoy was now speedily hurrying through a one-time No-Man Zone.

The highway and the surroundings were once heavily mined areas. When we were passing the once strategic military camp and the destroyed tanks were telling signs of the war. The horrors of the war and the heat of the battle could be seen around the Elephant Pass Camp which was finally lost to the hands of LTTE in 1999.

Elephant Pass has come a long way from being a stretch of shallow waters that separated the Northern Jaffna Peninsula from the rest of the island in pre-colonial days and has now evolved into a military epicenter of the civil war.

The shallow waters through which elephants once carried goods into the Jaffna peninsula, giving it the name Elephant Pass, have been a silent witness to the ebbs and flow of the northern conflict. Elephant Pass, the terrestrial gateway to the Jaffna peninsula, is now under the control of the Tigers. The fall of Elephant Pass has changed the military course of the whole conflict. The Dutch colonialists first built a small fortress in 1776, which was converted in modern times into a rest house for tourists. After Independence a permanent garrison was set up there to check illicit immigration, smuggling and unlawful transport of timber.

As the intensity of the ethnic conflict escalated, the strategic importance of Elephant Pass also increased. The small camp gradually expanded into a sprawling complex. At one time, the Elephant Pass base and the satellite camps covered an area of about 23 km long and 8-10 km wide. While we were proceeding along in close proximity to Elephant Pass the Jaffna Lagoon on both sides of the high way triggered my thoughts back to many of the personal experiences in the Jaffna Lagoon. I had traveled a number of times crossing the lagoon from the mainland to the peninsula and vice versa as travel through Elephant Pass was prohibited in 1995.

The presence of the Sri Lankan military at the Elephant Pass made passage unsafe what with heavy land mines laid everywhere around the camp area.

Even traveling on the lagoon was unsafe as the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Navy were warring with each other with heavy casualties on both sides. The small boats used to start just before midnight, as the journey through the lagoon would be invisible. The three hours journey crossing the lagoon was enjoyable to me with lot of thrill and suspense until we reached the other end. LTTE monitored the lagoon passage as they controlled both coasts, the Kilali in the peninsula and the Nallur in the mainland.

Crossing the Elephant Pass was more than a crossing and going back into the past to me!

Rajkumar Kanagasingam is author of a fascinating book on German memories in Asia and you can explore more about the book and the author at AGSEP

Tags: Asia, CARE, Dutch, German, Germany, Intern, internship, Jaffna, LTTE, New York, Sri Lanka, WarAsia, CARE, Dutch, German, Germany, Intern, internship, Jaffna, LTTE, New York, Sri Lanka, War

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The Aquarius Sports Resort Hotel in Marawila, a sleepy western coastal town of Sri Lanka is always a fascinating place to me.

The beach-end restaurant of the resort facing the scenic Indian Ocean will become at times a forum for various international issues.

My conversation with the students from various leading German universities who were in their exchange programs and doing their undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the fields of economics, political science, social science, engineering and other disciplines gave me a chance to know more about the German history, economy and cultural issues.

I had a good discussion with Marita Kantar at the beach-end restaurant of the Aquarius Hotel today.

The sun had started to go further and further towards the deep-end of the Indian Ocean’s horizon.

The evening sunlight shone on Marita’s face as she was seated facing the ocean directly and I asked her whether she would like to seat opposite the ocean at the rectangular table.

She smiled and opted to stay where she was enjoying the glorious sunset in the Indian Ocean.

While I was talking to her on various issues, I asked her how she felt about the massacre of Jews by Adolf Hitler. She said, “They are only the victims for a person who was mad and power-hungry.”

She further continued, “He managed to brain-wash many for his unjustified cruelty on Jews and others in the Germany and neighbouring nations.”

She burst out at one point by saying that the act of one lunatic had the effect of giving a bad image of them.

I placated her saying the act of one megalomaniac does not necessarily tarnish all Germans.

I think not only in Germany even in other countries by the act of some of the reckless leaders, their nation and people have become untouchables or villains for other communities and nationalities.

In our recent past, we have seen many like them. Sadam Hussein in Iraq for his marginalization of Kurds and Shi’ite Muslims and some of the leaders from then Yugoslavia for their violation of Bosnian Muslims and Croatians are too the perpetrators of crimes against humanity in their own way.

Some of the culprits had been prosecuted by the International Criminal Court for War-Crimes, but others escaped. Still there are many war criminals around the world at large.

I told her, “These culprits are either hiding or not punished yet or still the law is not strong enough or its enforcement is too weak”.

As Marita was a Diploma student and doing her field of studies in managing social science, I asked about the unification of Germany which created a lot of unemployment problems in Germany and some Germans in the former West German part are uncomfortable about it.

I knew as she is from the former East German part, she might feel uncomfortable at my question.

Her eyes had gone really blurred over my question and answered with a sobbing emotion, “the Germans won’t like them to be seen as East Germans and West Germans.”

She further went on that she had been all over the Germany and saw minor changes in their dialects and couldn’t identify any major differences.

What she said is correct. Even East Germany is only a creation after the Second World War when the major allied forces divided Germany into two parts.

East Germany had been left out with the communist USSR and their puppet East German administration.

But when the cold war came to an end and the demise of the Berlin wall in 1989, the new united Germany had made East Germany part of the existing federal system in other parts of the Germany as a new territory.

The capital of the new unified Germany was shifted from the then West German capital Bonn to the then East German capital Berlin.

Marita was doing an interesting assignment on a topic on Germans and their perception on the benefits for going abroad for a better living in their retirements for her Diploma at the University of Applied Sciences, Technology Business and Design in Wismar.

As Walker told me, she is from the plain land which has a vast horizon on land and with its Baltic sea; she has shown some natural intelligence in her arguments.

She answered intelligently to certain complicated issues on Germany.

While we were discussing at the restaurant, some German students were sun-bathing on the beach.

They were shining when the sun-rays reflected on their swim-suited white skin.

The sunshine penetrated everywhere in the restaurant through the wall-less space facing the Indian Ocean and made the restaurant into a sudden surge of brightness.

The sea wind was flowing towards the restaurant gustily.

The whole atmosphere in the restaurant something different from the normal and Marita was fascinated by the change.

But, the sunshine and its rays when time was passing into early twilight were cooling and the reddish sky looked so unique.

The sun was about to be set in a short while.

Though Marita was traveled vastly in Europe, she hardly made any comments on other nation’s social or economic issues.

She said firmly, “I can’t comment about other countries by staying just a few days on their cultural, social and economic issues.”

I also agreed with her.

Even people living together in one country are failing to identify other communities who are living with them for centuries.

They fail to identify different aspirations, cultural differences with acceptance and religious differences with understanding for some reason or other, causing many of the world’s conflicts from time to time.

It is sometimes very difficult for a visiting tourist or a trouble-shooting diplomat to get the right picture of the social aspirations of different communities in a short stay.

Darkness had spread everywhere over the Indian Ocean and the restaurant balanced by its lights to make the whole environment out of darkness and the atmosphere had become such a fascinating place for those who want to be away from worldly struggles and problems.

Rajkumar Kanagasingam is author of a fascinating book on German memories in Asia and you can explore more about the book and the author at AGSEP

Tags: Asia, economy, Europe, Exchange, Germany, Hilter, Indian, Intern, internship, Nazis, Sports, WarAsia, economy, Europe, Exchange, Germany, Hilter, Indian, Intern, internship, Nazis, Sports, War

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