Going to Germany on business some time soon? There is a whole lot of things you might have to consider apart from the work. Writing in The Business Line, Mohan Murti has oodles of advice for you, most of which sound funny, yet grave!
The homeowner (or renter) is responsible for sweeping the sidewalk and street in front of the house. In winter, the snow has to be cleared. You must shovel and sand/salt your sidewalk between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. If someone slips and breaks their leg in front of your house during this time, you will be liable. You also need to pull out the weeds off the sidewalk.
That’s ok; after all, the environment is everyone’s concern. But doesn’t this one sound rather overboard?
Silent time is from 8 p.m. until 7 a.m. and all Sundays and holidays. A little hushed snoring is allowed, but house and garden appliances and machinery are no-no. No midnight clothes washing or Sunday afternoon lawn mowing. In apartments, you may not use the shower or, flush your toilet after 11 p.m. and before 5 a.m. Some German States have a legally mandated quiet time from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
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Matty on 
November 24th, 2006 at 9:00 am
Yow… are you serious? i need to cross verify this particular thing!!!
~A.k.
December 12th, 2006 at 10:53 pm
I mistakenly took a senior executive job in Germany and it was my worst nightmare experience! Very top down approach, no one take responsibility or give responsibility. If you do something well there will be several people to claim responsibility, selfish and arrangont senior management. If you are a good team worker and democratic in working style don’t even think about going to work there.
January 6th, 2007 at 5:14 am
Very true!
Well written & I can see its from personal experience of the author.
January 6th, 2007 at 5:17 am
Mohan Murti, the author of this piece deserves my special kudos for this outstanding article.
Must read for every person posted to Germany!
Well done Mohan Murti. Looking forward to more from you..
January 6th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Mr. Mohan Murti has hit the nail on its head !
What a wonderful article!
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:36 am
Hi There,
I was pretty amused to read this article. Being a German myself, I do admit: The rules do exist.
But actually, it is not that bad as it sounds. Its definitely not like some laws in the United States dictating over the sexual positions a man and a woman are allowed to practise.
This is more about the Quality of Life in Germany which is I believe still one of the very best on earth. Noone would moan if you had a shower or flushed your toilet past 11pm. But what we don’t want is that people doing it regularly. (Believe me, its annoying when you live at flats and someone is having a shower for 2h at 2 in the morning.)
The evening “quiet time” is meant for the Old for a nap over the afternoon.
Its things like these which make Germany to GERMANY. Everything is structured and defined.
In the last 25 years, I have lived in Sri Lanka, India, Germany, England and have been to many countries: None of them were as organised and as clean as Germany was. The people are very friendly as long as we are friendly with them. The buses are on time. The medical service offers the best service. etc. etc. etc. (Ippadi adukki kondae pogalaam!)
(…)
January 31st, 2007 at 12:06 am
I had a wonderful oppurtunity to visit Germany and stayed for 2 weeks in Gerlingen, Stuttgart, Germany. As Vikadan has said, everything is systematic, everyone respects others though there are some pig heads. I had learnt certain things from my experiance in the 2 weeks stay, (1) Respect traffic rules – even if there is no one in the road and there is red in the signal, they stop and go only when green comes. (2) I was to cross a road in a Zebra crossing, but a car was coming, so I stopped on the egde of the platform, the car too stopped and and the driver sitting inside the car asked me to cross the road, after I crossed the road then the car left the place- here I have to mention that there is no signal. (2) I had been for a training in a company, and after finishing the lunch all the people after getting up from their chair, they pushed the chair inside the dinning table, so that it won’t be a hindarence to others. With those 2 experience, I started to follow them (but here signals are over run or jumped and chairs are strewn after we finish our lunch and we leave it to the waiter to set it right). So I feel Germans are systematic in the approach and in their behaviour. I wish to visit Germany again. So let us learn good things, rather than finding fault in the mistakes.
February 7th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Kudos & I like the style of writing of Mohan Murti. The article, in a truly nice way, has communicated the rules of engagement of life & times in Germany. I agree with Mohan Murti that when you cross border and go to another country, we need to adapt and change our ways of life to the new culture. Respect, understanding & adapting to another culture will go a long way in avoiding conflicts. As Mohan Murti suggests in his subtle style, we Indians need to learn a lot from the German / European culture.
It is no mean achievement for a country like Germany to have reached its present status of one of the most powerful economy of the world in just 50 odd years. Germans have done everything right and as Mohan suggests, we can learn from them.
March 8th, 2007 at 5:08 am
I very much like the article written by Mohan Murti and the tips he has given to newcomers like me. I never knew some of the subtle aspects of living here and Mr. Murti deserves special recognition. In his thoughts and style,I see the tremendous real life experience he must have been through. Afterall, one cannot write like Murti has written withour real life experience!
Hats off to Mr.Mohan Murti !!!
March 8th, 2007 at 5:13 am
I share in the views expressed by Girija & Satya and add my special congrats to Mohan Murti ! Can we somehow invite him to speak to newcomers like me in Germany ? Is there some fora here in Germany that can take the initiative ?
October 30th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Having lived in Germany myself, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading Mr Murti’s piece and couldn’t agree more, with his comments. I lived in West Germany during the time the Berlin wall came down and left behind a much bigger Deutschland than what I’d arrived into. Some of the hilarious situations I remember of this wonderful country was that an Iyengar family we knew of were asked to vacate their apartment after they made “Vethal Koyambu’ – a particularly pungent Iyer/Iyengar dish. Some of the apartment complexes did not allow ‘kinder’ or children, but were ‘tiere fruendlich’ – animal friendly. Keeping up with the Joneses, took a whole new meaning in this country – your garden had to be perfectly manicured and look better than your neighbours’, your windows shined to a sparkle, and God help you from disapproving clicks and looks if you did not park your car exactly in line with the wheel turned precisely to the centre! Admittedly, Germany was the happiest and most colourful of all our expatriate postings: I learned from them that you need to work hard at friendships, take pride in your home and your surroundings, take your own and your fellow-beings’ safety seriously and strive towards excellence in whatever little you do. I would say a resounding ‘Yes’ to living and working in Germany, any time!
October 31st, 2007 at 4:38 am
I live in Chennai and was recently in Germany for 8 weeks,
with my husband.My husband had a training in Germany,so I accompanied
him.We were given a fully furnished apt.in Venlo,near the Holland border.
Our German land lady,who owned the apt.gave us a thorough description on how to take care & clean the kitchen,bath room,toilet,window glasses,balcony etc.She also taught us how to sort the waste in different containers-blue,yellow,brown,black,white & coloured bottles etc.
In the pretext of making conversation,she used to come everyday to our apt. (she knew English )After 2 days,I knew that her intention was to make sure that I keep the apt.clean.
I also noticed that she was very much concerned about energy consumption & taught me how to use the room heater to the maximum use,
without switching it on the whole day.
I was amazed by their public transportation system,where with a monthly
pass,we could move around quite well within Germany.
Language was a bit problem,while shopping.
After coming back to India,the first thing I did was to thoroughly clean the toilets & bathrooms & decided to keep the bathroom clean & dry after each use.
Looking forward to go to Germany again with my husband in April 2008 !
March 25th, 2008 at 5:16 am
Very interesting discussion and I enjoyed reading Mohan’s article (I must confess here I know him). While all is structured and measured and controlled in Deutschland, surely there is a lighter, rebellious and rectangular side to this perfectly square place. In eighteen months of living with my family in Germany, I have noticed that Germans are quite flexible these days whatever they may have been before, at least in the big cities. I am not even going into the question who is a german (e.g. are the 8 million turkish people who have lived here for a long while, germans?) but simply trying to describe what I have seen.
Yesterday was Ruhe Tag (quiet day) and there was someone drilling upstairs maybe because they thought no one else was around or they thought they could do it quickly before someone complains…I have seen a German lady strongly defending her toddler’s right to cry aloud in a Munich Ikea to the chagrin of another lady who strongly objected to this ungerman behaviour. Most Germans break speeding laws regularly it appears…On a 60 kmph road, you’ll rarely see anyone under 60 driving under 60. Sometimes I have seen them in supermarkets eating chocolates and gulping down colas they have not yet paid for. While they respect each other’s privacy and the typical German appears aloof, Germans love to gossip as much as Indians. My wife often recounts the stories she hears from German neighbours about who is the downstairs man’s newest girlfriend and all sorts of other gossip on universally popular topics like mothers in law and cosmetic surgery and so on. German doctors are another revelation to me. While I dont expect to meet Hyppocrates everytime I walk into a clinic, most German doctors have a clear preference for patients with private insurance, somewhat like in India. It is hard to say whether German doctors distinguish between the treatment given to the ordinary (public insurance) versus the rich (private insurance) but it would appear that the rich do get a better medical deal from the doctors.
Having said all this, I am truly enjoying my time in Germany . I feel especially good about Germany and its quality of life when I am travelling in France and even when I am travelling in Netherlands and Switzerland or why even Sweden. So, within Europe, there can be not many better places to live than here but Germany is not all that different as it is made out to be.