adi mel adi vaithal amium nagarum*

* a proverb in tamil that stresses if you persist you can achieve, the equivalent of the english slow but steady wins the race

this morning, i prepared myself for an extra long luxurious hot shower, safe in the knowledge that my "energie sparen" (save energy) german flatmate would be sleeping soundly. to my surprise, he started knocking on the door reminding me that i have been inside for more than half an hour and that at this rate, i will create a big deficiency in the world energy capacity. i was not surprised by this talk of course. this is the usual spiel if he catches any of us "wasting" energy. i was surprised that he should be up so early -- he usually sleeps until two in the afternoon on weekends, even if there is a bomb blast nearby.
and the reason why he was up is the reason why i write this blog.
he was going on a social mission: he along with six of his friends went for a walk tracing the defunct railway track to show their solidarity to the project "wir wollen, dass die stammbahn wieder fährt" (we want the stammbahn back in business). stammbahn is the first railway project introduced by the then prussian rulers, which was used from 1838 to 1945 to link berlin to potsdam. after the war and the following east, west division, the germans had to abandon this route. apparently, if this stretch is reused, it would mean 24 minutes of travel time to potsdam from potsdamer platz in berlin. now it takes 45 minutes. obviously, this is a faster and thus eco-friendly route: a reason enough for energie sparen people like my flatmate to get together and insist that the government invest the required 175 million Euro into the project.
what impressed me, and what continues to impress me in germany, is the zeal of these few people who believe that a contribution, however small, could lead to something solid. in these two-plus years in germany, i must have come across zillions of such campaigns -- from stop cutting the trees to switch of all your lights for five minutes. you name it.
where i come from, any kind of protest would mean burning buses and destroying other public property. and for sure, no seven friends would embark on a walk in the cold, just to show their solidarity. at least not as far as i know.
i wish i could take some of this spirit back home with me.