Cuckoo Clocks of Black Forest

I remember Cuckoo Clocks from my childhood when one of my uncles who works abroad at that time has installed one at his residence in India. As a kid, I never cared, how it works, only thing that enthused me was a wooden bird coming out of it every hour to make the sounds resembling a Cuckoo. Whenever I visit their house, I used to wait for this pleasing Cuckoo Hums.

Cuckoo clocks always have fascinated me a lot, and well, and after living in the country, Germany where the first modern cuckoo clocks have been made, I cannot stop my anxiety to get hold of one. Well, I am waiting to visit the Black Forest region of Germany, to experience myself to the grandiose of Cuckoo clocks and buy one adorable piece.

Offlate, I have been reading some good lot information about the Cuckoo clocks which I would like to share with you all, so that it can be a handy guide for many of you who would like to buy one or ask someone to get one from here or to gift for someone here.

Cuckoo Clocks, What are they?

Cuckoo clocks are traditionally wooden-carved with the wooden case of the clock decorated with carved leaves and animals. They are weight-driven, that strikes the hours, the sound resembling a cuckoo bird. Most clocks have an automated bird that peeks out through a small door while the clock is striking. The weights are made of cast iron in a “pine cone” shape and the cuckoo sound is created by two tiny pipes in the clock, with bellows attached to their tops. The clock movement activates the bellows to send a puff of air into each pipe alternately when the clock strikes.

Clock Movements

The original Cuckoo clocks from Black Forest have a mechanical clock movements usually classified as 1-Day Movement and 8-Day Movement which are regarded to be the standard clock movements. Quartz Movement Clocks are also available. The 1-Day Clock requires winding every 24 hours and an 8-Day clock requires winding every week. The recommended are mechanical as they are highly durable and reliable.

Clock Designs

Usually there are two most popular designs of Cuckoo Clocks. The “Traditionally Carved” usually represent Railway-House (Bahnhäusle) form with carvings of birds, deer, eagles, leaves and owls. The “Chalet” is a house usually a Black Forest House, Swiss House (Brienz and Emmental) and Bavarian House. Chalet clocks shows very fine details of often a scene from everyday life with handmade and hand laid shingles on the roof. Both the styles are amazing and have their own charm.

Nowadays cuckoo clocks are made in in contemporary decorative styles in different geometric shapes and flamboyant colors.

Melody and Music

In addition to Cuckoo sound, some clocks play music. Usually two different melodies are played by the clock alternatively and the most popular melodies are “The Happy Wanderer” and “Edelweiss”. Bavarian Chalets showing happy beer drinkers often play the songs “In München steht ein Hofbrauhaus” (There is a Brewery in Munich) and “Trink, Bruderlein Trink” (Drink Brothers Drink). One of the emphasized criteria here is the number of tones which usually varies between 18 and 36. For a better quality of Sound, the higher number of tones are recommended.

Moving Figurines

Many clocks have dancing figurines as a group of dancers or dancing couples usually below the cuckoo bird which dance when the music plays. Some clocks have children figurines, beer drinker figurines, wood choppers etc, which move when the music plays. Moving figurines are hand-made and hand-painted and they add the German flavor to the clocks, yet increases the price of the clocks too :-)

Night Shut-Off

Not all Cuckoo clocks are Night Shut-Off, therefore prefer to buy an automatic night shut-off cuckoo clocks as per your convenience though.

Manufacturers

It is advised to buy a Cuckoo clock from much renowned Original Black Forest Cuckoo Clocks Manufacturers to name a few, Adolf Herr, Rombach und Hass, Robert Herr, Hönes, Hübert Herr, Anton Schneider, Hekas, Harzer, Lötscher, August Schwer.

Just a few tips for your Cuckoo Clock shopping. Definitely, I shall post some pictures of the cuckoo clock I bought once I get a hand on it. I just can’t wait to get one.

If anybody has got more tips and suggestions, please leave in comments.

You can also order online at http://www.cuckoo-clock.com/

Social Security Agreement between India and Germany

Well, I did already in my one of the previous posts (India Pens Social Security Agreements), specified that India signed Social Security Agreement with Germany on October 8, 2008. This agreement is already in force from 1st October 2009 and EPFO India has already updated with the agreement details which I shall be briefing here.

The Social Security Agreement shall protect the interests of all those employees sent from Indian-based companies to their subsidiaries in Germany or those being sent by the German companies to their Indian subsidiaries on short-term contracts of 48 months with the possibility of extension by securing exemption from social security contribution in their host country. Thus these employees will only be subjected to the social security contributions in their home country.

The features and benefits of the Social Security Agreement:

- Detachment: The current agreement covers only the detachment provision which means the exemption from the social security contributions of the host country for the employees sent on posting provided the employee is making compulsory social contributions in the home country.

Eligibility for Detachment:

Indian National Working in Germany

Nature of Employment	Coverage
Short-term Posting by an Indian Employer for a period of less than 48 months	Indian System
Long-term Posting by an Indian Employer for a period of more than 48 months	German System
Indian Employer hiring an Indian employee in Germany	German System
Indian Employer hiring a Non-Indian Employee in Germany	German System

German Resident Working in India

Nature of Employment	Coverage
Short-term Posting by a German Employer for a period of less than 48months	German System
Long-term Posting by a German Employer for a period of more than 48months	Indian System
German Employer hiring an Indian Employee in India	Indian System
German Employer hiring a non-Indian Employee in India	Indian System

Detachment Certificate: Detachment Certificate issued by the home country indicating the details of membership and coverage of the social security system needs to be accrued by the employee or employer on behalf of the employee being posted as a proof of exemption from the social security contributions in the host nation.

Period: The maximum period of detachment certificate is 48 months which shall be extended by 12 more months upon the request.

Eligibility for Detachment Certificate:

- employees who shall be posted to Germany on or after 1st October 2009 should apply for Detachment Certificate.

- those employees who are already posted in Germany or already working in Germany shall apply for Detachment Certificate from 1st October 2009 till the end of detachment.

Accruing Detachment Certificate:

EPFO, India:

Employer and Employee who is being posted to Germany needs to make a joint request to obtain the Detachment Certificate from EPFO (Employee Provident Fund Organisation), India. The application form can be downloaded from here.

The Liaison Agencies in Germany are:

GKV- Spitzenverband  (https://www.gkv-spitzenverband.de/Home.gkvnet)

Deutsche Verbindungsstelle Krankenversicherung – Ausland (DVKA)) 

(http://www.dvka.de/oeffentlicheSeiten/DVKA.htm)

The application for obtaining Detachment Certificate in Germany:

http://www.dvka.de/oeffentlicheSeiten/ArbeitenAusland/Entsendemerkblaetter/Indien/Arbeiten_Indien_Druck.pdf

Please be noted that the social security agreement signed by India with Germany is limited only for Posting. The complete and elaborate social security agreements (Details at Social Security Agreements with Germany) which are more similar to other Contracting Nations is yet to be finalized between the two nations.

This article is an excerpt from http://www.epfindia.com/IntWorkersNew/GermanyGuidelines.pdf

Image Courtesy: http://www.crossed-flag-pins.com/

Social Security Agreements with Germany

Every nation has a different social security system, whereby every worker of a nation is subjected to some obligatory or voluntary social contributions to secure retired period of one’s life. The globalizations has increased the mobility of workers in different nations. In-order to dissolve the disadvantages for mobile workers in double payment of social security contributions, different nations have signed social security agreements and so did the Germany.

Contracting nations are those countries where the European Community provisions for the Social Security do not apply and have concluded social security agreements with Germany. According to the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Agency the following countries have concluded the agreements with the Germany - Australia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Canada/Quebec, Chile, Croatia, Israel, Japan, Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Serbia, South Korea, Tunisia, Turkey and United States. China has also concluded a Posting of Workers Agreement. And recently India has also concluded Social Security Agreement which has already come into force.

What is a Social Security Agreement? The Social Security Agreement’s one important advantage is that if you satisfy the requirements of the minimum insurance period, Germany and your nation’s insurance periods are added together. The agreement specifies to which state you should pay your contributions when working in Germany and your nation.

To whom does the Agreement Apply? Many of the provisions of the agreements are applicable to you and to the nation of your permanent residence. It does provide some special provisions for the citizens of Germany and the agreed nation.

What does Social Security Agreement specify?

- Compulsory Insurance Obligation is defined by the state in which you are working. If you are employed in Germany, then you are subjected to Germany’s mandatory insurances irrespective of your nationality.

- Posting: If you are employed by your state and posted to work in Germany for a limited period not more than 60 months called Posting Period, then you are subjected to the compulsory insurances of your state and you are exempted from Germany’s compulsory Insurance Obligations. The exceptions to the limited posting period and some other exceptions to the agreed terms are subjected to agreement of German authorities upon the request filed by the employer and the employee. The Posting does apply to the self-employed people for a limited period. The same rule of Posting applies to those who are employed in Germany and work in the Contracting nations.

- Count of Posting Period: The Posting period in the contracting nation does count to your compulsory pension insurance i.e, if you are employed in your state and you are subjected to the compulsory insurance of your state and you are posted to Germany, then your posting period in Germany is counted towards your compulsory pension period in your state.

- Refund of Pension Contributions: If you are not a German national and if you were employed in Germany and paid for Pension contributions in Germany and decided to leave Germany forever, you can claim for the refund of Pension Contributions under the following circumstance

- you are no longer registered in the German pension system and you are not interested or not in a position to make voluntary contributions and 24 months have passed since you have terminated the registration.

- Basic Pension Requirements, benefits of Agreement:

Since the pension regulations vary from country to country and so does the pension age ranging from 60-67 in different countries, agreement helps you in benefiting from whatever the pension contributions you made either in your state or in Germany and if you do not fulfil the conditions in one country, the periods in another country shall be considered to make sure you indeed receive Pension.

The minimum insurance periods also known as Qualifying periods can be 5, 15 and 35 years. For all these periods, the insurance periods from your state are also calculated.

The Pension Amount: The agreement just helps in calculating the pension periods and meet the minimum pension requirements. The amounts of Pension you receive in Germany are solely on the basis of your German insurance periods. You need to claim separately for your state insurances and you claim those even thou you live in Germany or vice versa.

The point of contact for all of your queries regarding your insurances and entitlements in Germany are as follows:

Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund: http://www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de/

More detailed info in English at: http://www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de/nn_97000/SharedDocs/en/Inhalt/06__formulare__info__broschueren/broschueren__friedemann.html

My trials with Art

It has been long long time back, well, wen I was very young, I had tried my hands on painting. Infact, it was out of force than to be out of my natural instincts that I learnt painting as it was mandatory lessons. I dont remember, if I did paint or draw anything special, yet offlate suddenly a strange idea of re-inventing those instincts, has prompted me to try my hands on painting again. Well, the outcome was nothing special yet not bad thou.

I am just posting some pics of my trial paintings which after consultation with my hubby who decided to hang them on the wall of our living room. Thou not sure, yet they decorate our white living room wall. May be you guys can let me know are they worth enough to be out on the wall, just I need to buy some :-)

Frens, I just added one more painting to my trials with the art. Would love to hear from you all the feedback. By the way, many thanks for your lovely messages.

Alphabets Museum in Berlin – When Alphabets have History

Well many a times a word speak more than a sentence and many a times an alphabet speaks more than a word. And there are many alphabets which symbolizes and represent many things in our day-2-day life not only this modern world of shortcuts but also from the historic past. Thus some alphabets symbols have loads of stories behind to narrate. There has been many instances where an alphabet has symbolized different things in different sciences and technologies, different regions and as well in different cultures and religions.

I never realized this until recently when I found out about Alphabet Museum (Buchstaben Museum) from Berlin. After browsing thru it over the net, it indeed left me bewildered and amused at the very love for alphabets for the founders of Museum Barbara Dechant and Anja Schulze. Well, their quest to collect objects (alphabets) that carry significant meaning and their belief that modern urbanization is leading to the disappearance of these Alphabetical Semiotics has formed the foundation for the Alphabets Museum in Berlin. Kudos to both of them for their passion towards their letters.

 

U-Bahn U (Underground U)                    Einstein E

The museum is housed temporarily more like a storeroom than a showroom drawing a handful of enthusiastic visitors who heard more about this unusual museum from some news article or word of mouth and majority of them foreigners. The interesting facts that amuse the visitors are that these letters are taken out of the original context and every letter has its own emotional historic tale.

Well, I love to visit this during my next visit to Berlin. By the way there is no admission fee for this museum, it is completely free. The museum is run by the donations and memberships from the visitors. You can find more details at http://www.buchstabenmuseum.de/

Image Courtesy: http://www.buchstabenmuseum.de/

When Germany planned to buy Tax Dodgers Stolen Data!

It has quite a while I did not publish any post, well I was occupied with my tax declarations for the year 2010. Yes, a year has gone by and the very uninteresting work begins with the filing of tax declarations. And to be honest, the Germany’s tax system is the most complex in the world. So you can imagine how tough it shall be to file tax declaration.

Every year lot new rules and definitely needs to purchase an updated software, start gathering all the relevant documents and then start input the data. You may believe or not, I have not finished it yet despite it has been almost two weeks now. It is a lot of work but I really enjoy it doing myself than depending upon any tax consultant. Well, I could save some bucks too and also it does help me get acquainted with the latest taxation rules.

I am person who believe paying taxes is the right thing to do and just not because the state utterly depends upon on my payment of some thousands euro and not because I don’t have a Swiss Bank account. May be not everyone think the same and lot many has got the notorious Swiss Bank accounts.

Many of you might have already read or heard thou that there has been lot of hue and cry over a last few weeks in Germany over the purchase of about 1500 Tax Dodgers data stolen by an informant. It was initially believed that there might be more than 100 million euro stashed by these around 1500 tax dodgers in Swiss Banks. The informant has already provided some five accounts worth 1 million euro in tax as proof and demanded €2.5 millions for the complete list.

After lot of elaboration and debate, Germany decided to buy the stolen data despite lot of criticism and despite the warnings from the Swiss government. And now Swiss started threatening to disclose the data of the the German politicians. Will the State bend the rules and be a crook to catch the crooks? Still the debate is on.

Whatever it is following the Germany’s decision to buy the stolen tax dodgers data, terrified tax dodgers are turning themselves in to avoid investigations and possible legal actions. It has been estimated the tax revenues from these may reach more than 400 million euro. Well, it has already exceeded Germany’s expectations.

But what do you think, should Germany or any other state in Germany’s position should buy the “stolen” tax dodgers data against the laws of the state?

Image Courtesy: www.thelocal.de

Inder Wahnsinn! – Since My Name is Indian?

I never wanted to muse over the recent developments over Shahrukh Khan and MNIK issue. Yet, today I have been thru mental anguish for being an Indian. It all started when some of my colleagues in the morning came to me and started adoring Sharukh khan for he is in Berlin these days for Berlinale 2010. They have showed me an article from the very popular local newspaper which showered praise for Sharukh Khan, known as King Khan in Germany.

The newspaper rained accolades for King Khan for being a Messiah and bridging the cultures between the East and the West. The “God of movies” , “the King of Bollywood” whose fans account for more than 3 millions far more than the fans of George Clooney, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt together. He is the dream man of every Indian and being a Muslim and his wife being a Hindu, he lives a dream of Peace.

Well, definitely this article is not a publicity stunt from SRK, it shows how much SRK has influenced minds and hearts of the people in the West. He definitely has taught Germans to be warm-hearted. My colleagues were so overwhelmed and so do I after reading the article. I did feel proud too being an India.

Later in the day, the same set of couples approached me to ask me about the recent developments in India concerning to MNIK as they have read again something regarding it. I did not understand how to explain it to them. I tried to explain them but in brief. I was feeling a little low when I briefed them. My colleagues retorted that why the hell on this earth some people could doubt the integrity of SRK. They asked me what else he needs to do to prove to which extent he has integrated the people of India and allied the nations with his dream of peace.

I was indeed speechless…… My anguish has no words……..

MNIK poster in Berlin

Image Courtesy: thelocal.de

Online Edition of the newspaper article thou not exact, yet some snippets (German): http://www.bild.de/BILD/unterhaltung/kino/berlinale/2010/02/11/bollywood-star-shah-rukh-khan/erfolgreichster-schauspieler-der-welt.html

Berlinale: Berlinale is the most famous film festival of Germany held every year in Berlin. My Name is Khan is also being premiered this year with Sharukh Khan, Kajol and Karan Johar walk the red-carpet. Berlinale 2010 is held from Febrauary 11-21 screening almost 400 films. More info at: http://www.berlinale.de/en/HomePage.html