Through Nepalese Eyes (Satis Shroff)

‘Through Nepalese Eyes’ is about the journey of a young Nepalese woman to Germany to meet her brother, who lives with his German wife and daughter in an allemanic town named Freiburg. It is a travelogue written by a sensitive, modern British public-school educated man. He describes the two worlds: Asia and Europe and the people he meets. There is a touch of sadness when his sister returns to her home in the foothills of the Himalayas.
(205 Seiten) Paperback: €12.00 Download: €6.25

It cries to be written because there are seldom books written by Nepalese writers about themselves. It’s always the casual foreign traveller, trekker or climber who writes about the people in the developing and least-developed countries of the so-called Third World.

The likely readers are the increasing male and female tourists, trekkers, climbers from the whole world who make their way to the Himalayas, each seeking something indefinable, perhaps peace, tranquillity, spiritual experience or a much-needed monologue with oneself in the heights of the Himalayas. The book is aimed at all Nepalophile and South Asian readers irrespective of their origin, and seeks to contribute towards understanding the Nepalese psyche, the world that the Nepalese live in, and the fact that it has to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of modernisation and innovations from the western world, amid the thoughts and beliefs, cultures and religions of the Himalayan world.

The book is divided according to the iterinary of the protagonist’s travels, her sojourn in Freiburg (Germany) and her excursions to Switzerland (Basle and Grindelwald) and France (Alsace and Paris-Versailles) and ends with the chapter ‘Return to the Himalayas’. It deals with the ‘Begegnungen’ or encounters with friendly Germans, the circle of her brother’s friends and the intercultural and inter-religious questions that she is confronted with during these conversations and the encouraging intercultural work being performed by Germans and foreigners specifically in Freiburg and Germany in general in creating a multicultural society, where a foreigner doesn’t have to fear deportation, persecution and xenophobia.

As my friend Satish Shroff requested me to write some introductory words to this book, I decided to start a very unusual way, by congratulating the author for the theme chosen: life, people, mentalities in East and West, with all inherent similarities (alas! few enough) and differences (quite a number). How right the late Rudyard Kipling was when expressing the essence of this subject: “East is East and West is West: Never the twins shall meet”! But by describing the two worlds as twins, he also hints at existing and possibly developing similarities.

Today’s world and way of life shortens the physical and mental distances, tending towards globalisation. Let us hope that one day, the only remaining differences will be of the geographic, artistic and cultural kind. Because there are elements which are common to both worlds and, therefore, they bring them together. Human nature, with all its emotions, love, sympathy, sorrow, hatred and a multitude of other feelings, is the same and the common element of both Eastern and Western people. The writer successfully brings out these points, clearly delineating each character.

This work is a window wherefrom one can peep to the East from the West and vice-versa. One can make out the geographical distributions, the cultural distinctions and the historic development of East and West separately. But if someone ponders on it, he finds the same basic human sentiments and values that hold mankind together since times immemorial.

Personally, I think that this and other works of this kind will prove instrumental in creating a good understanding between the two worlds, by describing the respective natures, cultures, traditions, art, social life and thus contributing towards a better knowledge and appreciation of each other, which will hopefully result into creating a new, more human world for the whole mankind sharing the same earth and sky. This world should be like a great family, and we, its members, should be constantly striving for maintaining its unity.

So, my friend Satish, as you see, I consider you one of the architects of this new world, this ideal, this Shangri-La of the whole mankind. In spite of many private and global setbacks, I am sure we are approaching it, with little steps, it is true, but we are coming nearer with every smile, with each gesture of tolerance and understanding between the two still different worlds.

I congratulate you, my dear friend, on your efforts to close the gap. May everyone read your book with open eyes, mind and heart.


Bonn, the 26th of May 2007
(Dr. Novel K. Rai)
Former Nepalese Ambassador to Germany

What others have said about the author: „Die Schilderungen von Satis Shroff in ‘Through Nepalese Eyes’ sind faszinierend und geben uns die Möglichkeit, unsere Welt mit neuen Augen zu sehen.“ (Alice Grünfelder von Unionsverlag / Limmat Verlag, Zürich).

Since 1974 I have been living on and off in Nepal, writing articles and publishing books about Nepal-- this beautiful Himalayan country. Even before I knew Satis Shroff personally (later) I was deeply impressed by his articles, which helped me very much to deepen my knowledge about Nepal.Satis Shroff is one of the very few Nepalese writers being able to compare ecology, development and modernisation in the ‘Third’ and ‘First’ World. He is doing this with great enthusiasm, competence and intelligence, showing his great concern for the development of his own country. (Ludmilla Tüting, journalist and publisher, Berlin).

Due to his very pleasant personality and in-depth experience in both South Asian, as well as Western workstyles and living, Satis Shroff brings with him a cultural sensitivity that is refined. His writings have always reflected the positive attributes of optimism, tolerance, and a need to explain and to describe without looking down on either his subject or his reader. (Kanak Mani Dixit, Himal Southasia, Kathmandu)

Satis Shroff writes with intelligence, wit and grace. (Bruce Dobler, Associate Fulbright Professor in Creative Writing MFA, University of Iowa).

Living With Aids in Germany (Satis Shroff, Freiburg)

(c) Pencil drawing satisshroff 2007

LIVING WITH AIDS IN GERMANY (Satis Shroff, Freiburg)


"It's the 1st of November (Allerheiligen) and I ask myself: why do you give the dying company? In all those years I haven't visited a single grave. I can't let go of my clients before they die. I just can't bear to do it after a certain amount of deaths through Aids." This was what the guy at the local aids assistant center in Freiburg said to yours truly when I paid him a call.

How does a person afflicted with Aids feel and what does he think about himself, his family, the society and what sort of help does he get in Germany? These were the questions that I posed to HIV-positive people living in a kind of commune run by the local Aids-Hilfe in Freiburg (Southern Germany). The Aids-Hilfe is a pan-German institute which helps HIV-infected people.

The clients were in the age group 26 to 46 and some of them were drug-addicts in the past, some were chronic alcoholics, and most of them were from the middle and under-class Germany society with bi-, homo- and heterosexuals tendencies.

Even though it´s possible to protect oneself from contracting the HIV- infection, Aids still marches on. We know that it´s a disease with an unusual latent period and that the full clinical Aids leads to death. And yet we point our finger towards the minorities of the society: homosexual and bisexual men, fixers and prostitutes. In the media there´s a tendency to individualise the risks of HIV-infection, and such a stance doesn´t promote a collective coping behaviour. The infected and the aids-afflicted are still stigmatised and discriminated.

A closer look reveals that every one of us could contract HIV-infection and it has psycho-social connotations. Only a massive campaign in which parents, teachers, lecturers, medical doctors, social workers and trade-unions work together can achieve some degree of success. This campaign should be launched at school and college levels, in the tourism industry and other industrial and administrative sectors, in order to eliminate the half-knowledge and angst, and to motivate self- responsibility, and to avoid the risk of getting infected.

Take Stefan W. 46 for instance, a blond male nurse. Stefan had undergone the Aids-test in 1985 and found out that he was HIV positive. He said, "I was scared then, because I´d read an article about Aids in "Der Spiegel". After that I decided to do an Aids-test, because I couldn´t bear this fear and indecision. And when I came to know the positive result, I felt miserable and alone in this world."

I asked him whether his family had supported him.

I had problems with my parents who didn´t show any sympathy towards my homosexuality. I even lost two brothers, because they couldn't live with my Aids-problem. I was really stigmatised.

How did you come to the Aids-Hilfe and what did you expect?

For a while I had to take care of myself. It was in 1988 that I contacted the Aids-Hilfe. My aim was to get to know other HIV-infected people and to see what they offered in terms of aid. I met a nice female social- worker, who helped me a lot by telling me about dying and death. We talked about what I was to expect when I develop Aids fully, how I could relax and how to behave with my sexual partner. It was here that I received real social -support. I feel good today and I can talk about my HIV- infection openly. I don´t have to hide myself anymore. The aids-help organisation gave me a full-time job and I give advice to others. Some clients want to have a HIV-infected person as a counsellor, because they feel more accepted this way.

Did the Aids-help give you a new insight?

I know today how to react to the signals from my body. One has to create or find an environment where one can relax. I try to avoid people who don't support me. When you have Aids, you have to go from one extreme to another. I always advise others that it pays to live".

I met Wolfgang K., 26, a bar-keeper and waiter. He said he knew that he was bisexual since the age of 15. He thinks that he infected himself through a man. He admitted having had one-night stands with different men. He also said he had a junkie-phase and had done needle-sharing a lot of times.

Wolfgang says, "I came to know that I was HIV-positive on December 13,1994. I was in Freiburg at that time and went to the Aids-Hilfe and managed to get a place in this commune. I still have contact with my mother. She lives with another man. Since it was shortly before Christmas, I felt obliged to tell her before Christmas. My mother was in despair and very concerned and understood my situation. She supports me morally as usual, but I know that it´s difficult for her. She maintains her calm outwardly, but she trembles inside. I know it.

What did you expect from the Aids-Hilfe and what did they do for you?

Wolfgang said, "I expected information and personal help from them and I got it, but a bitter taste remains nevertheless. The commune isn't ideal for me. In the sport- group a lot of people wear masks and pretend to be happy and cheerful. I like riding my bike and go to swim and am relaxed. I´m a Bhagwan-disciple and practice my meditations twice a day. Ever since I started doing my meditations, I haven´t even caught the common cold.
Do you find everything negative here?

When I get the blues - when I´m depressed - there´s always someone in the house with whom I can talk. For me, the commune is an emergency landing pad. I want to study something else that´s why it´s cheaper for me. If I live here two years I´m entitled to a social apartment in Freiburg. As a HIV-infected person, I can´t carry on my sexual activities. I want to cure myself through my meditation and self-hypnosis. I have a T-helper cell count of 875, which is much better than anyone´s here.

How much rent do you pay here and how many euros do you have to live on?

The rent here is exorbitant. We have to pay 120 euros per person. Then we have to pay 15 euros for the electricity and 100 euros for the advisers. That makes 235 euros without the telephone. We get money from diverse sources: the joblessness-assistance, apartment-aid, food- and social -allowances. I live with only 150 euros a month.

Did the Aids-Hilfe help you to win a new perspective?

Through the Aids-Hilfe I´ve become positive-thinker. My basic fear of Aids has vanished. I find it good that we have personal contacts here and that they take us to seminars for further-training on Aids, so that we can understand and cope with the disease better.

Franz P., 38, is a salesman, heterosexual and came to know that he had Aids a decade ago.

I asked him," How did your family react? Did they support you?"

Franz: "My mother cried buckets of tears when she learnt that I was infected. My wife, who was then pregnant, ignored it till she got the child. Both mother and child were HIV-negative, by the way. After the birth we used contraceptives when we had sexual intercourse.

You said that you live alone now. Was your disease the reason for the separation from your spouse?

Franz: "Actually my drug-problem was the main reason. I had angst and that´s why I started taking drugs again. My wife´s father died of cancer and my wife didn´t want our son to be confronted with my Aids-problem. We lived in a small village in the Black Forest and I tried to live a normal, social life. In summer 1991 I had an infection of the lungs and came to Freiburg. In autumn 1992, I was invited to a brunch at the Aids-Hilfe and met the social worker and the others and was happy to get an apartment.

How do you find your daily life in the commune?

The social worker handles the financial and other bureaucratic aspects and we have brunch thrice a week, during which we talk about ourselves. We don´t have a structured life here. Everyone does things and is responsible only to himself. Our rooms are private and everyone has to knock on the door and when someone says "No!", it means no, without reasons. There´s a pecking-order not only in the society outside but also here. On the top of our hierarchy we have the haemophilics, then the gays and at the bottom the junkies. The heteros lie between the haemophilics and the gays. I find that one is accepted when one says one's HIV-infection was due to constant changes of female partners, than when one says it was caused by an infected-needle.

What did you expect from the Aids-Hilfe and what did you get?

I wanted to have information about Aids and contacts with other HIV-infected people and naturally psycho-social support. The social-worker accompanied me to the hospital, through the jungle of red-tape and helped me in daily life. We are allowed to live in the commune till we are physically and mentally fit and can take care of ourselves and our lives. It can also happen that some of us die here. The death-rate is 15 %.

I find that the Aids-Hilfe does predominantly preventive work. There had been a lot of in-fighting in the organisation, but now it´s all quiet. The social-workers have high ideals but there's also a commercial aspect to it. I'm looking for another apartment and want to go on living.

What would you advise other people in terms of preventive measures like safer-sex, being faithful to each other, no sex or social expectations?

It sounds good but I find people should be open to themselves and to the others. When they are infected they shouldn't practice a double moral. They shouldn´t try to ignore the matter. The infected should let themselves be guided by their inner feelings. I think the infection destabilises one´s self-consciousness. In the commune I've stabilised my psyche, and this is ignored by modern medicine. I live here with people from different social structures and milieu, and we have one thing in common: the HIV-infection. It's possible to live out one's ego, because there´s no community-life. It's every man for himself and the social-worker for us all.

Bruno K.,27 is a mason and was a drug-addict since the age of 13. He'd taken soft drugs and worked at a construction- site and carried cement-sacks on his back, was tired after the work and needed stronger stuff that hash and alcohol. He got Valeron-N from a doctor (10 bottles at once), because the doctor "was too lazy to look up the Red-List. He can't cope with with the society and can't live legally. But he's glad that he has a substitution-identity card now. He was and searched by the police six times a day, because he was well-known as a junkie. He left his parents' home at the age of 15.

How did your mother react when she came to know that you were HIV-positive?

Bruno: "That can't be true!" was how my mother reacted. She didn't reject me because of the infection but because of my long, unkempt hair. She said that she´d refuse to see me as long as I had my long hair. She circulates in high-society. I find such people false and hypocritical.

When and where did you know that you were infected?

I came to know that I had the HIV-infection when I was in jail. I and my girl-friend wanted to contract Aids wilfully, and we left our injections and needles where we´d used them.

What drugs do you take?

I take Methadon, Flanitrazepan and Testosteron, because I've become very lethargic due to the substitution therapy. I can sleep sixteen hours a day. When I´m so tired through the substitution-therapy, I find it difficult to get in contact with women. He points his index-finger at his big TV-set and says," In that box they show Aids-ads in every channel and the people have become tolerant due to the TV-spots.

What do you think of therapy?

I haven't done a therapy. It's all useless. The judges give you a jail-sentence instead of a therapy these days. I was in the drug-scene previously and have made my experience with 3.6 grams of heroin. I oscillated between life and death. I realised that I wasn't ready to die. Now I have nothing to do with drugs. I smoke hash now and then.

Are you trying to reintegrate yourself socially, and trying to get a clear picture about your own situation?

I hate nothing more than this society. I believe in God, but I hate the church. I was born in the wrong century. I wait and contemplate that there are at least 100 ways of killing myself. But I'm alive. As soon as the Aids-symptoms get bad and I can't take care of my own interests, I'll take the necessary measures and end my life.

Did you get good tips from the Aids-Hilfe?

I didn´t get any advice from them. I got good and useful advice from the social-worker. When it comes to a quarrel, the social-worker always has the last word. I have a generation- conflict with the social-worker, because I love wearing old, torn jeans with slits, and she sounds like my mother. My long hair and torn-jeans are a form of protest against the mainstream.

What plans do you have for the future?

I'm satisfied as long as I can live, can move about and decide for myself. I can be blind through Aids. In that case I'd prefer suicide (Freitod). I can't bear the artificial, insincere compassion and sympathy of the others when I have pain, and when I can't fight back. I'd rather shoot myself before that happens. Despite all that I find life worth living and we can only bring changes as long as we live. The chance that a wonder-drug will be discovered is slim. I have no angst as far as death is concerned. It's the pain that I'm scared of, and the fear that I might be helpless...

Eberhard N.,36, is an electro-specialist heterosexual from Stuttgart. He knew he had the HIV eight years, and he lives in Freiburg since half a year and was nine months at the Aids-Hospice in Oberhammersbach.

Do you know how you infected yourself?

I had a girl-friend named Petra and she was also HIV-positive. She didn´t care less. I was behind bars for 18 months because the police caught me with drugs. I´m a dry alcoholic. At that time, I didn't have anything to drink. A junkie friend offered us heroin and we used the same needle. The bloke was positive and gave us his needle.

How did your family react?

They shoved me off. In 1993 I landed in the Hospice and my family visited me there. I telephone my mother every week. She wanted to visit me in December 1994 and now it's August 1995, and she hasn't showed up as yet. I have liver-cirrosis and it would mean my death if I'd drink.

How did you come to Freiburg from Stuttgart? Who helped you?

I'm a well-known alcoholic in Stuttgart. I got in touch with the Aids-Hilfe through the Hospice. I got an apartment and received help from Freiburg. On Christmas I even received a financial shot from a girls' school. I bought a stereo-set with the money, because I can't live without music.I like Neil Young.

Do you take medicines? What are your future plans?

I take only Hepaloges N ( a plant-based liver-remedy). I find that a healthy psyche is the best medicine against disease. One ought to keep one's hands away from medicines. I live for now and today. What´s the use of making great plans? How do I know what it's going to be like in a year? I live intensively though. My thoughts are good. I smoke a joint or a pipe now and then. I don't drink. I haven't given up as yet. One should keep on fighting. One can die fast---in a matter of days. When I was at the Hospice, I thought I was lost. I'm a Pink Floyd fan too and went all the way to Strassbourg (France) to attend the concert on the 9th of September 1994. One has to gave a goal. I want to live here, because after two years I can get a new apartment. And I want to have a girl-friend...

"There's a lot of stress involved in working with Aids-patients because one is confronted with difficult situations. You have to make quick decisions and ask yourself later: was it necessary or not ", says the guy of the Aids-Hilfe Freiburg. It´s a life- and work-situation. The social workers have to give hope to the infected clients and then see with their own eyes how they deteriorate physically and mentally. How does a social worker react to the deaths?

He shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands up and said, "It's the 1st of November (Allerheiligen) and I ask myself: why do you give the dying company? In all those years I haven't visited a single grave. I can't let go of my clients before they die. I just can't bear to do it after a certain amount of deaths through Aids..."

Two Books by Satis Shroff (Lulu.com)

Katmandu, Katmandu
von Satis Shroff

Satis Shroff’s anthology is about a poet caught between upheavals in two countries, Nepal and Germany, where maoists and skin-heads are trying to undermine democratic values, religious and cultural life. Satis Shroff writes political poetry, in German and English, about the war in Nepal (My Nepal, Quo vadis?), the sad fate of the Nepalese people (My Nightmare, Only Sagarmatha Knows), the emergence of neo-fascism in Germany (Mental Molotovs, The Last Tram to Littenweiler) and love (The Broken Poet, Without Words, About You), women’s woes (Nirmala, Bombay Brothel).

His bicultural perspective makes his poems rich, full of awe and at the same time heartbreakingly sad. In writing ‘home,’ he not only returns to his country of origin time and again, he also carries the fate of his people to readers in the West, and his task of writing is a very important one in political and social terms. His true gift is to invent Nepalese metaphors and make them accessible to the West through his poetry.
(187 Seiten) Paperback: €13.84 Download: €6.25

What others have said about Satis Shroff's writngs:

It's always a pleasure to read Satis Shroff's fine, well-written artistic work. I admire his strength and ability. So with that said just write on, poet. ( in WritersDen.com)

The manner in which Satis Shroff writes takes the reader right along with him. Extremely vivid and just enough and the irony of the music. Beautiful prosaic thought and astounding writing.

'Your muscles flex, the nerves flatter, the heart gallops,
As you feel how puny you are,
Among all those incessant and powerful waves.'

Satis Shroff's writing is refined – pure undistilled. (Susan Marie, www.Gather.com).

Reviewed by Albert Hagenaars in WritersDen.com 8/17/2007 Fascinerend! Ik voel veel verwantschap met deze thematiek. Ik wil deze pagina's blijven volgen! Tot de volgende keer dus...

Reviewed by Heide Poudel in WritersDen.com 6/4/2007 Brilliant, I enjoyed your poems throughly. I can hear the underlying German and Nepali thoughts within your English language. The strictness of the German form mixed with the vividness of your Nepalese mother tongue. An interesting mix. Nonetheless we need more authors bringing stories of Nepal to the West. Nepal is a jewel on the Earths surface, her majesty and charm should be protected, and yet exposed with dignity through words. You do your country justice and I find your bicultural understanding so unique and a marvel to read.
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Through Nepalese Eyes By Satis Shroff

‘Through Nepalese Eyes’ is about the journey of a young Nepalese woman to Germany to meet her brother, who lives with his German wife and daughter in an allemanic town named Freiburg. It is a travelogue written by a sensitive, modern British public-school educated man. He describes the two worlds: Asia and Europe and the people he meets. There is a touch of sadness when his sister returns to her home in the foothills of the Himalayas.

(205 pages) Paperback: €12.00 Download: €6.25 Language: English

Fellowship for Journalists (Satis Shroff, Freiburg)

Dear Blog-readers,
I case you're a Blogging-journalst and are interested in getting a Fellowship you can apply at Saja.org. The fellowship is open to any projects about South Asia or the diaspora. You don't have to be South Asian to participate!

Questions to Prof. Sandeep Junnarkar, SAJA Awards Chair:
sandeep@journalism.cuny.edu

From SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, www.saja.org

SAJA Reporting Fellowships--$20,000 toward in-depth projects
http://saja.org/resources/srf/srf_2007.htm

As part of its mission to encourage in-depth coverage of South Asia and
the South Asian Diaspora, SAJA & SAJA Group Inc are pleased to announce a
call for submissions for its third Annual SAJA Reporting Fellowships
(SRF). Open to freelancers and staff journalists in any medium, the
fellowships are meant to encourage in-depth reporting projects by
providing grants to cover a portion of reporting expenses.

A total of upto $20,000 may be given out annually, divided among projects or a
single project at SAJA's discretion. Each fellowship award is typically between
$3,000-$7,000.

These Fellowships, which were launched in 2005 to ensure follow-up
reportage about the 2004 tsunami and its victims, were initially funded by
SAJA members, corporate donors and friends of SAJA. This year, SRF
received a major financial boost thanks to the support of the Mahadeva
Family Foundation, which will make an annual contribution of $20,000.

"The support of Kumar Mahadeva and Simi Ahuja, who have been part of the SAJA
community for more than a decade, is critical to SAJA's core mission of
improving the coverage of South Asia through the SAJA Reporting Fellowships and
similar programs," said Deepti Hajela, the group's president and an Associated
Press newswoman. "This is going to have a major impact on the kind of stories
that the Fellows do and how Americans learn about what's going on in South Asia
and the diaspora today."

The deadline for SRF proposals is Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007.

More info at:
http://saja.org/resources/srf/srf_2007.htm

Questions to Prof. Sandeep Junnarkar, SAJA Awards Chair:
sandeep@journalism.cuny.edu

- Your friends at SAJA

[This is just an example of the kinds of activities that SAJA does. You
can support us by becoming a member - just $10 a year for students, $20
for journalists, $40 for everyone else. Lifetime membership is $250
for journalists, $400 for others. Sign up now:
http://www.saja.org/membership.html

Or you can make a donation of any amount:
http://www.ersvp.com/reply/event14375

SAJA Group, Inc. is a non-profit charitable organization (EIN: 55-0844632)
and is registered with the State of New York Charities Bureau
(Registration Number 20-70-28). Please send any funding questions to
saja@columbia.edu
-----------------------------------------------
Well that was it. Wishing you success in your applications. Don#t be disheartened if you don't get it this time. Try next year.

Regards,
Satis

Aerospace:

CROSSING THE SKY TO THE FUTURE (Satis Shroff, Freiburg)


If Boeing wants to establish itself and sell more jets in Europe and sell more of their products, it would be advised to use ecological compatible ideas in the manufacture of aerospace technology. It is a fact that the Airbus industry buys a lot of landing-gears, engines, electronics, parts for interiors from the USA. But there are handicaps too. The long distance to the USA from Europe is a problem for development engineers, and it is more convenient to work with fellow Europeans from the European Union to produce products and develop common strategies. In the case of Costenaro and Dolder we have an Italo-Dutch team working in Germany with German precision workers, or Fachleaute, as we say in Germany.

Samuel Piatti and Erik van den Dolder are partners of General Aerospace based in Eschbach, south-west Germany.

Costenaro gathered his experience working with a US company in Verese (Italy) as a sales manager. The private owner of the American company founded a new company. Mr.Piatti, who wears thin glasses with greying hair on the sides of his proud Roman head and drives a black BMW said, 'I was offered the opportunity to sell American aeronautical products. 'However, there was a litigation between the two companies, and as a result one of them decided to sell back to the other.'

The US holding offered Piatti to go and work in Germany's Bad Bellingen as a sales marketing executive for the whole of Europe, for they wanted to develop the aircraft market in Europe. He said, 'They asked me to help them expand into the European aviation market.'

Erik van den Dolder, a blond with a receeding forehead likes to attend the Airbus-meetings in his Harley Davidson, and speaks English and German with a soft Dutch accent, said that he was working with Samuel in the same US firm and both were unhappy about the US products because they were old, not innovative, despite the fact that there was a big European market out there, waiting to be conquered.

The attitude of the US firm seemed to be: what's good for the USA is also good for Europe. Which isn't at all. Europe is more technically advanced, seeks customised solutions, makes sophisticated products for their passengers and searches for new ideas. Says Costenaro, 'As an example, when you go to Boeing, they always sell the same products. In Europe the people ask for environment-friendly aircraft. In the US chemical industry they still use steel that is coated with cadmium, which is known to be hazardous to the environment.'

In this context Boing would be perhaps well-advised to seek environment-friendly solutions like its concurrence in Europe.

Take the Airbus A 380 with its four engines, with two elevators on board, is for instance, a new, sophisticated product. Boing also came up with its Dreamliner which has two engines. In the meantime, Airbus has developed another aircraft, which is a smaller Airbus-version to compete with Boeing's dreamliner. The competition goes on.

The Italo-Dutch duo took over where the US-aeronautical firm ceased to develop its markets with new ideas. General Aerospace wants to „cross the line to the future“ and has been delivering parts to: Pilatus (Switzerland), Airbus, Diamond (Canada) and its strength is in commercial aviation, space and defence. Armed with a quality approval from Airbus called EN9100, they produce the landing gear, electro hydraulic activator (EHA), landing 'shimmy dampers', Browning M2-M3 gun recoil buffers, FN-Herstal minimi gun recoil buffers, aluminium chrome-plated hand-railings for use in executive aircraft, electro-chronic windows, activaros for lavatory lids and seats, VIP bathrooms for private jets, hinges and dampers for overhead compartments for the convenience of air-travellers.

I asked Samuel Piatti what the strong points of General Aerospace were, and he replied, 'We create customised products. We have environmental conscious manufacturing processes and products and we provide fast development with quality. We also have lighter products with lower emission, which help to reduce air pollution.'

Eric van den Dolder had been working for fifteen years with the former Fokker Space, now Dutch Space. Dolder said, 'Fokker had very good products but they went bankrupt in 1990. In June 2000 I got a new job with a US company 'cos I was looking for a new challenge in commercial manufacturing. I just wasn't satisfied with the US-firm and founded a new one with Samual.'

'Now I have the most exciting job. I know what I'll do in the morning but I don't know what I'll do in the afternoon,' he said with a laugh. His partner Samuel added, ' Eric is an engineer with a lot of technical fantasy and I'm glad he likes to put technology into new products.'

Eric visits his family in Amsterdam once a month and said laconically: 'When you leave your roots, you'll know who your friends are, because only good friends visit you.'

Just two friends had visited him in Eschbach, South-West Germany, even though the Black Forest is so lovely.

I asked Samuel a last question regarding the buraucracy in Italy and Germany and he said: 'I find German buraucracy rather progressive, but you have to give more information about your business plans, growth rate of your firm and your previous background. The financial support from the German bank was good but you have to impress them with your arguments and credentials and manufacturing know-how. In Italy it's more on a personal and family business whereas and in Germany it's on a fair basis.'

On Doctor Faustus and Mephistopheles (Satis Shroff, Freiburg)

Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars.
(Christopher Marlowe in Faust (1564-1593)

On Doctor Faustus and Mephistopheles (Satis Shroff)

Dr. Johann Faust, the man who sold his soul to the Devil. A mythical figure? Certainly not. I went to the pretty town of Staufen via Bad Krözingen from Freiburg. From the distance you can see the ruins of a castle looming above the vineyards on a hill. In the town below is a Gasthaus called Zum Löwen (To the Lion). The tavern has a fresco on the wall by Prof. Fritz Geiges on the front wall depicting the Devil-- Mephistopheles—in the process of breaking the neck of a broken down Dr. Faustus. Below the fresco is a wonderful calligraphic scripture with the words:

In anno 1539 in Leuen-to-Staufen Dr Faustus, an astounding nigromantic, died miserably as a legend says, at the hands of the highest Devil named Mephistopheles, whom he called his brother-in-law as long as he lived, after the Pact which ended after 24 years, who broke his neck and sent his poor, eternally damned soul to Hell.

The only evidence regarding the death of Faust in Staufen can be found in two texts of the Zimmerschen Chronicle published in 1565. One source cites the end of the magician 'in the herrschaft Staufen im Preisgew.' The other source mentions ' in or far from Staufen, the town in Breigew.' 'Preisgew' and 'Breigew' relate to the district Breisgau. There is a lack of other substantial evidence.

Nevertheless, the local tradition and belief has it that it knows exactly where Faust's journey which began in the realm of knowledge and ended with his sojourn in Hell. The last moments of Doctor Faust's journey to Hell began in the tavern called To-the-Lion, on the third floor, in room number 5.You can spend a night in this room and be inspired to write a play or a sonnet on the Life of Doctor Faustus or perhaps a modern-day Faust who lives in a metropolis like NY, London or Berlin

Three houses away in the Late Gothic town hall of Staufen you can find the foot-prints of the Devil on one of the uppermost stairs. The Devil had come in the guise of a human to pick up Faust, and left the town of Staufen with an enormous leap.

You stars that reigned at my nativity
whose influence hath allotted death and hell
Now draw up Faustus, like a foggy mist,
Into the entrails of yon labouring cloud.
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

There's another story (German: Sage) which was published by Constantin Geres in the magazine 'Schauinsland' in 1882. It connects the Faust-story with the Johannites:

It was late in the afternoon in the year 1541 when a farmer and his son were walking along the country road from Krözingen to Staufen. Suddenly, the weather changed for the worse and a gigantic bird with black wings flew over them. The appearance of the errie big bird scared them so much that they ran to a cross along the roadside and prayed till the scary bird flew away.

Thereafter, they set upon their journey to Staufen, where the farmer had to do some business at the tavern called The Lion. As they entered the tavern, they saw a doctor and another stranger. The stranger made a fool out of the farmer farmer and said that he'd been scared of a big black bird and had run in angst to a roadside cross and mumbled prayers to God.

The farmer found the words of the stranger extraordinary, for he and his son were the only ones who'd seen the big bird in the country road. And he knew that this stranger had flown over them in the form of the big black bird.

Shortly, the Doctor who was none other than the famous Faust, was taken by the Devil from room no. 5 of the tavern Zum Löwen.

In Christopher Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus' Faust says:

Ugly hell, gape not! Come not Lucifer!
I'll burn my books!

Goethe's Faust was published in two parts in 1808 and 1832. Faust Part I is a dedicatory ode and laments the passage of time, the passing away of friends and shows Goethe's dedication to his work. There are countless interpretations of Faust and the play symbolically embraces the irony of human life, commenting on human, social and political phenomena. He also praises the fundamental human virtue of endeavour, striving and endless creative activity found among poets, writers, artists.

It was at Schiller's instigation that Goethe began in 1797 to work again at Faust II. Whereas Faust I contains Knittelverse, blank verse, hymnic passages and strophic songs, Faust II has various rhyming measures, ottava rima, terza rima and trimeters.

However, the best known early literary version of the Faust legend came from the Frankfurter printer Johann Spieß. In this popular German volksbuch (people's book) Doctor Faust dabbles from theology to sorcery, makes a pact with the Devil for a period of twenty-four years. He lives extravagantly and riotously. Ans when his time is up he's carried off to Hell. Dr. Faustus is active at the University of Wittenberg in the Volksbuch story. It is a book of stern moral intention, with a raised index-finger, and a dreadful warning to others who might undergo alliances with Satan. The Spieß'sches Faustbuch is the source of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (1589). Goethe on the other hand was obsessed by the subject of Faustus, almost his entire life. He enjoyed the puppet play called 'Puppenspiel von Dr. Faust' when he was a kid and also read the Faust Volksbuch.

Faust's Damnation (Fausts Verdammnis) an opera by Hector Berlioz is being stanged on October 20, 2007 at the Freiburger Theatre (Grosses Haus) and it is an attempt to use music to illustrate the complexities of Faust's soul. Ach, even if Faust's love and life were a fiasco, and he was damned to Hell, what survives is the work, the art and music.

There are English versions of the Faust legend by A.G.Latham (1902-5), Bayard Taylor (1908), L.MacNeice (1951) and Barker Fairley (1970) which deserve deserve mention, but I must admit I was chuckling with laughter, and I had tears in my eyes, when I read Rober Nye's Faust, told by a certain Kit Wagner, Faust's disciple. It was like reading P.G. Wodehouse in the days of alchemy and sorcery.

Here, yours truly would like to quote Faust as a motto for us all who're caught in life's vicissitudes like the famous Georgio Strehler did, when he acted in Goethe's Faust I and II at the Piccolo Teatro with a thousand voices and 12,000 verses in the year 1989:

„Ich fühle Mut, mich in die Welt zu wagen, mich in die Welt zu wagen,
Der Erde Weh, der Erde Glück zu tragen,
Mit Stürmen mich herumzuschlagen
Und in des Schiffbruchs Knirschen
nicht zu zagen.“