Rosalyn D'Mello: Feasting on freedom in Berlin

Housed in a Gothiclooking structure right underneath the Metro in what used to be a toilet Burgermeister was teeming with Berliners PicGetty ImagesThe highpoint of my weeklong Berlin sojourn was on day four a Sunday Id walked so much by the time I finally went to sleep the next morning at 230 am Id accumulated 25000 steps enough for my Fitbit to give me a virtual badge Barely four days had passed since then but theyd been so full of unaccountedfor wanderings I had to struggle to retrace the many intuitive paths Id taken as I traversed the city using the U and S Bahns and could not summarise my itinerary without great effort On Sunday I know I woke up to cloudy skies By the time I got dressed and left my friends house with her in tow it was rainingThe streets were empty We had every intention of making it to the Carnival of Cultures parade but we kept delaying our going there choosing instead to first visit an unusual monument one that rarely made it to travellers itineraries because it was tucked away in Dudenstrasse We were going to visit Hitlers Schwerbelastungskorper which translates to ldquoheavy loadbearing bodyrdquo essentially a ginormous concrete cylinder This phallic enterprise had been erected between 194142 by Hitlers chief architect Albert Speer as a kind of litmus test to determine the earths ability to bear the full thrust of the Fuhrers dystopian urban vision Germania Speer needed to measure how much of the base would sink into the ground before he could go ahead with executing the grand plans Hitler had for building a massive triumphal arch on a nearby plot three times the size of the Parisian Arc de Triomphe It would be the centrepiece of the capital city he had in mind a metropolis that would far outdo Berlin a city Hitler seemed not to like very much because it didnt represent the full might of his imperial ambitionsWorld War II came in the way of Hitlers architectural vision and today this foundation stone stands as a reminder of his idiosyncrasies We circumambulated its circumference 46 feet high and 21m in diameter weighing approximately 1265 kg per square centimetre on a 100squaremetre area Had history gone his way this structure would eventually be buried under an artificial hill upon which the intended arch would have been constructed Post the war reconstruction efforts imagined destroying this edifice but its mass was so enormous that it could not have been successfully demolished with explosives It stands today as a cautionary tale I believe to the transient nature of colonialist ambitions a sign of forewarning about the regressiveness of selfaggrandising monumentsAfter a leisurely Turkish brunch we wandered through the city stopping to ponder the fragments of the Berlin Wall amazed by the stories on display of the resilience of East and West Berliners whose sites of dwelling and whose identities were suddenly thrown in a state of crisis because of the sudden sprouting of this divisive concrete structure that zigzagged across the city almost overnight and the many attempts at escape some of which included tunnelling Then we contemplated the twokilometre stretch that is the East Side Gallery before heading to Kreuzberg to attend the opening of a onenight art exhibition in which my artist friend Lisa was participatingLisa was my coresident during my time at the HH Art Spaces and she decided to squat on the corridor of this distressed building by the River Spree to examine and investigate the notion of home It was after this I imagine that my friend and her friend walked towards the station Im calling Schlezy because I cannot remember its actual name It was my friends friend who suggested that since we were there we pick up a bottle each of Berlinmade pale ale and grab a burger at what could have been a fairly nondescript joint Burgermeister which would translate to Master of Burgers It was housed in a Gothiclooking structure right underneath the overhead Metro in what used to be a toilet It was teeming with Berliners and from the look of it youd be hard pressed to imagine it was past midnight It was a Sunday but the next day was a public holiday so Berlin was revelling We stood in line till I placed an order for their special a burger with a juicy beef patty and generous bits of bacon layered with crisply sliced onion and tomatoesWhen it was ready we picked it up and sat down on the edge of the road In front of us was the steady stream of early morning traffic behind us at that junction a heady sea of Berliners drinking on the road like they are wont to do but with an extra hint of abandon As I bit into my burger it struck me that this was something I could never imagine doing back home not just in Delhi but anywhere in the country sitting with wild abandon on the side of the road past midnight with an undisguised bottle of excellent beer and a juicy bit of street food composed primarily of beef unconcerned about being spotted by any authority unapologetic about my consumptive preferences unfettered by the issue of safety Was this what it meant to be freeDeliberating on the life and times of Everywoman Rosalyn DrsquoMello is a reputable art critic and the author of A Handbook For My Lover She tweets RosaParxSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom