Precious stone

Shanti Kunj - the home of my parents in Mussoorie is a treasure trove. Besides the stunning scenery outside as it perches on the cliffside at an altitude of 2000 meters, it is a living museum inside. Mum loves anything old - and if it is wooden and varnished - then even better. The dining room table is surrounded by benches made from pews from a British era church. The upstairs terrace has Mum's flower garden where old toilet bowls are now sprouting glorious sprigs of flowers.

In a glass-lined cupboard - filled with beautiful crockery - is a grey rock. Well, not quite a rock - it is a grey shard of concrete. Ugly from the outside, this stone may mean more to Mum than most of the treasures in Shanti Kunj.

The shard is a piece of the notorious Berlin wall. My bro Stefan and I enthusiastically hacked it off using a hammer and chisel in the summer of 1990 (my last visit to my mother's land).

Mum was born in Leipzig - and after the Germans surrendered to the victorious allies - her part of Germany was taken over by the Soviets. The puppet state that emerged was perhaps not as brutal as some of the other Iron Curtain countries - but the years of lies took their toll. Though not much of a Christian believer at that time, Mum could tell that the Marxist party line was tripe - and refused to join the FDJ ("Free German Youth" - the youth wing of the German Marxists). Not joining the party had consequences. Though her marks were good - Mum was not allowed to study past 8th standard. She was assigned work in one of the 'people's own' factories.

My grandfather had had his small coal business in Leipzig taken away from him - and then had been assigned to work as an ordinary comrade in his erstwhile business (something he did with deep humility and a true Christian spirit - bless his soul).

Mum did not share her father's humility. She wanted out. And at that point it was just possible. Having relatives in the western sectors, she requested and was granted permission to visit them. She left and claimed asylum status in the west. Her parents knew about this before she left and sent her with fervent prayers.

When Mum left the glorious 'German Democratic Republic' as an 18-year-old only-German-speaking girl, her generation left with her. For all the glories of scientific Marxism - those who could were voting with their feet - and finding any excuse to leave the GDR. The only solution left was to plug the border. The first place it was done was the infamous concrete wall, cordoning off the 3 allied occupied areas of Berlin from the other part of Berlin - and the surrounding GDR countryside.

Simultaneously, the boundary between the GDR and what became the Federal Republic of Germany was barbed wired, mined and patrolled by gun-wielding guards. The shock was felt around the world. An iron curtain had descended - one which ran along the frontline Soviet puppet states of the GDR, Czechoslovakia and Hungary - and which ran between the Soviet block and the Western powers all around the world.

It was shattering for those left in East Germany. And for those outside - like Mum - who were now even more cut off from her parents left behind it was a dull ache over all the years. Communism seemed so dominant, so totally present that few ever believed we would be living in a post-Communist world.

20 years ago the world cracked - with the first people walking through the previously unthinkable distance that separated the western part of Berlin from the East. The wall, which had previously caused the death of so many who tried to escape over (or under) it, was no more a barrier. Within minutes someone climbed up to the top. Then more and more. Then people started chipping bits away. Unbelievable scenes.

And so we have a shard of concrete in our home in Mussoorie. It is a precious proof that change is possible. That even when lies are so dominant - and every one follows them - that truth and courage and sacrifice will come up trumps. Yes we had distant relatives who gave into the system. And who were hollowed out when the GDR collapsed. And we had other distant relatives who did not compromise. They did not get cushy jobs. Some of them ended up as bricklayers and roof-repairers. But at the end of the day, their integrity remained intact. I look forward to meeting them in the new Kingdom.