Michael Steiner, German Ambassador
After stormy and perilous Afghanistan and Pakistan where he had been posted as his country’s representative, Michael Steiner, Germany’s ambassador to India, finds Delhi exhilarating and inspiring.
“Delhi is a megapolis. A true capital. Incredibly rich, incredibly poor. Young, vibrant, majestic, loud, colourful, smoggy, extreme. You either love it or hate it. I love it,” says the 64-year-old diplomat, who has carved out a high profile in Delhi’s large diplomatic community. For the envoy who has lived all over the world, Delhi is home for now.
“Every time my wife Eliese and I come back from a trip, it is a sort of homecoming. Delhi shakes us, embraces us, drags us in,” says Steiner. He finds the city a metaphor of duality—everchanging and ever still. “Maybe because Delhi is like a big surprise bag. You literally never know what you get.”
The unpredictability, always lurking around a corner, is also what makes Delhi magnetic. “Perhaps because Delhi has kept its anarchic soul, it is hard to find anywhere else on the planet a holy cow predicting accurately the exact result of the European Champions League final on May 24 or an elephant carrying a Nikolaus (as we call Santa Claus in Germany) through a garden in Chanakyapuri on December 6.”
The diplomat sees Delhiites as sophisticated, eloquent and charming, warm and friendly most of the time. “In Delhi, you have the chance to meet the argumentative Indian at her or his best—strong women, dedicated activists, funky artists—you name it.”
Steiner’s stay in Delhi has involved him in the city’s artistic life. “The thriving gallery life in Hauz Khas Village, Lado Sarai or Niti Bagh is a must for art lovers like us; Indian avantgarde with a Berlin touch. Who would have imagined that it is possible to match antique porcelain from Meissen with pop art from Delhi at the German ambassador’s residence?”
For all these reasons and more, Steiner feels good to be in Delhi, even though it is only for the term of his posting. “Too short to become a true Delhiite. Long enough to love it and to be inspired for a lifetime,” he sums it up, before its time to say “Auf Wiedersehen!”
Favourite Indian street food?
Anything with paneer. Better than Italian ice cream is kulfi
Favourite vacation: Last time was Kerala, next is Varanasi
Do you talk to yourself?
I am neither Robert De Niro in Taxi driver nor the C-3PO of Star Wars. I prefer talking to my wife, my friends, my embassy team and to you