Goethe, Google And Me!

“Come on wake up! We are getting late now!“ This is basically me every morning waking my lazy sister up. Hey friends! Today I am going to write a blog on what I did today. Basically, this is my first time writing a blog so if I make any mistakes please don’t mind.   Let me start from the morning because you know gotta keep it in a sequence. So as I said, my morning started by waking my super lazy and sleepy sister up. As I am the eldest child, I need to wake the younger ones. We woke up later than usual, at 8:30 a.m. I know that it’s still early but since I usually wake up at 6:30 a.m, it was a treat. As soon as I woke up, the door bell rang. I went to my balcony to see who was at the door, and SURPRISINGLY, it was my best friend! She had come unannounced. Beaming with excitement, I went to the washroom. After washing my face, I quickly wore my uniform, brushed my hair, had my breakfast and quickly packed my bag. I have a habit of packing my bag in the morning, so I did the same today. My father started ringing the door bell, indicating we were half an hour late. I wore my shoes and rushed towards the car. Today, we had to go to The Goethe Institute to attend the German Film Festival which was organized by our school. It was our first time at Goethe so we took help from the legendery Google Maps. Like most other times, once again it took us on the wrong route, already late and thanks to Google, we were extremely late. Finally, when we got to Goethe, my dad was surprised. He told us that Goethe is on a very prime location because it happens to be right in front of the Cheif Minister House. In the Goethe Institute, we were shown a German movie called “Timm Thaler”. Let me explain what the movie was about. Basically, the genre of the movie was comedy but it also got us a little emotional. It was about a poor, 13-year-old boy named Timm, who would laugh and be joyful all the time. Timm Thaler lived with his father, stepmother and his stepbrother. Timm’s father loved him a lot. They both liked to bet on horse riding. Timm and his father had a thing where whenever they won the bet, they would have Roast Chicken at the “Grand Hotel”.

However, they always lost the bet. Timm had a best friend named, Ida, who was a baker. She always encouraged him that one day, surely, he would win. Timm’s father dies one day, and he, at the very least wished to put some flowers on his father’s grave and was disheartened because he didn’t even have money for that. The next day, he goes to the horse riding competition and remembers all the memories with his father. A man comes to sit beside Timm and tells him that he was his father’s friend, where in reality, he was just a creepy spy. He said that Timm’s father told him everything about Timm. Timm asked the man who he was and what he wanted from him?

The man answered by telling that his name was Mr. Baron Lived, and he wanted Timm’s laughter. After Mr. Baron told Timm that he wanted his laughter Timm started laughing and said “Sie können nicht das Lachen von jemandem wegnehmen, weil das unmöglich ist.“  In German it means, (You can’t take someone’s laughter away because that’s impossible)]. Baron told Timm that if he gives Baron his laughter, in return Baron will give him power to win every bet. For that Timm just needs to sign a contract. Mr. Baron Lived told Timm that if he wins every bet, he would have a lot of money. Timm got greedy and signed the contract. When Timm tried to laugh he felt something weird in his throat and couldn’t laugh. He ran to the booth and had a bet. The person on whom Timm had bet won. A couple saw Timm collecting the money from the booth so they came towards him and sneaked the money away. When Timm found out that he had no money in his pocket it was too late because by the time he found out, the couple had run away. After that, Timm got into regular betting through which he collected a lot of money. Once he went to the headstone maker and placed a bet with him saying the most expensive headstone that he has made is on Timm’s father’s grave. When they both went to Timm’s father’s grave, they saw that Timm was right. Many rumors started spreading along the street in which Timm lived. People thought that Timm had robbed someone or was involved in crimes through which he got so much money. When Timm’s stepmother got to know of the rumors, she asked Timm where he got all that money from. He told her that he got the money from betting at horse riding. From that day onwards, Timm’s stepmother started to love him just because he was bringing money. After some days Timm decided to get a job and leave his home. He wrote a note which said that nobody should try to find Timm and left the note on the dinning table. Ida tried to stop him but he didn’t stop. Timm got a job as an elevator boy at the Grand Hotel where a man named Kresherman became Timm’s friend. Kresherman found out about the contract between Baron and Timm. Timm told Kresherman that now he doesn’t want any money instead he wants his laughter back. Kresherman asked him that is there a way to get his laughter back and after Timm thought really hard on it, he remembered that if he loses one bet, he would get his laughter back. So Kresherman had a bet with him that Timm can’t be richer than the world’s richest man. But Timm bet the opposite. They thought that he will surely loose this bet and get his laughter back. But guess what the next day Timm got richer than the world’s richest man. Ida, during all of this, was really worried for him. She saw a poster of Timm which said he was the world’s richest man and it had his picture and address.  Ida went to the Grand Hotel and met Kresherman. He told everything to Ida about Timm’s contract with Baron. So Ida went to the Timm’s address that was written on the poster. She met him and told him that she could help him but Baron had hypnotized Timm, so he told Ida that he doesn’t want anyone’s help. In the end, Timm goes to a program where he meets Ida. Ida crys in front of Timm and says that she wants him to laugh again so she bets with him that he couldn’t laugh. Timm bets the opposite so he finally loses the bet. According to the contract if Timm loses a bet, he will get his laughter back and now when Timm tries to laugh, he could laugh again.The climax of the movie moved everyone to tears. The main idea of the movie was to show that we must have different emotions in our life because life is incomplete without emotions. When Timm could not laugh, I felt really bad for him. It was the moment in which I almost burst into tears. I was really happy with the character of Ida, because if we think that our little advice or help can bring back someone’s positive emotions into their life, you should do it. So, let’s find all the hidden smiles and kick out the sadness from the world to bring out all the giggles and laughter back. So, Thankyou Roots, Goethe and Google for making my day!

Natasha Mustafa

Grade VII, Future World Schools, Bahria Town Karachi