Dedicated to amusement of life here in Bangalore

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It’s Saturday afternoon, the day I was supposed to leave, based on the initial outline of my trip. But I am sitting in the cozy coffee shop at the Leela Palace awaiting for my friends to confirm plans for this evening and night and tomorrow. My stay here has been extended by 2 weeks.

A question of being happy about this? Yes. A question about being sad about this? Yes. But as you know I am the type of person who can not live without a backup plan, so I am cool and relaxed and I am going to enjoy my 2 more weeks as I am going to enjoy everything that will follow afterwards.

Let’s look back at the last couple of weeks. I’ve been so much into work and then during the weekends I have been so much into fun and dancing that I truly didn’t get the chance and mood to sit down in front of my computer and layout some facts, thoughts or laughs…

A paradigm of this society that keeps raising question marks in my head: why and where does everything begin and end?
Take for example the daily newspaper that is brought to my door: every day you can read a small article in the corner of a page about somebody somewhere in the Karnataka state committing suicide. It’s either a farmer somewhere who doesn’t have the means to work his land and provide food for his family so he chooses to kill himself to save the honor of his family. And then a woman whose husband has been wrongfully accused but the shame still lies on their family so she kills herself to bring back that honor. More, you can find an entire review of the increasingly suicides taking place in Kashmiri where the tension and oppression of uncertainty and non-security drive people to loose their minds and commit suicide.
A next example is TV: out of the so-many-channels available imagine that around 95% run Indian songs and movies. It’s not that they are not good music, beautiful actresses, incredible costumes and lots of dancing, but it is always the same basic line of story, and to quote a colleague at work here in Bangalore: “hugging and kissing behind the trees”. No explicit action is shown (as it is not allowed) but the inference is clear: let’s kiss! Now you would argue that this must be only associated with old music and movies produced 15 years ago and still airing today, but believe it is not. The modern music is different in that she wears some very sexy modern outfit and it may be that is it raining also and they are dancing on top of the roof, but the final ending is still “hugging and kissing behind the trees”. And to have a more complete image, the moves are as follows: your hands in the air point to the right, then point to the left, while your back points to the left, and then to the right, and 2 steps to the left and then 2 steps to the right. And then if you want you can shake your whole body once more, to either side – front, back, left, right – and then pretend you are kissing and hugging and then the song is over and what a great love story!
:)

I know, I know, I am being a little bit sarcastic, but this is mostly part of the Romanian type of humor, rather then anything else!

Now if we are in this range of subject, let’s touch a little on the public romantic life of couples here in India. One amazing thing was to discover that there is some sort of a “love police” walking around. I traveled to Delhi a couple of weeks ago where one of my good friends from back in Romania is working under an AIESEC traineeship for a research company. In the short time we spent together, he took me to a public garden with some old monuments and then a very cool restaurant. As we were walking and talking exchanging opinions and sharing our thoughts about the past and the present and the future, we could see a man in some type of a police uniform and holding a stick walking around and pointing to any couple that was sitting on a bench or down on the grass to put some distance between the two bodies as they were not allowed to hug and kiss in public.
Now call me whatever, but if you are in a park and your lover is holding your hand or you are resting your forehead on his shoulder…would you say you need a man with a stick to tell you that that is not allowed to do in public?
And to add more to this (they are not allowed to show affection in public places)…they have arranged marriages (and you already heard about what the conditions associated with a marriage are: same rank, same everything,…). Then you read about parties opposing to introducing sexual education classes in schools but the rate of HIV and AIDS has increased drastically over the last few years….and then you know that ultra sounds are not permitted to verify the gender of your baby (because if it is a girl, the family might as well end up in killing the baby; boys are wanted badly).
Now imagine it’s Saturday night and you are clubbing with 24 years old and up youngsters in one of the coolest club in the city. Mentality is changing among the young generation, they have other means to westernized culture and education and you will find them drinking and smoking and holding hands and kissing and on top of each other as hormones are driving crazy any other of us. OK, OK, it’s not everybody, but if you look to your left, there is one couple that shyly hold hands and have their bodies so close that they become one and they move at unison together with the music and the crowd, and then in the right corner of the dance floor, next to the air conditioner machine, there is a couple who kisses passionately and his hands are all over her body and her hands are all over his body….

Moving on to other subjects, I have a driver who is at my disposal 24/7. As I already work from 3pm to 3am and I am a night bird, he’s a night bird as well, and I am trying to be nice and not kill all his life. It’s sufficient mine’s is up side down. But let’s expand on the “making of money” now. Besides his salary (and I hear that he could make more money than the analyst we just hired in our group, as drivers are at high demand these days) my boss and I are paying him a small tip every week also. Around $25, together. Which for me or you, weekly, is nothing. For him makes a huge difference. You should see the grim on his face every Friday when he gets his tip! We offered to buy him some t-shirts when we were at the Adidas store and he loved the idea.
The people who clean my room on a daily basis get 10rupees each time. It’s not much for me also, just 25 cents daily, but it is something for them. 10 rupees go to the laundry service as well. And 10rupees go to the morning waiter when I go for breakfast. Now, this is not a lot of money for either of the two parties, themselves or myself, but you would expect that at least there is some type of acknowledgement. For example, if you choose to have the clothes returned from the laundry on a hanger, you would expect to have that but still each time they fold them nicely and cover them in nylon. Now am I wrong to be unhappy about these sort of situations? I know my friend Lili and even Vlad would say “yes, you are worng” because you have to learn to live with these things because they won’t change. Well, I complained to the chief laundry yesterday and I am waiting to see my next round of laundry if it comes hanged or folded…J

Hey, I tried McDonalds here and it’s kind of..crap! I don’t understand as they have so much chicken but still the patties in the chicken burger and the chicken piece in the chicken wrap are just some stuff made of chicken and veggies and they are tossed and made as a paste and then as a burger and there is your chicken burger. Weak! But good fries! J
Some of the expats got sick by trying TGI Fridays. Never had the pleasure to try, not in the US, for sure not here.


Oh, almost to forget, the other week I was invited to participate in a south Indian marriage reception. The entire wedding took place outside Bangalore but for those people who could not attend the wedding, there was a reception put together later on. So my boss and I were invited to this reception. A very interesting experience in my life. He he he
We dressed up a little bit, not too much though, as we left from work directly to the reception. Traffic at 7pm in Bangalore is crazy – crazy , just as Chicago can be at rush hours, and the driving took around an hour and a half for a trip that should have been around 40minutes. Once we arrived, there was the bride and the groom in beautiful colorful clothes and we took pictures and exchanged gifts (we bought a 1gram 24 karats gold coin, this was the type of gift that we were advised to get – it’s for good luck and prosperity throughout their lives) and we bought some nice wedding cards as well. The traditional wedding wish is “long life and love” or something similar. After pictures were taken, we were invited upstairs for dinner. Upstairs we found a few long rows of tables and chairs in something that seemed similar to something less then a cafeteria. In one corner of the room there was a large bunch of leaves just lying down there. In the nearby, there were a few sinks half way behind a small wall. And then there were a lot of people who seemed to be the servers.
The traditional process of dining at a wedding was as follows: 2 waiters lined in front of our row of tables when everybody was sited. One had a bunch of green leaves in his hands, the other has plastic glasses and a can of water. Each one of us got a leaf – it is a banana leaf – and a glass of water. My neighbor at the table, a family of two of the groom’s friends, explained that the next step was to pour the water on the leaf and wash it off. I am supposed to use one hand only basically. So imagine a leaf comparable to the size of two normal plates at least and me pouring water on top of it and washing it off. The idea is, as I was able to understand, not only to clean of the dust or whatever, but also by the washing process you bring out the inner aroma of the banana leaf which will later on become part of the taste of the food that will be served and the culinary experience will become complete. My boss was sitting next to me and doing the same things. Now a few new waiters lined up again, this time holding some buckets (I think the buckets were made out of some metal, not sure which one). So the first one droped a spoon of rice-something-type-of-food on each banana leave, then the second droped something else, and so on and so on…I end up with at least 10 types of foods served on my banana leave out of the metal buckets. All veggies. Now it’s time to eat. Using one hand only. Food is delicious! Half an hour later I am done with the main course, and we are served desert. Similar type of process. Desert is some type of extremely thin noodles made out of rice and with almond milk. Pretty ok. Also we get ice-cream and fruit salad, delicious!
Once dinner was done, it was time to go. We said goodbye, whished the newly weds all the best, long life and love, and off we were.

When will I ever in my life have the chance to eat from a banana leaf?

Authentic...what?

Let’s experience a little bit of India through day to day activities! Don’t expect much, after my first week at work, I discovered that working full 12 hours a day and having night life in the city closing at midnight can not be too fun! But still...


Saturday, 16th of June: heaven on earth as I spent half a day at the Taj Residency Spa - a first ever in my life. Massage…body treatments….you feel so nurtured that you’d wish you were rich!


Take a short look, would you…?


Then…later on… attend the hottest house party in the city, my friends have some friends, so we get in but it takes half an hour just to cross the crowd to be able to enter! People dance here! No lie! Finally!
The crowd is great, the DJ is said to be one of the best in India in the house music industry, and he makes the crowd groove! The rhythm is crazy out here but we are all enjoying! Unbelievable!
Now it’s midday and everything freezes for a second: the music stopped, damn, it’s over. Everybody follows the rule; Bangalore is very strict with playing music and serving booze after midnight! So we move the party to the house of some friends whose parents are in Europe on vacation.

I can recognize the modern western chicken and the wide plasma TV, but otherwise there is a little bit of family history and cultural heritage everywhere. The two worlds come together and there is nothing strange in it. For me as an outsider who didn’t expect this is strange. I smile to the two golden frogs behind the door at entrance, they are for good luck. I admire the beautiful art pieces on the walls. It’s just a matter of mini-seconds for the dog and me to become friends! We all start dancing; the rhythm is still there, we are in the mood for more partying! And it is happening!


The weekend ends with brunch with the expats…we are a colorful bunch of people: from the Chicago office, London office and Dublin...one Spanish, two Indians, 4 Americans, 2 British, 2 Irish, a Romanian, a Kuwaiti…
My dear AIESEC friends…I never took the opportunity to go on a traineeship….know that this is my traineeship!
My dear non-AIESEC friends, know that a traineeship is a student exchange program where a student is sent to complete a paid internship in another country working for a company after a matching process takes places between the two. Sounds familiar? Well know that AIESEC takes the commitment to ensure that cultural ready - ness exists and monitors the relationship along the time span to ensure both parties are gaining from the relationship.


Where does everything end? But where does everything go to? A smile is sufficient? A though maybe is enough? I am having a good time, I might not be able to understand how everything works here, it’s still a mystery to me the “how come?” associated to a beautiful house next to a piece of land where people live without water and sanitation in a wood-made-nylon-covered type of living spaces…and then you have “Please horn” on the back of every bus or commercial vehicle, but anyway the horns is everything you can hear in the street, they don’t follow any driving rule basically…and please bargain if you plan to buy something because most probably they have at least a 300% price increase just because a foreigner shows up in the door of their store…...

First Sunday in Bangalore

My real adventure in Bangalore starts Sunday, June 10, after a few hours of sleep: Bangalore sightseeing. Our driver showed up at around noon and he took care to take us places.

For the beginning he just drove in the streets, explaining traffic rules. Amazing, no? There are almost none. Well, actually this is a lie, because maybe there are at least 5 traffic lights and the one (car, auto, bike, motor, person) on the far left is responsible for her safety and for the safety of the one (car, auto, bike, motor) on the right. There might be 2 or 3 maybe sometimes 4 lanes on each side of the road, no general rule though. Off course, they drive on the other side of the road, like the British. Basically you can do a U turn at any time, just decide you want to do so. You can also decide to take a left or right at the last moment by the time it can be almost too late to make the decision, so just act upon your decision. Please understand that this is an organized chaos.

Excerpt from official emails sent by my boss and myself to our team in Chicago:

"When Laura gets back, she will tell you what it is like to work and travel with me. She will have plenty of stories of our adventures. No reports from me! Like Laura said, you have to experience it. I will tell you this one story about driving here:

In all my worldly travels, I have never seen driving like in Bangalore. The roads are filled with all kinds of things! It is an obstacle course like one never seen ever. There is one intersection on the way to work that is the highlight of our drive every day. Imagine this...a four lane road with two side/service roads and another intersecting road. We need to turn right (here we drive on the left) and then immediately to the left onto the service road. By the way, there is no traffic light; a minor detail. Next imagine this intersection containing the convergence of the following vehicles all at once: cars, buses, trucks, auto-rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles vans, mini-buses, and us. (side note: no street dogs or cows. Those we dodge at 4:00 a.m. on the way back to our apartments.). These vehicles are all going in different directions: straight, left, right, U-turn etc. Somehow everyone gets to go to the direction they want. You would think there would be gridlock, but it doesn't happen. We are not there for more than a minute before we reach the service road. Close calls are the name of the game. One second you see a for sure collision, and then nothing. It's a game of chicken but everyone wins! It's a beautiful thing! I ride in the front to get the adrenaline going on the way to work. We don't know how it works but it does! I am itching to try my luck but no one will give me the car keys! I love bumper cars! Later, Zain"

The government building and the high court buildings are 2 heavy stone a few floors tall buildings. One of them is plain red. Breathtaking almost. The sidewalk (oh, forgot, sometimes you will find sidewalks) is overcrowded as people are waiting for the bus. In between all that, a few street vendors: fruits, seeds, veggies (It looks like they like cucumbers a lot), ice-cream and ready cooked food as well. I got an ice-cream for myself. Chocolate is not chocolate, quite different. (and see, nothing happened, my northwestern doctor advised not too dare to eat from street vendors….)

The first attraction is the Bangalore Palace.

Excerpt from official tourism websites:

"Bangalore Palace, inspired by the Windsor Castle, was built in 1887 AD by Chamaraja Wodeyar in Tudor-style. Standing in the heart of the city, the palace was earlier surrounded by beautiful gardens in the midst of a vast open area, which has reduced considerably today. This unique edifice gives the impression of a piece of England's architecture in Bangalore. Largely constructed of wood, the Bangalore Palace is famous for its carving and paintings. The structure has fortified towers and its interiors boast of elegant woodcarvings and Tudor-style architecture, complete with Gothic windows, battlements and turrets. An exquisite door panel at the entrance leads to grand settings inside. The interiors have breathtaking floral motifs, cornices, mouldings and relief paintings on its ceiling. It is said that the construction cost of this exquisite palace was just over Rs 1 lakh. The huge 45,000 sq. feet mansion on which the palace stands was originally owned by Reverend Garret. The palace ground, located between Jayamahal and Sadashivanagar areas, has now become the venue for various exhibitions, concerts and cultural programmes. "

WOW. And wow for two different reasons: there is a lot of history inside and there is a lot of beauty on the outside. And the second wow is for they barely do anything to maintain and preserve it. My third wow will show up when dealing with the “present king’s collection”: nude pictures on top of the walls. Now this is a wow because my general understanding about India was that different subjects are too taboo (if this can be said). When you hear that Richard Gere is arrested for kissing xxx’s chicks during a public campaign to promote fight against HIV, looking at the present king’s nude collections is at least mind-blowing.

From Chicago to Bangalore, via Frankfurt: the departure and arrival

Dear friends,

As always, my first reaction to new is to stumble and rumble, but I get back on my feet again. Brighi, I have no idea how that bull you’re talking about looks like, but this one out here is kind of happy at this time, the third hour after boarding. (thrilled actually)

Thank you to Gregg, my dear friend in the travel department, flying business must be something, but let me tell you this: flying business upper deck is amazing! And because my only comparison is against economy, you must understand that the feeling is ten times better! And as always, I have the tendency to overreact (one of my friends says that people anyways have the tendency to only remember the nice parts of their lives and then overdose the happiness associated with them) so judge whatever you read below as such.

It all starts at the airport. An Indian customer service representatives in his 40s, maybe 50s?! My luggage at 80 pounds is clearly unexpectedly heavy so I get to buy a box to move half of my luggage. Life, no? Just a huge line of people behind taking a look inside my bag, anxious that they complete the check-in in time to actually board… Hopefully the Romanian wine will be safe after this move. The chocolates bought for presents seem to be kind of melted already…

Security. Done. Boarded. Done.

Upper deck is exactly what you understand by upper deck. In, through the business entrance and up the stairs to the next level. WOW! I am third row from the captain’s cabin and there are another 4 rows in the behind of the upper deck. And that’s us up here! I am watching Breach now, didn’t get the chance to see it on the big screen. Dinner is 3 courses, with ice cream for desert! Must love the feeling!

That’s it for now, I will come back with more once I am in Frankfurt. Hopefully technology will keep up with me also. Vice-versa is valid also!

Laura, 06/08/07, 9:17PM CST




Hello again. I am already on board from Frankfurt to Bangalore. Thank you, T-Mobile, great connection, kind of expensive: 2EUR for 15min. Just to let my boss know I am fine and on my way; he ensured that accommodation is confirmed and that the driver will be waiting for me at arrival. Frankfurt is so European! There are hundreds of smoking designated areas and nobody in line at McDonalds! But the café in the corner is overcrowded! :)
This time I am flying entirely Lufthansa, upper deck also. The business class this time is even better than what I had before with the United-Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Frankfurt. Must be a new plane or something because everything is like brand new. Or maybe this is the standard you receive while boarded business and upper deck! ha-ha-ha
It’s impossible not to have a good time. And think about me, with an ego that grows from nothing! he he he

Will be back with more once I land in Bangalore. That must be at least interesting!

Take care and have fun until next time,

Laura

06/09/07, 5:52 am cst