So I just realized that I was originally scheduled to be home by now. Funny thing is that it doesn't seem like 4 weeks has passed. I guess you could say I'm over the "newness" of being here and into the everyday life. I know where to go to get groceries, fresh mango juice, which street vendor (sorry Kunal) has the best deserts. Even the people on MG road trying to sell watches, fake sunglasses, and pipes for less than legal use have begun to leave me alone. I've gotten used to the way of life here...eating everything with my hands, the yummy pani puri (who would have thought that puff balls filled with spices and spiced water would be so good), the random drumming and singing at 2am in the morning, the craziness of the traffic, not understanding a good 75% of what anyone's saying.
I'm pretty sad that it has to end after this week. Going back to the peace and quiet of Nashville feels like it's going to be as much of a culture shock as arriving here was. I'm actually a little nervous about going back. Granted I do miss my car and the convenience of being able to drive anywhere whenever I want...but on the other side I love being able to walk most places and all the sights, sounds, and smells along the way. If only Nashville had one or 2 streets like they do here to give it more life.
I do have to say that I'm pretty sick of living in a hotel...living in a box where they freak out if you're not up and out by 11am (and working the night shift that's prime sleeping time). Now that I've been here and know what to expect I would definitely look at a service apartment next time so there's more room and not the constant barrage of people trying to do things for me. Oh yeah...and I can't eat the hotel food any more....whenever I try I loose my appetite. The interesting thing is that the best food I've had has been from this place near the office called Food Zone. Vineet and I went there one of my first days here. It's nothing to look at, there's no way you'd walk in there to eat if you hadn't been there before, but it's so darn good. We've been ordering from there almost every day last week, we haven't had the same thing twice, and I have yet to have something I didn't like.
I guess as I enter the last week of being here I feel like I'm not quite ready to leave the colorful liveliness of Bangalore for the blandness of Nashville.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Monday, April 9, 2007
let's try this again
So I was trying to post a picture and I don't think our VPN liked that so here we go again....
a quiet weekend...sort of
So I was planning on having all these adventures this weekend...but it didn't quite turn out that way.
Friday was a holiday so Shrujal, his wife, Vineet and I were planning on going to Nandhi Hills...a place about a 45 minute drive outside of Bangalore. Well at about 8am I get a call from Shrujal, he had been at work until 4am...and Vineet had no water...so that trip was off. Shrujal and I did got for a HUGE lunch around 1 and then had the best Mango Milkshake I could ever imagine having. I now have a new favorite juice...Mango...it's so yummy!!!! We had such a large lunch that as soon as I got back to the hotel I passed out...until it was too late that evening to really do anything. Still being full from lunch I didn't even have the desire to go downstairs to eat dinner.
Saturday I had made plans with Tijo to teach him how to install some of our application since he had to do an installation at a customer site and had never actually done it before. So I was waiting downstairs for him to pick me up when one of the drivers from the office showed up. Since this wasn't our plan I called Tijo and let him know to just head to the office. Apparently someone had told one of the managers that I was planning on coming in so they sent a car.
So I've been talking to a lot of people here about how I want to get a set of Tablas before I leave. One of the guys working Saturday is a drummer so when Tijo and I were done I went off with Sourev in search of Tablas. We used one of the office cars and they thought they new a good place to get Tablas so we stopped at one of the tourist trinket shops. No Tablas to be found, so they suggested another place. One set of Tablas to be found...really expensive, and not great quality. Sourev and I decided that the drivers didn't know what they were talking about (and were trying to make a buck by getting us into these shops) so decided to go with the original plan and go to an actual music store. We showed up and the music store and asked to see some Tablas. They brought out so many to choose from and of course I have no idea what to look for. I went with Sourev's judgement, he took care of negotiating a price, and off we walked, me the happy owner of a set of Tablas. Now I feel pretty good about this purchase having just looked up some of the prices on Amazon. Mine, based on appearance and what I saw in the store, are just as nice as the expensive ones and I got them for less than the cheapest ones. YIPPIE :)
So Tablas in hand we stopped by Sourev's place for a beer. It very much reminded me of a NYC apartment...but smaller....much smaller. We walked up 3 flights of stairs and went through a door onto what I first thought was a porch. Turns out it was the porch/Kitchen/Living room. Off this Portchen room were 3 bedrooms for the 3 roommates. With one bathroom...no shower...or bath...but a toilet, 3 large buckets of water, and a drain in the floor. Some things I don't think I could ever get used to.
Sunday I just felt like crud...I was really tired, got a head rush whenever I stood up, and just felt pretty terrible. I decided to spend the day in bed and try to get better for Monday. Turns out that was the right plan because I'm still not 100% today.
Anyway....it's time to go to bed. But I will leave you with a picture of my new toys...or not because it keeps timing out :)
Friday was a holiday so Shrujal, his wife, Vineet and I were planning on going to Nandhi Hills...a place about a 45 minute drive outside of Bangalore. Well at about 8am I get a call from Shrujal, he had been at work until 4am...and Vineet had no water...so that trip was off. Shrujal and I did got for a HUGE lunch around 1 and then had the best Mango Milkshake I could ever imagine having. I now have a new favorite juice...Mango...it's so yummy!!!! We had such a large lunch that as soon as I got back to the hotel I passed out...until it was too late that evening to really do anything. Still being full from lunch I didn't even have the desire to go downstairs to eat dinner.
Saturday I had made plans with Tijo to teach him how to install some of our application since he had to do an installation at a customer site and had never actually done it before. So I was waiting downstairs for him to pick me up when one of the drivers from the office showed up. Since this wasn't our plan I called Tijo and let him know to just head to the office. Apparently someone had told one of the managers that I was planning on coming in so they sent a car.
So I've been talking to a lot of people here about how I want to get a set of Tablas before I leave. One of the guys working Saturday is a drummer so when Tijo and I were done I went off with Sourev in search of Tablas. We used one of the office cars and they thought they new a good place to get Tablas so we stopped at one of the tourist trinket shops. No Tablas to be found, so they suggested another place. One set of Tablas to be found...really expensive, and not great quality. Sourev and I decided that the drivers didn't know what they were talking about (and were trying to make a buck by getting us into these shops) so decided to go with the original plan and go to an actual music store. We showed up and the music store and asked to see some Tablas. They brought out so many to choose from and of course I have no idea what to look for. I went with Sourev's judgement, he took care of negotiating a price, and off we walked, me the happy owner of a set of Tablas. Now I feel pretty good about this purchase having just looked up some of the prices on Amazon. Mine, based on appearance and what I saw in the store, are just as nice as the expensive ones and I got them for less than the cheapest ones. YIPPIE :)
So Tablas in hand we stopped by Sourev's place for a beer. It very much reminded me of a NYC apartment...but smaller....much smaller. We walked up 3 flights of stairs and went through a door onto what I first thought was a porch. Turns out it was the porch/Kitchen/Living room. Off this Portchen room were 3 bedrooms for the 3 roommates. With one bathroom...no shower...or bath...but a toilet, 3 large buckets of water, and a drain in the floor. Some things I don't think I could ever get used to.
Sunday I just felt like crud...I was really tired, got a head rush whenever I stood up, and just felt pretty terrible. I decided to spend the day in bed and try to get better for Monday. Turns out that was the right plan because I'm still not 100% today.
Anyway....it's time to go to bed. But I will leave you with a picture of my new toys...or not because it keeps timing out :)
Friday, April 6, 2007
A few more pictures
So people have been whining that I haven't posted in a while. Well working 12 hour days doesn't leave much time for fun. At the end of this weekend I'll have some more stories to tell I'm sure...when drinking with Tijo and Sachin is involved there's always something interesting.
To keep you tied over until then here are some more pictures. The first 2 are from Brigade Rd, one of the other main streets here. One is from this small temple I saw while randomly walking around seeing how lost I could get and still find my way home. This last one is for my Mom....
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