Friday, May 30, 2008

Crack! No more riding for a while.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I forgot how old I am last Saturday and fell while out biking with some friends, breaking my collarbone. It was an absolutely asinine maneuver, which I had no possibility of pulling off. The only thing missing from the event was the Redneck's Last Words: "Look Ma! Watch this!". Fortunately I didn't say that. I may have said "I think I can clear this." Hopefully I only said it to myself. I don't know.

Walked to a village and called to get a ride home, then to the hospital, x-rays confirmed it. Fortunately no dislocation which is what I also feared.

Now, 7 days later, I'm still sore, with a nice disgusting yellow bruise on my chest. Sharp pains if I move the elbow a little more than a smidgen.

I'm mostly off the major painkillers, but Mr. Motrin and Ms. Aleve are still in the house. SeƱor Cuervo and Sri Kingfisher are also helping with the recovery.

Of course, like all house-bound bikers, instead of hitting the trail I hit flea-bay and well, let's just say, a nice shiny new bike is on its way to me right now..

Think of it as a rebound relationship.... ;-) Old shoulder on an old man, and a hot young bike. Yes!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

India not popular with the Chinese...yet - Radio Netherlands Worldwide - English

India not popular with the Chinese...yet

"'The Chinese are not like Europeans,who like the adventure of travelling around. The Chinese are like Americans. They want good standards and value for money.'"

No wonder they don't come here.. India is today generally not value for money and the standards for most goods and services are, well, pitiful. Only at the top end is there a semblance of quality, and for that you pay more than you would in say...Paris or Shanghai.

And then there is the chore of trying to find decent Chinese food here in India.

Smoky jalebis


These are the fresh hot jalebis cooking just up the street from our house. I love to ride the bikes up to this place in the evening with the kids. 10 rupees gets us a big pile wrapped in newspaper. Then we have a battle to keep from eating them immediately. They stay a bit warm even through dinner, and then we devour them.

I may be imagining it, but I swear they taste better when cooked over a wood fire. I think the sugar solution has a real caramel flavor and a smokiness you don't get at the gas-fired places in town.
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Weavers


Less than a kilometer from the outer ring road lives a colony of Baya Weavers; they have built about 20 of these nests in trees overhanging a swampy area.

Normal life goes on for some in Bangalore.
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Monday, May 19, 2008

When everything else lets you down, count on your bike

Another weekend, another ride. If it weren't for my mountain bike and the off-road riding that I have recently discovered here, I'd be crazy.

I took 4 friends out on my usual ride in the countryside east of Bangalore.

It was in the words of one person "the best day I've ever had in India" and that's from someone who's lived here for a year and also spent 4 months backpacking around in younger days. So I guess he liked it well enough.

Now I just need to find a way to get a ride in more than 2 or 3 times a week. Every day for breakfast? Uh, yeah, sounds like the ticket. I just need to find a way to not show up for work until 11am. Oh wait, that's what everyone else here does..... Hmm.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Future of India

On the way back from a semi-business semi-social long lunch today, our car passed a small paper and scrap colletor's shack, and next to it was another new small building being put up.

As the car passed, I noticed a small child out in front, struggling to mix the concrete for mortar. He couln't have been more than 6 years old and was probably 4 or 5 years old.

Certainly he should have been in school today.

That's the future of India there, scratching out a living, borrowing from the future generations. Is it so much different than the US borrowing dollars today to be paid off in the future? In India they borrow the kids of today, only to support them as illiterates in the future.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Encomium

Why is it that in India whenever any organizational change happens and an announcement via email is given, there is a flood of people rushing to reply-all to the announcement with "hearty congratulations" and "felicitations" and sometimes even a few crazy encomiums filled with flowery language about the "indelible impact" and "true leadership" that the person has provided.

Even when the announcement is essentially a demotion.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Party politics...

I was in a number of villages this weekend as the election was going on. The "buzz" was pretty amazing.

I know nothing really about the history of voting in Karnataka, and some folks had warned me to "stay home" and avoid trouble. I do know that alcohol was forbidden for the day before and of the voting. I guess there were some conflicts in the past.

What I did see in the villages was a fairly calm gathering of nearly everyone in the town square, most for some reason dressed in white (alignment with a particular party?), and enjoying some tea, coffee, and in one village at least free food.

When the gringo on a mountain bike showed up, there was the usual interest and curiosity from the kids, but in two of the villages you could sense a bit of apprehension, as if anything out of the ordinary on that day was unwelcome.

I did notice that people were wearing their lapel-pinned badges for their parties with price. In one crowd you saw BJP party members standing side-by-side with Congress party members, both politely quizzing me about where I was from, how my SPD pedals worked etc.

When I pointed out that there was a mixture of parties in the crowd, it was just a polite razzing of one side or the other. No animosity or even real unpleasantness about it. Each person felt free to associate with the party of their choice without feeling that the other party was "evil".

Try that in America!

Try that in China!