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. Señor 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!
Friday, May 30, 2008
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.
"'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
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Obsequiousness
When you visit the Foreign registration office in Bangalore for the second time to "get the signatures", you visit one Mr. Muthanna. He sits in his all-blue office in front of an absolutely hilarious floor-to-ceiling poster of some Swiss Alps or Maroon Bells.
The whole poster is faded from sunlight, and since there is no sunlight in this room, it must astonishingly old. Or the air is particularly oxidizing in there.
As I sat there for an hour waiting yesterday, I got to observe one of the remainders of the old British Raj days: obsequiousness.
The Police Station on Infantry Road is full of people standing around doing essentially nothing. That's not special in India though. There are folks in fancy hats standing with rifles from the 1940's. There are the obligatory 5 gentlemen at the gate who are waiting to blow their whistles at the traffic.
What is special is the man who keeps order outside the office of Mr. Muthanna. This poor chap is dressed in a police uniform, but for all intents and purposes is a doorman.
Over the course of an hour, he opened the doors 10 times. Each time some bureaucrat would leave the office next to Muthanna, he would jump up, step to the side, and open the door to Muthanna's office. Now this door is actually a pair of swinging saloon shutters. The pair of doors hasn't seen soap or paint in 50 years. It's covered in hand-filth. And yet, he opens them each time as if it's a solemn duty and honor to do so.
In addition to opening doors during my hour of observation, he saluted entering and exiting "officials", and opened the doors to their cars. All in a particularly submissive fashion.
He carries no weapon so he can't possibly be there for "security".
At one point, he even picked up the doormats and shook them out against the pillars of the building, creating a nice cloud of dust appreciated "cough, cough" by all the people waiting outside. Now, I've been in India long enough to know that cleaning floors is not something someone like him would normally do. It's just "below" them so to speak. You hire people to do that. But do it he did...
I'm left with the impression that this poor fellow worked like crazy through school to "get a good government job". He probably even paid a bribe to get in, a bribe he borrowed money for and is still paying off. He gets up every morning and puts on a police uniform, tells his kids he's going out to catch bad guys.
And then he starts work as doorman.
The whole poster is faded from sunlight, and since there is no sunlight in this room, it must astonishingly old. Or the air is particularly oxidizing in there.
As I sat there for an hour waiting yesterday, I got to observe one of the remainders of the old British Raj days: obsequiousness.
The Police Station on Infantry Road is full of people standing around doing essentially nothing. That's not special in India though. There are folks in fancy hats standing with rifles from the 1940's. There are the obligatory 5 gentlemen at the gate who are waiting to blow their whistles at the traffic.
What is special is the man who keeps order outside the office of Mr. Muthanna. This poor chap is dressed in a police uniform, but for all intents and purposes is a doorman.
Over the course of an hour, he opened the doors 10 times. Each time some bureaucrat would leave the office next to Muthanna, he would jump up, step to the side, and open the door to Muthanna's office. Now this door is actually a pair of swinging saloon shutters. The pair of doors hasn't seen soap or paint in 50 years. It's covered in hand-filth. And yet, he opens them each time as if it's a solemn duty and honor to do so.
In addition to opening doors during my hour of observation, he saluted entering and exiting "officials", and opened the doors to their cars. All in a particularly submissive fashion.
He carries no weapon so he can't possibly be there for "security".
At one point, he even picked up the doormats and shook them out against the pillars of the building, creating a nice cloud of dust appreciated "cough, cough" by all the people waiting outside. Now, I've been in India long enough to know that cleaning floors is not something someone like him would normally do. It's just "below" them so to speak. You hire people to do that. But do it he did...
I'm left with the impression that this poor fellow worked like crazy through school to "get a good government job". He probably even paid a bribe to get in, a bribe he borrowed money for and is still paying off. He gets up every morning and puts on a police uniform, tells his kids he's going out to catch bad guys.
And then he starts work as doorman.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Movie Review - Jodhaa Akbar
I wrote this back in February but never published it... Ooops.
---------
Let me preface this with the statement that I speak maybe a dozen words of Hindi. I know two phrases: "My name is ___." and "Bring one more beer please"
But I had some colleagues visiting from the US and I thought it would be a fun team even to take my Bangalore team out for a movie and dinner with them. I let the team pick the movie and this is the latest mega-hit, so we booked it even though the movie is nearly 4 hours long.
The stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai (I can't add the Bachchan to her name...I'm in denial) were stunning. When Hrithik hits the screen for the first time, all you see is his chin, and still the ladies in the audience started hooting and howling. Likewise when Aishwarya arrives, there was silence, then a hoot and a whistle. They are simply stunning on the big screen.
Filmed all over north India's desert in Rajastan at lovely old forts and palaces, the scenery is amazing. Some of the interior shots are similarly breathtaking.
The story itself is one big 4-hour tease. You just can't believe it takes 3 hours for this couple to actually hook up. So much taunting and teasing and then denial. Painful to watch.
As with most Hindi films there are the requisite 5 songs and two fights. In this case, though, there are some truly captivating musical scenes, especially the Sufi scene.
I can't wait for the DVD to come out so I can see it again with English subtitles. The cinematography won't be nearly as impressive on my little TV, but I bet I'll still like it.
---------
Let me preface this with the statement that I speak maybe a dozen words of Hindi. I know two phrases: "My name is ___." and "Bring one more beer please"
But I had some colleagues visiting from the US and I thought it would be a fun team even to take my Bangalore team out for a movie and dinner with them. I let the team pick the movie and this is the latest mega-hit, so we booked it even though the movie is nearly 4 hours long.
The stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai (I can't add the Bachchan to her name...I'm in denial) were stunning. When Hrithik hits the screen for the first time, all you see is his chin, and still the ladies in the audience started hooting and howling. Likewise when Aishwarya arrives, there was silence, then a hoot and a whistle. They are simply stunning on the big screen.
Filmed all over north India's desert in Rajastan at lovely old forts and palaces, the scenery is amazing. Some of the interior shots are similarly breathtaking.
The story itself is one big 4-hour tease. You just can't believe it takes 3 hours for this couple to actually hook up. So much taunting and teasing and then denial. Painful to watch.
As with most Hindi films there are the requisite 5 songs and two fights. In this case, though, there are some truly captivating musical scenes, especially the Sufi scene.
I can't wait for the DVD to come out so I can see it again with English subtitles. The cinematography won't be nearly as impressive on my little TV, but I bet I'll still like it.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Another 3 month sentence -- my fifth in a row.
After probably another 10 hours of work on my part over the course of 3 months hassling and hammering on our HR department to actually do something, I submitted the paperwork for a visa extension (against my better judgment at the time actually). Then I was given the pleasure of dragging the family downtown (90 mins in the traffic) to be "seen" (not questioned or quizzed) by several bureaucrats for signatures (while generous amounts of money changed hands behind the scenes I promise). Then another few days to wait while said bureaucrats decided what to do with me. I was granted permission to stay here in India for another 3 months.
The joy. The thrill. The emotional outburst that it brings.
This is now the 5th time these folks at the immigration consultancy have told me they were getting a one year visa.
You can imagine how pleased I am with the "service" they are providing.
Aw crap, and I thought I was going to be "happy" on this blog again. Arrrgh. It's just that it's therapeutic to rant it all out!
As Rocky would say: Next time for sure!
The joy. The thrill. The emotional outburst that it brings.
This is now the 5th time these folks at the immigration consultancy have told me they were getting a one year visa.
You can imagine how pleased I am with the "service" they are providing.
Aw crap, and I thought I was going to be "happy" on this blog again. Arrrgh. It's just that it's therapeutic to rant it all out!
As Rocky would say: Next time for sure!
Saturday, January 05, 2008
New Year, New Attitude
I spent the last couple of months really not liking India, and then for the Christmas holidays I was stuck here due to an amazing combination of incompetence on the part of my HR team and the bureaucracy of the Indian government. So the past month has been tough. Missing family, friends, and festivals.
But, I'm stuck here for another couple of years, so there is no bloody use in having a bad attitude about it. Let's have some fun.
I do have some nice things to write about. Today's positive thinking is brought to you by a bicycle ride. A friend from work came over and we did a 13-mile loop through the villages east of Whitefield.
You only have to get out of Bangalore to understand how someone can come to India and love this place. Bangalore is the Cleveland of India, I'm convinced. If it's not, then it's possibly the Odessa (TX, not Russia). But get out into the villages, and wow...
We were riding along one road/dike and it was early in the morning, the mist was still kind of hovering, and the fields below were all green and freshly cut (rice? wheat?). I really felt like I was back in Holland for a minute. A bit later, we turned the corner into a village of thatch-roofed huts, stopped for a couple bananas, and did our best to chat in Kannada. Turns out the dudes were from Tamil Nadu and don't speak much Kannada. So I was apparently teaching them Kannada.
Further up ahead, the fields were all irrigated from the river, and everything was just so green and beautiful. It's January and the fields are blooming and producing. The scent of cows everywhere. The sight of people working fields by hand. The sound of birds..
Dreamy I tell you. And definitely not Bangalore, that's for sure.
But, I'm stuck here for another couple of years, so there is no bloody use in having a bad attitude about it. Let's have some fun.
I do have some nice things to write about. Today's positive thinking is brought to you by a bicycle ride. A friend from work came over and we did a 13-mile loop through the villages east of Whitefield.
You only have to get out of Bangalore to understand how someone can come to India and love this place. Bangalore is the Cleveland of India, I'm convinced. If it's not, then it's possibly the Odessa (TX, not Russia). But get out into the villages, and wow...
We were riding along one road/dike and it was early in the morning, the mist was still kind of hovering, and the fields below were all green and freshly cut (rice? wheat?). I really felt like I was back in Holland for a minute. A bit later, we turned the corner into a village of thatch-roofed huts, stopped for a couple bananas, and did our best to chat in Kannada. Turns out the dudes were from Tamil Nadu and don't speak much Kannada. So I was apparently teaching them Kannada.
Further up ahead, the fields were all irrigated from the river, and everything was just so green and beautiful. It's January and the fields are blooming and producing. The scent of cows everywhere. The sight of people working fields by hand. The sound of birds..
Dreamy I tell you. And definitely not Bangalore, that's for sure.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Buck
I have never seen ears this long on a goat before. This buck was tied up on a side street behind the Russell Market. He stood nearly 4 feet tall I suspect, and those ears are easily 15" long (35cm).
Miller in Shivajinagar
All around Bangalore there are traditional millers still operating their mills as a service for the neighborhood. People buy fresh grain (wheat and rice as well as grams/beans) and bring them to the miller for processing.
Sometimes they mix up a special blend of grains, add in some spices (chilies, curry leaves) and process the whole thing for a particular dish.
This man in Shivajinagar was very proud to show me his business. With the left hand he adjusts the fineness of the grind (mostly by listening to the sound of the wheels) and with the right hand he feeds the grain into the grinder.
We communicated with smiles and sign-language over the screeching of the machinery. I'm not sure we could have communicated any other way. I suspect he is deaf if not nearly deaf. The mill was so loud my ears were hurting and I was only in there for a few minutes.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Bangalore Beer - Part 2
Quick update...
I actually bought a bottle of Budweiser. (Shades of the 80s for me here, recalling many afternoons in front of the tele watching American football and eating junk food).
1) It's made in India, not imported
2) It actually tastes pretty good compared to Kingfisher.
So, that's the final straw. When Budweiser tastes good next to your usual brew, you're in beer hell.
Move over, Mephistophiles.
I actually bought a bottle of Budweiser. (Shades of the 80s for me here, recalling many afternoons in front of the tele watching American football and eating junk food).
1) It's made in India, not imported
2) It actually tastes pretty good compared to Kingfisher.
So, that's the final straw. When Budweiser tastes good next to your usual brew, you're in beer hell.
Move over, Mephistophiles.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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