Even My Driver Won't Eat from the Stands on the Side of the Road

So today Manu was driving me to the office and I asked him if he would ever eat whatever it is they sell from the side of the road - I'm talking about the cooked stuff - and he said no way and started laughing. Can you even imagine if an Indian won't eat it how disgusting it could possibly be - anyway that made me laugh.

I think I found a place to live

I think I found a place to live. It's close to the Sabre office and it will be a total pain in the ass coming to town to visit customers but here's the plus side - it's behind closed gates -I know I said I would never live in a gated community but believe me here it's a whole different ball game. Anyway it's called Palm Meadows and there is hotel which has a really nice Executive Suite. They've got a separate living room with a GIANT flat screen TV, nice bathroom with separate shower and tub, microwave, gym, pool and two restaurants. You can also walk within the community and there is a supermarket. So here's the deal - Sabre has a negotiated rate with them for $300 per night for the Executive Suite. Today they send me an email and tell me I can have one of those rooms for $340 per night so I call them and say I'm going to be staying at your hotel for 4 months - why would you charge me a higher rate than what is already negotiated - I'm looking for a lower rate. Such is life in India - they'll get back to me tomorrow. I may just have Shirley or Warren from the office call so they can speak in Kanada.

I registered at the Foreign Office today. That was quite an experience. Thank god my company outsource all that paperwork to a company that specializes in this otherwise I'd still be sitting there. First you go in one room where the person has you sign the document and then they stamp it. Then you have to go into a different room where someone verifies and approves what the first person does and then you go to a third room where they officially enter you in the computer. Everything in India is very labor intensive because labor is so cheap.

To illustrate - when you go to the Mall (yes they have a couple of malls in Bangalore) and the driver enters the parking garage there is a machine that dispenses tickets - just like at the Sutter Stockton garage - however UNLIKE the Sutter-Stockton garage the driver does not push the button to get the ticket. There is a person that stands next to the machine and he pushes the button, gets the ticket and hands it to the driver. Don't ask me how much he gets paid for doing that because I don't have a clue.

Anyway, I'm tired so I'm going to pop a movie in the DVD player and chill out.

BTW - did I mention that where I'm staying I have a butler. His name is Krishna - he calls me Miss Annie and every night he comes in with a plate of Indian Sweets and always insists I take a bite and I can't believe I do because I actually find them disgusting - they're all deep fried and trust me the Indian version of a donut is NOT a donut :)
I think they need to open a Dunkin Donuts here.