Raining in Bangalore

Wow - I woke up this morning - didn't even bother to look outside and went directly to the gym which is on the bottom floor of the hotel with no windows. I was there doing my workout for about 90 minutes and came back upstairs only to discover it's raining - not hard - a drizzle but raining nonetheless. So much for my plans to hang out the pool. Hmmm - what to do, what to do... Might just hang out on my balcony and read my book because I don't really think I want to do any shopping. It's supposed to be like this tomorrow as well - at least according to weather.com. It's not like i can turn on the TV and watch the Indian version of the Today Show with Al Roker giving me a weather update.

I'm going to listen to some music tonight at a place called Opus. The woman, Nicole, I met at the expat dinner invited me to come along. I believe there are a couple of guys she knows that play in this band - she said it's American kind of folksy music. I have no idea what that means but I guess I'll find out.

Tuesday night the Overseas Women's Club is having their Professional Women's Group meeting so I'll be attending that. It cracks me up that I'm considered a Professional Woman when the the truth of the matter is you all know I hate the corporate world with a passion and would rather be hanging out with dogs. And don't even get me started on the fact that India is still very much a male dominated chauvanistic pig country - makes my skin crawl. Ya think I'm ready for my break to come home???? (ha-ha)

Random Thoughts

Or as Arsenio Hall would say things that make you go hhmmmmmm

I notice they are always mopping the floor in the various establishments but I never see them with a bucket of water when they are mopping - kind of makes you think they're just pushing dirt around on the floor not too mention making it wet, slippery and dangerous

They have something called elephant showers which is basically when you go on an elephant ride they make sure you go to a stream and then the elephant showers you with their long snout - do you think put a filter in the elephant to make sure the water has been decontanimated???

Well I'll be in Bangalore all weekend most likely hanging out by the pool after the gym and a leisurely breakfast. If I get really brave and don't mind sharing my day with 12 million other people maybe I'll go over to Commercial street and do some shopping since there really isn't anything else to do here.

I'll keep you posted because inquiring minds want to know :)

GO GIANTS

I can't believe I was able to watch the SuperBowl live. It was awesome - GO GIANTS!!!! I really thought they had blown it after New England scored with only 2 minutes left in the game. As a matter of fact I only had a few minutes worth of time left on my cell phone but I called my brother to tell him the Giants sucked - little did I know that two minutes later I would be doing the victory dance in my hotel room. Whoo hooo!!!!

I'm also excited these days because in two weeks I get to come home for a visit. I arrive back in SF on Feb 19th and get to stay until Feb 25th. Abe is going to try and pick me up at the airport with the Chester boy and I can't wait to see my baby. I don't care how rainy it is I will be in the park with my boy at the usual time on the 19th.

Well have to go meet my driver downstairs. I've got some late conference calls tonight - these are killing me.

GOA WEEKEND

Woman Selling Roasted Nuts at the Beach
Hanuman (Monkey God) Temple
Saying Hello to the Elephant
28 year old Female Elephant
Elephant Family
Women in the Water in Their Saris with Umbrella
More Women in the Water in Their Saris
Men in their Bathing Suits

Self-Explanatory
I think They're missing a "B"
No Lawnmowers - People pick grass to maintain the lawn
Francis our Guide at the Spice Plantation

View from the Pier/Jetty in Dona Paula
Dogs on the Beach
Smoothing Concrete on the Pier
Shopping on the Pier

Sunrise View from My Room
Birds at Breakfast
Wooden Boat
Wooden Boat

Well I think I’ve discovered one of the reasons why people love India. I had the pleasure of spending the weekend in Goa which is on the Arabian Sea. Goa used to be a Portugese colony so there is a lot of European influence here. And unbeknownst to us this weekend they were celebrating Carnaval. So there were floats, music and plenty of traffic.

Goa is actually a state and there is a North and a South. Billie had found a place on Craigslist, Zuarti View, in a place called Dona Paula which turned out to be a fishing village. The place was in a great location, the rooms were clean and I had a great view out my window and off my balcony of the inlet and all the fishing boats. Right across the street was the Arabian Sea. Never in my life did I think for one second I would be standing with my feet in the Arabian Sea. Pretty long journey from Valley Stream, Forest Rd. and South High School.

Our colleague Sergey and his dad Basil (who is from the Ukraine) were staying in town so we met up for dinner Friday night. We tried to get in to a place that was recommended call Mum’s Kitchen but they were all booked up so we decided to take an auto rickshawe back to a place across the street from where Billie and I were staying. It was hilarious because they had this live music – two Indian guys singing Rhinestone Cowboy. We could not have asked for a better location because we were hanging out with our feet up looking out and listening to the Arabian Sea lap on the shore.

I learned how to toast in Russian – Nastrovia – which means, “To Your Health”. It was quite the interesting evening as Sergey’s father does not speak any English but somehow we managed. I also learned to count to five in Russian. I’m so global (ha ha).

On Saturday we all did a tour together. We went to a couple of churches, a temple, a spice plantation and then to the beach. I’m over the churches and the temples – don’t care if I don’t see either of those for the remainder of my time in India.

The spice plantation was really interesting. It’s in the jungle and there is a guide who takes you around and talks about the different spices and how they are not only used for cooking but to cure a variety of ailments as well. The best part was when the elephant came by. I don’t remember her name but she was 28 years old and really friendly. I could have gone for a ride but those rides are bullshit rides – they’re like 15 minutes and you basically go around in a circle. I want to do a elephant trek through the jungle that would last at least an hour or longer. I’m sure I’ll find one somewhere.

The beach, Calangude, was actually pretty disgusting and very surreal as you can tell from the pictures of the women in their full length saris standing in the ocean. Also the people coming up and harassing you to buy their crap is never ending. I swear they don’t understand the word NO and it gets to the point where you just stop being polite about it.

Sergey’s dad decided he wanted to go for a swim and also ride a jet ski so Billie and I decided to walk around town and check out the shops. The clothes are so cheap – like $3.00 for a shirt and everything is about bargaining. So you’ll see something and say how much and they say 300 rupees and you say 200 and they say no and you start walking away and you pretty much get it for what you want.

We went to dinner at a different place on the beach in Dona Paula Saturday night but again there was this music like a “lite music” radio station with Indian’s singing Glenn Campbell, Hank Williams and even an Elvis song. It was hilarious.

Today I did a very bad thing but I couldn’t help it. There was a momma doggie and her puppy and they were so skinny that I bought some cookies (I figured since they eat whatever they find on the street cookies wouldn’t be all that bad) and fed them. I didn’t feed them by hand – I broke the cookies up and threw them over to them. It’s really hard for me to see those doggies and not want to take them all home – clean them up, feed them and give them a taste of the Pac Heights life.

So Billie gets to go back to the states tomorrow and I’m here for another two weeks before I go home. Bangalore is a hard place – it’s dirty, the pollution is terrible – there is no infrastructure and it takes an hour and half to go 8 miles. I am going to be very sad without her but Sergey is here. He is going to take a few days off the week after next and go to OOTY which is up in the mountains about 6 hours from Bangalore. There is much to do there and he’s invited me to join them on the trip so I just may ask Richard if I can take a couple of days and go do that.

Three Day Weekend

Happily Putting my Shoes Back On

The Puppy and The Monkey

Decorated Ganeesh

With the Serpents


Happily Leaving the Temple

The Inside of The Temple (of Doom)

With the Cow

Woman walking up the hill

Woman putting holy water on her head

Holy Water Pool
On Line to enter the temple

I’ve been offline for several days because it was a three day weekend here and honestly I did not feel like being wired in. We were going to go to Goa for the weekend but it was all sold out so we said let’s wait until next weekend. Before I get into the weekend I want you all to know I’ve discovered the “Target” of India and the best part is it is right down the road from the office – within walking distance. Actually, let me amend that – it’s the “Super Target” because it has a “food” section in it as well. So everyone put your orders in now for all the Ayuverdic products which cost big bucks in the states and nothing here.

Saturday was Republic Day – a national Indian holiday celebrating 58 years of independence and as such the office was closed on Friday. So I spent a leisurely morning at the gym and breakfast and then Billie picked me up and off we went to Brigade Road as she had to pick up her suitcase which had been fixed. Brigade Road is a very popular shopping area and boasts the oldest supermarket in Bangalore. It’s called Nigrili’s and was founded in 1905. It’s actually a pretty nice market and the best part is they sell essential oils like jasmine, peppermint and ylang yling to name a few. This is the oil that you put a few drops in the thing that holds the water and you light the candle underneath and it makes the room smell good. It’s also supposed to have these health qualities like for calming and anti-anxiety. It cost like nothing so I got some oils and essentially transformed my room into a spa.

From Brigade Road we walked over to the Tibetan store – Billie is far braver than I am about crossing the street as pedestrians mean nothing here in Bangalore. She ordered a rug to be handmade and in a way it actually made me yearn for my very own house – she’s got a 3,000 square foot home in Texas. And the cost of the rug seemed to be fairly inexpensive – about $200 USD and Billie said it would easily be worth $800 USD. Anyway since it was a Tibetan store it had these chanting bowls (well I think that’s what they were – I mean you all know how spiritual I am – NOT!!!!!!!) but there was one bowl in particular which was not for sale and was also used for chakra. So the owner of the store made me lie down and then he hit the bowl and while it was chiming he put the bowl on my stomach – something to do with my chakra- absorbing the vibration- I really have no idea but it was pretty fun. Plus he also had some fabulous jewelry – very tribal – sterling silver and turquoise. But I held back – well for now anyway.

Chakra Baby

Then we went off to Commercial Street because in my book, In and Out of Bangalore, there was a tailor who could copy clothing. So we went up and down Commercial Street looking for this tailor and since there are no numbers on the storefronts it makes for an adventure. We also stopped at almost every fabric store, and believe me there are plenty, because Billie had some beautiful green silk she was going to have made into a jacket and she was looking for some silk to use as a lining. Seeing as we were there around 1:30pm it was nothing like that first Sunday I was here and went which was totally overwhelming. You could actually walk and not worry about getting run over by a car, rickshaw, motorbike or bicycle. We finally make it to the tailor only to find out it had been taken over by someone else and although they did tailoring they did not or would not copy. They did tell us to go down one of the side streets off Commercial and there would be a tailor there who could help. I must say that’s one thing I noticed about the shops here – if you are looking for something specific and they don’t have it they will tell you where you can find it and if you have no idea where they are talking about they will actually walk you over to the place. So long story short we found Billie her tailor – he told us where to go to buy some lining and she gets to pick up her tailor made items on Friday. By this time it was after 4pm, Commercial Street was getting really crowded and I was getting really grumpy – I know – what a shock J. So I came back here to my little oasis and Billie went back to her hotel.

Saturday the plan of action was gym and then chilling by the pool till around 12:30pm and then I was going to meet Billie and Sergey and we were going to take a look at the “lower level” room at Palm Meadows. As mentioned in one of my earlier blogs the Executive Suite was $340 per night and they weren’t coming down in price so I thought well let me see the other room which would be $275 a night. So off we went and I took one look at the lower level room and said NOT!!!!!!!! Bottom line – I’m staying at the Leela Palace. And now Sergey and Billie have nicknamed me the Leela Princess. After we checked out the Palm Meadows room we went to see this woman Billie knows named Nita. Nita lives in the Palm Meadows development and she makes jewelry. Not only does she do her own designs but she can pretty much copy anything you bring and because she transformed her garage into a showroom she doesn’t have the overhead the stores do. What I’m saying is her prices are much less because of this. Not too mention she is a lovely woman and she takes credit cards. Sergey actually took some pictures of various pieces of jewelry which he was going to email his wife and wait for her to say which one she liked.

We then came back to the Leela because one of the people I met at the American Expat Meetup Dinner called and wanted to know if I wanted to meet her and her friend for coffee. There’s a place called Barista at the Leela Galleria so we met over there – all five of us. Nicole (she’s the woman I met at the dinner) is very interesting. She is here on a fellowship – has been here since August and she works for a NGO (non-government organization) that feeds children. They feed 830,000 children a day – think about that folks – that’s more people than live in the city of San Francisco. And her friend Brian is here working on a social networking project as it affects financial planning. It’s in conjunction with a study some MIT professors put together. So they both live on peanuts and here I am talking about struggling to decide if I should stay at the Leela for my entire stay in India or find a service apartment. The unanimous vote was for me to stay here.

Nicole and Brian had to be somewhere at 7pm so they took off and Billie, Sergey and I decided to head over to Church Street in search of some dinner. Now those two have fairly adventurous palates and can easily eat pretty much anything. I, on the other hand, am the problem child. So we found a place called 20 Feet High which had a mix of everything. I figured if I ordered the roast chicken with no sauce and the roast potatoes how could I go wrong. Geez – shall I count the ways. First off the waiter was amazed I didn’t want any sauce for the chicken and kept trying to convince me I should get some. He finally realized that trying to talk me into something I didn’t want was a fruitless scenario and moved on. So the chicken comes and I take one bite and I swear to you they had just killed out it back – it honestly tasted FOWL – no pun intended. So then I figure let me try the roasted potatoes. They were sooooooooooo spicy I thought my mouth was on fire. Let me tell you I couldn’t wait to get back to the room and have a power bar. Someone is going to have to send me a care package with my Pure Protein bars because I’m running really low and don’t think I can make it until I get back on the 19th. Oh yeah and I only have 5 jars left of my Skippy Low Fat Peanut Butter and no more Carr’s Water Crackers – CARE PACKAGES PLEASE :)

SUNDAY – SHIVAGANGA

One of the guys who works on Sergei’s team invited him to go on a hike and Billie and I were invited to tag along. Shivaganga is about 60km from Bangalore and is a hike up a mountainside that has several temples dedicated to Gangadhara and Honnadevi on the way. It’s a rather strenuous climb but the view is magnificent. Sergei and Naveen immediately climbed to the very top without really stopping to take in the temples while Billie and I meandered stopping to look at everything. We didn’t go all the way to the top as the trail became very steep and although climbing up for me is no problem I have a touch of vertigo and do not like climbing down. So we went about ¾ way up the mountain. Anyway, we were the only white people and so people were rather fascinated by this – some of the children in particular who called us Auntie and asked us to take their picture. And they all wanted to know where our native was and our good name. It was really unbelievable because you are here at these 800 year old temples thinking how on earth did they ever get up this mountain to even build this and you’re surrounded by garbage – plastic bottles, juices boxes. It’s pretty disgusting. But I was a trooper and took off my shoes and went into this temple built into a cave in the side of the mountain. It really was like the Temple of Doom. I was doing okay until I saw the cockroach crawling across the floor. And of course my Princess Leela nickname immediately took hold and I started to hyperventilate. At that point I really couldn’t wait to get out of the place – it was wet and hot as hell but there was a line so I had to wait for the folks in front of me to dip their hands in the holy water and move on. And let me tell you fast is something they aren’t. Have you ever heard the expression if you went any slower you’d be going backwards???? Okay now you get the drift. The best part of the adventure was, of course, the monkeys. They are so adorable and there were tons of them. And you can get really close. They’re such inquisitive little buggers. And at one point one of the many stray dogs actually walked with us part way down the mountain to another temple. NO – I did not talk to the puppy or encourage the puppy in any way but Billie and I like to think she was protecting us from the monkeys. Anyway, we get to this other temple and the puppy just walks right up to a monkey and lies down next to him and the monkey just hangs out with the puppy right there. One monkey was going into a trash container and picking out juice cartons and then ripping the carton apart with his teeth and licking out whatever was left. We were there for about five hours and although the place is interesting it’s also very dusty and it was hot so all I wanted to do was get back to my little oasis and take a shower. Billie, Sergei and Naveen went to have some lunch and I came back here. And here I sit on my balcony – laptop plugged in writing this blog.

Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil
Baby Monkey
Billie and Friends

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.