I am currently on the Rickshaw Rallye from Chennai to Kanyakumari (southernmost tip of India). From December 29, 2008 to January 8, 2009, please check www.a-teamrickshaw.com for blog posts and pictures! Happy New Year!
Archive for the 'India' Category
Two big pieces of news have been slowly filtering out through email, Facebook and I’ve alluded to them in previous posts on this blog.
1. Prachee and I are expecting! He or she was made in India and we are looking forward to April 2009 with equal measure excitement and trepidation. If you’ve seen Prachee lately there is not much point to keeping this news “under wraps.”
2. The “three” of us are headed back to the Bay Area in January 2009. Prachee’s job here in Bangalore is wrapping up and she’s looking forward to new challenges in Marketing with Cisco’s Security Technology Group. I am in job search mode, so be on the lookout for my resume in your inbox soon 
There is no doubt that we’ll miss India, Bangalore and the friends we’ve made these past two years (see next two posts), but we are looking forward to being closer to our families and to the new challenges of 2009.
Sukh Sagar – this is my favorite local eating place. The food is good, service is fast and I’m going to dearly miss my Tomato Onion Uttapam with Coconut Chutney!
The Food – I mentioned Sukh Sagar by name, but there are many other places and food that I will miss dearly. From having 20 Rupee lunch (about 50 cents) at the Laxmi Darshini in New Thipassandra; the Onion Rava Dosa at Dosa Stop; the Indian-Chinese Noodles at China Pearl; the Biryani at Eden Park; the Kababs & Nizam Rolls at Siddique in Shivajinagar; and of course the heavenly breads: naan, roomali roti, phulka, roti, paratha & chapatis! I bought a tandoor to take back with me and I hope I can re-create some of my favorites at home!
The Naren Workout – it’s amazing to be able to workout with a personal trainer, to have someone there to motivate you, to push you and be waiting for you on those days you just don’t want to go to the gym. I really enjoyed my afternoons with Naren, even though his job was to keep me in a perpetual state of soreness!
The Venu Pickup & Drop-off – our driver Venu has been one of the constants of our time here in India, always punctual, reliable, trustworthy and professional. I enjoy driving so I look forward to having the car to myself again and turning it into my personal karaoke booth. What I will miss however, is getting dropped off and picked up right in front of wherever I am going, truly a luxury.
Flat 610 at Embassy Tranquil – our oasis in India. We’ve truly enjoyed the space and tranquility of our apartment as well as entertaining on the fantastic private terrace. We were lucky to find a building with like-minded neighbors that is both close to the center of town and to Prachee’s work.
Being so close to Aai & Papa – although we haven’t been to Pune to visit Prachee’s grandparents as much as we would have like to, our frequency has been much better than when we are in the US. We’ve enjoyed having them just an hour flight away and being able to see them several times a year.
Bangalore Weather – I just can’t say enough about Bangalore’s weather, I absolutely love it. No jacket or sweaters required! Our windows are open year-round with breezes cooling you off even during the 2-3 “hot” weeks each year. Even the monsoon is enjoyable in Bangalore as it usually arrives in the evening so you can fall asleep to the sound of the rain. Definitely not your typical Indian weather!
Waking up to the papaya vendor in the morning – with the windows open I can hear him clearly even though he is 6 stories down. I don’t know what he looks like and I am not sure he even sells Papayas (his call just sounds like he’s saying Papayas), but I will definitely miss my distinctive India “Alarm Clock.”
Our friends in Bangalore – we have the photos and the memories, but we’ll miss the great friends we’ve made over the last two years. I hope that we’ll see each other again soon in India, in San Francisco or somewhere in between!
Thumbs Up – somewhere between Coke and Jolt but with a bit of “Masala” kick. Thumbs Up is one of those truly Indian things. In my 2005 post New Year’s in India (of my first trip to India) I closed it out by saying what turned out to be prophetic words “A Thumbs Up for the road and it was time to leave India, content in knowing that I’ll be back soon.” I’ll say it once more, with the knowledge that it will be true again and the hope that it will be soon.
Mosquitoes – there are no words to describe how much I hate mosquitoes! Apparently, the feeling is not mutual, because they love me! Looking forward to being in mosquito free California.
Slow Internet – it’s not only slow, it’s also metered! Have you ever had a $300 dollar broadband bill? Exactly, slow and expensive – add insult to injury. FIOS better be in the Bay Area by now because I am ready for the smorgasbord “all you can eat” 50 Mbps so I can download half the Library of Congress if I so please!
Bangalore Traffic – hard to understand if you haven’t experienced it, but to put it in perspective: I’ll take the 405 at the 10 junction in LA at 6pm on a Friday any day! The thing is, all major cities have traffic these days, but what sets Bangalore apart (and many other Indian cities) is that beyond the crush of cars you have the Rickshaw Mafia (don’t mess), the motorcyclists with a death wish, the people on foot playing a real life version of frogger and the cows who are just plain dumb.
Speaking about Cows – I definitely won’t miss them. They have to be the absolute dumbest animals on the planet! Even after 2 years in India, the Uruguayan in me is unchanged: the best place for a cow is on a BBQ.
Drive to the BLR airport – the new Bangalore Airport is a definite improvement over the old one. The one problem is that it takes 2 hours to get there by car. That’s the equivalent of living in San Diego and driving to LAX for any of your flights, even domestic. The difference is that the new Airport is only 45km away (vs. 100 miles SD to LA), now you understand…
Flight between India & US – this was amusing at first, but the way home on our last US trip in October was just a grind! 24-30 hours in transit of which 20 are in-flight with at 13.5 hour time difference… looking forward to staying in PST for a while.
220 Volts – who thought this was a good idea? Everything sparks when I plug it in, fuses and light bulbs burn out constantly, plugs have to have switches and these worthless safety mechanisms just so kids (or adults) don’t fry themselves. Maybe it’s the Indian wiring, or maybe the voltage – I just hope my electronics go back in one piece!
Blackouts & the UPS beep – we are fortunate to live in a building that has a generator backup, but even so, blackouts are a pain. I won’t miss the nearly daily ritual: all lights go dark, fans stop, the stillness broken only by the annoying beeping of the computer’s Universal Power Supply. Then suddenly, the bone jarring coughing of the generator starting up spewing black soot into the air, the stench of diesel immediately overpowers you… it will be a pleasure to pay that PG&E bill.
Do you have 2 Rupee change? – if I did, I would have given it to you! For some reason there is a chronic shortage of small bills and coins in India. The jar full of candy by the register is not there to entice you into that spontaneous POS purchase, it’s for the cashier to use if he’s run out of 1 rupee coins!
Negotiating with Rickshaw drivers – thanks to Venu it wasn’t that often that I was relegated to commuting in quintessential Indian transport, the Auto Rickshaw. However, every time I knew that I had to I would dread the inevitable negotiation that would take place before I could even get in to the Rickshaw. The meters would be better utilized as coat hangers! If I can negotiate the price to double of what I know the fare should be I am happy! And forget about taking a Rickshaw when it is raining… that’s just extortion.
Some pictures from our weekend in Pune. With all the baby celebrations and pujas, but knowing that it would be our last trip to Pune while living in India, it was definitely a bittersweet 3 days. Shashi and Asha came from Bombay for a gathering of the Dates. The puja was for the baby and as usual lunch was fantastic
We also got to spend lots of quality time with Aai & Papa and Prachee got some of her Marathi food cravings taken care of. On Sunday we had lunch with the Khadilkar’s before heading to the airport.
Afternoon snack of sticky sweet Gulab Jamun & Jalebi – 25 Rupees; Tandoori Chicken, Biryani and Rotis with my friend Amit – 200 Rupees; My own Tandoor oven to take back home – 1800 Rupees; Traffic jam created by girl-on-girl cow action in the middle of the street – Priceless.
My friend Amit and I decided to take a gastronomic tour of Shivajinagar on Saturday. Shivajinagar is a crowded section of Bangalore full of shops, stalls and street vendors of every kind. It is mostly a Muslim area and is vaguely reminiscent of the souqs we’ve been to in places such as Morocco. The streets are wider, but the crush of people is the same – especially on the Karnataka Day holiday on Saturday.
Amit, an admitted foody and me, an Anthony Bourdain wanna-be who will try anything (only once) decided it was time to explore the recesses of Shivajinagar in search of some culinary “diamonds in the rough.” After some parking issues (we should have taken a Rickshaw in retrospect) we found ourselves at the Grand Taj Hotel. For those of you who are fimiliar with Indian hotels I am not referring to those “Taj” hotels. This is a restaurant tucked away in a side street in Shivajinagar serving some excellent Tandoor and Biryani dishes. The two of us stuffed ourselves for the equivalent of $4 dollars! Every Indian meal must end with something sweet, so we were off in search of a well known sweets shop on Commercial street called Bhagatram. While this one is not really off the beaten path, I have walked by it countless of times in the past and never even noticed it. At Bhagatram we had their Gulab Jamun (condensed milk ball saturated in sugar syrup) & Jalebi (deep fried spiral soaked in sugar syrup immediately after frying). Both were amazing of course although I felt like was going to develop diabetes just standing in the shop.
We were on our way to find a supposedly famous secluded Samosa shop when I told Amit about my desire to have my own Tandoor to take back to San Francisco with us. He consulted with Rajan his Personal Assistant (it’s an India thing, not an executive perk) and he said of course he knew where to find them and his cousin knows one of the shop owners! When you are buying these kinds of things in India, it is always good to be with a local. If they see a car, it raises the price 50%, my face, a multiple of the price! After knocking off 500 rupees, we got the Tandoor for the “friend” price of INR1800 – he even let me carve “Charles Tandoor” on the fresh clay. Check out the picture!
Our gastronomic tour had been cut short, but I now have my own Tandoor! I am looking forward to many Tandoor BBQ parties in the last remaining months in India and back in San Francisco.
I wanted to post some photos from Bangalore Oktoberfest this year. The band is flown in from Germany, so are the Brats, while the beer is Kingfisher. An all you can eat and drink smorgasborg – I am paying the price today!
Album Link: Oktoberfest 2008
18 growing up in Bombay + the last 2 in Bangalore… get it?
Another great birthday party with friends in Bangalore – the highlights were definitely the parrot tarot reader and the Ganesh birthday wishes. Our friends Tracy Ann and Amit where crucial in helping me set up the party and pull off the Ganesh gift.
At the start of the party, Amit shows up with the “Parrot” Tarot reader guy – basically, he has a parrot which picks out a card from a deck spread out on the ground and hands it to the guy. The parrot gets a treat, then goes back into his cage while the guy proceeds to interpret the card. We all had our turn with the parrot guy and since he couldn’t speak english we had some serious translation going on – maybe a few things got lost between the Kanada, Hindi & English.
Thank you to all of you who sent Prachee messages for her Birthday so they could be tied to a statue of Ganesh so that he may help them come true. You can see the picture of Ganesh with all the wishes – thanks Tracy Ann for putting the gift together.
Happy 32nd Birthday Prachee!
Photo Album Link: Prachee’s 32nd Birthday
Haven’t posted in a while… but I told you I only like to write about the fun stuff! Anyway, Prachee has been diligently carrying her camera around since we got back from the US. An album of mostly random photos of our summer in Bangalore. I’ll keep adding more in the future until “summer” is over!
Album Link for Facebook Users: Bangalore – Summer 2008
The start of the low season on May 1st means that the tourists are gone and prices are half – no better reasons to get away to the beach! In 2004 we got away to Goa for a few days of relaxation at the end of our family visit and wedding shopping trip to India. We stayed at a resort in South Goa which was great for relaxation, but we couldn’t really say we saw much other than the hotel beach & pool.
On this trip, we decided to head north where Goa’s most well known beaches are located and we opted out of the resort for a great “B&B” in the little village of Siolim. It’s appropriately called the Siolim House and it is a restored Portuguese Mansion a few miles inland. Not being next to the beach was great for a couple of reasons, first of all, we saw 6 different beaches in 4 days and secondly, we had a great dinner at a different place each night. This was the last trip with Bob & Heather as they are heading back Stateside at the end of May – we’ll miss you guys!
Sun, sand and great seafood were definitely all prominent parts of the weekend, but the highlight in my opinion were the scooters! Since the B&B was a few miles from the beach we rented some scooters to get around. It was truly the best way to see Goa – the sun, the wind, the fantastic scenery rushing by! It was also freeing to go wherever you want, whenever you want to – something that in India sometimes is hard to do! The grins on our faces probably say it better than I could.
