India Entry 6 – 7/26/07
I just got back from a weekend trip to Bangalore. This trip was definitely unique from any other trip in that all I took with me was my backpack. I was literally backpacking across India. Well that was a little of an embellishment. However, we left our campus with no plans on which hotel to stay at or any means of returning. We just took off with what little money we had and went on an adventure. An adventure we got.
Once we got there, we literally walked in circles. The first on our to-do list was to find a hotel that was cheap and had a room available. We would walk into hotels that from the outside looked like a run down place, then upon entering, we find out it is a five star hotel. We didn’t want to spend all our money on a hotel room so we finally found this place that charged us 810 NIR for a night. If you do the math, that’s about $20 USD. A little more then we wanted to spend, but it would do. We were kind of getting worried that we wouldn’t find a place to stay, and we wanted to go around the city before it got too late.
We all agreed on going to the aquarium, the problem was getting there. None of us have taken an auto rickshaw yet and we have all heard horror stories about them. In case you don’t know what an auto rickshaw is: it is a three wheeled cart taxi that holds 2 people comfortably but possible to squeeze 6 people. The have the same engines and steering as motorcycles do. They don’t go too fast and they are at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to road in India. Even scooters rank higher then they do.
Us in an auto
So we tried to all pile in one auto but they have an unwritten rule between drivers to not use the meter when there are more then three people (people meaning foreigners). So we took two autos instead. The driver asked for 30, but we just insisted on him using the meter. He finally gave in. We split up and took two autos. We had a general idea of where we were and where we needed to go. When we got there the meter read 22 NIR. Which when we looked at the map, we realized they took us all the way around the park. Big deal, we paid them a combined 50 NIR ($1.25 USD) for there services and left.
The admission to the aquarium was 5 NIR. We walked in only to find a really poor excuse for an aquarium. It was a bunch of tanks set in the walls of a round building with tags that may or may not of had the type of fish in the respective tank. It was nice to see some species we haven’t seen in the states though. A funny note, Ted was taking a picture and at the same time his flash went off, the power in the aquarium shut off. Ted thought flash photography wasn’t allowed and he caused the power outage. But we knew the power infrastructure in India wasn’t good and that was why most stores also had diesel generators as back ups.
After the aquarium we just took a walk thought the park. We took some interesting pictures of us on top of a bolder and in trees. Around the outside of the park is the high court of India and another government building which looked amazing. We were not done our sight seeing for the day just yet. We booked another auto to take us to the Bangalore palace. The Bangalore palace was nothing compared to the Mysore palace, but it had a cool fort/castle exterior to it. Unfortunately no photographs were allowed of the outside of it. We wanted to go in it, but the cost was too high for us poor backpackers. Now it was time for some shopping. We asked the driver to take us to MG Road, a shopping district. He insisted that we stop off at a couple of shops along the way. My god, he must of thought we were made of gold or something. The items in the stores that he showed us were very expensive and extravagant.
We finally made it to MG Road. We were happy because we were hungry and there was a McDonalds on this road. I ordered a Chicken Maharaja Mac. It was pretty good. I swear it was the first time I ate from McDonalds in a really long time. The probably process about 8-10 customers a minute and there is always a line. That McDonalds is banking!
It took us a couple of hours to finish shopping on that street. I picked up a pair of running shoes I needed. It was off to the autos again. This time we were going to Hauser Road, where the modern mall was. This place was huge. Everything was in it. On the top floor there was a movie theater. We almost bought tickets to see a Bollywood video, but changed our minds and decided to eat instead. The food court was crowed. Not a seat available.
This was the end of our sightseeing / shopping in Bangalore for the day. We still wanted to see the Temples but we would have to save that for the next day. We didn’t want to take an auto back to the hotel because it was too far, so instead we took the local busses. We ran into a few locals who helped us get back to where we needed. For the most part, Indians will go out of their way to help you. You should have seen this bus. There were people hanging out the side door that is how packed it was. No breathing room. I had one hand holding on for dear life, and the other on my back pocket, where my money was.
We took an auto from the bus station to our hotel. This is where we found out about the prepaid booths. At these boots, there is a government official who determines the rates of the autos, that way you won’t get ripped off. Once back at the hotel we dropped off our bags and went to a lounge. The lounges/bars/pubs are far and few between in India because the culture taboo on drinking. The lounge was ridicules. The music was playing louder then a concert. The locals would randomly get up and start dancing with each other. Mind you there is not one female in this lounge. It wasn’t a gay bar or anything, it’s just you don’t see a lot of women at bars, and men dancing/holding hands in public is actually normal. We didn’t stay long. Just one round of a pitcher and we left. Tired, exhausted and a little tipsy, we retreated back to our hotel room.
I was lucky enough to sleep on the padded bench, the three others shared two double beds stuck together. I was twisting and turning all night trying to find a way to place my arms on the bench in a way that they wouldn’t fall to the ground. Needless to say I was the first one up. I woke up at six. Whilst everyone else was still sleeping I took this time to review a little for our screening test tomorrow. This is the test that will decide if I am here a month less or not. Once Ted, Nick, and Jason woke up we walked to the corner restaurant and ordered some breakfast. We called the auto driver we had the day before, because today we were going to the Bull Temple and the Iskon Temple.
The Bull Temple is very old and the Iskon temple is very new. We went to the Bull temple first. We walked in the temple (took off our shoes first) around the bull, stopped to get a blessing ( a red dot placed on our forehead), then walked around the outside of the temple where we could see the original tower, which now is home to many pigeons.
The Iskon temple is huge. It sits on top of a hill and had a great photo point of Bangalore, however, we had to check our camera at the security, no photos allowed. We purchased the fast track ticket (150 NIR). This got us right up front on all of the shrines and we didn’t have to wait either. At the last shrine, a guy made us touch some flowers. He then asked us for our names, said a prayer and instructed us to meditate for two minutes before the last shrine. Whilst meditating, we saw the flowers we touched earlier being poured into a box in front of the shrine. I assumed it was an offering to the Gods. Listening to instructions from volunteers we were routed through what seemed to be a waiting line at Disney, but lined with vendors and quick moving. We bought nothing at this temple.
This marked the end of our journeys to Bangalore. We took the same auto to the bus station and got on the first bus back to Mysore. It actually felt good to be back in Mysore. The air is cleaner, there aren’t that many people in the city. The campus really does spoil us here. We felt glad to be back on campus. The first thing I did was shower. I wouldn’t have showered at that hotel in Bangalore if I had to stay there a week. Ughh.
India Entry 5 – 7/26/07
I have some good news and some potentially good news.
First the really good news: I got the shower pin to stay out! Yeah I know, I can’t believe it either. I swear I tried to rotate the pin once pulled but no luck. Apparently I wasn’t twisting hard enough. A co-trainee and I were talking about the shower situation I have, and he told me what I had to do to get the pin to stay out. Once I tried what I was told it worked. I was so excited you have no idea. I never thought I would be so excited to take a shower. I guess the stupid spring loaded thing was more annoying than I thought.
Now for the potentially good news: I was elected, by my peers along with 4 others, to represent the body in the self governance team. Added responsibilities are given to us so I hope that the meetings we must attend don’t conflict with any plans I may have. If you are reading my blog, chances are you know me and that volunteering and subsequently being elected for such a position is right up my alley. The competition was stiff. There were 5 spots available and 16 nominees for a body of about 90 trainees. I was surprised to hear that I was elected, given the other nominees. I hope this is a barometer of the perception people have of me. I liked to be liked. I mean, who doesn’t?
Entry 4 – 7/25/07
The showers here are quite different then back home. The tumbler is spring loaded so when you want to switch the water flow from the faucet to the shower, you have to hold the pin out. When you want to use two hands to lather up, the water flow changes back to the faucet. This is a water conservation effort. A little annoying I must admit. As you can imagine, certain spots on my body are difficult to wash.
A typical shower is as follows. Get in, turn water on. The water is instantly hot and flowing out of the faucet. Pull the leaver to route water through the shower head. Make sure my body and hair is adequately wet enough to lather up. Turn water off. Use soap to lather, mind you there is no water flowing at this time. Pretty weird. Turn water on, pull leaver and rinse off. Turn water off. Use shampoo to wash my hair, Turn water on, etc, rinse hair, turn water off. This repeats for as many times as needed. Oh and all this with my lips sealed air tight. In case you haven’t heard, water around here isn’t exactly potable.
Last night a bunch of us went out into Mysore. It was the first night we were able to go out. Previously we didn’t have ID badges, now we do. There were three different groups going out. I went with a smaller 5 man group. Our objective was to hit up a cellphone shop, walk around, eat, maybe meet the others at a bar called Opium, then go home. Well we made it to the mobile store where I picked up a phone. We did not end up walking around because there was someone in the car who wanted to meet up with the rest at Opium. As soon as we got to opium the fifth man split to join the others. The 4 remaining ate at Gofah, the Indian word for cave. The décor was really cool and the food was excellent.
We agreed to meet up with the taxi at 10:15, so we left without hitting the bar. We were all okay with that. But the weird thing was the fifth who left us as soon as we got to the restaurant, magically appeared at the time we wanted to go. So he left with us (there was ample room in the other taxis for him with the other group). The driving on the way back was amazing. That I’ll save for a whole new post. When we got back the fifth jumped out and walked off. It was really bizarre. But overall a great night.
Entry 3 – 7/23/07
Yesterday was cool, we got to go into downtown Mysore. As soon as we left the campus, we were able to see the huge differences of quality of life. The distance between the two are short, but the conditions are vastly different. The driving was nothing short of amazing. The bus stops for nothing but cows. To sum up the driving rules in one line: only yield for things you don’t want to hit or get hit by. Sounds logical, but these people are crazy and seem to want to get hit by anything.
First we stopped at a Temple on top of a mountain. The Temple was beautiful in all of its artistic decorations built into it. There was a long line going into it so we just walked around it instead. Whilst walking around the temple we saw wild monkeys, which was an interesting site to see. Some pictures were taken.
Second stop was the luxury shop. It proudly displayed a sign stating “rite of admission reserved.†I guess we were lucky enough to be admitted. Seeing that we all are Americans carrying relatively large sums of USD, admittance was not an issue. The prices seemed to be a little high, however, the quality and validity of the products are assured. I suspect I will be returning to that store for some gifts to take back.
Lastly we stopped at the Mysore Palace. This was the highlight of this little excursion. The palace is absolutely stunning – inside and out. I swear there is half of the worlds supply of gold in that palace. I guess it helps that the palace resides in the town with the deepest gold mines in the world.
Training started today. Today was one presentation after another; ranging from company policies and mission statements to anti sexual harassment and diversity. We started at 8:30am and were free to go at 8:30pm. As you can imagine, by the last presentation we were all zoned out. You can only hold twenty-something year olds attention for so long.
India Entry 2 – 7/21/07
India Entry 2 – 7/21/07
We started our journey to India on Thursday night – departed at 6:50pm – and ended Saturday morning – landed 12:30am – then a 3 hour buss ride to the Mysore campus. Approximate total travel time from point A to point B: 34 hours.
Was it worth it? Definitely. The campus is beautiful. The pictures online don’t do any justice to experiencing it in person. This training facility is like a resort. I just got off of a bike and excited about it, so I must write about the bike scheme they have here. There are thousands of bicycles on campus. If you see one and you are the first to it, it’s yours until you reach your destination wherever on campus that may be. Just park the bike and leave. It is a fascinating system. I have only been here for 5 hours and already see how during peek times during the work week this bike system will really prove efficient.
A little about my experience on the bike: It was beautiful. Imagine a large spread out campus with well maintained grass throughout, small winding narrow roads flowing around 72 buildings with a cool breeze in 80 degree weather wearing long paints and not even breaking a sweet. Paradise! I now know why all Indian travel books have Incredible India on the cover!
Being American on this campus only has advantages. Because of the American lavish (in comparison) way of life, the company has tried to accommodate accordingly. They have given us the suites reserved for “higher up†employees. We have extra vacation days, American foods on campus, and more. I kind of feel guilty now that I think about it.
People are very friendly around here. Conversations are struck up at random places and times, and not only from the Indians but from people all over the world. Whilst waiting in the omelet line, a person from the Malaysia batch started talking to me. The chef from the restaurant we ate at on campus came up to me and asked what kind of food I would like to see for breakfast.
There are so many opportunities to have a nice work out here. Just today on my way to lunch I got an invitation to play basketball, I accepted – didn’t play – basketball that is. The group of guys quickly switched sports to volleyball where I joined in the competition. It was a lot of fun and a nice work out. We drew a nice sized crowd around us. I don’t know if it was because we were Americans playing or if it was just fun to watch.
I have only been on the campus half a day and we have already experienced the evasiveness of the Indian culture. A lot of us are having trouble connecting to the internet, including yours truly. I and numerous others have called in asking if it is something we are doing wrong and the lady on the other end of the receiver tells us all it will be back up by the afternoon. It is three o’clock and still no internet. What a vague word: afternoon. Could you imagine the wall-mart point of sale system going down and the consultants working on getting back up tell you it will be up by the afternoon?