September 23 2007 William writes:
I had dinner down in Frazer town at Savories and met a group of Muslims. The place was crowded because the sun had just gone down and it is the fasting holiday of Ramadan. They shared everything and one even paid for my meal.
The maid, Punabi?, stopped by with her mom to show her my place. We took some pictures and I tried unsuccessfully to pantomime the idea of email to her so I could send her the pictures. She is a sweet girl with no education. The language barrier does not stop her from just talking nonstop to me. I just nod and say what’s on my mind. More often than not is about how good a juicy elk steak would taste.
- In my rides around the city I am fascinated by construction techniques utilized by the labor rich country.
- The bamboo scaffolding looks stronger than some of the metal ones I have seen.
- This method of installing some bridge pillars has been going on since I arrived.
- The sewer system is in constant repair.
Categories: Bangalore and Construction | No Comments »
September 13 2007 William writes:
I went to dinner at the normal veg place, had Jeera Noodles (noodles with peppers), bought some bread, and tried to cross the street. The traffic on the main street between the veg restaurant and my street is busy at all times of the day. It is a strange type of traffic, not the deadlock type you see in the states, but more of a hallway of ants going both ways. The median is hardly discernible and is dictated by the quantity of traffic going in either direction. The side with more traffic gets more of the road. To cross the street, you may think that once you make an initial move the cars would stop, let you cross, and then continue in the same order as before. This is not what happens, once you enter the road, you become a car and are expected to follow the rules of the road. That is, move forward or get out of the way.
In my apartment there are lots of ants. The two things that amaze me about ants are; how do they go such long distances with such little energy, and how do they navigate such complicated paths with such small brains. Chaos theory comes to mind when I try to explain their navigation but I can only guess at their extreme energy efficiency.
I love ants. 
I did finally get home and a thundercloud invisible in the darkness lit up the night sky with lightning.
Categories: Bangalore and India | No Comments »
September 12 2007 William writes:
I have moved into my apartment and although the first 24 hours was from a bad dream, the place is growing on me. On Thursday evening William, my new/former friend and local catholic social worker, stopped by my room at Citizen Lodge and told me we had to go now to sign for the place because the realtors were leaving town the next day. Though I should have caught this lie, I went with him and his favorite rickshaw driver. I was to pay the agent, William’s friend, one months rent as commission for his “work” finding the place and the rickshaw driver a tip for his 2 hours driving.
The realtor, Syed was not leaving town the next day and was not expecting me until tomorrow, so he and I road around town on his bike looking for a mattress. We purchased a mattress and rode back to the apt with it stuffed in my lap sticking out both sides so our bike was as wide as a car. The place reeked of paint, the window was broken, and there is no toilet seat. I stayed awake, swearing never to be rushed into a deal again. At 11pm, the rickshaw driver showed up stumbling drunk asking for money. We talked a while; he said I shouldn’t have paid a quarter of what I did for the place and that I should take care of him, the “little man.” Having spent too much money already, I sent him home. A repeat of that incident happened at 1am with his even drunker friend.
At 6am awoke to the sound of laundry being slapped on the washboard and a screams from a soiled baby running and pissing around the roof. Several people were making passes by the window to peak inside. To top off the 24hrs, it turns out there is a peephole in the bathroom.
The place now is much better as all of the people of the first 24hrs have not returned and my view is the best in the neighborhood.
Today, I met with Jack from London, who is here working and studying carbon finance. He was first working for a biodiesel company but they were very disorganized and corrupt so he will soon go to work for an NGO on a reforestation project 3hrs outside of Bangalore. It was interesting to hear that excel is used to model the carbon credit system. Excel is not designed for modeling.
Took a walk around and got lost and found an auto body shop. From the looks of it , if you take your car here it will end up in a pile on the roof.
Categories: Bangalore and India | 2 Comments »
