Bangalore Torpedo

Things in Bangalore I will miss

2005-12-30T07:28:00.000-08:00

The many friendly, curious, energetic people I met here
The great food: dosas, vadas, fresh lime soda (Google "dosa" and "vada" if you don't know what they are)
Low prices for restaurant meals, clothes and other items (OK, low for me)
Someone making my bed for me every day (which was nice for a year. I never could quite get used to the cleaners coming in every day. I guess I'm too solidly middle-class and too used to doing things for myself)
The colors -- of clothes, of trucks, of ... everything
Experiencing a totally different culture from the Judaeo-Christian framework that defines the West
Being able to wear a T-shirt in January (I am writing this in New Jersey, where some patches of snow are still on the ground)

Things in Bangalore I won't miss

2005-12-30T07:21:00.000-08:00

Aggressive beggars
Aggressive retailers (who sometimes are so aggressive you can't focus on their merchandise)
Dirt
Cracked sidewalks
Stray dogs who may be rabid
Fear of disease or accident
Auto-rickshaw drivers who try to cheat you or take you to a handicrafts shop
Power cuts
Washing dishes by hand

I realize as I write this that it may be hurtful to some and may seem like the complaints of a pampered Westerner. There are legitimate reasons for much of the above -- poverty, a chronic shortage of power, etc.

But these things still impinge on you and can sometimes wear you down. In my next post, I'll write about the things I will miss.

Outta here ...

2005-12-19T05:29:00.000-08:00

Jay and I flew out on Tuesday, Dec. 13, after an eleventh-hour flurry of packing for the movers and packing for ourselves. It was hectic, but we made it out in one piece.

We were glad to head home but I know I'll miss Bangalore and India. This place got under my skin. I hope to return from time to time.

We have spent the last six days in London, reconnecting with old friends and colleagues. It's been good (Beef! Pork sausages! Mash!).

Jay and I are in a British Airways lounge right now. checking e-mail, blogging, etc. At 2:40 p.m, we take off for Newark, N.J., and our new home in The Garden State.

I'm planning a NEW blog, about the life of a returning expat. Read all about it in Shock Culture Reverse (That's Reverse Culture Shock, in reverse).

Passing the Bangalore blog torch (blorch?)

2005-12-07T13:42:00.000-08:00

My Bangalore blogging days are drawing to an end. Jay and I leave soon and I'm already up to my neck in the usual clean-out-the-apartment, clean-out-the-office, going-away-meals frenzy. And the posts are necessarily becoming less frequent.

I may add some more of my inane musings here and after my arrival home in America. But I'm sure that as time passes, memory fades and new experiences come, this blog will, like its predecessor -- This is My London -- become the digital equivalent of a closed book and no longer a live journal of my stay in this fascinating city and country.

And I hope you've enjoyed it. I've greatly appreciated your comments, critical, positive, or otherwise.

My readers will have at least one more place to go for their Bangalore expat blog fix. A friend and colleague, journalist Dan Sorid, arrived a few months ago and recently launched his own blog, bangalore dreamer, co-written by his teacher wife, Adriana. It's a good read. Their first entries include a harrowing story of a digestively troubled overnight train trip to the World Heritage site of Hampi.

So, watch Bangalore Torpedo for my Last Posts (that's an inside joke for my British friends) but start checking in with the dreamer . (Dan, this means you have to plug my still-unnamed Oatis-Goes-to-Jersey blog :-) ).

2005-12-04T09:36:00.000-08:00

Diane's last dinner in Bangalore -- a table for three at I-talia, the best Italian restaurant in town. (My eyes are probably shut because I'm blissing out on the food)

Heading out ...

2005-12-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

Diane left Bangalore early this morning. We took her to Bangalore International Airport, arriving around 4:15 a.m. She left around 7:20 a.m.

Diane is the advance guard. She's headed for an exotic locale -- New Jersey -- where she'll be hunting for a place for us to live.

Meanwhile, it's just Jay and me. Tonight, still a little groggy from the early morning airport trip, we went to a concert by a Finnish rock group, The Rasmus. Lots of fun (Woo hoo! Mom's out of town! Party down!).

But, seriously, we miss her already ...

Pop-up Rat

2005-12-02T23:25:00.000-08:00

Just about every city has rats -- New York, London and Bangalore are among them (I wrote an article on rat control in New York when I was at journalism school. It appeared in the Amsterdam News and was my first front-page story).

Recently, I was walking down M.G. Road. Like many sidewalks in Bangalore, the pavement consists of slabs of stone, some with cracks between them.

As I was stepping over one sizeable crack, a rat's head popped up between my feet, startling me and making me jump a little. Then he popped back into the crack.

I've had some not-so-nice encounters with rodents -- as a boy I surprised a snarling rat as big as a small cat along the New York water front -- but this one looked almost friendly and was cute in an odd way. He was just checking out the neighborhood.

Thanksgiving Day lunch

2005-11-26T08:02:00.000-08:00

Here's what was on the menu for lunch at my company cafeteria -- they call it a canteen here -- on Thanksgiving Day:

White rice
Chapatti
Mango rice
Jeera rice
Lobia gravy
Yem poriyal
Sambar
Fruits
Papad
Rasam
Buttermilk
Laddu
Curd
Salad

For those of you who don't know South Indian food, a chapatti is a kind of bread, sambar is a sauce you pour over white rice to make it tastier and more nutritious, a papad is flat and crispy, almost like a giant tortilla chip; rasam is a spicy, nutrient-packed soup and curd is yogurt. Laddu is a ball-shaped dessert.

I'm not sure what yem poriyal is.

The menu above is typical for a cafeteria lunch. I did not and would not expect turkey with all the trimmings on Thanksgiving because there are very few Americans in the office and a large number of staffers are vegetarians.

However, there are enough Americans in Bangalore that at least two restaurants laid on special menus for the holiday.

Diane, Jay and I did have Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house. The turkey was killed and plucked that morning at the market.

Holiday confusion ...

2005-11-24T19:22:00.000-08:00

Some people at my office have signed up to sing Christmas carols and have begun practicing this week. And I can hear them. And it's very nice.

But yesterday was Thanksgiving. And working on Thanksgiving while hearing people sing "Joy to the World" and "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful" can be very confusing!

Oh well. The Christmas shopping season starts today in the States. From now on, when I hear the carolers, I'll close my eyes and pretend I'm in a shopping mall ...

Cow-abunga!

2005-11-22T09:28:00.000-08:00

You won't see this at Waikiki: a bullock pays a visit to Goa's Arambol Beach.

Torpedo Away ...

2005-11-16T01:55:00.000-08:00

Our time in Bangalore is drawing to a close (It was a one-year assignment). Diane will be leaving early next month, and I'll be heading out in mid-December.

We're spending time looking at New Jersey real estate Web sites, talking to movers, etc.

I'll be happy to go home after more than four years abroad. I've spent a lot of time away from friends and family.

I've learned a lot about other people and other places during my 3-1/2 years in London and my year in Bangalore. You can't help changing -- for the better. It's been good for my wife and son as well.

This is not my last post. I'll keep writing as long as I have something to say.

Crawling ...

2005-11-16T01:41:00.000-08:00

I went on a pub crawl on Sunday night. The crawl -- which focused on the history of beer and beer and Bangalore -- was led by Arun Pai, the entertaining and informative impressario of Bangalore Walks. My friends and colleagues, Paul Bolding and Jane Young, also went along for the walk.

The crawl started at Koshy's, one of Bangalore's oldest and most atmospheric restaurants. Over glasses of Kingfisher and UB Export, Arun gave us a beer crossword to fill out, the first of a series of quizzes and games that made the walk a lot of fun.

With its ceiling fans and big white room, Koshy's makes you feel like you're in a 1940s movie -- Sidney Greenstreet and Humphrey Bogart could walk in any minute.

From there we went to Koshy's antithesis, 1912, the hip restaurant/nightclub. We had glasses of draft Kingfisher and had a look at antique bottles that contained marbles used to seal them and keep the beer fresh. They even used an old carbonation machine to make the beer even fizzier.

Next stop was the Museum Inn at a hotel on Museum Road. 1912 had been quiet and hardly anyone was there (it was relatively early in the evening). But Museum Inn was noisy and packed with young Indians having a good time. More draft beer for us.

We wound up at the ultra-trendy 13th Floor, a bar on the top floor of the Barton Center that looks out over the city. People were having a good time here, too.

I recommend the pub crawl highly, but I have one request for Arun: please do it on a Saturday night next time. It was REALLY hard getting out of bed to go to work on Monday :-)

Gone to Goa (and elsewhere)

2005-11-07T20:43:00.000-08:00

The giant statue at Shravanabelagola

Just back from a week's holiday. We had planned to go to Pondicherry, then Goa, but the flooding that hit Bangalore also hit the roads to Pondicherry, so we had to drop that part of the trip.

So, I took a solo two-day trip to Halebid and Belur, two Karnataka towns that are home to some magnificent Hindu temples from the Hoysala Dynasty. They are covered with wonderful carvings and statues, and are very different in design from what I've seen elsewhere. My favorite was the Hoysaleswara Temple in Halebid. Well worth the trip.

The trip included a visit to Shravanabelagola, a town that is home to two Jain temples on hills. One temple is home to a 57-foot statue of a Gommateshwara, who -- according to one Web site --- renounced his kingdom and left to lead a life of penance and meditation, attaining Nirvana.

On Wednesday, we flew to Goa. We stayed in the Fontainhas section of Panaji, the state capital. The neighborhood is one of the older sections of town and the Portuguese influence shows. Lots of tile roofs and painted buildings. Very nice and a pleasure to walk around.

Highlights of our Goa trip included a visit to Old Goa, the former capital (abandoned in 1843) whose sights include the body of St. Francis Xavier (in a glass-paneled coffin in the Basilica of Bom Jesus) and some other magnificent churces.

But our favorite day was a trip to the beach -- at a town called Arambol in northern Goa. We lounged on the sand and ate seafood pasta in an open-air shack with a palm thatch roof. Wonderful.

Diwali Parade ...

2005-11-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

Last night, on the way to dinner, we stumbled on a Diwali parade. It was wonderful.

At the head of the procession was a brightly lit float depicting a temple. Behind were trucks carrying people dressed in bright robes and turbans. And at the rear of the parade was a "mobile orchestra," a small vehicle carrying a five-piece band that played with enthusiasm.

Others marching in the parade played drums or -- in two cases -- tubas. If I closed my eyes, the drums' rhythm would have made me think I was at a college football game back in the States.

The parade paused at Trinity Circle -- at the western end of M.G. Road, Bangalore's main road -- for a noisy, colorful fireworks display.

As part of Diwali -- the Festival of Lights -- much of Bangalore has been lit up like New York or London at Christmas. Last night's parade added to the Thanksgiving/Christmas feeling. Coming a day after Halloween on Oct. 31, it was a little confusing. But fun.

Playing the palace ...

2005-10-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Today, we visited the fantastic Bangalore Palace, said to be a replica of Windsor Castle. The castle -- complete with turrets -- was built by the Wodeyars, the maharajahs of Mysore, in the late 19th Century.

We took a tour of the interior. It was amazing. There are signs of former opulence and decay all around. Workmen were doing restoration work in various rooms, but in some places it looked like a losing battle.

The place is a mix of Western and Indian elements. There are skylights containing Belgian glass and rooms hung with oil paintings of Hindu gods. The maharanee's bedroom has beautiful Chinese wallpaper. Two small courtyards boast Mediterranean tiles and fountains. Sepia-tinted pictures of the Wodeyars from the days of the Raj line the walls of one of the courtyards. An entrance hall is dominated by a stuffed elephant's head hanging overhead.

To complete the cognitive dissonance, the palace grounds -- including the formal garden -- played host to an information technology fair. Very Bangalore.

Floods ...

2005-10-27T01:25:00.000-07:00

We have had days and days of rain. On Tuesday, it rained so long and so hard, we got flooding. Flooding and flood-related damage so bad that, according to news reports, at least 13 people died.

At my office, we sent all non-essential staff home. Some of the essentials spent the nght at hotels or guest houses.

I was lucky. The roads to and from work were pretty dry. So, no problem for me. But one of my co-workers had the most amazing mobile phone video of flooding in her area: floating cars and people wading waist-deep in water.

THIS was the monsoon I'd been expecting back in June and July. I'm told the rains are falling later this year than they have previously.

How does a monkey cross the road?

2005-10-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

By using a power line. We saw a monkey scamper atop a power line to cross Airport Road this morning. He (she?) was followed by another monkey dangling upside down with a passenger: a baby monkey on her (his?) stomach.

As Peter Gabriel once sang, "Don't you know you've got to shock the monkey?"

Vijayadashami

2005-10-11T22:28:00.000-07:00

Today is Vijayadashami, the culmination of a 10-day Hindu festival called Dassehra.

The festival's name is also spelled Dasara and Dussera, and is also called Navaratri. In southern India, the festival commemorates the victory of the Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura near Mysore (For more details, see Wikipedia's entry).

On the eve of the day, we held a ceremony -- called puja -- at my office. An ad hoc mini-temple was set up in the lobby. Bedecked with flowers, it contained a picture depicting Ganesha and two other gods. A friend from New York said the temple's canopy reminded her of the canopy, or chuppah, erected for Jewish weddings.

On the floor were chalk inscriptions.

As at other Hindu temples, a priest came round with a tray with a flame on it. You put your hand over the flame, touch your warm hand to your forehead and then put a dot of colored powder on your forehead. You leave a little money on the tray (like collection in church).

I'm sure this ceremony is commonplace in many offices in India. But it was a first for me. And very special.

On the streets going home, I noticed that some cars had plants tied to their front bumpers (Readers: what does this signify?).

Vijayadashami is also a work holiday in southern India. So, I'm taking the day off.

Happy Dassehra

Editing

2005-10-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

A reader says my "Star Trek" posting was wrong in saying that "firangi" referred to white people and says it refers to foreigners in general (my information came from an Indian co-worker). So, I've taken that bit out for now.

I've also deleted the post about drinking Taj Mahal tea, which even my wife didn't like (overbrewed? :-) )

2005-10-03T06:44:00.000-07:00

We traveled north to see the glorious Taj Mahal this past weekend. I'm on the left. Jay is in the middle and Diane is on the right.

Star Trek: The Indian Generation

2005-09-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

When you're a "Star Trek" fan and you move to India, you quickly realize that the the show borrowed from Hindi for the names of alien races that the crew of the Enterprise encountered in their adventures.

In "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," we got to know the Ferengi -- a profit-oriented race.

In India, "firangi" means "foreigners."

In "Deep Space Nine", we also got to know the Jemhidar, a warrier race subservient to another race.

Jemhidar is an old Indian military rank.

"Star Trek" fans: have you seen any other examples of Hindi in the show?

So, what's your favorite tea?

2005-09-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

Comments, please!

(See the post below)

Tea'd off

2005-09-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

One thing India has plenty of is tea. After all, it comes from this part of the world. And there are many different kinds of tea. And it's fun to try them.

Across the road from my office -- in the Leela Galleria shopping center -- is the Cha Bar, a small cafe tucked inside the Oxford book shop. "Cha" means "tea" and the Cha Bar lives up to its name. The menu has many more pages devoted to tea than it does to food.

I go to the Cha Bar about once a week as a break in my lunchtime routine. And, to taste teas. I've been working my way down the menu, tea by tea.

So far, I've found that I really like Darjeeling (they have a couple of varieties, such as first flush, second flush, etc.) and Assam teas. I don't like southern Indian teas as much, but I like having the opportunity to try them.

The tea menu includes varieties from other countries, such as Japanese green tea, and I've been trying them, too.

At the store, I like to buy Dilmah teas. They are grown in Sri Lanka and are very good. Their Earl Grey is more subtle than Twinning's Earl Grey. There's less bergamot in it (My wife, Diane, used to refer to the Twinning's variety as "Aramis Tea" because the smell reminded her of Aramis aftershave).

Dilmah's English breakfast blend is also very good.

Before coming to India, my favorite tea was Twinning's Irish Breakfast. It's strong.

How about you? What's your favorite tea?

2005-09-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

Elephant Men: Jay and I ride a pachyderm named Lily at Bannerghatta Biological Park, about an hour south of Bangalore. After the ride, we fed her whole ears of corn! Fun.

The itsy-bitsy spider ...

2005-09-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

This morning, I called my son Jay out to our back balcony to have a look at a small, brown spider on the wall.

Said Jay, "I've seen bigger spiders in the shower."

Chichi

2005-09-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

A reader asks what "chichi" means (See my last posting).

"Chichi" means trendy and fashionable. And that's today's post.

Bat-a-licious!

2005-08-31T01:31:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night, we took our friend Jane out for a farewell dinner at Sunny's, a Continental restaurant off Lavelle Road in one of Bangalore's more chichi areas and one of our favorites.

During dinner, I looked up and saw a small bat flying around the spacious interior. And, I do mean flying around. The poor creature repeatedly flew up to various windows in a vain attempt to escape Sunny's.

I was mostly bemused by the bat-o-batics (I figured the winged mammal would escape eventually).

But I was grateful that Sunny's has a high ceiling. In my cub reporter days, I wrote a feature about bats that included this tidbit: they are the Typhoid Mary of rabies, i.e. the only mammal that can carry the disease and not die of it.

After a while, a restaurant staffer opened the door to Sunny's. Eventually, the bat flew out the door and into the small tree at the entrance door where he (she?) lives.

"It's happened before," the proprietor said with a smile. After the bat made its escape, the proprietor admonished the doorman to keep the door closed.

When we left Sunny's, the bat -- or a relative or friend -- was flitting around the tree.

Just another night in Bangalore.

I'm back!

2005-08-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone, and apologies for the silence. I've been away for a little over three weeks on business (London) and home leave (the New York area), then vacation (Ireland).

We landed in Bangalore early last Sunday and are getting back into the swing of things.

Diane and Jay, who'd been away since mid-June, were pleasantly surprised to find it cooler here on their return. They first arrived in April in the middle of the hot season.

But, even though it's cooler, it's still monsoon season. We're still getting occasional rains and it's so humid drying the wash has been a challenge. We put some of it in the spare bedroom and crank up the ceiling fan.

We expect the monsoon to end soon and to enjoy the best weather -- which the guide books say stretches from September to March.

High-tech in your face ...

2005-07-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

Bangalore has a reputation as India's Silicon Valley, or technology capital. The rep is well-deserved ... and it smacks you right in the eyes when you spend a little time here.

Following are some pictures I've taken in my travels around Bangalore.

2005-07-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

Yahoo!'s building on M.G. Road, arguably Bangalore's Fifth Avenue (The M.G. stands for Mahatma Gandhi, but everyone calls it M.G.). About five minutes from where I live.

2005-07-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

Network gear maker Cisco Systems' building, about five minutes' walk from where I live. Note the computer chip motif (or is it supposed to be a network?) in the marquee over the steps.

2005-07-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

National Semiconductor's building, opposite my apartment complex, which is reflected in the mirrored glass.

2005-07-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

A "self-portrait" on the balcony of our apartment. The building opposite contain's National Semiconductor's offices.

Not again ...

2005-07-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

In early August 2001, my family and I moved to London from New York -- the city where I was born, the city where I had spent most of my life.

Sept. 11 was about a month later. We watched and listened in horror to the events of that day, worried sick about friends and colleagues who might have been at or near the World Trade Center that day. As it turned out, we were very lucky because no one we knew directly was killed or hurt in the Twin Towers attack. But we knew several people who did lose friends or colleagues.

Now, having moved to Bangalore, it's happened again. Last week, when bombs were going off in London's Tube and on a bus, I found myself once more worrying whether friends and co-workers were safe or had been among the unlucky dead. I shot off rapid e-mails to Londoners I knew, asking all the same thing: "Are you OK?"

Once again, it appears that my luck regarding the safety of those I care most about has held up. No one I know died. Again, there's an indirect connection -- a good friend knows someone who was injured in one of the Tube blasts. And, friends or friends of friends had lucky escapes. But no one I know died. And for that I am very, very grateful.

Many of us in London had been braced for an attack of some kind in the years following Sept. 11. They close Tube stations regularly for security alerts, even before 2001. And, in the first months after 9/11, your stomach would clutch when you saw an airplane that looked like it might hit a tall building.

Diane and I still feel "survivor guilt" about not having living through the events of Sept. 11 and afterward that our frieinds and family endured. And, whenever I go home to New York and I see a hole in the skyline where the Twin Towers once stood, it feels like remembering the death of an old friend. You feel like you've lost something you can never quite get back.

I know it won't be like that when I stop in London later this month on the way back to New York for home leave. But I know London will now feel different, too.

Quailing at the grocery store ...

2005-07-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Another case of living-abroad differences smacking you in the face:

Recently, while shopping at Nilgiri's, a chain of groceries that caters to locals and expats alike and has ordinary items as well as luxury ones, I chanced upon a small box of a dozen ...

Quail eggs.

For 20 rupees, roughly equivalent to 50 cents U.S.

Even by local standards, this is not a huge amount of money (It costs me a little more to go to work by auto-rickshaw).

I've always thought of quail eggs as a luxury item, but I've been happily eating them since (Hint: They taste better boiled than scrambled, unless someone knows a spice I should be adding other than pepper).

Let (potentially rabid) sleeping dogs lie ...

2005-06-26T05:50:00.000-07:00

One of Bangalore's many street dogs, as they are locally known (I made the mistake in an earlier posting of referring to them as "wild"). Many of them look like they are in bad shape -- famished, sick or both -- and they sleep a lot. They are rarely aggressive -- but you don't pet them, either.

Multiculti Moment

2005-06-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I went to Dahlia, one of the handful of Japanese restaurants in Bangalore.

The restaurant -- an informal and pleasantly shabby spot off Church Street in the center of town -- has a television tuned to a Japanese satellite channel. The staff appeared to be mostly Indian.

As I ate my tonkatsu (a fried pork cutlet stuffed with vegetables), I glanced occasionally at the TV, which displayed a variety of spots, including entertainment and news. (I think it was news. I have some Japanese words but they're pretty limited.)

I look up at one point and notice that they're showing highlights of baseball games. Not surprising. Baseball is big in Japan.

And then it dawns on me -- the ball caps are those of American teams and the games are in the States. The names on the caps include the Mets and the Yankees (I'm a New Yorker). The captions, meanwhile, are all in kanji characters (what else would you expect on Japanese TV?).

So, there I am -- sitting in a Japanese restaurant in Bangalore, India, watching American baseball on Japanese TV.

Confused? Me?

Link-o-rama Breakthrough

2005-06-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

After years of trying to puzzle out how to put a links list on a Blogger blog, I've finally taken the time and applied myself and figured it out.

Thanks to a little time spent with Blogger's Help section, I've added a sidebar in the lower righthand corner listing Blogs I Like (See my previous post). I've added Gizmodo, a gadget blog because I just darn like it.

I'm mildly proud of this because it's the sort of thing that Black Belt Web Wizards can crank out in their sleep. But it's fun to sling a little HTML and get a result (Thanks, Blogger Help!).

Drink up!

2005-06-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

The Times of India reported earlier this week that red worms showed up in drinking water in parts of Bangalore (I'm happy to say not MY part).

"The worms are not harmful but cannot be killed by chemical means," the Times story said.

Authorities attacked the problem by cleaning the reservoir involved and releasing fish fingerlings there, according to the paper.

I'm looking very closely at my water glass these days.

Bangalore Walks

2005-06-19T00:27:00.000-07:00

Arun Pai, who led us on a great walk through parts of Bangalore recently, has started a Web site, bangalorewalks.com, to promote his walks. It's a work in progress, but the testimonials he's posted will give you an idea of how much fun the walk was.

Spotted on a T-shirt last night ...

2005-06-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

Beer is proof God loves us

Gridlock

2005-06-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

If you live in Bangalore long enough, you can't help but notice the traffic jams. And they seem to get worse every day.

Major streets, such as Airport Road -- which I take to work every day and which goes to the airport -- or M.G. (for Mahatma Ghandi) Road are clogged seemingly night and day.

When the gridlock is really bad, the already polluted air gets worse. You find yourself digging into your pocket for a handkerchief to put over your mouth and nose. That makes breathing a little easier.

Bangalore is said to be the fastest-growing city in Asia. It's definitely growing, and the traffic jams are a sign of how prosperity can be a double-edged sword.

Shirley you're joking ...

2005-06-16T12:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Jay and I went for a walk. We wound up at The Park hotel, which has a nice poolside bar.

Jay asked me for a Shirley Temple -- a non-alcoholic drink traditionally served to kids in the States.

I asked the bartender for a beer and a Shirley Temple. He gave me a blank look and said something that sounded like, "What temple?"

I think he thought I was asking for directions to a Hindu temple!

Suddenly, visions of temple priests revering a child movie star danced through my fevered brain ...

Still more Indian English (maybe) ...

2005-06-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

The Times of India this week ran a front-page headline referring to "U.S. Fundos"

I had to read the story and think about it for a bit before I figured out the headline referred to American fundamentalists.

I'm not sure if this is Indian English or Indian headline English, ala the newspaper Variety's famous "Hix Nix Sticks Pix" headline.

Comments, anyone?

More Indian English ...

2005-06-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

Some more Indian English words I've spotted:

-- Updation: update

-- Educationist: educator

-- Rallyist: demonstrator

More as I see them.

Good piece by Thomas Friedman of The NY Times

2005-06-09T00:43:00.000-07:00

This piece by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times -- titled "Bangalore: Hot and Hotter" -- appeared in yesterday's op-ed (opinion-editorial section). It's a good read.

2005-06-05T01:37:00.000-07:00

Our walking tour group (except me). Arun is third from the left.

The walk ...

2005-06-05T00:37:00.000-07:00

So, as I was saying Diane and I went for a three-hour walk through old, British Bangalore this morning. It was great.

Our guide, Arun Pai, led our group of 12 into old, 19th-century Anglican, Methodist and Cathoic churches built for the British troops based here. We walked up to nearly hidden bungalows tucked away in lots off M.G. Road. These graceful homes and gardens are all that remains of the many bungalows that were leveled to make way for today's modern office buildings (Progress has its cost).

Arun showed us other buildings from the old, British colonial days, such as Mayo Hall -- once one of Bangalore's biggest, grandest buildings, now dwarfed by the skyscraper next to it.

He told us about Bangalore's connections with the finding of a cure for malaria, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist ... and Winston Churchill.

It turns out that Churchill, who was stationed in Bangalore with the 4th Hussars as a young man, lived not far from where we live now.

This is our second Churchill-residential connection. Our first apartment in Brooklyn was on the same block as the one where Churchill's mother, Jenny Jerome, lived as an infant.

The walk ended with a surprise -- which Arun has asked me not to give away.

Arun -- a Bangalorean who has a passion for his home city and its history and has lived in London, New York and Florida -- has just started giving these walking tours. I hope he keeps doing this one and does more of them.

Blighty

2005-06-05T00:27:00.000-07:00

Diane and I went on a wonderful walk through old, British Bangalore early this morning (I'll write more about this very soon).

During the walk, our guide, Arun, passed along a wonderful fact: "Blighty" -- slang for Britain -- is based on a Hindi word, vilayati (try saying "vilayati" aloud a couple of times).

According to Arun, "vilayati" means "white foreigners."

Not quite ...

2005-06-04T00:36:00.000-07:00

While walking down a side street this morning, I spotted a sign on an apartment building (or block of flats, as my British friends would say):

Earl's Court

Earl's Court is a neighborhood in west London (and, my wife reminds me, a Tube stop).

Bats, man

2005-06-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

It was twilight when I got out of my car outside my apartment building tonight. I looked up in the sky and saw ...

Bats. Big ones. With a wingspan of about 1 foot.

The last time I saw these bats, they were hanging high up in trees, in a neighborhood far from mine. And they were sleeping.

The good news is that these babies eat insects or fruit.

But they are BIG.

An English friend asks ...

2005-06-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

When is the cricket season in India?

Comments, anyone?

OK, It's the Monsoon

2005-05-31T07:51:00.000-07:00

There is no doubt in my mind that the monsoon is here. Following the Mother of All Thunderstorms on Friday , it's been cloudy some mornings and we've had some strong afternoon thunderstorsm.

This evening, the rain came down in sheets. I was very glad to be in a car and not a rickshaw, whose sides are open to the elements (See Tilt-a-Whirl in the Rain).

But the monsoon has not -- so far -- been what I had feared: constant heavy rain (For constant light rain, go to Britain). And it's brought very welcome lower temperatures. Which means, as far as Bangalore is concerned, that the hot season is over .

Is it Monsoon Yet?

2005-05-28T00:19:00.000-07:00

As a first-timer in India, you become semi-obsessed about the legendary monsoon. You ask questions like:

-- How bad IS it?

-- When does it get here?

Monsoon season in Bangalore begins in June, so it's getting close. And, according to some, it's here already.

This week, we've had a couple of nights of spectacular thunderstorms. The booms sound like an artillery battle. And the rain falls in sheets.

Yesterday, one newspaper declared the monsoon was going to hit Kerala, on the west coast, in 10 days.

That afternoon, we had the Mother of All Thunderstorms. The storm, which hit around 4:30 p.m., knocked down 70 to 80 trees and caused the Mother of All Traffic Jams (My son had a school play. I was nearly an hour and a half late because of the traffic).

If this is the monsoon, it's not too bad (yet). Basically, you get some severe thunderstorms in the late afternoon or evening. And that's it (People say the monsoon does not hit Bangalore as badly as it does other areas, such as the coasts).

But I suspect this may be just the beginning. Stay tuned.

(No) Power to the People

2005-05-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

One thing you notice pretty quickly in Bangalore are power outages. They seem to happen nearly every day in a city that has grown very, very quickly.

Which is why every major office complex or building and apartment buildings like mine have emergency generators that kick in the moment that power is cut off.

I've learned to expect the roar of the emergency generator that invariably follows a power outage at home.

At work, the computers keep going when the lights die. So, when the power goes, the office is lit by the eerie glow of computer screens.

Sometimes, the power will go out three or four times in a few minutes.

I've also noticed a form of power triage when the emergency generators take over. For example, you can turn on your lights but your air conditioners won't work until the "real" power returns.

I think this explains why products like orange juice, milk and prepared meals don't come refrigerated or frozen. They are packaged to be stored at room temperature.

I feel badly for the people who don't have emergency generators.

2005-05-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

Tilt-A-Whirl

2005-05-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

Auto-rickshaw

Tilt-a-whirl in the rain

2005-05-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

We went to a party last night. Heading home, we got into an auto-rickshaw just as the heavens opened up.

The rain sheeted into the open vehicle as we howled in surprise and laughter. Diane said it was like being in a tilt-a-whirl -- a spinning amusement park ride -- in the rain.

When we got home, we were mostly soaked. Wet fun!

Where have you gone, Robert Zimmerman?

2005-05-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

A recent edition of The Hindu newspaper contained a review of a book about Bob Dylan and involvement in Sixties causes with this quote:

"He was always against the Cold War and globalisation and said that he could do without a revolution. He was the greatest Protestant of his times and his ideology is still relevant."

Comments, PLEASE!

2005-05-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

Is anyone reading this thing? I have not seen any comments in a while, since the great "Tippoo" vs. "Tipu" controversy.

It's easy to leave a comment -- just click on the comment link on a post and Blogger will generate a form you can use to write your thoughts about my pithy posts.

I'm particularly interested in what people think about my most recent contributions.

Thanks. Now, WRITE SOMETHING (please).

Fuhgeddaboutit

2005-05-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

My wife, Diane, discovered that you can watch "The Sopranos" here. Being Italian-American and from northern New Jersey, this is the next best thing to home movies for her. I like the show, too.

But I noticed something when I watched it for the first time in India last night. Tony Soprano -- the godfather of the Soprano crime family for those of you who may not know the show -- kept saying "freaking" a lot. And his voice seemed to change subtly when he said it.

That's when it hit me: the unexpurgated version we were used to seeing in London used another word that begins with "f" -- a lot. Whenever Tony used that word, they dubbed over it with "freaking."

At another point, Tony called someone a "bloodsucker." Two guesses as to what he really said.

It could have been worse. I related this story to some Indian colleagues today. They told me that they used to bleep over Tony's f-words.

Now she tells me

2005-05-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

"There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub"

Elizabeth Kubler Ross, from a Quote of the Day Web site

Officer on Deck ...

2005-05-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

I've been here more than five months now and I am still not used to the deference shown to a) me as a white man and/or b) me as someone perceived as belonging to a higher class (read caste).

Security guards -- and sometimes doormen -- salute me like I'm General Oatis, not just Mr. Oatis. At work, the security guy at the door often stands or begins to stand when I approach the door.

This week, two of the guys who clean the apartments here and a third guy who seemed to be part of their group lined up -- at attention -- just outside our building as I came out the door. I was tempted to stop and inspect them.

The closest I've come to being in the military was a six-year stint in the Boy Scouts. Still, I've seen enough war movies that I have to fight down an impulse to walk over to one of these saluting guys and ask, "What town are you from, soldier?"

Indian English

2005-05-13T22:14:00.000-07:00

It doesn't take long to realize that Indian English is yet another variety of the global tongue: different but not too different.

You encounter phrases like "I will do the needful," " ... to avail yourself of the complimentary breakfast" or "I will do the updation."

It's not difficult to translate. The above three phrases (you've probably figured this out already) mean "I will do what is necessary," "to take advantage of the complimentary breakfast" and "I will do the update."

Another difference: the use of the word "kindly," as in "Kindly return your payment," instead of "please."

And there are subtle changes in spelling: for example, "detanus" instead of "detainees."

Encountering different ways of writing and speaking is another perk of living abroad (we moved to Bangalore after learning to read, write and speak British English during 3-1/2 years in London).

I could write about what I call "Hinglish" as well -- the dropping of Hindi words into English sentences -- but that's a topic for another post.

Lest anyone get the wrong idea and think I'm making fun of Indian English or deprecating it in any way, I'd like to quote my wise friend James Dalgliesh on American English vs. British English: "One isn't better than the other. They're just different."

Kalamkari hanging

2005-05-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

Detail from kalamkari wall hanging.

Beautiful fabric ...

2005-05-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we went to the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat, an art college with exhibition galleries. Diane had seen an article in The Hindu newspaper about an exhibition on kalamkari, a technique for decorating fabric using a bamboo pen and, traditionally, vegetable dyes.

The fabrics are scroll-like, elaborate and beautiful. We chatted with Cristin McKnight of Los Angeles, who put together the exhibit titled "Traditions-in-Use ..." She was friendly, knowledgeable and allowed me to take some pictures of the exhibit.

I'll put up some photos of items made using kalamkari techniques. Cristin has also put together a Web site on kalamkari.

Temple on wheels

2005-05-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

Bangalore is full of surprises. Driving down M.G. Road yesterday, we saw this mobile Hindu temple. Worship comes to you.

Blogs I like

2005-05-08T05:11:00.000-07:00

A pause in my Tales of Bangalore to promote a couple of blogs I like:

Now Cough, by college classmate, public radio veteran and online pioneer John Barth (guys will understand what "Now cough" means).

Amy's New York Notebook by Amy Langfield. Amy is a former colleague at Reuters and blogger extraordinaire. Her blog inspired me to start blogging and she continues to provide helpful advice and criticism. Amy writes about her life in New York, with a focus on journalism. She also has a New York travel site, Neworkology Travel.

There are lots of other blogs out there, some of which I check into from time to time. But these are by friends and, for me, that's more compelling.

Nice story

2005-05-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

My friend Paul tipped me off to a nice piece on CNET about Bangalore, titled "Boom Times in Bangalore." Read it here.

Eats, Shoots and Throws Monkeys off a Cliff

2005-05-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

Looking back over recent postings I noticed a grammatical error of the "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" variety:

We saw a temple built around 850 A.D., a cliff the Tipu Sultan -- who ruled Mysore in the 18th century -- used to get rid of people and lots of monkeys.

As far as I know, the sultan had no particular animus against simians. The sentence should have (and now does) read:

We saw a temple built around 850 A.D., a cliff the Tipu Sultan -- who ruled Mysore in the 18th century -- used to get rid of people, and lots of monkeys.

A tip of the copy editor's green visor to my brother, Jeremy, who spotted this before I did. He is an English teacher, after all.

Loos Change

2005-05-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

It often seems like a given plumbing company in a given country has a monopoly on toilets and urinals, especially the public varieties.

-- So, in America, American Standard's name appears on a lot of white ceramic

-- In Britain, it's Armitage Shanks

-- And, in India it's Hindware

If you have tales of toilet domination in other countries, please chime in.

Tippoo or Tipu?

2005-05-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

A sharp-eyed reader notes that I misspelled Tippoo's drop in my last picture's caption. However, the reader suggested I should change it to "Tipu's Drop". My Rough Guide spells it that way, too. But I've also seen it spelled "Tippoo". So, for now, I've corrected the caption to read "Tippoo".

Tipu (or Tippoo) Sultan may very well be one of those names that -- because it's translated from another language written in different characters -- has alternative correct spellings. (E.g., you write "Quadaffi" but I write "Khaddafi").

Any opinions?

2005-04-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

Our friend David looking out over Tippoo's Drop

2005-04-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

Tippoo's Drop -- it's a long way down

Tippoo's Drop

2005-04-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

A reader asks whether our visit to the Nandi Hills included a look at Tippoo's Drop -- the 2,000-foot-high cliff where Tippoo Sultan, the fierce 18th-century ruler of Mysore, had convicts thrown to their death.

The answer is yes. Yikes.

Nandi Hills

2005-04-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, we went on a trip to the Nandi Hills outside Bangalore - granite monoliths that thrust out of the plains that comprise much of the area. We saw a temple built around 850 A.D., a cliff the Tipu Sultan -- who ruled Mysore in the 18th century -- used to get rid of people, and lots of monkeys.

More details when I can draw breath and write them.

2005-04-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

Mommy monkey and baby monkey in the Nandi Hills outside Bangalore

Seen tonight on a main road

2005-04-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

Two men, riding a horse bareback.

Visit to the Bull Temple and City Market

2005-04-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

My son, Jay, and a colleague, David, visited the Bull Temple and the City Market today. This is the third time I've been to both and I have yet to tire of them.

The Bull Temple is part of a complex of temples in southern Bangalore. It houses a huge statue of Nandini the bull. The statue is about 30 feet high. The temple consists of a gateway building and the temple itself.

At the entrance to the complex is a grand temple to Ganesha, the elephant god. You can go in and worship along with the others who flock to this temple, the Bull Temples, a temple to Shiva and other, smaller temples.

A nice garden sits near the temples. You can walk through it or sit on the benches that line the pathways, as many city residents do (David said it looked like a nice place to read a paper for an hour or so).

The garden has one interesting feature: the tall trees are festooned with large, sleeping bats. Every now and then, one will flap its wings, still hanging upside-down from its tree. Some people (including me) find it cool. Some -- including a friend who refused to go into the garden because of the bats -- find it creepy.

After the temple, we took an autorickshaw to the City Market. This is a big building surrounded by smaller shops or people sitting on the ground, selling fruits, vegetables and spices. If you are from the West, you will see vegetables and fruits you have never seen in your life.

In the basement of the market is a wonderful flower market where they sell marigolds and other blooms by weight. If you ever wanted to buy a pound of roses, this is your place. Many of the flower sellers make garlands from their wares, threading them onto string nearly ceaselessly. It's wonderful.

The City Market is an assault on the senses -- lots of people, lots of unfamiliar wares. It was hot today. But it's well worth the visit and a lot of fun. And you feel like you're in India.

After our trip, we went to the New Shanthi Sagar restaurant on Airport Road for lunch. I recommend it highly. It's vegetarian and very friendly.

2005-04-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

In Bangalore, they want you to honk -- so they know you're driving near them

Like the pix?

2005-04-08T01:55:00.000-07:00

I've had no comments on the pictures I've uploaded in recent days. Do you like them? Hate them? Sing out!

2005-03-29T08:49:00.000-08:00

Light Bangalore traffic on Airport Road

2005-03-29T08:45:00.000-08:00

The autorickshaw -- Bangalore's ubiquitous taxi.

2005-03-29T08:44:00.000-08:00

From the passenger seat of an autorickshaw.

2005-03-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

A nice surprise at the City Market.

Signatures, signatures

2005-03-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

It's sometimes aaid that India learned -- even embraced -- bureaucracy under British rule. Now and again, you see evidence that this is true.

Today, I went to get a mobile phone for my wife, Diane, who will be joining me here in April.

I had to sign the application I was given in seven different places, including the passport-sized picture I was required to affix to the form.

My signatures included a section in which I declared that my income came from agriculture (I pointed this out, but they said sign it anyway. So I did).

I also had to provide:

-- A photocopy of my passport details page. I had to sign this and the signature had to match that on the nearly 10-year-old passport. The folks at the mobile phone office were surprised to hear that U.S. passports don't give your home address (which indicates that that's the case in India).

-- A photocopy of my New York state driver's license (Signed that, too).

-- A photocopy of my lease to confirm my address (Signed it).

-- A photocopy of my Indian visa, which is inside my passport (Signed that).

The visa photocopy caused a little excitement because it is due to expire on March 22. The young man checking my bona fides even took it into the manager's office (I could imagine him telling the manager, "Boss, we caught an illegal alien!").

Luckily, I had my passport with me and was able to show them the visa extension which is good until next fall. Whew.

To be fair, I would not be surprised to be asked to provide proof of address in the United States or Britain. But the total number of forms, photocopies, etc. was like nothing I've ever encountered before in getting a mobile.

The phone company says the government requires them to obtain this information.

And I did not encounter the worst part of any bureaucracy: being forced to wait a long time to get what I wanted or having to apply again. I got the SIM card for Diane's phone then and there.

No spice

2005-03-16T18:12:00.000-08:00

Picking up a ticket at the local British Airways office, I noticed this item on the list of things you can't take onto an airplane in your carry-on luggage or pockets:

Chili powder (spelled "chilli" here)

It might have been on the list before, and I just hadn't taken note of it. But chili powder is something that is more widespread here than in, say, parts of my country -- America -- where many of us still prefer our food on the less spicey side.

I can see how chili could easily be used as a weapon or a threat. It would hurt a lot if someone threw it into your eyes.

Or, maybe you could use it to make airline food taste better?

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk

2005-03-16T17:49:00.000-08:00

I take The Hindu, which bills itself as "India's national newspaper" and has been around since 1878.

On Tuesday, I read this subheadline in a story on the latest developments in Nepal:

"Moists Torch Bus"

A typo, of course. It should have been "Maoists." There has been a Maoist insurgency in Nepal for years.

But, when I read that headline, I found myself picturing a band of men with butch haircuts saying, "Oh, a wise guy, eh?" as they attacked the bus. With a band of Curlys chanting, "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk."

Round-the-World-Phone Call

2005-03-13T03:35:00.000-08:00

I called Citibank back in the States today to give them my change of address and to take care of some other business. I used their U.S. number.

During the call, I noticed that there was a lag when I asked the nice lady at the end of the line questions and when she answered. And she had an accent I could not quite place.

At the end of our conversation, I asked her where she was. She said, "India."

When I asked her where in India, she replied, "Bangalore."

Yum

2005-03-09T18:53:00.000-08:00

On the way home last night, I stopped off at the New Shanthi Sagar, a vegetarian restaurant off Airport Road with a bright neon sign and a nice look to it that had caught my eye.

I asked my waiter for recommendations, and he obliged. I started with dahli puri, which were open shells dusted with paprika and filled with and surrounded by sweet, liquidy yogurt. Small, sweet kernels of corn (at least that's what it looked like and tasted like) dotted the yogurt, which is called curd here.

The main course was that southern Indian mainstay, the dosa, a thin, crispy pancake made with rice flour. I had a masala dosa with cheese. The masala part consists of a mixture of gently spiced potato, onion and (I think) parsley. It's delicious.

Note to Bangaloreans and any other south Indians reading this: if I get anything wrong here, please make a comment and I'll correct.

Dessert was Anamica, an ice cream sundae made with vanilla, pistachio and strawberry ice cream with dried fruit, a kind of jelly and honey.

Yum.

Bull Temple

2005-03-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

I have been to the Bull Temple complex, which is a "must-see" in Bangalore and houses a large statue of -- a bull. I hope to post more fully in the not-so-distant future. The highlights include at least four temples -- the Bull Temple and three others -- and a nice garden with tall trees.

If you look up at the trees, you can see BIG BATS hanging from them. Very cool.

I'd like to post more, but I've had to spend a lot of time at the office AND I am trying to do what I can to set the apartment up for my family's arrival. And I'm doing taxes on three continents (really). That part is REAL fun (not).

Kannada Rising

2005-02-26T00:37:00.000-08:00

I had a surprise today when I went down to Brigade Road -- one of Bangalore's main shopping streets -- to pick up some dry cleaning and buy some groceries.

Up and down the street, black paint defaced many of the store signs in English. Some signs had just a little paint on them. Others had been obliterated. Store workers along Brigade Road were busy scrubbing the signs.

The Kannada Committee, a group supporting the local language known as Kannada and opposing the use of English, had thrown the paint during the previous night, according to three people I talked to separately.

The most badly hit stores included a big Levi's jeans store whose building also sports a big picture of an attactive young woman prone in tight jeans (that got a lot of paint, too) and the Planet M music store, Bangalore's answer to Tower Records, Virgin Music and HMV

The sign for Nilgiri's supermarket, which I mentioned in a previous post, was one of the more striking metaphors for the protest. The left side of the sign displays the thick, rounded characters used to write in Kannada. The right side is in English.

A little black paint had been thrown on the right side. The left side was clean.

It's All Relative

2005-02-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

In the States and the United Kingdom, we call the region "the Middle East" or "the Mideast."

In newapapers here, it's called "West Asia."

Have a look at a world map.

A Moving Moment

2005-02-18T05:31:00.000-08:00

I'm slated to move on Monday for the third and (I hope) final time. The good news is the new place -- which is one flight up in the building I'm in -- has broadband.

Which means:

-- More blogging!

-- Pictures!

-- More time on the computer for a man without a life! :-)

Seriously, it will be good to have broadband again. I have not had ANY Internet connection at home for about two weeks. Painful.

Old Faithful Redux

2005-02-17T06:25:00.000-08:00

An old friend who's more widely traveled than I am tells me that water heaters like the ones I have in my apartment (one for each bathroom) are more common around the world than not.

Apparently, my experience of water heaters in the United States and Western Europe is atypical. And I should not have been so surprised by my Geyser water heater (it's pronounced "geezer" here, by the way).

This is one drawback of writing from the viewpoint of a newcomer -- many things that are new to me are old hat to a lot of folks.

But I'm writing for people like me. And these things are new to me are new to them, too.

So, my apologies if you some of this stuff already. If I write something that's old, silly or just plain wrong, please add a comment.

What I'm cooking (and eating)

2005-02-13T04:30:00.000-08:00

My friend John Barth asks where I shop, what I eat for breakfast and whether I'm cooking.

The answers:

I tend to shop at Nilgiri's, a grocery chain that is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Nilgiri's and Food World are the closest thing you'll find here to a supermarket. They're good but tend to be small.

The markets have a mix of Indian food and Western food. So, if you want (and I did), you can buy Skippy chunky peanut butter for about $6. Expensive but cheaper than therapy.

The Nilgiri's I use is on Brigade Road, about 15-20 minutes from where I live. I tend to walk there on the weekend, then take a rickshaw home with my purchases (You don't see shopping carts around here. A rickshaw is my motorized shopping cart.)

There is also a little place near me where I can buy things like bottled water if I don't feel like walking to Nilgiri's.

Breakfast is pretty ordinary: toast with jam or cereal with milk or yogurt, washed down with tea or coffee are what I start the day with.

As for cooking, I do a little, mostly as a break from eating out. Restaurants tend to be not too expensive and often it's almost as cheap to eat out as it is to cook at home. My cooking tends to the simple rice or pasta and sauce variety. Nothing fancy.

Rick Racket

2005-02-13T03:02:00.000-08:00

If you use rickshaws to get around Bangalore (and I do), sooner or later, you will encounter a rick driver you offers to take you to a handicrafts shop for "just five minutes" en route to wherever you're going.

And, no matter how much you resist, he WILL take you to the handicrafts shop. Last weekend, I wound up buying a sandalwood Ganesh (elephant god) keychain. Luckily, I needed a keychain ... and Ganesh is said to bring luck.

This weekend, another guy took me to another shop despite my repeated, shouted insistence that I wanted to go elsewhere. I gave up, walked into the shop, walked out after a decent interval and got back into the rickshaw. Without buying anything.

The guy tried to take me to another shop. At this point, I insisted very definitely that I wanted to go to my destination.

So, he stopped, chatted with another rick driver and asked me to get into his vehicle. The other guy took me where I wanted to go.

This explains why a fair number of expats hire drivers with cars to take them around. For now, I plan to stick to ricks. But I could change my mind.

ELEPHANT, MAN!

2005-02-13T02:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, my friend Jane and I went to the City Market, which is -- to put it mildly -- an experience. The market consists of people selling from stalls and from a big, central building that looks like it dates back to the days of the Raj.

Stalls selling spices cannot be missed -- there are big cones of some of their spices colored purple, yellow (saffron), etc. You see one after another.

Others sell housewares, mainly steel, aluminum and iron cookware (I bought a teapot).

Still others sell vegetables: cucumbers, little cloves of garlic, onions, ginger, tomatoes and just about anything else you can imagine.

And, finally, in the basement of the building is the flower market. Marigolds, roses and other flowers I can't name are sold by WEIGHT (If you ever want to buy a pound of marigolds, this is the place.). The market is a riot of color. We took picture after picture (and showed the results to the merchants, who asked us to snap them.).

You have to be on your toes -- a couple of times I got whacked by guys carrying big bags of something (fertliser? dirt?).

As we were leaving the market, we saw ... an elephant! Walking down one of the roads by the market, with a man aboard! (There is a name for an elephant rider and I can't remember it.) The elephant was friendly, taking food from passersby with his trunk.

It's things like this that remind you that you are in India and nowhere else.

We walked around a bit, peeking into a large mosque nearby and then walking some way until we came to the wall of a fort built by the famous Tipoo Sultan (and breached by the British in one of their earlier battles for India, in 1791) and then finally to Tipoo's Palace, whose main feature is dark, beautiful columns. Nearby stands an impressive temple for Hanuman, the monkey god.

We ended the day by walking along Commercial Street and around the area. Jane says it's like New York's Canal Street, funky and full of merchants. I agree.

MONKEYS!

2005-02-10T22:58:00.000-08:00

In addition to wild dogs, banana trees and coconuts, Bangalore has monkeys.

I saw my first monkeys this week, on the way to work. Two monkeys were on a fence. One was pulling the tail of the other.

They were across the street from the Passport Office on Brunton Road, near Mohandas Gandhi Road (known here as M.G. Road) and not far from where I live.

Maybe they wanted passports?

Old Faithful

2005-02-07T21:22:00.000-08:00

When you want to take a shower in Bangalore, you turn on the geyser ... then wait.

The geyser is a small, water heater found in each bathroom that gives you JUST enough water for a shower. When you get out of bed in the morning, one of the first things you do is switch it on. After 20-30 minutes, you can take a shower.

This means a change in your morning routine. Previously, I'd take a shower first, shave, then eat breakfast. Now, I eat breakfast while the geyser warms up my bathwater.

You don't want to take too much time in the shower. If you do, the water will turn cold before you're done. This is not as bad as it may sound. The climate is tropical, and what would be miserable in London or New York is merely a small discomfort in Bangalore.

In the States, we tend to go for big water heaters that keep water hot all the time. In Britain, they have on-demand heaters that produce hot water only when needed. The Indian approach is sort of a compromise.