Some Ramblings

Thought I'd ramble here and tell a few stories instead of posting pics and get some pics up next time. I had a really productive week, research-wise, and now I've interviewed half the minimum number of people I wanted to talk to. I'm feeling really good about that progress and hope to be here long enough to finish up with no problems. As many of you know, I'm continuing to have visa problems, which may possibly cut short my time here. I certainly hope not and am praying lots and doing what the various Indian authorities tell me to do. We'll see what the outcome is. No more to say about that 'til the end of next week, at which point we may have an outcome one way or another. On to lighter topics...

So I had a crazy encounter this week. One of the other interns was giving a talk about her research to our team at work, but I was going to have to miss it b/c I had an interview at that time. So I went down the street to buy her some good luck flowers. It was just a brief walk on a public street in the middle of the afternoon. Well, I had never seen this before, but apparently, there are men who dress as women, wearing sarees and makeup, and shake down people for money. I was walking down the side of the road and what I thought was a very ugly older woman but then realized was a man walked right up to me and grabbed my upper arms really hard. He shook me and was saying something that I didn't understand. It plumb scared me to death, especially since his grip was so hard. I pulled back, and he let go, so I turned and started to walk away. He grabbed one of my arms as I turned, and he gripped me pretty hard again. I was really concerned about doing some terrible faux pas, but I was also pissed, so I hit him. Not in the face or anything. Just hit hard with the heel of my hand on his wrist/forearm that was gripping me to break his hold. It did break his hold, and I think it startled him. I said, "Illa!" ("no" in Kannada) b/c that was the only local word I knew that seemed appropriate. And then I continued to walk on to the flower shop, bought my flowers, and headed back. I told a gal at work what had happened and asked if what I'd done was a big problem. She said absolutely not. Apparently, these guys who dress as women will physically harass people (without causing real harm, no beatings or anything, just shaking or gripping or patting) and ask for money. She said cross to the other side of the street and avoid if possible, and if it's not possible to avoid them, smack or push them away if necessary. Whew. What an adventure.

I had a nice weekend this week. Since I had some interviews on Saturday and some phone interviews in the middle of the night with people in the U.S., I took Friday off and treated it like a Saturday. It was so much fun. I threw caution to the wind and decided to go to three different parts of the city to visit particular restaurant and shops that I'd wanted to see. It was so fun. I went to Ulsoor Lake, which is beautiful and green with a nice walking path. By Ulsoor Lake is this restaurant called Rogue Elephant, which serves really delicious non-Indian food. I had hummus and fresh pita bread and a salad of fresh figs and panacotta with a balsamic reduction over wild greens. Amazing. And the restaurant is just 5 or 6 little plastic tables outside behind a plant shop; you'd never know it was there unless you knew to seek it out. (I read about it in a book.) I also went to a store called FabIndia, which is a chain with shops in several areas of the city. I went all the way to Koramangala, a neighborhood quite far from where I stay (an area of the city called Sadashivanagar), b/c the FabIndia in Koramangala is supposed to be one of the largest and have one of the best selections. It was really great. I just stayed for hours looking at every little thing. It reminded me a little of Pottery Barn with a clothing section. It had great housewares, linens, decorative items, a line of body products, clothes and some shoes, all made in India. Some things were about as cheap as you'd find anywhere else around here, and some seemed priced quite high. But the shop itself was very Western in that prices were marked; all was lit with electric lights, goods were laid out with decorative displays and stacked on labeled shelves; employees would help if you asked them, but there was none of the hard sell approach that is common here. I bought myself a leather tote bag that is really sturdy and would work great as an overnight bag or bag for a day out at a festival or something. It could easily hold a laptop, a purse, and a sweater; a change of clothes and a sponge bag; or good-sized picnic for several people. Hopefully, those examples give an idea of the size. Mom, Heidi, Hilary, Judy, Dad: If this sounds like something you might want as a gift, let me know! I'd planned to do my gift shopping with Heidi in Goa, but if all goes to heck and I don't get to go to Goa, then I'll be making a gift run to FabIndia. I'll let you know about the trip status, and you be thinking about a bag. If not a bag, then maybe a nice cotton shirt or scarf... Those are plentiful and nice. If Goa pans out, then we'll have more options, like handicrafts and jewelry. Yay!

Today I went to church, and it was good. Afterwards I came home and finally did some cooking. (I was so proud to light the gas burner with the clicker thing without catastrophe. Whew.) By "some cooking," I just mean that I fried a couple of eggs, but, hey, that counts, right? I ate so much on Friday that I'm still a little off my feed. Food doesn't sound great but my tummy is empty, so eggs were easy. And they were surprisingly delicious. I'm finding that I have some sort of standby travel foods that I associate now with being out of the U.S. and fending for myself, foodwise. Eggs, hot tea with sugar(!), cut up tomatoes and cucumbers. These are my quick and easy comfort foods.

After brunch, I walked to Sankey Tank, which is probably a manmade lake. It seems about the size of Greenlake to me, but I'm not too good with measurement estimates, so take that with a grain of salt. Anyway, there is a nice path around the lake, and it forms an almost-closed C shape b/c there is a small area along the lake edge that is inaccessible. This is fortuitious for those of us seeking exercise, since it forces you to walk almost a double loop: walk to one end of the C and turn around and keep going to the other end of the C and walk back to where you started. If it were a closed loop, I'd almost certainly just do one loop and be done with it. Anyway, it's picturesque and was almost deserted, so I had a nice walk/jog. The lake is enclosed by a fence and is set down lower than the street areas on the other side of the fence. I couldn't seem to find where to enter but saw an opening in the fence that I thought I could probably squeeze through. I was undecided til I saw a group of little boys squeeze through. Then I thought, "What the heck" and scooted through myself. It drew a few looks from people walking along the street nearby, but no one said anything. That is one of the nice things about being a foreigner: people expect you to be a little odd, so it seems to confer a little more freedom in acceptable behavior. Anyway, while I was walking/jogging, it was pleasant and peaceful. There as almost no one around, though sometimes people walking up on the street level on the other side of the fence would look down and see me panting along. One little boy yelled, "Hello, madam! I love you!" Cheeky thing; I thought that was adorable but just kept jogging (wheezing) and waved.

Well, those were the highlights of my week. Love and miss you guys! I'll post some photos next time; I know that's what most of you prefer. :-)

Mumbai Pics

Below are some of the photos I took on my first day in Mumbai. Almost every shot was out the window of the taxi, as we drove from the northern part of Mumbai where my hotel was to the southern part where the Gateway of India is. Enjoy!


Below: This is blurry, but it's the best shot I got of an old school, manual rickshaw, as opposed to the autorickshaws which are now more common.

Below: This is the tailgate area of a huge work truck. These trucks are painted colorfully and decorated lavishly. I can't wait to get a more complete pic of one of these trucks sometime. (Hard to do when craning your neck up and back from a tiny taxi as you bump along the road. I'll try to get a pic sometime when I'm on foot and can get the whole truck.) Btw, you see the instructions to "blow horn." Well, people follow that instruction quite well on Indian roads. ;-)

Below: Gray waters and sky past the Gateway of India.

Below: The famous Taj Hotel (where the bombings took place last year)

Below: Marine Drive

Below: Lovely street near the Taj Hotel and Gateway.

Below: A banyan tree. So interesting the way the branches grow down to become the trunk...

Below: Super cute kid shining the shoes of my taxi driver.

Below: Close up of some detail on the Gateway of India.

Below: The Gateway of India, a huge basalt monument which was once the first thing that people arriving to Mumbai by boat would have seen.

Below: First of several scenes of Mumbai, as seen on the drive.

Below: This is for mom's friend who collects Coca-Cola: another shot to get printed and framed.

Below: Another Coca-Cola shot for mom's friend.

Below: Can you read this bumper sticker? It says, "Spitting spreads TB: DO NOT SPIT." A popular sticker on the local autorickshaws.

Below: Colorful laundry drying outside the window of an apartment.

Below: This bike has seen better days.

Below: Gorgeous, expensive hotel.

Below: The ever-present autorickshaw.

Below: Tent and slum dwellings lining the roads.

Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Bangalore

Below are some photos I took last Saturday at Lalbagh Botanical Garden here in Bangalore. The park has beautiful flowers and some truly ancient trees. Unfortunately, the sky was steel gray, which makes for less beautiful pics, but the scenery is still lovely. Enjoy!


Below: This tree trunk reminded me of an elephant, with its gray color and wrinkles.


Below: This is me with the elephant tree. See how incredibly big it is?

Below: The branches overhead make a lovely, lacy design against the white-gray sky.

Below: I loved the various shades of bright flowers overhanging the benches.

Below: This Peninsular Gneiss geological formation is ancient, said to be several million years old.

Below: This little grotto has statues representing some Hindu gods.

Below: Example of some of the flowers in Lalbagh.

Below: Pathway through the park.

Below: The glass house, originally modeled on London's Crystal Palace.

Below: Little bench covered in flowers that dropped from the tree above.

Below: Apparently, I wasn't supposed to go into the rose garden (even though the gate was open). Enjoy this one measly rose photo, as it's the only one I got before being fussed at and told to leave the rose garden, the gate then firmly locked behind me.

Below: The light rain made for pretty drops on the flowers.

Below: Much of the park was a mix of lovely and broken down, as shown here by the torn-up, muddy path beside the beautiful flowers.

Below: Much of the park was intensely, intensely green.

Below: This way to the... umm.

Below: More walking path.

Below: Walking in a saree is impressive alone, but balancing a tray of bread on your head while walking in a saree?! Shoooot.

Below: The end.

Mumbai, not so great actually

So today is day three in Mumbai, and I'm at the airport now, awaiting a flight to Delhi. There is talk of a cyclone in the city, and many flights are being canceled. Hoping to goodness that I get out on my flight to Delhi as scheduled... And, unfortunately, this is just one more log on the fire of not being too thrilled with Mumbai. I really didn't enjoy Mumbai much as a city, but the people were gracious and helpful and wonderful. Probably there are many wonderful things about Mumbai that I just missed, but my brief experience of it wasn't too great.

Days two and three it poured rain. All day. All night. The streets are mud and filled with honking cars that just sit on the road going nowhere. What had been a 15-minute drive to IIT Mumbai in the morning became a 2-hour drive on the way back to the hotel b/c of the crazy standstill traffic. The trip home was in an autorickshaw, since there was not an available taxi in the city, as you can imagine with everyone leaving work and the rain pouring down. So I sat and breathed in exhaust fumes and got rained on. That said, a super-gracious-wonderful-fantastic person from IIT Mumbai not only helped me to get the ride back to the hotel (no small feat itself) but also rode with me the whole way there to ensure that I arrived safely and then had to ride back again afterwards. Amazing.

Her presence turned what could have been a real downer into an experience for which I was extremely grateful. The whole ride home I could see people slogging through the rain and mud on foot and was ever so grateful to have an autorickshaw. Also, every time she spoke to the driver in Hindi, I was again so grateful for her presence. No need to worry about whether he would kick me out, overcharge me, drive to the wrong place. She was there to speak and explain and watch. I tell you, that gal deserves a medal, but she will have to settle for flowers. Microsoft has a concierge desk from which you can send flowers, and you know I'll be heading there as soon as I'm back in Bangalore.

My accommodations in Mumbai were along the same lines: an unpleasant situation but wonderful people. The room amenities were a little lacking. Roaches? Yes, madam, no problem. Hot water? Toilet paper? Internet access? No, madam. So that kind of sucked. However, the people were super nice. For example, this morning I started calling for a taxi and found that none were available. All day. So I asked the hotel manager if there was a taxi service that the hotel recommends, and he said he'd call his own driver and have him take me. Awesome. Plus, he charged less than half what the taxi had charged for the airport-to-hotel service. I really appreciated how helpful and kind he and his staff were, but I just can't recommend the place due to the roaches.

So since it's pouring rain and transport is scarce, I'm here at the airport 7 hours before my flight. I'd rather relax here than at the hotel, and siteseeing holds no appeal in pouring rain, standstill traffic, and scarce taxis. Have to say, I'm feeling good! So happy to be here at the airport. So happy to have wifi and a comfy chair. So happy to have an available restroom with toilet paper.

Oh! But on day 1 in Mumbai I did do some siteseeing! When the taxi dropped me at the hotel to check in, I asked him to return in an hour. When he did, I went to see the Gateway of India and the Taj Hotel. It was a super duper long drive; I knew that the Gateway of India was in the very south of town when I was in the very north. But I didn't realize that it's like being in north Coppell and taking a taxi to Burleson! (Btw, non-Texan readers, that was a DFW metroplex comparison.) But the drive was interesting b/c I feel like I got to see a ton of the city from the comfort of an air-conditioned car. No complaints there. Plus, I actually found the specific craft shop that was recommended in the guide book I purused before leaving Bangalore. Prices seemed good, and I bought a small carved elephant in case I don't have any shopping opportunities before I head home. I took lots of pics of Mumbai but forgot to pack the connector cable, so I can't get them off my camera til I'm back in Bangalore. Will post them soon!

My new saree

I bought a new saree earlier this week with the excuse that I've been invited to too many weddings not to have a silk saree to wear to them. Flimsy excuse, but anything would do. So a friend from work, Shushi, and I went to a saree shop and I bought the outfit you see in the pics below. It was really fun. You sit at a table and tell them if you want cotton or silk or what, if you want embroidery or sequins or what, the colors you like, whether you like designer or traditional. And they pull sarees off shelves behind them and open them up on the table in front of you. Over and over. When you like one, they will put a velcro band around your waist, drape the saree on you, and show you in a mirror til you find one you like. It is sooooo much fun. I looked at just about every green saree in the place til I got the one below. It's peacock green silk with dark orange and gold trim. The blouse is orange silk. I felt so glamorous all day at work. :-) Shushi is the one in the other green saree; she wore it because she knows firsthand how much I like green sarees, since she looked at all of them with me at the shop, and she had told me that she had a saree I would just love-- all shades of green. Srividja is in the light-colored saree with the print; she went with me to get the blouse. Vaishnavi is in the red salwar kimeez; she sits next to me at work and helped Shushi and me to drape our sarees properly.