It's been a couple months since I've last written in this blog. I am now back in Portland, OR, USA. Back in the good 'ol Pacific Northwest. I left Bangalore, India on May 4th, this time I didn't miss my flight. The journey back was very memorable. I met may foreigners on the flight who just started working in Bangalore for different MNCs. I quickly understood how Bangalore was continuing to grow at an exponential rate. I wondered how Bangalore - the local government and its people would keep up. I did notice how quickly my own neighborhood grow, from new DVD stores to new grocery stores to a new car dealership. But the infrastructure is lacking and during the 10 months that I was there I hardly saw any improvement. I know that the locals and the expats are frustrated that nothing is being done.
What is being planned? Is the government just that corrupt? It's just so complex. But Bangalore just seems so far away now. I am still trying to make sense of my whole stay there. I was there for 10 months, not enough time really to truly absorb Bangalore and India. By the time I was leaving life was really beginning to flow there but it was time to go. I had a positive international experience and was ready to further advance my career back in the US. I would love to go back to Bangalore in another 5 years and see how it's changed.
I still plan to continue this blog. I've enjoyed reading the comments, critics, praises and feedback from everyone around the world. Please keep it up. Until tomorrow......
6.18.2005
4.28.2005
4.19.2005
Leaving too early?
Of course with all goodbye's come a period of regret. Am I leaving too soon? Did I not experience all that I wanted? What more can I do? If I can do it all over again what would I change? I did just start to feel really at home when I came back just this past January. Now I'm feeling sad that I'm leaving in less than 2 weeks.
4.16.2005
A sad hello is to be expressed in the future
Am I going to have regrets?
I expected a much happier reunion
But looks like I am a failure at this
As my heart has been feeling pain
Expressionless and emotionless I shall become
What mess have I brought upon myself now?
Should I stay here longer?
Will it mend things between us?
Uncertain of how to approach this rift
There’s no excitement of coming near
Only angst and fear
How I long to see that familiar smile
Only in it’s truest sincerity.
Am I going to have regrets?
I expected a much happier reunion
But looks like I am a failure at this
As my heart has been feeling pain
Expressionless and emotionless I shall become
What mess have I brought upon myself now?
Should I stay here longer?
Will it mend things between us?
Uncertain of how to approach this rift
There’s no excitement of coming near
Only angst and fear
How I long to see that familiar smile
Only in it’s truest sincerity.
4.10.2005
Leaving India Soon
My time in India is coming to an end. I've spent the last month traveling around this vast country and it never ceases to amaze me. India is a country that you grow to both love AND hate. I love both the surface and depthness. It's so hard to describe India in words, each place is so different from the other. In Bangalore, you can experience the growing culture of the middle class through the IT industry and a Kerala backwater village you can experience the lives of people who make a little over $200/yr through their rope making, canoe building, fish catching businesses. I met an old woman who made Rs. 30 for 8 hours of rope making working 7 days/week. In dollars, that's $0.70 per 8 hours of labor. In one month she earns $20, and one year $235. I had heard about people making this much but never thought I would actually meet someone. I am still in shock.
In one month, I'll be returning to Portland, OR. I accepted a position with Intel US. I look forward to returning home to start a life with Brandon and Kylie together. This has been an amazing last year, filled with every type of emotion possible. I've experienced all the ups and downs with moving to a developing country and if I could do it again, I would!!! I will miss all the amazing people I've met here from local Indians, to British, Irish, Israelis, Germans, Australians, French, Swiss, Danish, Americans, they are all here in India. It definitely takes a unique person to experience India as India itself is truly complex.
Well, I'm now busy preparing for my repatriation. That too, is not simple. Nothing is ever simple here.
In one month, I'll be returning to Portland, OR. I accepted a position with Intel US. I look forward to returning home to start a life with Brandon and Kylie together. This has been an amazing last year, filled with every type of emotion possible. I've experienced all the ups and downs with moving to a developing country and if I could do it again, I would!!! I will miss all the amazing people I've met here from local Indians, to British, Irish, Israelis, Germans, Australians, French, Swiss, Danish, Americans, they are all here in India. It definitely takes a unique person to experience India as India itself is truly complex.
Well, I'm now busy preparing for my repatriation. That too, is not simple. Nothing is ever simple here.
3.28.2005
Passage to India Article
My name made it in print again. This time in the American Airlines in flight magazine, American Way. Check it out! It's a very good article on the life of American expats in Bangalore! :) Passage to India
3.22.2005
Royal House of Mysore Fashion Show
Palace Bangalore
Last Thursday I attended the Royal House of Mysore Fashion Show at the Palace Bangalore hosted by the Maharaja & Queen of Mysore. There were approximately 800 guests. I was invited through the Overseas Women’s Club. I knew that $20 membership would eventual pay off!!!! It sure was fun hanging out with Bangalore’s cream of the crop. It was a very good mix of foreigners and Bangaloreans. It was pure eye candy; my friend and I enjoyed people watching! I got to wear my sari again!! But it was the same sari that I had worn at another event. I need to expand my collection. A girl can’t wear the same sari twice!!!
King Datta Wadiyar and models
The King reminded me of Don King, he had very wild chia pet like hair. Of course he was a typical King, where he didn’t really show any true interest in his guests. He was very aloof but posed in pictures with many of his guests. I even got a picture with him. But as you can see he wasn’t even paying attention to the camera. After the fashion show there was an Indian buffet dinner, which was yummy. It was a great evening.
A little bit of Mysore history: Mysore city was the capital of the old royal Mysore province and was ruled by the Wadiyar Dynasty from 1399AD to 1948AD. During the 1700s Mysore was captured briefly by Tipu Sultan but the kingdowm was returned to the Wadiyars in 1799 by the British. Today Mysore is famous for its silks, sandalwood, the Mysore Royal Palace, Chamundi Hill.
3.04.2005
Epitome of Love!
Before coming to India, I never thought of visiting the Taj Mahal. It was just one of those things that I've only seen in pictures and read about in world history books. To see the Taj Mahal in person is quite remarkable and hypnotizing. To understand the true beauty, the intricacies of the design and love of the Taj, only one must see it in person. The main entrance of the Taj is approximately 900 ft. away from the monument. As you walk towards the entrance, you can see the white marble structure slowly come into view as you get closer to the main gate. It's an amazing presentation of the marbled beauty and after you enter the gate you can't help but lose your breath at the sight in front of you. I was mesmerized for a while. We just sat there for minutes to take in the scenery. I was actually seeing the Taj in person.
The Taj Mahal was inspired by Mumtaz Mahal the wife of Shah Jahan, King of the Mughal Empire. Mumtaz died during her 14th childbirth and it was then the King decided to build the monument in her honor. It took 20 years and 20,000 workers to build the Taj Mahal. Architects from all over India, Persia and Turkey all came to help build the mausoleum. Both the King and Queen are buried below within the mausoleum. It is located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh and it over looks the Yemuna River.
We walked slowly towards the monument just enjoying it's beauty drawing larger as we come near. This is not a small structure. It is a huge monument that stands 200 ft tall and 150 ft wide. The mausoleum is made out of marble and it sits on a red sandstone platform. The marble walls are carved with floral arabessques and decorated with gemstones and gold inlay. It's near perfect and amazing. I was overcome with feelings deep love and sadness. I felt like I could almost feel the love between the king and queen as I walked around the marbled plinth and investigated the minarets and the scenery around. You are not allowed to wear shoes on the platform. I walked barefoot on the marble and enjoyed the coolness of it under my feet. It was a beautiful day! Very bright and sunny. There wasn't a cloud in the blue sky. It was the perfect day to see the Taj.
The Taj Mahal was inspired by Mumtaz Mahal the wife of Shah Jahan, King of the Mughal Empire. Mumtaz died during her 14th childbirth and it was then the King decided to build the monument in her honor. It took 20 years and 20,000 workers to build the Taj Mahal. Architects from all over India, Persia and Turkey all came to help build the mausoleum. Both the King and Queen are buried below within the mausoleum. It is located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh and it over looks the Yemuna River.
We walked slowly towards the monument just enjoying it's beauty drawing larger as we come near. This is not a small structure. It is a huge monument that stands 200 ft tall and 150 ft wide. The mausoleum is made out of marble and it sits on a red sandstone platform. The marble walls are carved with floral arabessques and decorated with gemstones and gold inlay. It's near perfect and amazing. I was overcome with feelings deep love and sadness. I felt like I could almost feel the love between the king and queen as I walked around the marbled plinth and investigated the minarets and the scenery around. You are not allowed to wear shoes on the platform. I walked barefoot on the marble and enjoyed the coolness of it under my feet. It was a beautiful day! Very bright and sunny. There wasn't a cloud in the blue sky. It was the perfect day to see the Taj.
1.30.2005
Happy Last Week!
After spending 2.5 months back home in Portland, I return to Bangalore, my alternate reality. It was definitely a nice break and I felt that I hadn’t even left Portland. Now that I’ve returned to Bangalore I feel that I hadn’t left this place at all either. I just fell back into the daily hum drums of this fast growing city. What is that all about? Someone told me “that it must be very easy for me to integrate myself into a new city. What a great skill that is!” I did not resist to the differences I encountered here. That helped very much with my city integration. Resisting would’ve caused great frustration and anger. Don’t get me wrong, I do get frustrated at times but for the most part, I have to understand that it is a part of life here. Life is more peaceful with this mentality. I did not resist and now I am seeing the wonderful things that Bangalore has to offer.
I had a smooth flight back to India. In Frankfurt, I even ran into this American girl named Mary Grace who also lived in Bangalore. We were on the same flight back. My customs experience wasn’t that bad either! In fact, customs forgot to take my papers and Kylie’s health certificate and I walked right out of the international arrival without trouble. Processes! What are those here?
The weather here is fantastic; it’s been 80-85 degrees each day. This weekend it’s been in the 70s. Gorgeous! My first week back home was great. There were 5 people from the US team visiting Bangalore and that included my manager. It was so great having them here. It was almost like a present to have people from back home to come back to! We got to take them sightseeing, shopping, clubbing and we had such a great time. It’s very rare to see Americans in Bangalore but when they are here it’s such a fun connection.
Bangalore’s economy is growing very fast. It’s very evident, especially just down my street. There is a new DVD rental store, a new pharmacy, a new bank, a new supermarket, a new car dealership. It was a joy to come home to these new developments. I am amazed at how quickly this city is growing and becoming more western. I just love everything about this environment. There’s so much activity going on, you turn around for just 5 seconds, and there’s always something new being built.
I went to Forum, a very western type shopping mall, in Koramangala last Wednesday with my managers and team mates. Last Wednesday was a national holiday. Koramangala is basically a suburb of Bangalore. It’s about 30 minutes away from the city proper. The mall looks like its straight out of Newport Beach. The mall had an international food court and I was delighted to find that I can get crepes there. But the most special thing about the mall is the new 11 screen multiplex on the 4th floor, the first of its kind in Bangalore.
The theatres offered different classes with different movies in each one; Cinema Europa, Gold Class, Classic. We tried to see a Hindi film in the gold class but it was all sold out. We were very disappointed because we wanted to experience what the gold class had to offer. The gold class offered plush seating, movie and food for Rs. 500 = USD $11.60. That’s kind of expensive to see a movie here if you ask me but they are catering to the Bangalorean IT consumers.
After the Forum we went to visit two of my colleague’s new homes that are being built. One of them was a traditional style home and the other more contemporary. I was shocked to see the model of the contemporary home; it looked like it came straight out of San Diego, Rancho Cucamonga area. It resembled a typical Southern California cookie cutter home. I was amazed to see that here. Those homes cost 1 crore = USD $300,000. Can you believe that there are homes that cost like that here? I cannot. The average non IT person makes around $2/day here. The total number of IT people in this country is around 3 million, out of the 1.02 billion people in India. Wow! I cannot wait to see this place 10 year from now.
My apartment building is forever under construction. Oh well. I am pretty used to it. Every since I got back and complained about the dust the owner makes every effort to keep the place clean. How nice of him! I do pay him maintenance cost and I believe that includes housekeeping of the building. The owner has offered to build me a deck outside of my bedroom. That is going to be pretty sweet. He said it should be done end of February, which I hardly believe. So I am taking bets here!
Kylie is doing well here. She had a hard time adjusting to the smells, sights, sounds of the city. It was so hard that she would take an hour to go to the bathroom when I would walk her outside. Frustrated that it would take two hours of my time each day I decided to build her a grass garden at the roof of the house. (I got this idea from Joe / Kate. Thanks!!!) I contracted 3 people to build the border of the garden and had the people from the botanical gardens bring me "Mexican carpet" grass, which is quite lovely. The cost of the labor for 3 people who did 4 hours worth of work was $10 and the “Mexican carpet” cost me $132, worth EVERY penny or rupee. I am now happy to walk my dog and Kylie is happy that she doesn’t have to share her toilet with the stray dogs. What a great idea that was!!!
Last night I went out with my American friend Liz to iBar, a club at the 5 * Park Hotel. We met two more Americans, who just moved here from Chicago. They are doing the hiring/training for their call center. They were so excited to have met some more Americans. It was really nice and funny to see how happy they were. They said this was the highlight of their last 10 days here. I could relate because I remember how happy I was when I finally met some fun westerners to hang out with last August. We also met a pretty cool Swiss guy who looked just like Sting. It’s so cool! Liz and I just increased our friend base by 3!!!! YAAAAAAY!!!
Anyway, that’s all for now…I am waiting to get cable TV. It is going to be installed today and I will soon have 75 channels for $6.50/month.
I had a smooth flight back to India. In Frankfurt, I even ran into this American girl named Mary Grace who also lived in Bangalore. We were on the same flight back. My customs experience wasn’t that bad either! In fact, customs forgot to take my papers and Kylie’s health certificate and I walked right out of the international arrival without trouble. Processes! What are those here?
The weather here is fantastic; it’s been 80-85 degrees each day. This weekend it’s been in the 70s. Gorgeous! My first week back home was great. There were 5 people from the US team visiting Bangalore and that included my manager. It was so great having them here. It was almost like a present to have people from back home to come back to! We got to take them sightseeing, shopping, clubbing and we had such a great time. It’s very rare to see Americans in Bangalore but when they are here it’s such a fun connection.
Bangalore’s economy is growing very fast. It’s very evident, especially just down my street. There is a new DVD rental store, a new pharmacy, a new bank, a new supermarket, a new car dealership. It was a joy to come home to these new developments. I am amazed at how quickly this city is growing and becoming more western. I just love everything about this environment. There’s so much activity going on, you turn around for just 5 seconds, and there’s always something new being built.
I went to Forum, a very western type shopping mall, in Koramangala last Wednesday with my managers and team mates. Last Wednesday was a national holiday. Koramangala is basically a suburb of Bangalore. It’s about 30 minutes away from the city proper. The mall looks like its straight out of Newport Beach. The mall had an international food court and I was delighted to find that I can get crepes there. But the most special thing about the mall is the new 11 screen multiplex on the 4th floor, the first of its kind in Bangalore.
The theatres offered different classes with different movies in each one; Cinema Europa, Gold Class, Classic. We tried to see a Hindi film in the gold class but it was all sold out. We were very disappointed because we wanted to experience what the gold class had to offer. The gold class offered plush seating, movie and food for Rs. 500 = USD $11.60. That’s kind of expensive to see a movie here if you ask me but they are catering to the Bangalorean IT consumers.
After the Forum we went to visit two of my colleague’s new homes that are being built. One of them was a traditional style home and the other more contemporary. I was shocked to see the model of the contemporary home; it looked like it came straight out of San Diego, Rancho Cucamonga area. It resembled a typical Southern California cookie cutter home. I was amazed to see that here. Those homes cost 1 crore = USD $300,000. Can you believe that there are homes that cost like that here? I cannot. The average non IT person makes around $2/day here. The total number of IT people in this country is around 3 million, out of the 1.02 billion people in India. Wow! I cannot wait to see this place 10 year from now.
My apartment building is forever under construction. Oh well. I am pretty used to it. Every since I got back and complained about the dust the owner makes every effort to keep the place clean. How nice of him! I do pay him maintenance cost and I believe that includes housekeeping of the building. The owner has offered to build me a deck outside of my bedroom. That is going to be pretty sweet. He said it should be done end of February, which I hardly believe. So I am taking bets here!
Kylie is doing well here. She had a hard time adjusting to the smells, sights, sounds of the city. It was so hard that she would take an hour to go to the bathroom when I would walk her outside. Frustrated that it would take two hours of my time each day I decided to build her a grass garden at the roof of the house. (I got this idea from Joe / Kate. Thanks!!!) I contracted 3 people to build the border of the garden and had the people from the botanical gardens bring me "Mexican carpet" grass, which is quite lovely. The cost of the labor for 3 people who did 4 hours worth of work was $10 and the “Mexican carpet” cost me $132, worth EVERY penny or rupee. I am now happy to walk my dog and Kylie is happy that she doesn’t have to share her toilet with the stray dogs. What a great idea that was!!!
Last night I went out with my American friend Liz to iBar, a club at the 5 * Park Hotel. We met two more Americans, who just moved here from Chicago. They are doing the hiring/training for their call center. They were so excited to have met some more Americans. It was really nice and funny to see how happy they were. They said this was the highlight of their last 10 days here. I could relate because I remember how happy I was when I finally met some fun westerners to hang out with last August. We also met a pretty cool Swiss guy who looked just like Sting. It’s so cool! Liz and I just increased our friend base by 3!!!! YAAAAAAY!!!
Anyway, that’s all for now…I am waiting to get cable TV. It is going to be installed today and I will soon have 75 channels for $6.50/month.
1.22.2005
Culture Shock Deuce?
I am back! After a two month stint in the US I am back in Bangalore! So how do I feel? I am actually pretty excited. Here's why:
1. a new DVD/VCD rental store opened up on my street
2. Kylie has a new patch of grass on the roof of the house (8x10). It’s pretty nice grass too! I can rant about Kylie taking FOREVER to go pee/poo outside. She's so picky...she smells the other dogs and doesn't like it. So she takes an average of 1 hour before she'll finally go outside...but now she's got her own garden on the top of the roof. What a spoiled dog!!!
3. the owner of the house is going to build me a deck just outside of my bedroom….it is under construction (HAHAHA! Of course it is!!!) and the funny part is I will get to enjoy the dust sitting outside
4. my apartment is finally clean
5. I will get cable soon…I hope…once I figure out what the card is so I can install its driver
What is NOT COOL!
1. my new roommates….COCKROACHES!!!! eeeeek. They are so huge!
2. the DUST DUST DUST DUST
So far so good though! Let's see how things go in the next few weeks!
1. a new DVD/VCD rental store opened up on my street
2. Kylie has a new patch of grass on the roof of the house (8x10). It’s pretty nice grass too! I can rant about Kylie taking FOREVER to go pee/poo outside. She's so picky...she smells the other dogs and doesn't like it. So she takes an average of 1 hour before she'll finally go outside...but now she's got her own garden on the top of the roof. What a spoiled dog!!!
3. the owner of the house is going to build me a deck just outside of my bedroom….it is under construction (HAHAHA! Of course it is!!!) and the funny part is I will get to enjoy the dust sitting outside
4. my apartment is finally clean
5. I will get cable soon…I hope…once I figure out what the card is so I can install its driver
What is NOT COOL!
1. my new roommates….COCKROACHES!!!! eeeeek. They are so huge!
2. the DUST DUST DUST DUST
So far so good though! Let's see how things go in the next few weeks!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
