Thursday, February 16, 2006 

Cruisin'

I would actually walk to the office if there were any proper sidewalks...or traffic lights at the crossings, or if those poor children would leave me alone...(simply heart-breaking). Knowing none of these things was going to happen in the next week, I asked my co-workers what to do.

My colleauges said the easiest way to get to work was to hail an auto. I assumed this was british speak for taxi...wrong! Auto means auto-rickshaw, if you live in the U.S. there are none of these:




The driver thought I was quite mad to want to take a picture of this.

It's a bit like a golf cart with a diesel fuel tank, and three wheels. You have to get over the initial idea of riding in one. Once you do it's not really that bad, it will however wake you up in the morning as your driver dips and dodges between trucks, mototcyles and cars. And I don't reccommend it if you have a bad back. The potholes will rattle your teeth.

The view from a richshaw:

(Note to self : turn off the flash on the camera, this really annoyed the driver....thankfully we were'nt moving)


There is a basic fare system , just take the number on the meter, multiply by 6 and add 2
( this is the time to remember your algebra....don't add 2 and multiply by 6, addition and mutliplication don't work that way! ) . Why this isn't just built into the meter I'll never understand.

And you can get quite dizzy trying to do 1.7 * 6 before your first cup of coffee.....ur tea.

If you're a clueless gora ( white guy) you have a few options:

  • Ask the driver 'how much?' , at which point he knows he can charge you triple.
  • Ask them for the fare card ( which is supplied to them by some traffic agency and lists the fares), this will result in an immediate cry of 'Sorry lost', then you will be charged triple.

(This isn't quite fair as I actually did encounter one driver this week who showed me the fare card, and even explained it a bit....but that's one for 8 rides so far).

Also... have exact change.

After a few days of doing this I finally made myself a fare card and put it in my pocket. So this morning I knew it was Rs. 13, I gave him Rs 20 and pointed to myself, said 'sat' (7) and held up seven fingers. This elicited the 2nd great richshaw driver mantra 'Sorry, no change'.

Still half awake, I conceded to let him rip me off a bit and said ..'Okay dude I get it ...gimme panch (5)' ...again 'Sorry no change'. So I folded my arms and refused to leave the vehichle until I at least got my panch....
at which point he shrugged his sholders , gave a slight smile and said "No change". It was pretty obvious I was not going to win.

These daily tests of will are somewhat entertaining, especially when you realize you're arguing about dimes and quaters here....so don't get too upset ;)


8:52 PM | |

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 

The phat pad: part2

I'm not sure how many people actually live in my buiding...I've seen 3 or 4 in the elevator, the securtity guard said there are about 15 families in there now ( obviously they're not greeting eachother in the aforementioned courtyard).
The interior is furnished: couches, beds and A/C.
None of the floor plans here
http://www.rohanbuilders.com/k-floorplan1.htm
seem to match 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom layout I have...( unless I missed something)
So...here it is....
The much joked about "Lounge cum party area" (you juvenile bastards) :


Bedroom

There are 2 bedrooms , but I only took pictures of the one I'm staying in...there's a bathroom off to the left of this ( we'll get to that in a sec):

The kitchen

The refigirator starts playing music if you leave it open too long ( scared me the first time).

The front door is to the right of the kitchen, the door in the picture goes out to a smaller balcony.

Note: Everyone in India drinks bottled water, not just the tourists. ( More on the water in a later post)

The bathroom

At this juncture I would like to say please remember I am an Eagle Scout, have been in camp for weeks at a time, and have seen worse. This gets the job done, and I have no issue with it. This is all you really need : toilet, showerhead, drain in floor (and flip-flops) . And I've got two of 'em ( bathrooms).

The sink is outside in the hallway between the bathroom and bedroom.

So that's how we livin' up on Ganeskind....just off Senapati Bapat Road.

More to come soon!

8:15 PM | |

 

The phat pad: part1

"The people desire info, and info is what you will give us, god damn it"....thanks Zach.
Okay the pictures are broken up into multiple posts becuase I had some problems with uploading. First the Apartment, the building is done, the building complex however is not....so it's about 1/2 construction site.
10 Kasturkunj is the address...and remember the artist's renditions
http://www.rohanbuilders.com/k-perspective1.htm
It may look like that in 2 years or so...but the street will never be that paved.
At this point the courtyard is just filled with construciton supplies.
My building:


And the view from the balcony:

But you'll notice if you turn left the second building and the ongoing construction:

On the 10th floor you're almost totally removed you from the never ending traffic noise on Ganeshkind road.

5:47 AM | |

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 

On the road again

Sunday was the long car ride from Mumbai to Pune, about 3 hours.
Driving out of Mumbai really gives you the full picture of what 'developing country' means. Okay, there are people with money who have western type stuff,then there are people with nothing...N-O-T-H-I-N-G....nothing. They all live next door to eachother!!

Here's what you see as you drive out of Mumbai in a five minute span:
  • Man selling scrap metal in a shopping cart
  • Reebok store
  • people huddled by the side of the road in dirt poverty
  • McDonalds

On any indian road you will always find a mix of motorcycles, auto-rickshaws ,trucks, most anything with wheels. Larger vehicles are ofter packed to the brim with people. Lanes are more abstract concept than hard rule ( the excpetion to this was on that one road that went up the ghats ( ghats means mountains)).
And everyone drives like cabbies do in new york,bobbing and weaving around. There is often zero differentiation between lane and sidewalk, except for where the gravel clearly breaks into dirt.

Needless to say walking down the streets here takes a bit of courage, which the locals have and I don't. Numerous vehicles will pass within inches of you and beep. Although, the auto horn carries a different connotation here, the meaning seems to depend on how large your vehicle is. if you encounter a larger vehicle it means:

"I am here, and I am going to try to get around you"

If you encounter a smaller vehicle it means:

"I am here and you should move" (pedestrians count as smaller vehicles)

Or sometimes it means:

"I'm making a left hand turn from the right hand lane across 6 lanes of traffic, fear me!"

But almost never is it done as it is in the states where it almost always means:

"@#!#'n move you @#!#", for that people use their voices.

8:08 PM | |

Monday, February 13, 2006 

Culture shock and awe

Well here I am, a company man in India. I have never been anywhere else, to say this is different is the understatment of the century. I arrived in Mumbai at 1 a.m. on sunday. The first thijng that strikes you as you get off the plane is , 'wow...that's hot'....and ....moist. The airport feels as if you could grow mushrooms in the hallways.

I was next to an English engineer on the way over ( doing much the same king of thing I am, only in a different town, and with construction), as we went through customs I remarked
"Don't they have airconditioning here?"
to which he replied
"'at's just a losing battle that is"

And he's right the heat and humidity are pervasive, it's constatnly about 60% humidity if not more, and 65-70 degrees Farenheit seems to be the low, and it's February...
Getting through customs was fine, finding the baggage claim is a bit of a challenge, they split it into domestic and international, but all the signs simply say "baggage claim".
If you're ever in Mumbai, after they check your passport just go left, you'll save alot of time.

The company had aranged for a dirver from the hotel, just go outside and look for the guy with the hotel sign, simple...right?
Like the vistior guide said "after 20 hours traveling you're a bit tired....but this is the time to keep your wits about you"
I exited to a throng of people, think new year's eve in Times Square, only they don't close off traffic. A sea of humaity, a cacaphony of car horns, shouting, people tossing flowers, ( presumably at returing relatives), everyone has sign that say "Car" or "Hotel" and 10 dudes trying to take your bags.
"Sir, I take that for you!" ( not really a question as he grabs your suitcase handle)
"No!" ( as I grab it back)
"I am from hotel!"
"Which one?"
"I am from hotel, I take bag!"
"No!"
At one point I was elbow to elbow in the crowd with a man behind me screaming in what I presume was Arabic, throwing flower blossoms...(Later my cab driver told me the Haj was over and many Muslim people were retruning to India). A surly seven year old smacked my bag and told told me "GO!", I had to respond with a "I'm trying" . Then a car beeped, apparently this was part of a road...I just laughed, looked at the driver and said "you're kidding right?".
I did finally find the driver and got to the hotel, In my wearinesss I made the mistake of tipping him $2, at which point he started offering me a host of other 'services', but I was exhausted.

8:37 PM | |