A landmark on the ex-pat voyage!

I remember, when we first moved from the UK to the U.S, I felt it was a real sign that we had truly arrived the first time I bumped into someone I recognized in the grocery store. I remember all the details, it was QFC on the Pine Lake Plaza in Issaquah and the lady was a german lady I had met playing tennis. I'm not sure I ever saw her again but that's not the point!

In San Jose, I'd feel it was a really bad day if I didn't see someone to crash shopping carts with or wave my Starbucks at on the Almaden Expressway's Safeway Plaza.

Well, yesterday I achieved a double hit, here in Bangalore!! First I met a fellow Indus mom at a furniture store, I was looking for a bed - no joy. She bought 4 items of furniture and some towels!! Then at the bookstore I spotted 2 ladies from the 'hood.

Does this mean I feel we belong - no, but it's definitely a mark of passage and seems something worth blogging about!!

The $1,000,000 question...............

What does ex-pat Helen do with her days?
So a typical day - well, I don't really think I have got as far as a "typical day" yet but this is what I did yesterday.

Each day starts with a scramble to throw on some clothes and get the kids to the bus stop for 7.30am. Not as bad as it sounds as they have breakfast at school. Ads wears his formals (which he won't let me take a pic of) - but consist of pants, a regulation brown belt, short sleeve shirt, tie, regulation socks and the most revolting brown lace up shoes you can imagine - 3 days a week. Once I have waved the kids (well Wills - Ads has forgotten my existence once he has even one horrific brown shoe on the bus) on their way, all is quiet.

When I get home I find Simon pacing and no driver. We later get a text from Kathik saying "the happiness he had the day before had all gone when he woke this morning, and he will call with details later." Very cryptic but transpires to mean that sadly his wife has had a miscarriage and they are at the hospital. Simon takes a deep breath and the car keys and drives into the jungle of aimless cows, jumping pedestrians, dodging auto ricks, overcrowded, underhelmetted motorbikes - which make the morning drive to work all the more exciting.

I then walk to the club house to join other Indian, French & Canadian ladies to "shake it with Mogli"

Our aerobics instructor is gorgeous - just like a twenty-something Mogli. He arrives on his motorbike - his helmet on his arm and his black hair blowing in the breeze. He then leads us in a mix of aerobics and Bollywood. As we try to emulate his flexibility, moves and rhythm he is never with out a smile (or maybe he's just laughing at us!!).

Then, I walk home and contemplate my driverless state. Feeling adventurous and buoyed up by a cup of chai (thanks Sweetie!) I head out of the 'hood and grab an auto rick.

We bounce and shudder to the Leela Palace for the Overseas Women's Club weekly coffee morning, which is a hive of female activity and chatter. For us womenfolk landing in Bangalore, once our husbands are settled at work, the kids at school and we have a roof over our heads we need friends, solidarity in our plight, help and reassurance from the more experienced, and things to do on a daily basis.

First thing to do on entering the room of a thousand female faces all in chat mode is to spot a familiar face. This I managed. So having thought I was driverless and confined to barracks, I am soon driving with a new friend (I hope!) to Commercial road - for shopping! Such are the ups and downs of life as an ex-pat in this wonderful exotic country.

 Commercial Road is a bustle - the Indians like to shop. We go into a myriad of different shops with plentiful arrays of splendid colors, patterns and fabric - spend some money (not too much I hasten to add -Simon might read this!!) and ear mark some stores worthy of a second visit. Although a lot of women wear all western clothes, I feel more comfortable in a tunic and jeans/leggings - or maybe thats just an excuse to shop!!

Home in time for another cup of chai and then the sight of the yellow Indus bus number 3B rolling down the street. The kids jump off, come into the house for a snack and then disappear to the club house to play and I head out for a game of badminton - which I play with more enthusiasm than skill. I need to remember my tennis two handed back hand is a no-go on the baddy court!!

What will tomorrow bring? 

A "Wonderla" Indian Amusement park - same or different to the U.S?

Both!!

Welcome to Wonderla!! - Wills' 6th birthday treat.
As expected lots of water and lots of thrills (again - I took the behind the camera stance for the day!)

Water was clean and warm - solar heated! Ads, especially, was happy to see the solar heating. In a country with no apparent re-cycling, lots of pollution etc - this gave him a glimmer of hope.

Ads and Pranav took to the skies upside down and their stomachs I'm sure inside out! - but they wanted to do it all again!

Plenty of differences as well. The food for one - real Indian fare (not the best) but cooked there and then - and yes for the less adventurous toasted sandwiches and fries (but still cooked in front of us) and I won't tell you what it cost to feed the 5 of us!

Big discrepancy between the "in the water" attire of the ladies and the guys...

Copyright Helen Towers 2010

Look at these beautiful school girls in the wave pool in their uniforms and the ladies to the left in their rich blue saris. Yes, all fully clothed in the water. But the guys - why is it the ones that really shouldn't are the ones in the skimpy speedos? I did take some pics but couldn't bring myself to post! 

What do the life guards carry to protect themselves from the sun?

A standard issue black umbrella - sensible idea? When I was lubing up Simon & Ads, to protect them from the sun, lots of Indian kids came up and asked for some sunscreen and proceeded to rub it on - not sure if they really knew what it was for or they were following  the "mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the palest of them all?" In the stores here the "whitening/lightening" skin creams are as prevalent as the anti-aging ones in the U.S. Our new game, when looking for each other in a crowd, or in one of my pics is a spin off of "Finding Waldo" - "Finding the White Wones!"

We had a great day, the unbridled happiness and smiles of the Indians at play is infectious! Even the groups of teenagers/youths/young people have an unrestrained "joie de vivre"

The flexible speeding ticket and the protection of stray dogs!

Yesterday Karthik and I were on a mission to get curtains (well he was driving and I was shopping!) when we got pulled over by the police. Amazingly the traffic was so light that it was feasible to be caught speeding - a very rare occurrence to be able to get anywhere near the speed limit driving in Bangalore!

The police guy comes over smiling and he sends Karthik, who is also still smiling and totally unfazed, to the police car behind us. I have absolutely no idea what is happening/going to happen at this point and am still sitting in the car. Karthik then returns to my window and said he thinks he'll need 100 rupees (like $2.50). I ask him if this is the fine.

"No madam. The fine is 300 rupees but as I was only 7 km over the speed limit, I think it is worth only 100 rupees"..... and off he trots back to the police car with 100 rupees.

As we drive off I ask - so the fine is negotiable? Karthik smiles - "No madam it is not negotiating - it is talking.........and also I gave the constable 50 rupees" (Maybe that also was talking...)

Later, I went to a meeting convened in our neighborhood to deal with the issue of aggressive stray dogs infiltrating the 'hood. There are literally thousands and thousands of stray dogs in Bangalore, it is a real problem. As they get plenty of food from the ample supplies of trash, they seem in the most part pretty healthy and have plenty of energy to procreate very efficiently.

You would think a couple of stray dogs in the 'hood would be an easy issue to deal with but no!! Firstly in Bangalore, as in the rest of the world, there are staunch, vocal, animal lovers, and consequently no dog, even rabid and aggressive, can be euthanized, or even relocated. Yes, it is even illegal to relocate a stray (which means homeless?) dog. They can however be sterilized, but first you have to catch them - not something I am volunteering for! They will then be collected and snipped but then released in the same place!

Apparently last time there was a stray dog issue in the 'hood, pressure was put on the management, and the dog "mysteriously" disappeared. Maybe that is the way to go!!

If you google 'stray dogs Bangalore' (yes - I have too much time on my hands!!), there's a sea - no ocean - of discussions, newspaper articles, complaints, police memorandums etc.etc. and there are no bigger issues to deal with?!?!?!!?

Crazy, wonderful world we live in!!

Best excuse I've ever heard!!

"Sir, little late sir, a cow charged into my motor bike".

Firstly - Indians like to please - so "little" here meant 2 days!

Secondly -this is entirely plausible! - Karthik, our driver comes to work on his motor bike and there are numerous sacred cows on the roads some of whom are a trifle aggressive.

Karthik is our fount of knowledge and wisdom here in Bangalore - he seems to know short cuts through the maize of streets here, answers our probably seemingly obvious questions about life here without bursting into laughter or rolling his eyes and when his duties have extended beyond the roads to the go-cart course has maintained his cool!

Wills was too young to drive here by himself and I thought I (and Wills too) would be safer if I stayed behind the camera lens!

Simon has driven the car - his maiden voyage was a tad timid but now he uses his horn like a native (horn means I'm coming thro' - make room or.....) Apparently the golden rule is to look ahead as if blinkered and leave the back of the car for the other users of the road to worry about.

Luckily for Karthik, Simon added the first little mark of life to our new vehicle - had a little issue reversing.  Yes - we have graduated from our Volvo wagon to an SUV - not sure about this as a positive move but definitely as a passenger its a lot more comfortable!

Who was in Cubbon Park on New Years Day?

Well we were, with our modest picnic, together with lots of other families all with bigger picnics, huge family groups and their best clothes - all to celebrate the New Year. The Indians sure know how to picnic! This little girl was so gorgeous in her party best!

The family groups came equipped for all eventualities and entertainment. For anyone who thought sari's are restrictive - not at all - anyone for badminton?

Then, again the contrasts of this amazing country - the old and the young, the lovers and the lonely, the poor and the not so - rubbing shoulders or at least under the same photo lens!

And the park itself is a huge refuge in the centre of Bangalore - away from the traffic and the chaos - but the realities of life are never far away - lurking behind every seemingly calm bamboo tree are the goods, bads, beautifuls and uglies of life - This is INDIA!!

If you're buying......everyone is selling!

We spent New Years Day at Cubbon Park in central Bangalore. The vendors were out in force. This wonderful old guy, such a character, was selling Indian snacks which he mixed on demand from the behl and spices in the bowls in his basket.

I couldn't resist taking lots of pics of him as he moved around the park touting his wares. If it wasn't for the zoom lens on my camera I'm sure he'd have thought I was stalking him!

Yes- everyone was selling from the old to the young. How old is this balloon salesman?

This was to me the tastiest looking snack......the roasted corn looked and smelled very yummy.

Sadly, Adam elected to go for the tried, tested and most unhealthy!!