This time, I am mixing things up a bit. This is Chris, and I am hijacking the blog for this post. For those of you who are new to the blog, Emma is the normal author of the blog; however, I thought I would write a little about our experience in India.
My India experience started about a week and a half before Emma's. I arrived on Sunday morning and managed to make it to the guest house at about 3 or 4 AM India time. The car ride from the airport to the guest house was an eye opening experience. My first impression of this new - and very different - land was hard to process given the late hour and fatigue from the flight. The next day I had a much easier time trying to come to grips with this country where elements from the past seemed to merge almost seamlessly with elements of the present. This is a place where you see a boy driving an ox pulled cart through rush hour next to a billboard for the Samsung Galaxy 4. As an american that I met in Mysore said "the experience stretches your mind." I can think of no better way to say it.
That first Sunday I had the opportunity to get some rest and go to a local mall/supermarket that was close by. The store had a lot in common with american superstores except the produce sections had more selections than you could shake a stick at, and some looked quite interesting. I also managed to meet up with Sid who is one of my coworkers there in India. We checked out a couple sites including the Bull Temple which is pictured below.
Beginning on Monday I worked in Bangalore for two weeks. It was a lot of fun, the team there is a blast to work with and I made some great friends. This was a pleasant discovery on my trip, how great the Indian people are. They are some of the best people I have ever met. They are as kind and fun a people as any I have met. They are also some of the hardest working and industrious people I have ever met as well. It was a pleasure to get to know them.
It is hard to describe what is going through your head the first few days in a place like Bangalore. Many of the differences are stark; however, they all work together in a way you have to see to understand. I'll take driving for example. The first day you are thinking "this is chaos and I may not make it out alive" however, after a few days you start to learn the rules and see the rhyme and reason to how their system works. It doesn't look like what I was accustomed to but it worked.
Below are some pictures and videos from the first part of our trip to India.
This is a picture of the temple at the Big Bull Temple in Bangalore. You can see the stone work is really cool.
A Panorama of the view off of the top of one of the building where we would have lunch (this is the other side of the building).
My India experience started about a week and a half before Emma's. I arrived on Sunday morning and managed to make it to the guest house at about 3 or 4 AM India time. The car ride from the airport to the guest house was an eye opening experience. My first impression of this new - and very different - land was hard to process given the late hour and fatigue from the flight. The next day I had a much easier time trying to come to grips with this country where elements from the past seemed to merge almost seamlessly with elements of the present. This is a place where you see a boy driving an ox pulled cart through rush hour next to a billboard for the Samsung Galaxy 4. As an american that I met in Mysore said "the experience stretches your mind." I can think of no better way to say it.
That first Sunday I had the opportunity to get some rest and go to a local mall/supermarket that was close by. The store had a lot in common with american superstores except the produce sections had more selections than you could shake a stick at, and some looked quite interesting. I also managed to meet up with Sid who is one of my coworkers there in India. We checked out a couple sites including the Bull Temple which is pictured below.
Beginning on Monday I worked in Bangalore for two weeks. It was a lot of fun, the team there is a blast to work with and I made some great friends. This was a pleasant discovery on my trip, how great the Indian people are. They are some of the best people I have ever met. They are as kind and fun a people as any I have met. They are also some of the hardest working and industrious people I have ever met as well. It was a pleasure to get to know them.
It is hard to describe what is going through your head the first few days in a place like Bangalore. Many of the differences are stark; however, they all work together in a way you have to see to understand. I'll take driving for example. The first day you are thinking "this is chaos and I may not make it out alive" however, after a few days you start to learn the rules and see the rhyme and reason to how their system works. It doesn't look like what I was accustomed to but it worked.
Below are some pictures and videos from the first part of our trip to India.
This was that first store I went to on the first Sunday.
A sugarcane juice station in the grocery store. I saw several other sugarcane juice stations set up in various locations; some were on the side of the road or in traditional markets but overall it seemed to be a pretty popular drink.
This is a clip from the drive to work on my first day at work in Bangalore. While talking to my guide in Delhi I learned that somewhere in the ballpark of 40% of the power in Delhi is stolen. I didn't get any such stats for Bangalore but it looked like the practice was still observed.
Another clip from the drive into work.
Almost every morning we would have an early call with the american team, then go for breakfast. Of the Indian breakfasts, I liked the dosa the best (pictured in the platter on the left); however, most mornings I would have an egg sandwich (an omelet in a sandwich) or a vegetable sandwich (pretty self explanatory only this was always prepared with three layers of bread).
After work we went out to eat on several of the days we were there. This is a place called Sizzler and that is steam from the dishes which are also called Sizzler. You will also see there some fresh lime drinks on the table. This was a popular drink and was typically ordered with "sweet and salt." I tended to prefer it just sweet. Also at this dinner I tried lhassi which is a very heavy yogurt drink. It was really good but sits very heavy on your stomach if you're not used to it.
Another pic at Sizzler.
A view of the outside of the second guest house I stayed at. I stayed at two guest houses during my time in Bangalore. The first one wasn't very nice and I didn't have very good internet reception there. As a result of the condition of the guest house they moved me about half way through the first week in the area. I was very grateful for the move.
You can't really tell from the video but that bus that pulled up at one point was close enough that I could reach out and touch it.
You'll notice, we are on the wrong side of the road.
In the first room we were in, there was a Chinese food bar where we would eat a lot of the time. Chinese food is very popular in India. In most of the Indian restaurants that we went to there were several Chinese options. The Chinese food was not the same as what you would get in China; however, it was much better than what you would find in the U.S. I was a big fan of the Chicken Noodle.
This is the view of Bangalore from the building where our cafeteria is. I loved all the colors of Bangalore.
Another view from our cafeteria building.
In India, trees are very well respected. It was fairly typical to see construction done around trees. you would be driving along and see a tree in the in the road that they had just paved around. In this case the fence was built around the tree.
No essay on Indian life would be complete without a nod to cows in traffic. I saw this quite frequently.
More pictures and videos will come soon as Emma and I continue to tell about our experience in India.
More pictures and videos will come soon as Emma and I continue to tell about our experience in India.
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