New Year Years 2009-2010

It has just past mid- night on the east coast of the US, so it is 2010 there as well as here in Bangalore! It is difficult to imagine that an entire year - and more has passed with us all in Bangalore! For New Years Eve we went out for a very good dinner at a hotel restaurant which serves Italian style food that has always been very good. We were joined by 3 friend from Egypt and one Indian friend. It was a good meal and a pleasant evening. After dinner Jim went home to sleep while Janet and our friend Anita went to the Bangalore Club to see what was going on. They have lights up all over the place through Christmas and New Year celebrations it is quite magical.
Jan. 1 is a holiday here this year from work. It was not last year at work, because so many other Indian Holidays of higher priority were given instead. We plan to stay in the area around home and relax as much as possible.

Christmas 2009

Janet decorated a live tree she bought last year and brought it into the living room. We bought one string of LED lights in Cochin to put on the tree and it has been lit each evening for several days now. We got each other a few presents and placed them under the tree. The warm climate does not seem so much like Christmas, but we tried. Ziggy and Zoe don't seem as curious about this tree as the ones we have back home.
On Christmas day (which was a national Holiday in India) we relaxed in the morning and then walked over to the home of some friends about 1PM. There we had a very good Indian- American dinner with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, salads and a number of Indian dishes as well. We talked to several people- some who live in the US and were home visiting. It was a pleasant way to spend a few hours and the food was very good too.
After the dinner we walked to a nearby place where they were having a baking exhibition. We had not heard about this until a day or 2 earlier, but it is quite a big deal. You pay to enter and see the items made. The is a navy ship made of cake, as well as the Taj Mahal- not life size, but huge! Smaller items included a bird cage with birds of a sort inside and Rajasthani- looking people on horses. It was fun to see, but Very crowded- not as bad as Brindavan gardens a year ago, but bad enough. We just went to see what it was about and then we went to a cafe where one of the waiters was dressed as Santa and handing out candies. As with most holidays in India, many shops were open too, but we did not go in except for a stop at a pharmacy and florist. We may have mentioned before- flowers are very inexpensive here, so you can get fresh flowers every few days if you choose.

A visit to Kerala

A week ago we made a 4 day trip to Cochin or Kochi on the southwest coast of India. This is the state of Kerala, which is a little unusal for several reasons. There is a range of hills or mountains that separate the state from much of the rest of India so in more ancient times the state was somewhat isolated from the doings on the rest of the sub-continent. The state is also unusual in that it is about 20% Christian and 58% Hindu and around 20% Muslim. Currently it has a communist government- apparently it changes about every election cycle between Communist and Congress party, which is the major political party in India. The literacy rate in Kerala is also very high- the highest in India. The state is noted for its spices- especially black pepper, but many others as well. The ancient Romans traded here and Arab traders came long long ago too. St. Thomas is said to have come to Kerala in 52AD and the "Syrian Christian Church" has supposedly been active since his time.
It rains a lot in Kerala during the monsoon and it gets very hot too- very hot and very humid, so it is not a very comfortable place to visit and do outdoor activities. However, December and Jan. are supposed to be reasonably good.
We road to the airport in Bangalore for about an hour and 20 minutes on Thursday the 17th. There we checked into the airline and then waited about an hour and 20 minutes for our flight departure. The flight to Cochin took about an hour and 20 minutes. After we arrived in Cochin the drive to our hotel took about an hour and 20 minutes. We had arranged for the hotel to pick us up and the driver was waiting for us. The drive from the airport was at night, but we could see it was not very pretty- the whole area is a large group of cities and towns, The roads were reasonably good, but there was some construction that made them rougher. We checked into our hotel on the bay and had dinner before going to sleep. We chose a very nice hotel- the "Taj Malabar". The Taj chain is generally very good. The area of coast was and sometimes still is called "Malabar"- it is synonomous with "spices". The southern part of Kerala is called "Travancore".
On Friday the 18th we had a relaxing morning and breakfast and arranged to take the speed boat to the Jewish quarter of Cochin. The boat was fast and fun. This part of the city has many old warehouses- mostly from the spice trade and had a relatively large Jewish population until Israel was formed and many left here. There is still an old Synagogue, which is not open on Friday or Sat. so we did not attempt to enter. Currently there are dozens of of shops selling all sorts of handicrafts and many places selling antiques as well. As the guide books say - "and some of the antiques are genuine". We very much enjoyed looking around. We found several very nice shops for both new and older items. Items older than 100 years old are not supposed to be taken out of India, so it is a little odd that many dealers say items are more than 100 years old when they do not appear to be. However, it is likely more people are interested if they think its older. We did see many items that are probably between 50 and 100 years old. It was difficult to decide what we liked the most, so we figured we'd come back. It was also hot and humid - probably 85 F or so. We found a nice cafe and cooled off before meeting our speed boat again at the appointed time. We spent 4 hours in what is called "Jew Town".
Back at the hotel we relaxed some and at 4:45 had some tea and then boarded the free harbor boat ride for hotel guests. This was rather pleasant and went for almost an hour. The days are shorter now- perhaps 11- 11.5 hours of daylight instead of 13 hours in June- but quite a lot longer than back home! We relaxed some more and then went to a traditional dance demonstration at 7PM. This was very interesting and fun. A small boy played drum and a man who may have been his father was all dressed in elaborate costume and makeup. The dance is more about eye and hand movements than leg movements- this makes a lot of sense in a hot humid climate! The costume and makeup were quite remarkable- more on this later. We had a very good fish dinner in the hotel, though we both felt a little bit sick the next morning.
On Sat. the 19th we decided to stay around the hotel until about 3PM when we had arranged to go on a small boat tour of some canals. Kerala is famous for house boats and canals and people come to an area south of Cochin from all over the world to ride the houseboats in the canals for a few days or week. We were just taking a large canoe in some small canals (with a guide and boatman). The ride to the canals was longer than we might have liked, but the boat trip was fun. We started out on a river and then went into some small canals that wind through coconut groves. We stopped at a "toddy collector's" home where he showed how he collects a sort of sap from some of the coconut trees which is then used to make "toddy". We learned that this as a beverage with about 8% alcohol and can only be sold through government shops. We saw the man in a very small canoe he uses to go to his trees. He climbs each tree- we think every day- maybe it is twice a day. The guide said there are 16 trees and the guy is 57 years old (and thin and in good shape!). We then went back out on the canal. The guide has several boats and ours was the largest- it was new and would hold about 10 people or the 2 of us! We saw how the weed grow in the canals, but the tidal flow helps break them loose to flow out, but they have a simple bamboo stick that floats on the water to close off the canals to keep the weeds from flowing back in when the tide comes in. So many things we see are very simple and made with a few sticks and string or wire!
We saw very pretty paper Christmas lanterns at many shops, so we asked our driver and the guide if we could stop to buy some, so we did. We bought 4 large and colorful "stars". These are presently hanging up outside our apartment. We had another good dinner at the hotel.
For Sunday the 20th we decided to take the public ferry to Fort Kochi. We had tickets for a dance show that evening and dinner plans at a hotel in Fort Kochi. We walked to the ferry (2Rs or about 4 cents each) and road over. From the ferry we walked along a somewhat busy lane and found the location of the Dance show for later- "Greenix". We then stopped at the "Brunton Boatyard" to look around. We continued to the "Chinese Fishing Nets". The legend we were told is that in the 15th century the Chinese navy landed in this area and taught the local people how to catch fish with these giant contraptions. We watched as the giant spider-like legs holding a net was lowered into the water, then after a few minutes the whole thing was raised- bringing a few fish up in the net. We then walked on to "St. Francis Church". We wanted to see this because this is where Vasco De Gama was buried. He landed in India around 1498 and apparently either came back many times or lived here. He died in the 1500's here in Cochin and was buried in the church. Some years later his remains were returned to Portugal. Cochin has many buildings from the 1500's through 1800's, so it has a relatively well preserved colonial history. We looked a little and then went to a cafe that was air conditioned to cool off. We then had lunch at the Brunton Boatyard and then took an auto rickshaw to the Jewish quarter- too far to walk in the heat! Of course, the auto driver wanted to have us stop at a shop where he would get a commission for bringing us, but he was wise enough to take us to where we wanted to go when we said we would not pay if he stopped. (He implied that the shop would give him more just for bringing us than we would be paying him to go to our destination- a common problem for tourists in India!) We got back to "Jew town" and visited more shops we had missed the other day and went to some we had seen before. It was fun still, but hot. It was still confusing, so we bought very little and had more to drink at a cafe. We then took an auto back to the Greenix Theater in order to watch the performers apply makeup. They start more than 1.5 hours before the show. Quite a few people eventually showed up to watch- mostly tourists like us. We then stayed for the show where they demonstrated several dance forms from Kerala. It was a good performance and seemed worth the price. We had a good seafood dinner at the Brunton Boatyard and were then picked up by the hotel after dinner. The boatyard had many very pretty Christmas paper lanterns hanging from a tree. On the ride to our hotel we saw a lot of ATMs and a lot of the paper lanterns for sale, but we were tired so we thought we'd return in the morning to get some money and lanterns.
Monday the 21st was to be full day of filling in some loose ends. We stopped at the travel desk at the hotel when we returned Sunday night and were told that all the cars and auto rickshaws were to go on strike in the morning, so they were not even sure we could go to the airport on Monday!
On Monday we were told that the strike was on, so no cars or drivers were available except one in which they were sending a police officer along with the driver! So, there was not much we could do. Then we thought we might take the speed boat, but they said that was booked too. Finally around noon they said they could get us to another town by speed boat and we could take the public ferry back, so we decided to try that. The boat ride was fun, but the craft shops were poor so we caught the first ferry back to the hotel! Janet swam, we had lunch, read, etc. until later afternoon when they said that there did not seem to be any violence surrounding the strike, so we took the car to the airport. We left early so we could stop at one place on the way which advertised itself as a "Folklore Museum". We had only about 20 minutes, but it turned out to be a remarkable place built from wood from 23 Kerala houses and structures. It was quite interesting and had displays of many artefacts from Kerala including wood masks, religious items, puppets, pottery and others. It is a very interesting place, but hot. It has only been open for 9 months. We told them we would like to see a book on the collections- they have only on CD now. Our ride to the airport was a little long, but uneventful. the flight was likewise.
We enjoyed our short visit to Kerala and Cochin and hope to go back sometime.

Birthdays and things

Saturday Dec 5, 2009 was the 5th birthday of Ziggy and Zoe! They spent the day relaxing around the house while Jim and Janet went to a Christmas bazaar - we went to one last year too- there should be an entry about that- and then we struggled at the framing shop to get decisions made on some framing projects.
On Sunday We were relaxing some in the morning and were surprised to see a guy outside our balcony in a tall tree hacking branches off! We had told the landlord that the monkeys were climbing onto the roof of the building from the trees and also on to the balcony, but we did not expect to see a guy climb 30 feet off the ground to cut the branches. They are not very subtle about how they do these jobs. The guy is obviously in good shape to be able to do this so fearlessly. Later, Jim walked to an art exhibit late in the morning and then we met some friends for brunch at a good place. Later in the afternoon we took Ziggy and Zoe outside to look around in the areas around the building. They enjoy being out there, but we worry about pesticides that might be in use. The dogs and monkeys could be a danger to them as well. The building has a security wall around it so dogs are not really a problem, but monkeys can be. Of course, rats can be a problem, but we have not seen any.
Earlier in the week was Janet's birthday and we went out for a good dinner with some friends for that. we did not get home until very late that night, but it seemed worth it.
Janet was on the verge of firing the cleaning woman the other day. She made a list of all the things the girl had done wrong or might have done wrong after the most recent discovery that a glass vase was broken, but on further consideration, it seems that some of the things may not have been things she did wrong (though she has broken a few things through thoughtless action). Overall she is still pretty good- honest and reasonably hard working, but she does not ask when she does not understand and her English is not so good, so it is difficult to tell when she does understand and when she does not.
Meanwhile, we are more certain that Joseph, our driver takes a commission or cut whenever he arranges for workers to do things for us- whether it is photograph printing, carpenters working carpet cleaning or other things. We have had strong suspicions of this for a long time but have not made an issue of it yet because it is not a huge amount of money and we do appreciate the efforts to find good people to do these tasks. We hope to figure out a way to have him change his ways and we would reward him some ourselves directly rather than indirectly. Of course, we do not have very good ideas how much WE would pay of we tried to arrange some of the workmen ourselves- we would certainly pay more than most Indians pay.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day, is not a holiday here in India but most of us were thankful for it because it meant that there would not be any evening teleconferences with people in the US for a couple nights!
We arranged to go to a very good restaurant in the city center that serves a traditional style Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc. It was very good and quite authentic. The owner worked in the US for many years- especially at a well known restaurant in New York city. It was a good and generally relaxing meal.
Friday was unusually quiet at work and several people, who spend more time than others in evening teleconferences, said that they would consider giving up their India Holidays if they did not have so many telecons to attend at night!
Friday was also the 30th anniversary of Jim's employment with his company. The people at the office got a very nice cake for the small celebration. Where have the 30 years gone?

Royalty

Saturday was Jim's birthday. The day started restfully- no checking work email and relaxation in the morning. However, we had to leave just after noon to go pick up a present that Janet had arranged. We drove to a place not too far from where we live- an apartment complex. We went to the apartment of a woman who is a cousin of the Maharaja of Mysore. Before the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the country was ruled by the British, but there were many "states" ruled by the Maharajas, with the oversight of the British, of course. Mysore was one of the largest such states and apparently a wealthy one as well (Bangalore was part of the Mysore state and has a small palace built in the late 1800's by the Maharaja of Mysore). After independence, the maharajas had no real power, but they still had a fair amount of money and influence. Today, some still have money and influence, but probably much less than 50 years ago. We do not know the history, but apparently Indira Gandhi had a lot to do with the removal of much of their money and influence in the 1970's.
In any case, this woman is a cousin of the current Maharaja of Mysore. She is very well educated and very pleasant to talk to. We came to her place because Janet had been there a few days earlier with a group of friends to look at some art works done by a cousin of the woman, who we presume, is related to a Maharaja from the north around Gujurat- where he lives. Janet bought a couple small ink drawings a few days ago, but she also made deposit on a painting and Jim got to choose which he wanted as a Birthday gift! The choice was very difficult, but he finally chose a water color that features green parrots (parakeets) on a mostly yellow background. The combination of parrots and yellow was too much to resist. It turned out that Janet had already planned to buy the second painting that was of great interest- a sort of montage of all sorts of sites one might see in India- including some parrots!
We later went to see "Julie and Julia" at a movie theater in a mall nearby- it was not crowded at all- probably because of the time and the fact that many people probably don't know who Julia Child was. It was a good film and we enjoyed ourselves.
After the movie we went to a new hotel which opened near our apartment about 2 months ago- a very nice place. We had received a notice of an exhibition of "silk painting". Though we were not quite sure what it was, we thought it was close to home and we could have dinner after seeing the exhibition. The works were actually embroidered images of animals, plants, people and gods made from silk. Some were very nice and not too expensive, but those we liked more were too expensive. It was interesting to see. It was a small exhibit of 13 works. It was also attended by the current Maharaj of Mysore! He was dressed in a very nice black suit- none of the old ceremonial outfits. We don't know the connection to these works of art, but we have been told that he has a big interest in textiles and art more generally, so he may have been using his influence to attract more people to the show. We saw that 5 or 6 of the works were sold before we left for dinner. So, like some royalty in other countries, these people are somewhat of an attraction themselves- and their family properties are tourist attractions too. It was a very nice Birthday!

The Carpenter

We have mentioned in the past that we have had guys come to the apartment to do some work and they often come ill prepared to do the job or do shoddy work. We discussed our disappointment with an Indian friend here who sympathized by saying that it reached "a new low" in service.
In our first visit to Mahabilipuram we bought a sculpture of a head of Buddha. We wanted to have a wooden base made for it and Josef found a carpenter who seemed to understand what we wanted but he offered to make a sample for about $15. After a few days he brought the sample and it was almost exactly what we wanted! However, he said that it is not sturdy enough to hold the head, so he said he should make a permanent one. Assuming it is not a fluke, the guy seems to have real skill and an artistic flair. So, he made a quote for materials for a permanent base plus a couple more projects that Janet had in mind. He was going to get materials and do the work here. Then we learned that his wife was seriously injured when a lorry went off the road and hit several people- one or two were killed and his wife happened to be one who was injured! She has some broken bones and we heard she was released from the hospital for home care a week ago, but now they say she has some sort of spinal injury too and needs more surgery! Apparently there are not many family members in the area to help take care of the children and wife, so the carpenter has to do this rather than work as much as he might otherwise be able to do. So, we seem to have found a good carpenter, but life's tragedies are intervening to delay or prevent him from working on our project. We will add more to the story as it unfolds.

The Photo Contest with update

Not long after we arrived in Bangalore, Janet was introduced to an organization for expats by a friend who has since returned to the US. That group just held a photo contest that was fairly interesting. Members and their spouses could submit up to 9 photos in 3 different categories- "Beauties of India", "Ceremonies and Celebrations" and "Life in Bangalore". The latter category can be difficult to enter without being cynical, but there are still lots of pretty and amazing things about the city. In somewhat of a rush we chose 9 of our photos to enter and we managed to get them sent off on the last day to enter. Last night there was a gathering at one of the better hotels in the city to announce the winners. The location was very nice and the food and service were top notch. The best part is that one of Janet's photos won second prize! (That picture has just been added to the right) One of Jim's photos was also among 12 chosen for the organization's 2010 calendar and he also got a prize of a lunch for 2 at one of our favorite restaurants! Janet's prize is 2 nights stay at what is supposed to be a very nice hotel in Jodhpur. In an entry earlier this year we spoke about our trip to Rajasthan in Feb- Mar. and Jodhpur was one of our favorite stops. Janet's photo was actually taken at Chittorgarh, which we think was probably our favorite stop on that trip. So, this all makes some sort of sense. A copy of Jim's photo is below. It appears in Sept. 2010 of the calendar. We especially like the expression on the face of the boy in the middle, but the different expressions are amusing. The profits from the sale of the calendars and from the sale of the photos, which will be done in Dec. all go to charity. We are both surprised that we both got prizes, though we know we have some good photos. Jim's picture is of 3 boys dressed in costumes on the Chamundi Hills in Mysore. The kids do this when they are expecting a lot of visitors to the temples on the hills so they can pick up some money in tips. Jim likes the picture because of the colorful costumes and the fact that the kid in the middle looks pretty unhappy while the one on the right looks bored while the one on the left appears to be into his role! Of course they got a very good tip, but asked for more. As mentioned, Janet's picture was taken in Rajasthan at the end of February, 2009. It is actually color, but looks b&w. She caught the light just right late in the day near some of the temples there.

One year in India

We arrived in India one year ago on Nov. 5. It is truly astounding that it has been a whole year ago! Ziggy and Zoe arrived just over a year ago and seem to be well adjusted now and have not been seriously ill in quite a long time now. We are also reasonably well adjusted to being here now too. However, we find, rather suddenly, that we are starting to think more about the return to home even though it is nearly a year away!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - the ride to work

Here is a sort of montage of experiences while riding to work.
The Good.
Bright and sunny morning with mild temperatures today. Took the lift down to the garage where Josef had finished cleaning the car and was ready to leave. We wave good bye to the security guards and plumber and electrician who are on duty all day- as well as the gardener and cleaning women who keep the building clean. The traffic is relatively light this morning and the drive is fairly peaceful- without too many horns honking and no big congestion at the traffic lights or other intersections. Because the traffic is light we can go faster and Josef is able to avoid some of the bumps and potholes in the road by going around them. It takes 25 minutes to get to the office and I feel pleasantly at ease.
The Bad.
Bright and sunny morning with high humidity and rather warm. Took the lift down to the garage, but the power went off on the way, so I had to wait for the backup generator to come on and continue the ride down. In the garage I find that Josef is still cleaning the car, so I wait a little while until he finishes. The traffic is heavy this morning so there are a lot of horns honking, and motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic. The delays at the traffic lights and intersections are longer. Because of the heavy traffic we have to go slower and Josef has to go over more of the bumps in the road. I find myself getting carsick from the herky- jerky motion while going over pot holes and bumps while I try to send a text message to someone. Traffic is delayed a bit due to a minor accident and the drivers get out to argue. While waiting for traffic to move a motorbike passes too close to the car and scratches the paint- again. We have to maneuver around 3 cows who have decided to stand in the road today. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the office and I feel tense and tired.
The Ugly.
Bright and sunny morning, hot and humid. Take the lift down to the garage, but the power goes off on the way down. When the backup generator comes on, the lift does not move because the electronics need to be re- set by the electrician due to the power glitches. I have to call Josef to tell the electrician to do this because he is busy sleeping in his office. Josef forgot that I was leaving earlier today so he is just arriving at the security gate. Cleaning the car will have to wait until tomorrow. The traffic seems heavy today, so we spend more time at the traffic lights and intersections and the motorbikes and autorickshaws are honking horns and weaving back and forth a lot. One motor bike scratches the right side of the car and another hits the back and breaks the plastic lens on the tail lights and then he speeds away - weaving through traffic. On the road to work we see where a bus has run into a tree on the other side of the road. The driver's compartment is smashed and we think the driver might have been killed. Later we learn that the bus lost its brakes. The driver crashed into the tree because there was a crowd of people ahead at the bus stop who probably would have been run over. The guy was a hero, but his family probably has no income now. The traffic crawls along on both side of the road. An overloaded lorry is stopped ahead with a broken main spring and flat tires. The traffic is routed off on to narrow alleys to allow it to move at all. When the car is stopped we are approached by women carrying babies who want us to give money. We run over a piece of metal which punctures a tire. Josef says the tire is leaking slowly so he will drop me at the office and then get the tire fixed. We arrive at the office after 90 minutes. 30 minutes late for a meeting. I feel exhausted.

Of course, none of these is completely true- each is an amalgam of real days. On the avergage about 1- 2 days a week are Good, 3-4 days a weeks are Bad and 1 day in 2 weeks is Ugly. Such is Bangalore traffic.

Credit cards

When we buy something with our US credit cards we sometimes are called days or weeks later by the shop who says that the card company is refusing to pay them unless we provide several forms of identification- like a copy of our passport. The first few time this happened we thought it odd, but thought they are just making sure it is not a stolen card. However, we learned that the credit card company had actually released the money to the shopowner's bank and there was nothing more they required. it was the Indian bank which was delaying payment to the shop owner. While it is possible that this really is some sort of security concern to protect us, it seems more likely that it is a way that the banks are using to hold the money longer so they can gain interest on it before they pay the shop owners. It seems very dubious at least. For us it is a real annoyance to have to make copies of documents that should not be in circulation and then provide them to the shop who then gives them to their bank (we presume). In addition it makes us look suspicious to the shop ownwers. The shop owners don't get paid as soon as they should either.

The Cat Food -part 2

We told part of the story of "The Cat Food" a few weeks back when it appeared imminent that it would be released from hostage by the government. We went to the Customs people with a short letter saying that the shipping company inadvertantly sent it to Bangalore instead of Chennai or Mumbai where food products are supposed to go and they appeared to recognize that we were not trying to circumvent Indian laws, though it is not yet clear that they understood that it was not we who shipped the food to Bangalore, but, instead, our well known US shipping company who charged a lot of money for the shipping! In any case, it took another 3 weeks for the customs to people to release the cat food, but they took more time to decide what duty to charge. In the end the 2 boxes were at the shipping company office with total charges about twice the cost of the cat food in the US! Included in the charges were Duty - a bit less than the value of the cat food- plus warehoure and agents fees for more than the value of the cat food! We assume the agent's fees include an "honorarium" for the customs people, but do not know. We disputed the charges with the shipper and had to speak to the manager who agreed to reduce their charges. He seemed to recognize that they had not done well at fulfilling their responsibilities. It took them 5 days to get the paperwork done and bring the boxes to our apartment. When the delivery guy arrived he said he was told to collect more than we had agreed upon with the manager and the paperwork showed the original amount. We got angry with the guy and he tried calling his bosses. We finally pushed him outside the door and locked it with the boxes inside and told him to get his bosses to come and collect the money. We felt some sympathy for him as he did not know what they had decided- only what he was told. Meanwhile, Jim called the manager's mobile phone and he remembered the story and we gave the phone to the delivery guy who was apparently quite upset because he was not supposed to leave the boxes without being paid. The manager told him the correct amount and we paid it and the guy left. We suspect that the people in the office told the guy a lesser amount to deduct from the bill and if we had paid more, they were going to keep the difference. However, as is often the case, we do not know- we only suspect. We finally have the cat food. About 10 weeks after shipment instead of about 2 weeks.
Overall, this is probably the worst case of combined government paperwork, corruption, incompetence with private paperwork, corruption and incompetence that we have experienced.
A friend, who works in logistical operations for a large company said of an experience they had "how can India expect to compete with China when it often takes a very long time just to clear things through customs that have been cleared many times in the past?"
A parallel experience is that we also ordered some cat food from a company that specializes in shipping things from the US or Europe. Their shipment was also delayed, but it arrived in half the time this one took. They also charged a high fee, for the service, but it ended up being quite a bit less expensive than "The Cat Food".

Auroville, Chennai Redux

Last weekend- Oct 24-26 we went back to Auroville and Chennai on the east coast to take care of three things plus to see a few thing we missed last time.
We left Bangalore a little past 7:30AM- a challenge for Janet(!)- we drove for about an hour and stopped at a coffee place along the highway. We then drove on toward Pondicherry from Krishnagiri and stopped for a short while at Gingee Fort- where we had stopped the last time too. The temperature was much better this time, but it was still hot. We took a few more pictures and observed a small army of laborers working on restoring some of the old fort walls. There was no one there the last time- a month ago. A couple of the pictures show sights seen along the road. It is not at all unusual to see people hanging from the side of a bus here- at least on smaller road, but some we saw were on major roads. We were also amused by a herd or goats being brought across a road just as we and many other people were riding along. This is life in the smaller towns, but we see similar things sometimes in Bangalore.
We had to move on to Auroville though.
When we went to Auroville in Sept. Jim bought a sort of xylophone and the day after we returned this was dropped on the floor and parts were damaged. We were able to contact the makers by email and they said they could supply new parts for a reasonable price, but they recommended we not ship them, so we arranged to pick them up. We went there straight from Bangalore (well, we did get a little lost!) and they were at their shop and they did fix us up! They had a number of interesting other musical instruments so it was a good visit!
Our next stop was at the hotel at which we stayed our previous visit to return the mobile phone charger that we had accidentally taken with us. They too were cooperative and gave us our money back fairly quickly! We then went to our hotel for the night. The temperatures were much better this visit compared to the last, but it was still hot.
The next day we went back to Mahabillipuram. Jim regreted that we did not stop at a site just north of the Tiger Cave last time. A site which was partly uncovered in the tsunami of 2004 has been excavated further and we stopped to look. It was not as interesting as the stone carvings elsewhere, but still interesting to see a site that has been uncovered. There was a sign in Tamil which we assumed said to keep out because there were ropes all around the place, but some people went in anyway until a laborer told them to get out. We were tempted to give him some for chasing the people out- thinking this might encourage him to chase others out, but he then asked for money from us (the foreigners) before we could give him any, so we decided not to give it since he would probably figure we gave it because he asked, rather than for doing a task he was probably supposed to be doing anyway. We could not figure what the site was - other than it was probably a temple, but part was built around a big granite boulder. Unlike other areas, the boulder seemed to have no carvings so we wondered what the story is that goes with it. Janet walked on the beach some too.
We went into the town which is not very pretty and it is full of shops and stone cutters. We visited a couple shops to look at sculptures before having lunch and then visited more sculptors. We bought some small scupltures in marble, sandstone and granite that are of very good quality. We went back to the hotel and planned to leave early Monday morning to go into Chennai to accomplish our third goal.
The Indian government, in its lust for paperwork has taken up more than 5 full pages of our passports over the past year. This combined with another couple pages or so that we used in our trip the Tanzania, has left us with few blank pages left in our passports. So, we got some forms off the internet and filled them out and Jim was dropped off at the US consulate in Chennai to have blank pages added to our passports. The actual work was relatively painless, and took about 30 min., but the security is fairly tight an annoying. However, that goal was accomplished!
In retrospect, it is probably unusual that we planned to do these 3 things and all 3 went smoothly. In general, here, it seems likely that one or two of the three would have given problems and we would have had to do it all over again! For example, we just received our passports back from the Indian government on Friday before we left (our visas are renewed until end of next Sept.), but they could very well have delayed the return for some reason, but we got them and it went fine.
While Jim was at the consulate, Janet was driven by Joseph to a shop that was nearby. The shop was quite nice, but did not actually open until after Jim walked there from the consulate. We then visited some other craft shops in Chennai which were quite nice.
We got on the road to home and arrived about 9PM. The Highway connecting Chennai and Bangalore is actually pretty good most of the way. There are parts still under construction and one part that seems to be a giant bus stop on both side of the divided highway where the traffic comes to a crawl, but otherwise its a fairly smooth trip.
We enjoyed this short trip, however Jim came down with a cold or something (which is still lingering) and was somewhat sick on Monday, but quite sick on Tuesday and Wed. so he stayed home from the office. About 1/3 of the department was sick just before we left and over the weekend and when we returned so he may have gotten the illness at work the previous Thursday.

Recycling

"Brawags!" At least, that is what it sounds like the guy is saying. Almost every morning Jim hears this odd chant from out on the street- a very odd and piercing sort of voice- very distinct from normal sounds. We did not know what it was until one Sunday a couple weeks back when we were sitting at a cafe and a guy road by on his bicycle saying "Brawags!" every now and then. He was followed by a younger kid on a bicycle who had a large bag with some rags in it. It was then clear that the guy was asking people to bring out their rags and he would take them away to earn a little (very little) money! This is one example of recycling as practiced here. We have also seen many people picking through trash to get the metal cans and plastic and glass bottle for recycling too. We also see people carrying scrap wood and metal. So there is a fairly active recycling effort and the poorest people seem to do it to earn some money for themselves and their families.
This is not so different from the US 60 years or so ago. There were people who would come around and pick up newspapers and rags, bottles, etc. to earn a little money. There are still people who do this, but not as many who do it as systematicly as in the past- covering whole neighborhoods on a regular basis.

Diwali

Also spelled Deepawali and maybe some variations. We just finished this holiday weekend. We had not realized it was quite as big as it turned out to be. While Jim did not have any days as holidays, most companies did and many people took days off from work- mostly Friday or Monday.
The celebrations started last Thursday the 15th with a few firecrackers or "crackers" exploding now and then. On Friday night a lot more were set off. On Saturday many more and Sunday a similar number. Monday night seemed to be the "finale" with many explosions, but with many more fireworks visible on the skyline. So, 3 pretty full days of fireworks and celebrations with some more before and after!
We learned that it is often called "The Festival of Lights" after a story from the Ramayana in which Rama (one incarnation of Vishnu) wanted to have lights after his victory over a demon who had kidnapped his wife. (So we were told.) Lots of lights and fireworks anyway. It is also a time for gifts to the apartment staff and employees and friends- a little like Christmas in the US.
Our Driver, Joseph, bought a small number of fireworks to set off- we made it clear we didn't want any really loud explosions, so he got some more tame things like sparklers and flower pots- all of which seem to be legal (67 people reported serious eye injuries so far- out of very roughly 7 million people in Bangalore). He also got 2 rockets, which did not get off the ground.
We set these off on Saturday evening.
Overall it was a fairly relaxing weekend for us, but Ziggy and Zoe REALLY did not care for it. The loud noises made them very nervous, so we tried to close windows and doors to reduce the noise. It was not so bad where we live, but they hid for a few hours each night.
On Saturday we had a leisurely time by having lunch at a French style cafe in a Hotel which was showing photos of Paris. After lunch we went to the Leela Palace- a huge and very nice and expensive hotel. Janet swam in their pool while Jim browsed the book shop. In the atrium of the adjoining shopping area they had placed a very pretty sort of "Rangoli"- which is a decoration on the floor- often made with different colors of sand. the one at the hotel was made of flowers and you can see a pianist playing nearby.

THE WALL Redux and The Cat Food

A couple posts back Jim described his surprise to find a new wall blocking the entry gate to the area around the office building at work. This wall meant that people had to walk quite a bit further from the opposite side of the site. This is fine when weather is good, but in the rain it is a bit annoying. We thought the walls might have been added for security reasons, but then later were told that last year the area flooded in a heavy rain and some thought the wall was added to hold back the water if it floods again (though most of rainy season is over). In any case, to Jim's surprise, when he came out of the office Thursday evening, THE WALL was gone and the gate was open and manned just as it had been 10 days earlier! So, it was there for about 10 days. It may have been decided to be too much inconvenience, but no one seems to know.
We also have a long story, which is still baking, about a cat food shipment. Because we have not actually received the food yet, more will come. A friend shipped a bunch of small cans of cat food. She correctly wrote that there were 48 cans in the shipment but the value of each was listed as $100 instead of $1.00, but she did not see that UPS then multiplied those two numbers to get a declared value of $4800! We don't know where the typo occured, but we do not understand how UPS could have shipped this without proper insurance, but they did. It arrived in Bangalore about 10 days later and we were notified by UPS that there is a problem. Because of the high value of the shipment we were told that we have to obtain a special importer's license. We explained that this must be a simple error in the paperwork and they said that this could not be true because the shipper had stated the value to be what the paperwork said. After some discussion they finally said that we had to have our friend re-submit papers in the US with the correct values and this should come through UPS with some sort of invoice number. After a few weeks we finally received papers from our friend (in another UPS envelope) saying that she tried to do what we asked but the US people said that the value had to be corrected here in India! We went back to UPS and explained this and they said they would look into it. After 3 days they said this valuation was taken care of! However, there is another problem. The food was shipped by UPS to Bangalore, but Bangalore Customs is not allowed to clear food items- it should have gone to Chennai! The UPS guy said that the best they could propose was for Jim to write a letter to the Assistant Commissioner of Customs stating that the cat food is for personal us and ask that it be cleared. Jim wrote such a short letter. Then, we were told that we had to take this to the Bangalore Airport Customs office and explain it to the Assistant Customs Director. So, we spent a few hours doing that. It was clear that the UPS people had done little to make the situation clear so, Jim explained as best he could. Finally, the assistant commissioner and one of his aids figured that it was probably OK to approve the clearance since it was for personal use, but Jim had to promise he would not ship food through Bangalore anymore. They did not seem to understand that UPS shipped it to Bangalore and not us. However, they felt that the Commissioner of Customs also needs to approve, which would require a few more days and a complete set of paperwork from UPS. We had to go back to UPS 3 times to speak directly with the guy who seemed to be in charge to get them to get the paperwork to their agent at the airport. This seems to have been done, but it is now a holiday weekend, so we do not know when we will see the cat food. We may have to pay more visits to people and probably pay duty on the food. We shall keep everyone posted!

Shiarapatna and Pujas

We had heard that there was a town near Bangalore where stone sculpting is still a very active profession. We asked people about it and some one knew of the place but could not remember where it is. We asked more people and finally found mention of it on the web. "Shiarapatna". It does not appear on our maps, but this is not unusual- the maps that exist generally show only larger towns and cities. On Saturday we road off to see if we could find the place. Our friend Anita, who has lived here in Bangalore for a long time did not know about the town either, so she wanted to come along. It took us close to 2 hours to find it, but we did find the village. We stopped and looked at the pieces being carved out of granite. The first place we stopped they told us- mostly in Kannada- the local language- through Josef about the two kinds of granite they carve. One is light gray and considered lower quality while the other is dark gray and considered higher quality. We found these a bit dull, but the sculptures were interesting to see. Nearly all are religious figures for Hindus. We also saw some columns being carved. The quality was good, but we found there were not a lot of details in the carvings that make you say "wow!" This and the gray colors seemed dull, though they showed us pictures of some that had been painted in glorious bright colors. We walked a little through the village and people were outside their houses carving stones all over the place. They seemed curious about us too. The kids liked to come close a look. It seemed clear that few foreigners come out to this place.
We enjoyed seeing a whole village who's livelihood centers around granite carving and were a little sorry that we didn't see anything we could buy that would support their work.
On the drive to find the village of Shiarapatna we happened to pass through another village where we saw large woven frames- perhaps bamboo or maybe palm- with large concentric circles of the same material on the frames. The space between the circles had pale yellow fluffy balls spread all over. We quickly realized that this was a silk farm! Apparently silk was once a huge industry in this area. It is still very popular, but seems a bit less so now. The yellowish fluffy things were coccoons. We got out of the car and attracted a lot of people following us as we looked. They showed us sillk worms that were just starting to form their coccoon and all th eothers where they were finishing. They gave us a few coccoons. They told us (in Kannada through Josef) that they get about 180Rs per KG for the raw silk. That is roughly $1.65 for 1 lb which is not a lot of money for silk. We gave the guy who was mostly welcoming 200 Rs for his showing us around and telling us about the silk. He tried to give it back, but Josef said he thought the guy was very happy. We may add some pictures later.
There are a lot of holidays around this time of year. It seems a little similar to the Thanksgiving- New Year period in the US. There are many "pujas"- this is often spelled other ways. These seem to be ceremonys of various sorts. Last weekend there was one in which all mechanical devices were given some sort of blessing. There are bits of paint and other colors at various places all over our apartment building from the ceremony. That particular one might be regarded as honoring professions, but much of it is directed at the machines.
For the past 4 evenings and sometimes early in the morning there has been some loud music and rather awful singing and speaking going on in our neighborhood. We do not know what it is about but they have placed loudspeakers around the neighborhood to blast the sound all around. They do end before 10PM, so at least, we can sleep. We presume this is related to one of the holidays, but do not know.

The Cheque, The Wall, The Dryer, The Textile fair and The Club

Cheques or Checks are rarely used in India. Most sales are by cash or credit card or debit card. Jim has a Cheque that he wants to deposit in the bank. After verifying with a bank employee that the branch would be open today, we made a stop there to deposit the check. However the bank was closed! Today is M. K. Gandhi's birthday, so it is a holiday, but most stores were open and the bank verified in 2 emails that they would be open. But they were not. So, we will try again tomorrow. We were told that we can simply write our account number on the cheque and deposit it at any of their ATM's, but since we suspect there is more to the endorsement process than this (there is usually more that one is not told), we prefer to go when a person can verify that what we have done will, in fact, get the money deposited into our account. This cheque has an already long history of delays. Here it is. Jim put in an expense account with his employer. After getting the necessary approvals the account was finally approved for payment. Jim actually had paid the corporate credit card company months earlier, so he marked that the payment was to be made to him directly. However, the accounting people went ahead and paid the card company instead. When this error was mentioned to them they said it was too late to change it and it was done because they had no other indication of what to do from Jim! They said we had to wait a "couple" weeks until they were sure that the card company had received payment, THEN submit a request to get a cheque made out to Jim. It is not clear why this could not all be done electronically. After a couple weeks Jim reminded the people that the money was due him and they eventually issued a request to the card company to get a cheque for Jim. They said this takes two days. After five days, we were told it would come the next day, which was a Friday before a holiday weekend. Of course, the cheque did not arrive (no check either). The next Tuesday the cheque finally arrived about 4PM- too late to take to the bank. Due to Work, Jim could not go Wed. or Thurs., but since the bank would be open and Fri. was a holiday, it was a perfect day! Except that the bank is closed! So, 6 weeks after the expense report was submitted, the money is still not in any place where it is accessible. So, we keep taking money from the ATM using our US accounts. It seems quite unreasonable that others would have the money so long. That is "The Cheque"
Jim is dropped off at work each day by our driver. For nearly 11 months Jim has been dropped off at an entry gate to the building parking area. Every day cars and motorbikes drive in and park around the building. Thursday Oct. 1 was no different, Jim is dropped off and walks through the gate as cars and motorbikes are stopped for security check. In the evenings the process is reversed. Jim walks out of the building and then through the gate to be picked up by our driver. However, On Thursday the 1st, Jim walked out of the building to go to the gate (in the rain) only to find that the gate had been closed in by concrete blocks during the day! No warning, just can't go in or out that way any more! There is a second gate on the same side of the building, though it is a little further to walk. This would not be a big problem. However, the second gate is being blocked as well! This means quit a bit longer walk to the opposite side of the set of large buildings in order to be able to leave the office! Not quite so convenient. We do not know why these gates are being closed- certainly not why at this time. It is probably a security concern of some sort, but we may never know! That is "The Wall".
About 9 months ago, Janet bought a clothes dryer. People said, "oh you don't need a dryer, the washing machines practically dry the clothes already". We found this not to be true. The machine was bought from a nationwide chain store, and it was installed soon, which was a good sign. However, it has only 3 of its 4 legs! So, it sits a little cockeyed in its little room off the kitchen balconey. (The room is called the "maid's room" and would probably be a nice room for an awful lot of maids, but it is tiny.) The dryer has generally worked ok, though we had to have the service guy come to fix a switch once. They always say that the 4th leg should be in soon, but we have come to accept that our little machine is "handicapped" and not expect we will ever see it made whole. Recently, the machine simply would not run. It seemed to be a problem with the door interlock switch. Janet called them several times during the week and they said they would come or call back, but, of course they did not. Today she yelled at them on the phone and a guy actually came. Of course, when he came the building electricity was off, so he pointed out that the machine had no power, and thus, should not be expected to run. We explained that it was not working even when the power was on. He seemed a competent guy and waited for the power to come on. The electricity is unreliable in most of India, so businesses and newer buildings have their own backup generators, which REALLY are needed- though the power here in the center of the city is probably more reliable than elsewhere. In any case, it took awhile for the generator to come on- for some unknown reason. The guy quickly decided that the machine thermostat is bad. He said he could get a new one at the shop and it was free because it is covered by warranty, but he would have to charge for a new leg for the machine! We explained that we never received the leg. He seemed to understand, but he said that they do not have them in the shop, so it may take awhile to get one(!) He did not come back today, but maybe Saturday or Monday. He gave us his personal cell phone number to call him next time, which we thought was nice. We'll see! That is "The Dryer".
The variety and quality of textiles in India is remarkable! Over this long weekend- due to M.G.s' birthday- there is a textile fair at "Chitrakala Parishath" here in Bangalore. The place is an arts school which also encourages arts and crafts through frequent exhibitions and sales. They have had shows for all sorts of arts and crafts over the past 11 months. The key difficulty is that it is not so easy to find out when there is a show and what it is about. Often the information can be found in the newspaper, but sometimes not, and their web page seems not to be updated very often. In any case, there is an "exhibition cum sale" going on right now with good quality vendors from various parts of India. It is worth seeing just to get an idea of the variety available. Often the vendors do not have such good judgement about what they will hang on the wall to be seen and mediocre things are visible when they have some fabulous things hidden away on shelves. Most of what they have are "saris" or "sarees". Around 350 million women in India wear a sari, so, it makes sense that there would be a lot of them for sale. We like to look at the materials and think of other uses. It does not take long to realize that most of what makes up a sari is a long piece of fabric that could be made into things rather than just worn as is. So, it is interesting to look at the saris for the amazing variety of colors, materials and workmanship. Of course, there are lots of scarves, shawls and the like too, which can be bought with little need of alteration. Of course we bought a few items. Because this fair is run by the State Handicrafts Council, it is a popular one for people to attend because they have more trust that the materials are authentic. Thus the place is very crowded. That is "The Textile Fair".
One of the fringe benefits of being on assignment here is that we can join on of the local "clubs". This is mostly intended to allow access to swimming pools and exercise equipment and some of the clubs are solely for that. However there are a few that are more social as well. When we chose this apartment to live, we liked its proximity to a club called "The Bangalore Club"- it is less than 10 minute walk away. We thought we'd just sign up and go there because there are coprorate memberships which do not require all of the same recommendations and vetting procedures to decide who is acceptable. After we arrived we were finally told that there were no memberships available! This was disappointing, so Janet, who likes to swim a few times a week if she can, found another club that is a bit far away, but very nice. Through some administrative error we were allowed to use the facilities for about 4 months before anyone realized that it was not being paid for by the corporation. At the time we found out, we learned that a membership at the more local club was opening up. So we said we wanted the spot. However, we were told that entry takes 4-7 months! We never understood why, but we know that the club insists on receiving some sort of auditors report on the corporation (for every one of many members) and this takes some time to get (why?). They then post our names on a board to solicit comments from members about the prospective nominee. There is a formal "interview" as well, and after all is said and done you end up with a card saying you are members. The process did take 7 months! However, we are now members of "The Bangalore Club"- or "The Club" as memebers call it. It is actually quite an honor to be a member these days. Most people are from old Bangalore families- except for a sizable number of corporate members and other temporary members. The Club has a fairly long history as it was started in 1868. Its most famous member was Winston Churchill who was here around 1898 as an army officer. Of course, then it was probably only British Officers who were members. (Remember that Bangalore was and still is a place with many military people around.) Thus for about a week we have had our temporary cards. We have not used The Club much yet. The weather has been cool and rainy the past week, so it is not so great for swimming. They have a library and food service of various kinds in addition to the pool and exercise equipment. So, That is "The Club".
Ziggy and Zoe are well, but seem to have lost interest in writing lately. Maybe they have started another blog somewhere else?

Ring Road Song

On the first day the Ring Road gave to me, one lor-ry stalled!

On the second day the Ring Road gave to me; two buses blocking and one lor-ry stalled!

On the third day the Ring Road gave to me; three cars honking, two buses blocking and one lor-ry stalled!

On the fourth day the Ring Road gave to me ; four rickshaws slowing, three cars honking, two buses blocking and one lor-ry stalled!

On the fifth day the Ring Road gave to me; five camels prancing, four rickshaws slowing, three cars honking, two buses blocking and one lor-ry stalled!

On the sixth day the Ring Road gave to me: six cows a strolling, five camels prancing, four rickshaws slowing, three cars honking, two buses blocking and one lor-ry stalled!

On the seventh day the Ring Road gave to me: seven goats a leaping, six cows a strolling, five camels prancing, four rickshaws slowing, three cars honking, two buses blocking and one lor-ry stalled!

On the eigth day the Ring Road gave to me: eight horse carts crossing, seven goats a leaping, six cows a strolling, five camels prancing, four rickshaws slowing, three cars honking, two buses blocking and one lor-ry stalled!

On the ninth day the Ring Road gave to me: nine bullock carts walking, eight horse carts crossing, seven goats a leaping, six cows a strolling, five camels prancing, four rickshaws slowing, three cars honking, two buses blocking and one lor-ry stalled!

On the tenth day the Ring Road gave to me: ten bicycles peddling, nine bullock carts walking, eight horse carts crossing, seven goats a leaping, six cows a strolling, five camels prancing, four rickshaws slowing, three cars honking, two buses blocking and one lor-ry stalled!

On the eleventh day the Ring Road gave to me: eleven hawkers selling, ten bicycles peddling, nine bullock carts walking, eight horse carts crossing, seven goats a leaping, six cows a strolling, five camels prancing, four rickshaws slowing, three cars honking, two busses blocking and one lor-ry stalled!

On the twelfth day the Ring Road gave to me: twelve motorbikes weaving, eleven hawkers selling, ten bicycles peddling, nine bullock carts walking, eight horse carts crossing, seven goats a leaping, six cows a strolling, five camels prancing, four rickshaws slowing, three cars honking, two buses blocking and one lor-ry stalled!

Really!

A Trip to Pondicherry and Environs - Part 2

On Sunday the 20th we went to Mahabillipuram and visited some shops before going back to see some of the stone carvings in the middle of the town. A guide offered his services at a very high price (by Indian standards) to describe all of the sites in the center of town. We said no, but asked how much just to tell us about the largest one- "Arjuna's Penance". He came back with a high price for that too, so we said no. He kept coming back with lower prices as we saw the sites and walked away. We hope that he might start at a more reasonable price the next time, but this is doubtful. We walked through the mountain near the twon center to see the carvings and it was hot and humid again, so we did not manage to endure for long. We made our way back to the A/C in the car and left town to go to our hotel closer to Pondicherry.
We arrived there about 3:30 PM, but seemed that our room was not ready yet, though they did not exactly say that to us. The staff asked us to have a seat and wait. Meanwhile, two other groups of people arrived and complained fairly vigorously that they wanted to go to their rooms. They ended up going before we did even though we were there first. We are not certain whether it was because our room really was not ready or because they complained more. It was a rather poor introduction to what we were told is a nice place. We got to the room to find it interesting. It was a house from the state of Kerala that was rebuilt here, but it was dark inside and only the tiny sleeping rooms at the center were A/C'd. We decided to visit the beach and have a simple dinner at the small restaurant near the beach. This was reasonably pleasant.
On Monday the 21st we road to Auroville. This is a "utopian community" near Pondicherry with about 2000 members- many are not Indian, but most are. We went to the visitor's center and the craft shops to find rather nice items. It was, of course, hot and humid. We too a battery powered shuttle to a giant golf ball shaped building near the center of the lands and then went back to the car as quickly as we could.
We got a bit disoriented on the roads and it took awhile to get into the city of Pondicherry. This area was a French colony for a long time and many people seem to speak with a french accent. The town was laid out more like a French city and is generally nice looking. We visited the Sri Aurobindo Handmade Paper Factory, which was not operating on this holiday, but the shops were open. One can get very nice hand made paper in India at reasonable prices. We enjoyed looking. We had a good lunch at a rooftop restaurant that had fans and was shaded and visited a few other shops before trying to make our way out of the city. Once again we got a little disoriented, but eventually made our way to the road back to our hotel.
We had dinner that was good and went back to our room. We watched part of a movie on DVD but got bored with it. As we prepared to go to bed Janet put some vaulables in the safe in a cabinet in the room and was shocked to find a tiny kitten in the cabinet too! The poor thing was very small and looked weak. We called the reception desk and they sent someone who took it away. It was very shocking. In the morning we asked if the kitten was ok, but no one on duty knew about it. They said that they try to protect all life forms living on the property, so we hope it is well.
Our checkout from the hotel was almost as slow as the check in. We could not find a battery charger for the mobile phones they insist on giving you at the place, so we had to pay about twice what they are worth in order to leave. Of course, Janet found the charger in her bag when we arrived home.
We came home by a somewhat different route. We took some smaller roads to go through a town named Gingee in order to see the ruins of a huge fort there. Of course it was very hot and humid, so we did not walk about as much as we might have liked. It was very interesting to see the place stretching across hills and plains. The guide books correctly state that few people come to this place, so one can walk around without bumping into many people. But, the heat was oppressive. So, we did not venture far from the car. The most interesting looking part was on top of a peak- with a LONG set of steps to get up there, so we did not attempt it. We were told that it would be best to start out before 8AM. Still it wa interesting to see the huge stone walls and remnants of buildings. It is supposed to date mainly from the 1500's, but some parts are said to be 200-300 years older. It does not seem like a pleasant place to have a fort.
We drove onward through temple towns and countryside until we rejoined the highway at the city of Krishnagiri to go back to Bangalore. As soon as we crossed to border from Tamil Nadu into Karnataka the roads got much worse and lots of construction going one. We stpped for coffee and snacks and got home just about sundown.
It was an interesting trip, but the phrase that keeps occuring to us is "too hot and humid". We are told that it is always that way along that part of the coast, though some times it is hotter than other times. The heat and humidity take a lot of energy away from you, so you can't do as much as you might like. The stone carvings and ruins were very much worth seeing.

A Trip to Pondicherry and Environs - Part 1

Because Sept. 21 was a holiday here in much of India (holidays vary around the country, so you can never be too certain whether people in other parts of the country are working or not.) We decided to take a long weekend and visit parts of the east coast just south of Chennai (Madras). There are a number of historical sites as well as Pondicherry, which is now called "Puducherry". More about that later.
We left Bangalore as early as we could manage on Friday Sept. 18 and road east toward Chennai. Bangalore is spread out over a huge area, so it took awhile to get out of the city environs. There is also a lot of road construction around Bangalore. Joseph, our driver, was generally happy to make the trip because we pay him extra for being away from home- as well as working Sunday's and Holidays. Almost as soon as we crossed the border from Karnataka state to Tamil Nadu state the roads got better. Joseph says that the roads in Tamil Nadu and Kerala state (the other southern - most state) are good compared to Karnataka. His statement seems the be true from our observations too.
The ride toward Chennai was on pretty good roads most of the way. The scenery was not all that exciting, but still interesting to see. Most of the terrain was flat, but with some stone peaks poking up all around. Bangalore is at about 3000 feet elevation, while much of TN is closer to sea level... and hot.
We drove all the way to the city of Vellore on the highway. We went there first to see the "Golden Temple" which Joseph heard about from friends, but we had not heard or read anything about it. It took awhile to reach outside of town and there were a lot of people around- partly because it was a holiday weekend and partly because it is a popular place. We drove into the parking area and looked around to see lines of people standing to get tickets to go inside (no temple in sight), then we saw that the people had to stand in LONG lines INSIDE a fenced CAGE in order to see the temple. The people were literally completely enclosed inside what appeared to be a cage with only a way in at one end and a way out at the other and a LONG wait in between. We said NO! to this idea. There is nothing worse than feeling trapped within a mass of people- we learned that from our first journey to Srirangapatnam and Brindavin Gardens last Dec. end. So, we did not see the temple, but we did catch a glimpse of some gold as we left the area on the road back to Vellore. We stopped at a hotel for a little food and drink and bathrooms before visiting the fort in this town.
The fort dates from the 1400- 1500's period and has an older temple inside as well. It was hot, but we drove in and parked and walked to the temple. The temple outside has lots of interesting stone carvings- not as intricate as the older temples at Halebid and Belur and Somnathpur, but lots of carvings- and big too! It is not colorful like many temples are painted. We started down the stairs to the temples but were chased back by someone leaving who said somethings we did not understand, but eventually we realized he was pointing at our shoes. It is customary to remove shoes and there is normally a stand close to the Holy places where you leave shoes for a small fee (they often try to get a lot more from foreigners). Here it turned out that the shoe place was behind us, far from the level of the temple which was down a long flight of stairs. We decided not to leave the shoes and make the long walk inside the temple areas- it is a BIG temple. We looked around outside, took a few pictures and then went to the fort ramparts to look around. The fort is described as "well preserved" in our guide books and this appeared to be generally true- the moat is still present and much of the stone, so it was an interesting stop on the way to the coast.
We rely on Joseph to find the way most of the time, but, like most Indians, he does not really understand maps. Most of the people in the world don't understand maps. The maps of India are not all that great either. We have just a general atlas of India and it gave some guidance on how to get to the area of the coast where we wanted to go, but it is not a good guide- and there were NO SIGNS! We found that signs are either poor or non-existent in much of the parts of TN we were in, so people have to ask directions A LOT. Joesph, who speaks several Indian languages said that if he did not ask for directions in Tamil, they might very well give him the wrong directions! He said this is not unusual to happen. Of course, it is also the case that people do not know the right directions and will give SOME directions rather than say they are not sure! In any case, armed with poor maps, no signs, and a driver who speaks Tamil, we made our way into Chennai rather than go around it. We also had poor information from our hotel on where it is located south of Chennai- their information implied it was close to the southern edge of the city when it was quite a bit further away. As we made our way into Chennai we stopped to ask directions. Our atls did have fairly good maps of the big citties, so, between Jim's map reading skills and Joseph's Tamil direction asking skills, we maanged to find our way out of the city on the right road. The road is called the ECR - East Coast Road.
We read about a couple interesting places to stop along this road and found one of them near the city - Chola Arts community which is a modern art sort of commune and gallery. It was hot, and only mildly interesting so we did not stay long before heading off toward our hotel which they told Joseph is "nearby". We drove on for quite awhile and passed the other place we would visit the next day before ending up at the Taj Hotel at Fisherman's Cove. We were happy to check in and get to our A/C'd room at this point and we settled in for the night after a good dinner. The hotel has a number of individual bungalows or cottages that are quite nice- especially with A/C! It is located on the ground of a Dutch Fort from the early 1700's but little of the fort remains above ground now.
On Sat. the 19th we had a nice breakfast and headed out to "Tiger Cave". This is a little south of the hotel. The road is nice and not far from the water. The area was hit somewhat hard in 2004 by the Tsunami that hit from Indonesia. The monuments in the area were not damaged much, but a few people were killed and many homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. We did not see pictures of before and after, so it is hard to say what happened, but we noticed a lot of clear areas which seem atypical of India! We also saw many young trees- we were told that many were planted since 2004 to act as a sort of breakwater against future tsunamis.
"Tiger Cave" is a misnomer for a feature carve out of a giant boulder. It is dated from around 700AD- probably a bit earlier. The main feature is an indentation carved in the rock surrounded by "Yali" heads. Yali are lion-like mythical creatures that also look a little like tigers. There were practically no other people here when we arrived! Of course, someone offered his guide services for about $2 which we accepted, knowing that we probably could have paid less than $1. After the Tsunami the government spent a little money putting a nice fence and lawn around the area which also inludes an old temple carved from another boulder just to the north of the tiger cave.
Ther are some other ruins still further north that were uncovered partly by the tsunami- those are being excavated now and we did not stop there, though we probably should have.
We proceed next to Mamallapuram or Mahabilipuram which is a well known tourist town. We first went to the "Shore Temple" and paid the entry fee which is also good for the other major site the "Five Rathas" at the southern end of town. Of course guides are all around wanting to be paid a lot to show us everything, but we said we just wanted someone for the shore temple in case we did not like the guy or decided not to see other places. The guide DO provide a useful service because most of the sites are mysterious to us. However, they can also provide much wrong information - like "Shiva is the preserver and Vishnu is the destroyer God" (its the other way around). It was REALLY Hot AND Humid, so it wa difficult to be enthusiastic about what we were seeing!. The guide told us that there were once other temples near the shore, but they were washed away in a typhoon about 500 years ago and only this one remains from about 1300years ago. We read that some other ruins were uncovered by the tsunami just south of the shore temple, but we did not see those either. There is a reclining Vishnu statue in this temple that is supposed to be older than the temple itself. The salt water and wind and such have rounded all of the temple carvings so it is interesting to see, but not that exciting- especially in the hot humid air. We were happy to make our way back to our A/C'd car!
We next road through town and went to the Five Rathas site. We read that this site was found in the early 1800's by the British after being buried in the sand for a very long time. There are 5 temples carved out of granite boulders along with a Yali, a large elephant and a bull. All are nicely done, but, apparently, never completed! We did not stay long because of the heat.
We visted some of the stone carving shops nearby. This has, apparently, remained a stone carving center for more than 1000 years. There is a lot of very nice work from small tourist trinkets to huge religious and decorative sculptures here that may be shipped any where in the world. We looked around and decided we would return the next day after pondering what we saw. We drove by some very large carvings on what is essentially a small mountain at the center of town. The most famous is called "Arjuna's Penance" (but apparently there are some who think the name is incorrect). This has an amazing variety of figures from full size elephants to people, cats, rats, and Gods over an area aabou 38 feet high by 95 feet long. We did not stay long and came back the next day. We made a couple quick stops in shops in the town, but the heat had made us tired, so we left.
We stopped at "Dakshina Chitra" north of our hotel to pay a quick visit. It started to rain around 4PM just before we arrived. This was well worth a visit. We had to hurry due to short time and many exhibits were not active or closed because it was late and there were few people around. They have taken homes and other buildings from other parts of India and re-constructed them here. Generally these are nicer homes and interesting to see. They also have craft demonstrations. We watched a silk weaver making what will be a beautiful fabric when finished. We only saw the inside of about half the buildings and missed the outside of a few too. We returned to the hotel to cool off and have dinner.