Jim was surprised on Friday when he went to the office and tried to open the door that goes to the stairway which he takes every day to the first floor office. (second floor in the US) The door would not open and then he noticed a new badge lock where none had been before- Not even the day before! Suddenly, the security team decided that such a lock was required and they acted! It might make sense, but when we consider that there are already 3 other such badge locks to get from outside the building to his office area, the addition of a 4th one seems rather redundant. Especially, when there are security people at 3 different points as well who look at ID badges and faces! However, its there now, and, of course, we all feel more secure now.
You might recall an entry we made in this blog about 18 months ago. We had driven to see a Jain temple at Shravanabelgola (spelling probably wrong and correct pronunciation is nearly impossible). After we hauled ourselves up 600 stairs we were greeted by a metal detector on the top of the mountain! We could only imagine how many terrorists had made that same climb- while carrying numerous dangerous weapons- only to be turned back because they were faced with the revealing prospect of passing through a metal detector at the top of a mountain! The temple up there had not been blown up, so, obviously, the detector had been a great deterrent!
There is lots of "nominal security" here. Every building has guards. Every store has a guard- or many- if a big place, but few appear to be trained to do more than open doors. However, they might try to stop a thief if told to do so. Being a guard, like many jobs here, gives employment to people who may not be able to earn food many other ways. They provide a potentially useful role while earning a little money to survive.
There is a new shopping mall that opened just a few months ago. Jim went to see it on Saturday. It is quite nice and the only one we have found here that resembles an American mall. It is very large with many shops of good variety as well as a food court and movie theater. What makes it seem more American is that the shops are larger than in other malls and the walking areas are more spacious. In other places it always seems crowded just because there is not much space to walk without bumping into a lot of people. This mall also has the first "Swensen's" Ice cream and food parlor. Jim got some sorbet to take home and they actually packed it in a container with a little dry ice to keep it frozen! This is a real rarity!
About 6 weeks ago, Jim was in a specialty food store where he noticed that they had installed a freezer case that was stocked with Haagen Daz Ice cream! This was exciting until he reached to take a container and felt that it was soft- liquid actually. He looked around and noticed that the freezer power had been turned off! Someone in the store noticed him looking and came over to turn the thing on again. Power outages are very common here. Most businesses have backup generators to provide power for essentials, but if the power goes off at night and the security guard is sleeping, then all the cold items warm up. It is also possible that they will turn power off to save money. In any case, we have not sampled that ice cream for fear that it may be dangerous to eat now. Probably just as well.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Fireworks every night and things
Temperatures have continued to be noticeably better over the past week or more, though still a little warmer and more humid than we'd prefer. Most of the rest of the country is still pretty hot and humid.
Starting a week ago we heard extremely loud music and singing and talking coming toward our apartment building from some where. We thought it was some sort of festival. Those occur from time to time without any particular notice and they usually end after 2 or 3 days. However, this one was unusually loud. Some parts were spoken in English and we heard them say something about 9 days, which was a little scary. After awhile it got dark and quite a lot of fireworks were set off and we could see fairly well from our kitchen balcony, so that was rather enjoyable! Since then we have had quite a lot of fireworks going off EVERY night this whole past week! We learned that the field hockey stadium, which is about a half mile away has been having some sort of tournament and that is the reason for the loud music, speaking and fireworks. It has been fun to watch the fireworks, but we can do without the loud music and talking.
There have been more illnesses around. Renuka, who cleans for us was sick last Sunday and could not work Monday and then, Joseph, our driver came to work Saturday, but had to go to a doctor because he had a fever. He had a cold starting on Friday and probably should have gone to the doctor Saturday instead of coming to work. We had to scramble to get a replacement car and driver for the rest of Saturday, but we managed. One can do these things relatively cheaply here, but the reliability of drivers is not high and finding drivers who understand English reasonably well is sometimes difficult. So, we generally have to pay more to get reliable people who also speak English fairly well.
The mangoes appear to be pretty much gone from the tree outside and we don't see the green parakeets as much now. Because of the fireworks , were outside watching in the dark quite often this past week and were surprised by the large number of LARGE fruit bats around. We saw them eating mangoes too. These bats a really quite BIG- a bit scary looking too, but they seem harmless to people.
Over the course of about 2 weeks the old house that sits on the lot behind our apartment building disappeared. It was steadily demolished by workers with hammers and chisels until there is nothing left but a pile of bricks and rubble. Its too bad really, it was a cute old place, but that is the way things are going here- the land is becoming so valuable that the old places are replaced by big new places and the owner make a lot of money in the process. The apartment building where we live came about the same way. the owners had the land a small house on it and had the house and garden replaced by an apartment building.
Starting a week ago we heard extremely loud music and singing and talking coming toward our apartment building from some where. We thought it was some sort of festival. Those occur from time to time without any particular notice and they usually end after 2 or 3 days. However, this one was unusually loud. Some parts were spoken in English and we heard them say something about 9 days, which was a little scary. After awhile it got dark and quite a lot of fireworks were set off and we could see fairly well from our kitchen balcony, so that was rather enjoyable! Since then we have had quite a lot of fireworks going off EVERY night this whole past week! We learned that the field hockey stadium, which is about a half mile away has been having some sort of tournament and that is the reason for the loud music, speaking and fireworks. It has been fun to watch the fireworks, but we can do without the loud music and talking.
There have been more illnesses around. Renuka, who cleans for us was sick last Sunday and could not work Monday and then, Joseph, our driver came to work Saturday, but had to go to a doctor because he had a fever. He had a cold starting on Friday and probably should have gone to the doctor Saturday instead of coming to work. We had to scramble to get a replacement car and driver for the rest of Saturday, but we managed. One can do these things relatively cheaply here, but the reliability of drivers is not high and finding drivers who understand English reasonably well is sometimes difficult. So, we generally have to pay more to get reliable people who also speak English fairly well.
The mangoes appear to be pretty much gone from the tree outside and we don't see the green parakeets as much now. Because of the fireworks , were outside watching in the dark quite often this past week and were surprised by the large number of LARGE fruit bats around. We saw them eating mangoes too. These bats a really quite BIG- a bit scary looking too, but they seem harmless to people.
Over the course of about 2 weeks the old house that sits on the lot behind our apartment building disappeared. It was steadily demolished by workers with hammers and chisels until there is nothing left but a pile of bricks and rubble. Its too bad really, it was a cute old place, but that is the way things are going here- the land is becoming so valuable that the old places are replaced by big new places and the owner make a lot of money in the process. The apartment building where we live came about the same way. the owners had the land a small house on it and had the house and garden replaced by an apartment building.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Monkeys and Mangoes
Oh Boy! Those little human- like guys were here this morning! What fun! We jumped on the screens to try to play with them and to see if we could scare them away, but they were not in a playing mood and just sat and watched as we did our best to scare them. Finally our human companions scared them away, but we are watching for them to come back to see if they want to play some more!
That was Ziggy or Zoe- we are not sure who got hold of the keyboard, but what they report is true. the monkeys were around this morning. Crows cawwing, dogs barking and Ziggy and Zoe jumping on the screens are all signs that the monkeys are near. Jim chased them away by trying to spray them with a big squirt gun- one normally used for the "festival of color"- "Holi", but good for water squirting at monkeys too! After they jumped into the trees, the crows try to chase them away by annoying them with incessant cawwing- it annoys us, and seems to affect the monkeys too.
After the monkey's left we went to add some trash to the pile we leave outside the apartment door each day for the building people to pick up and found the trash strewn all over the hallway! The monkey had obviously been there before coming to our balcony. The staff was kind enough to come and clean it up.
A couple days back Janet said that she and Renuka were in different rooms of the apartment when they heard a crash coming from the direction of the kitchen. By the time Janet got there all she saw was a melon on the floor. Renuka said that a monkey had gotten inside- either through a hole in one of the screen doors to the balcony or by opening the screen slider. There was minimal damage done, but it could have been bad- especially if Ziggy or Zoe had been awake enough to try to attack.
The monkeys are cute and its fun to watch the young ones play, but they are a nuisance as well.
It is mango season now. They started to ripen to the point of harvesting here about 3 weeks ago. Outside one side of the apartment building is a neighboring house which has a mango tree, so we get to see the squirrels and Green Parakeets come and eat some of the fruit. There is a pretty green parakeet out there as we write this now! Unfortunately, the monkeys also like mangoes! A week or two back we were watching the parakeets and taking pictures of them when we were surprised to see a long pole with a net on the end in the tree as well! At the other end of the pole was a man who had climbed about 20 feet up into the tree and he was harvesting some of the mangoes. Fortunately, he did not fall.
We read that lots of fruits are harvested the same way- by men and boys climbing up trees. It is also true that many are seriously injured or killed each year by falling- especially from coconut palm trees since they have no lower branches that might break a fall.
However, the mangoes are awfully good and many restaurants have seasonal desserts using them to great effect!
That was Ziggy or Zoe- we are not sure who got hold of the keyboard, but what they report is true. the monkeys were around this morning. Crows cawwing, dogs barking and Ziggy and Zoe jumping on the screens are all signs that the monkeys are near. Jim chased them away by trying to spray them with a big squirt gun- one normally used for the "festival of color"- "Holi", but good for water squirting at monkeys too! After they jumped into the trees, the crows try to chase them away by annoying them with incessant cawwing- it annoys us, and seems to affect the monkeys too.
After the monkey's left we went to add some trash to the pile we leave outside the apartment door each day for the building people to pick up and found the trash strewn all over the hallway! The monkey had obviously been there before coming to our balcony. The staff was kind enough to come and clean it up.
A couple days back Janet said that she and Renuka were in different rooms of the apartment when they heard a crash coming from the direction of the kitchen. By the time Janet got there all she saw was a melon on the floor. Renuka said that a monkey had gotten inside- either through a hole in one of the screen doors to the balcony or by opening the screen slider. There was minimal damage done, but it could have been bad- especially if Ziggy or Zoe had been awake enough to try to attack.
The monkeys are cute and its fun to watch the young ones play, but they are a nuisance as well.
It is mango season now. They started to ripen to the point of harvesting here about 3 weeks ago. Outside one side of the apartment building is a neighboring house which has a mango tree, so we get to see the squirrels and Green Parakeets come and eat some of the fruit. There is a pretty green parakeet out there as we write this now! Unfortunately, the monkeys also like mangoes! A week or two back we were watching the parakeets and taking pictures of them when we were surprised to see a long pole with a net on the end in the tree as well! At the other end of the pole was a man who had climbed about 20 feet up into the tree and he was harvesting some of the mangoes. Fortunately, he did not fall.
We read that lots of fruits are harvested the same way- by men and boys climbing up trees. It is also true that many are seriously injured or killed each year by falling- especially from coconut palm trees since they have no lower branches that might break a fall.
However, the mangoes are awfully good and many restaurants have seasonal desserts using them to great effect!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Monsoon
It is said, somewhat dogmatically, that "June first is the start of monsoon". Last year we got some heavy rains in late may and the newspapers said that "Monsoon is starting early this year". Then we did not get all that much rain the rest of the year. This year we had rain showers about every 2 or 3 evenings ("It never rains in the morning or during the day", except when it does.) the last 2 weeks of May. On Monday May 31st Jim asked Joseph, our driver when Monsoon starts. He immediately said "June first". Then June first came and when we left work to go home in early evening the sun was out and the sky was bright, so Jim said, "it looks like Monsoon will be late". By the time we reached the apartment, dark clouds had come overhead and about a 30 minute cloudburst occurred. So, it seems that Mons0on did start on June 1. The next day was bright and sunny and a bit hot and it looked like no sign of rain, but before we reached home it rained. We had some rain every evening since June 1. The farmers are happy, since last year was bad.
Fortunately, so far the rains have not been too bad- sudden flooding of the streets can occur and a people are sometimes washed away when they accidentally step into one of the open drains. Still, the rains have been very heavy compared to what we are used to seeing, but only for 20-30 minutes so far.
There is also a "cyclone" on the west side of India- it was supposed to hit Gujurat- where we were in Jan. and March- yesterday. They say this has actually delayed the real start of Monsoon for another week- it seems monsoony enough as it is.
Fortunately, so far the rains have not been too bad- sudden flooding of the streets can occur and a people are sometimes washed away when they accidentally step into one of the open drains. Still, the rains have been very heavy compared to what we are used to seeing, but only for 20-30 minutes so far.
There is also a "cyclone" on the west side of India- it was supposed to hit Gujurat- where we were in Jan. and March- yesterday. They say this has actually delayed the real start of Monsoon for another week- it seems monsoony enough as it is.
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