Four badge locks and Ice Cream

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.