Chicken Burgers

There are many good restaurants in Bangalore and they cover a fairly broad range of food from all over the world. There is one restaurant we have gone to quite a few times because it is not too far away and it is generally good and relatively simple western European/North American style food. One item Jim likes is their chicken burger. It comes with a bread roll, tomato, lettuce, mayonaise, onion and a little spicing to make it less bland. Jim has order this about 6 times over a period of about 6 months. Each time he has asked them if they can add some cheese on top of the chicken. For some reason this seems to baffle the staff. The first time they said they could not put cheese on it, but it had cheese inside. It did not. The second time they said they just could not do it. (He did not press them too hard on why this seemed to be a problem because they clearly seemed uncomfortable.) The next time, they brought it with some cheese on the chicken, so that was proof that it could be done. In the 3 most recent visits they brought it with cheese then the next time (with the very same waiter) said they could not put cheese on and the next time they brought one with cheese on it! This is very mysterious... one of the many mysteries of living in India. We know that the waiters do not like to say they are out of supply for something and they generally don't use the words "no you can not have that", but these experiences are really more odd than usual.

Civil Disobedience

When we were young in the U.S., Martin Luther King was alive and leading the struggle to attain equal rights for African- Americans by using "Civil disobedience" as a primary technique to bring about change. We learned that he took the concepts used by Mohandas K. Gandhi in India as the basis for what he did in the U.S. The idea seems pretty straightforward - you get a large number of people to disobey an unjust law to bring attention to it and hope that enough other people recognize the correctness of the stand and bring about change. With large numbers of people you get attention and the police forces have a difficult time enforcing the offending law, because there are so many people to deal with. Of course there were violent reactions too- many people in India were killed or injured and this was true in the U.S. too. However, on the whole the moral courage and correctness of the views of the protesters can be seen to have won out through their attempts to remain non-violent in their own actions.
Gandhi's birthday is approaching on Oct. 2 and it is celebrated as a national Holiday in India.
We were reflecting on his concept of civil disobedience and how remarkable his accomplishment was to win the independence of what is now well over 1 billion people. We became amused by the idea that the people had to be encouraged to violate some of the British laws, because we find it more common that the natural behavior of the people is to ignore most laws! So, In some sense it seems that what was really accomplished was to ORGANIZE all of this "civil disobedience" rather than to create it for unjust laws. Of course, that organization was quite a big accomplishment in any case.
The place where most people see the blatant disregard for laws is in the traffic- this is a topic of discussion among nearly all foreigners as well as most old- time Bangaloreans who also dread driving in the traffic of today. They might also have ignored the laws in the past, but there were a lot fewer people, so it was of less consequence and stress then. Undoubtedly, there are many other examples.

Preparation for departure- Part 2

It was a hectic week in general, but we made progress toward our return. We concluded that we can't get all our furniture back home at a reasonable cost, so we have to sell a number of items. We had planned to sell a few things, but we have to sell some more. there are a few that we'd like to keep, but are not sure where they would go, so they seem expendable. The process of selling these things is somewhat eased Janet's membership in a group of ex-pats. they have a website and emails go out when a member lists something for sale. This has gotten a lot of calls which she has, at times, had difficulty handling. A number of people expressed interest, but never called back and never came to see things (we managed to upload pictures too), but one large item went quickly. Someone else said he and his wife are moving to an apartment, and need a lot. They came and looked then made a low ball offer despite our saying we were not lowering the price much. After a day of back and forth he said they will take most of what we are selling. However, he seems like a dealer or operator of some sort and we are a little skeptical that he will not try to pull some sort of move at the last minute like claim that he does not have the rest of the money and needs a lower price as a result. That could leave us stuck with the furniture. However, we have friends here, so we think if we got desperate we could leave the remains with them to sell and get the money later. We shall see!

bad weather and bad vibes

Friday evening we went to a movie. While there it rained very hard, but we didn't realize how much. In the morning paper they say we got about 4inches of rain in 1.5 hours! It was still raining after the movie, but we sat and talked to a friend while eating a bit until the showers subsided some. They then gave us a ride home and we were quite surprised to find about 3 inches of water on the floor of the garage/basement! Fortunately not enough to cause serious harm. We also found a little water on the floor in the apartment by all the windows that face south- even though they were closed! The newspaper has many pictures of buses and cars sitting in deep water, so it was much worse in other areas. When such downpours occur there is no real way for the water to be handled unless the entire system was built to handle it, but that much rain in such a short time is apparently fairly rare. They say this was the 4th largest amount in that sort of time since they have kept records, which is not a long period, but long enough to say its not so common. Still, every year, there are more localized downpours that cause havoc in smaller areas.
This past week also witnessed the possibility of significant social unrest in the form of sectarian violence. In 1992 there was a rather sad case where a mosque was destroyed by people who felt the site belonged to an earlier Hindu temple. The case has been in the courts for 18 years while they try to sort out who it belongs to- Hindus or Muslims. People say that one side is likely to be unhappy - whichever way the decision goes. In addition the judge is due to retire in less than a week and if the case is not decided now, the case will probably go one for a long time more than it already has. The whole country was put on some sort of alert on Friday and Saturday, but then the verdict was delayed until this coming Tuesday and who knows what will happen then?

Prepartions to return home - part 1

We probably would have started on this about Sept. 1, but because we were planning to be away the week we were up north, we started discussion the last full week of August. There is a lot to do, but we have a lot of help too- though they often seem like inhibitors at times.
We were not happy with having the Ziggy and Zoe shipped over, so we have spent a lot of time looking into how to bring them with us in the plane cabin. After many calls and emails it loks like this is possible but only on 1 or 2 airlines. We will try to settle that soon, then other things will become more clear.
We had the moving people come and assess our shipments. We did not come with a lot- mainly 3 beds, a chair, a lot of cat stuff, some kitchen items and a few electronic items and a lot of odds and ends. However, we have furnished a 3 bedroom apartment very nicely in nearly 2 years.
It looks like we will need to leave a number of items behind or else pay fairly large shipping costs. Jim has been pressuring the movers and coordinators to look at it more carefully as they appear to be over estimating the costs based on information we have gotten from others who have been through similar experiences.
In any case we have a number of items we will sell so that is part of what we need to arrange quickly.
So, settling the cats move, selling items and sorting out how to ship various things appears to be the top priorities. However we are also going through Visa renewal and he have a number of other tasks to handle as well. The next 5 weeks look to be very hectic!

A Trip to Sikkim, Darjeeling and Kolkata- part 2

Here are a couple pictures taken along the trip to Darjeeling. The rivers are muddier than normal due to the monsoon rains and water levels higher too. Some of the rivers and streams looked pretty dangerous.
The first night near Darjeeling was at a tea estate "Glenburn". This was a little painful to get to, but once there it seemed a bit like heaven. The owners are a wealthy family who took it over some years ago and decided to use part of it as an inn or resort. They have done a very nice job of providing luxurious spaces for the guests and the views are fabulous. We got a tour of the tea factory in the afternoon of our arrival. There were about 6 or 8 other guests. Since this is monsoon, they were not full, but by October they will generally be full until March.
The tour of the tea processing factory was interesting. As suspected, tea is a highly manual business, though they have several machines to do processing once the leaves are picked.
We learned that they have two basic plants- one from China and one from Assam- another Indian state to the east. The plants grow fast so they pluck the leaves 4 times a year to make different kinds of teas. Plants from lower altitudes are different from higher and the weather makes a difference too. So when you buy "Darjeeling tea" it may be a mix of the two types of plants plus a broad mix from plants in different areas, then there are the seasonal differences too. A little too much to know about shriveled up leaves. There are about 80 teas estates around Darjeeling too. Apparently, the samples are sent to Kolkata for evaluation and grading and then sold. The next morning we awoke to find a view of some snow covered mountains to the north- one of them is "K.....", which we will just refer to as the highest peak in India. We got different numbers for its height. One place said 28,000 ft another 26,500 ft. It kept appearing and disappearing behind the clouds. We enjoyed our day of luxury amongst the tea plants and then moved on the Darjeeling town for 2 nights. We could see the town at the top of the neighboring mountain- it was almost always in the clouds. Unfortunately, Janet picked up an infection that affected her joints and intestinal track for the next few days.
Darjeeling has gotten crowded and a bit over run with tourists. The roads and traffic were a nuisance too. The hotel here was reasonably nice, but not luxurious. It was damp, rainy, cloudy and a little chilly here during this part of monsoon season. It rained every day with moderate to light showers- but not all day long. During the heaviest rain we visited the zoo and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute which is mostly about Everest with much about Tenzing Norgay who lived in Darjeeling for many years. The zoo was a little sad, but we saw a snow leopard there and a pretty impressive Tiger who seemed to like the way we looked- he kept starring at us. We were to go to "Tiger Hill" about 4:30 AM to see the sunrise if they thought the sky would be clear- you can see Mt. Everest from there even though its pretty far away. However we decided that since the weather was very iffy, we did not want to get up that early and Janet did not feel well either. Jim road The DHR for about 2 hours while Janet rested. This is the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway which was built up the mountain around 1890 and continues on with its little steam engines. It was designated a world heritage site around 10 years ago because they have maintained it pretty much the way it was for a long time. Today you can take some short trips to see it operate and see some views. Of course, the views were of clouds this day! It was amusing at least. Since we did not get to ride the train at Ooty, this was a good substitute. The cost of the "joy ride" is about 240Rs each which is very expensive considering that a one way ticket on the normal train to the same destination appeared to be about 2Rs (5 cents).
We found a good bookshop in Darjeeling and a couple good crafts shops. We also visited a Tibetan self help center where refugees live and work. They are known for their wool rugs, but we did not like the designs too much.
Overall, Darjeeling was a bit too crowded for our tastes, but interesting to see.
We left for Bagdogra on Friday the 10th. The ride was rough again. We made the short flight to Kolkata but were quite tired by the time we got to our hotel near the center of the city so we did not go out until the next morning. Of course, as mentioned in the earlier post- or car was stopped once near Bagdogra by guys collecting for "Puja", but this time (maybe it was twice), the guide explained that they should not be stopping tourist vehicles for this and they let us pass without damage.
Janet did not feel well and decided to have a doctor visit while Jim went to see the railway museum, but it was closed. We think this day was the end of Ramadan, so it was a holiday for many businesses as well as for Muslims. The doc said Janet was pretty much over a viral infection. One thing we have noticed is that many things are designated as "viral", but then they prescribe antibiotics for them anyway.
In the afternoon we visited the Victoria Memorial. This is a massive white marble building dedicated to Queen Victoria. It is quite pleasing to look at, but considering that she was the foreign Empress of India, it seems a little inappropriate. Still it and the grounds are nice. Calcutta was the capitol of British India for quite a long time until New Delhi was built. The city has many British influences and a number of pleasant neighborhoods. It is also hot and humid most of the year. We visited some textile shops in the late afternoon, but the shops were packed (literally) with others trying to buy. There is no way we could compete with the Indians for the attention of the shop staff- except that they know we will bargain less hard.
It started to rain that evening and Janet returned to the hotel while Jim went off to a building complex housing many craft shops from all over India. This was fun and interesting, but also tiring.
Our last day was spent at the hotel and going back to the shops found by Jim the previous evening as well as visiting another textile shop found by Janet. We were tired and did not stay too long. We headed to the airport and got there to find huge lines of people going through security screening- it was the worst we've seen in India. We just got to the gate as our plane was boarding. The flight was full and because we got there a bit late we could not get seats with more legroom, but we did get aisle seats. Our driver awaited us when we arrived in Bangalore and Ziggy and Zoe were fine and did not seem to miss us all that much.
This was probably our last trip while in India as we are to return to the US in October.

A Trip to Sikkim, Darjeeling and Kolkata- part 1

We made a trip north- departing Bangalore on Sept. 4 and returning Sept. 12. We arranged most of it through a travel agent in Bangalore who has been pretty good.
We flew from Bangalore to Kolkata (still called "Calcutta" by many people) where we did not actually have to enter the terminal. They had people on our second flight wait on the plane and then they took us by bus to our connecting flight. This was a little confusing, but saved us the hassles of dealing with the terminal. The ongoing flight to Bagdogra was only about 45 min., so even the middle seat was not so bad. We were able to get seats with more leg room. At Bagdogra we were met by our guide and driver for the next 5-6 days and we drove off toward Gangtok in Sikkim.
The guide said the trip normally takes about 4 hours, but since this was late in the monsoon season there were many landslides that made the road rough and more difficult to navigate. It took about 5 hours for the trip.
As we left Bagdogra toward Siliguri, the driver and guide decided to take a smaller side road because the main road is in terrible condition and would take longer to driver over. They were probably right about the road, but soon after entering the side road our car was accosted by a group of young men who were "collecting money for Puja". Pujas seem to be anything from a prayer to a ceremony to a festival. In this case they were simply extorting money from passing vehicles in a Puja season, most certainly just to get money. The driver and guide told them they should leave tourist vehicles (which are usually not hard to make out) alone. They still hit the car and threw things which was a bit scary, though we did not think we were in serious danger.
This happened three times on this small road and the driver paid twice. Later we saw some other guys near Gangtok in Sikkim and the guide said he thought they were legitimate collectors for a Puja. On our return to Bagdogra we encountered a group again and we had one such attempted collection near Darjeeling for a total of 6 times. This was our first encounter with this sort of thing in India. In 4 of the cases they seemed a bit threatening in one they seemed legitimate and in one they seemed harmless kids looking for money.
The Drive into the mountains or hills of West Bengal toward Sikkim was pretty at times, but rather harrowing at times. The road was generally rough with many potholes, which made it uncomfortable, but in the numerous places where there had been landslides the road was only wide enough for one vehicle to pass. Sometimes, barely wide enough. It was clear that people had been working on keeping the road open and in some places there were heavy machines to help move the boulders. We wondered when the next slide might occur while we drove along!
Foreigners need permits to enter Sikkim, but it seems that this is mostly just a formality. We had to stop at the border of the state and fill out some paperwork. They record passport and India Visa information and take a one of the passport size photos you have to bring. They told us to bring 4 such photos, but they only took 1. The proximity to China is one reason for the security, but they are also trying to protect the natives from too much foreign influence.
The last 45 minutes of the trip was in the dark AND with moderately heavy rain too. In some ways it was better because we could not see the danger! However, the driver was good and our car had higher ground clearance than many others making the trip, so we thought we were less likely to have trouble. We arrived safely at our hotel- tired from the rough ride and settled in for dinner and a restful night. Except, there was loud music with a thumping bass sound a little too late into the evening. We were able to move rooms for the other 2 nights. The hotel is supposed to be the best near Gangtok and it is new. It was pleasant in many ways, but a little to artificial in is decor. The management seemed anxious to get feedback to improve the place. Because this was monsoon season, rates were lower and the place had few quests- except the party using the ballroom, which we think was a wedding party for 2 nights of our 3. Food was good, but not great.
Our itinerary had us going to a Buddhist Monastery that was some distance away, but when we learned the roads were rough we decided we could forgo that trip. We had originally planned 4 days in Sikkim, but changed the 4th day to be near Darjeeling when the hotel was not able to confirm room availability. We were going to go to a well known lake with mountain views, but when we inquired about this the guide said that the road was closed due to slides, but might open the next day. He also said that his last visitor there was from the UK who wrote in his notes "this is the most dangerous road in the world". Since it is a rough road and there had been recent slides we decided against doing that as well! We took a drive around the valley to a monastery on the opposite hill from Gangtok. Rumtek monastery is quite nice but not spectacular. There is a long story associated with it about the disputed successor to the "crown" or whatever one might call it- some leadership position at least- and the presence of a large hoard of gold. They make all foreigners register before going in and the army guards the place. Somewhere, we also read about some leader who has been prevented from taking his throne by the Indian government because he is from Tibet and that might irritate the Chinese. In any case, it was a pleasant visit, but lots of uphill and downhill walking as well as driving. We then visited a small village and took pictures of some nice views before going on to a waterfall and stream that has been made into an "energy park". This was a nice place, but similar to many such places in India, the maintenance has not been as good as it could be. We then returned to our hotel.
Our next day started with a visit to the Institute of Tibetology (or something like that). There is a nice little museum with decorative and religious items from Tibet- mostly related to Tibetan Buddhism. Janet's knees were hurting, so she had more difficulty on the hill climbs. We decided we wanted to visit some crafts shops. The guidebook mentioned a government shop, but this was quite disappointing- good for cheap gifts, but not quality items. Our guide did not seem to know much about crafts or craft shops, but said that there were more on the main street- MG Road. So, here in Gangtok, Sikkim- the main road is "Mahatma Gandhi Road". They have done a nice job with the road by turning much of it into a pedestrian mall rather than a road where you are in constant danger of being run down! However, the craft shops seemed few. We did find a couple that had nicer items and we bought a couple Thanka paintings. These are Buddhist themes and, supposedly, come from Tibet. We spent awhile looking at these and finally returned to the hotel for the night.
One thing that continually amazes us is the types of work that people do manually in India. This is really true in most of the world where labor costs are low, but we had not seen so much of it first hand before. We saw many examples of men carrying all manner of things up the steep hills of Gangtok and Darjeeling. We took a few pictures, but some of the most amazing things we missed. In one picture you see a guy carrying a metal wardrobe with mirror on it! We later saw two guys each carrying a similar item made of wood- those must be heavy! The strain on their joints must be awful, yet they do this every day for a small amount of money- very small!
It rained each night and was cloudy- foggy each morning and much of the day. We left the next morning for a tea estate near Darjeeling.
Here are a couple pictures of some of the land slides along the road, though they are not the best indicators of what we saw.
The drive toward Darjeeling was also mostly on rough roads that are narrow and down or up mountain sides. there were some pretty views, but they were a little hard to enjoy.