Around Gurgaon

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I ventured out today and made a quick run to Galleria, the closest "shopping center" to where I live. I hit the ATM, paid my Airtel bill, ate lunch at The Coco Palm, and picked up a few groceries at a small market. I took a bicycle rickshaw and snapped a few photos along the way (which is difficult when you are hanging on for dear life).

Funny story about Airtel: No one here trusts the mail so all bill are paid in person at a retail store. Some businesses, like Airtel, have drop boxes around town as well. I figured that if the mail isn't reliable, the drop boxes are probably not so hot either. There's no obvious lock on them so I'm not sure how secure a check would be in there. Checks here have the "Pay to" line pre-printed for you to fill in, but underneath the line it says "or bearer" which is a bit scary! Anyway, I went into the Airtel store and up to the cashier window. I gave the guy my payment coupon and my check. He looked at them for almost three minutes, stamped them several times each, stapled them together, and then told me to go put them in the drop box outside the store! I'm guessing that a few minutes after I left, the same guy went outside and took them back out of the box.

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Photos

Gurgaon #1
Scenery along the way: signs offering rental property, electricity towers, empty lots filled with trash, and a guy peeing in the bushes

Gurgaon #2
Cow on the sidewalk (it's hard to get a good "cow in the road" photo when you want one!)

Gurgaon #3
Drafting off the bicycle in front of us

Gurgaon #4
Rajasthani bull lying along the side of the road

Gurgaon #5
Typical Gurgaon scenery: construction site and temporary living quarters, provided by the construction company, for the workers next to it. These workers are actually lucky since this housing has four walls and a roof. Other housing is much more temporary. When this construction project is done, the workers and their living quarters will be moved to the next site.

Gurgaon #6
Passing a truck on the right (usually the smaller vehicles stay to the left) Also, it not unusual for people to drive or ride with their doors open as this truck is doing - that's thedriver's arm. He's probably getting ready to "hock a loogie" which is a concern for those of us getting ready to gp by on a bike!

Gurgaon #7
My driver thought I was a heavy load, but this guy had it really bad!