Blogs from Bangalore, Karnataka, India, Asia - page 53

Asia » India » Karnataka » Bangalore January 3rd 2006

So I realize I already posted a blog today, but something kind of funny/embarrassing happened to me at work today which I wanted to share having to do with grocery shopping. In order to appreciate the situation, I need to explain the whole concept of supermarkets in India. They are relatively new to Bangalore and actually aren’t really that super. They all have kind of weird names like Fab Foods or Food Mall. Well actually if you think of it the names of their stores are kind of better than ours, at least it has food in the title, I mean we have places like Jewel or Safeway. Why name your store Safeway? What does that mean? It is safer buying groceries at Safeway than what? Picking them out of the garbage? Ok, but I digress, ... read more

Mr. Scots Wild Ride

Asia » India » Karnataka » Bangalore January 2nd 2006

Bangalore Tower

Scot C

As you will notice, I have been writing a lot about the contrasting aspects of Bangalore. This weekend I experienced two very different sides to Bangalore. On Friday, I went back to Chickpet for the full experience and then on Saturday I went to the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. I wanted to talk about the Gardens first even though I did it after Chickpet. I was told that Bangalore was the “Garden City” before I got here, but I have to admit that up until Saturday, I thought the name was a bit misleading (kind of like New Jersey) but when I visited the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens I see why now. This place is incredible. The grounds are huge, with a lake in the middle. Unfortunately they were preparing for the annual flower show and some of ... read more

Koshy's

Asia » India » Karnataka » Bangalore December 28th 2005

Koshy's

Scot C

So I am finding that there are three things you can count on in Bangalore: 1. The electricity will go out at least 3 times everyday. 2. Traffic is horrible. 3. The service at a restaurant will either be the best you have ever had or the worst. Today I had incredible service. I went to a place called Koshy’s. It is, as my friend reported, “the quessential Bangalore eating place”. The original place we had intended to eat at was having a private party, so we walked a few blocks to the old part of town at my friend Sriram’s suggestion. As we walked over the bags of garbage and dodged traffic, he explained to me that this place has been around for many years, and actually has two parts to it, one side is ... read more

Sriram and I after a great dining experience

Shaving and Spectacles

Asia » India » Karnataka » Bangalore December 27th 2005

My new glasses

Scot C

There are a number of things I am going to miss when I leave India in a couple of weeks. I will definitely miss the people and the service you get anywhere. I will miss the food of course, and I will miss having somebody drive me around. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to shaving when I get home though. I think this is number two of things I am looking forward to (#1 being my friends and family in the States). Let me tell you shaving in India is one of the most difficult tasks to do here (other than shipping packages) and I never realized how much I took the luxuries I have in the States for granted. See hot water is a luxury here. Everybody has a water ... read more

Movie Ticket Scalpers, camera phones, escalators but no candy!

Asia » India » Karnataka » Bangalore December 26th 2005

Scot C

I spent the better part of the day hanging with my friend Rakesh yesterday. We did a lot of nothing just hanging out, eating, drinking coffee etc. We had planned to go to the movies at 3 PM to see King Kong, but when Rakesh called, he could not buy tickets, so got tickets for the 6:20PM show, and we killed time waiting for the movie to start. Unfortunately we did not race over to the box office and pick them up. In Bangalore they are just now starting to use the online ticketing and the site was down yesterday. They do have the ability to buy over the phone, and that is kind of a weird thing. So Rakesh buys the tickets on the phone, but when we show up at 5PM, he gives his ... read more

Christmas in Bangalore

Asia » India » Karnataka » Bangalore December 25th 2005

Dinner??

Scot C

It is again 2AM and I had another fantastic day. This time I woke up on time at 11AM. I put on my favorite pants (my chinos with Velcro) and my favorite shirt and headed out for a day of exploring. I started out where else but a coffee shop. Some of you have commented that my coffee and cigarette intake has significantly increased since I got here and you are correct, everywhere you go there are coffee and cigs, and the cigs cost about 1 US dollar here so it is hard to resist. After lounging at the café for a few hours reading and listening to my IPod (DJC if you must know) I went and got my haircut. I was a bit apprehensive about getting it cut in Bangalore as I had heard ... read more

Christmas Eve

Asia » India » Karnataka » Bangalore December 24th 2005

Christmas In Bangalore

Scot C

It is Christmas Eve here now (2AM) just got in from a long day but a very fun one. I started off the day on the wrong foot, I over slept. I had planned to meet one of my friends at 2 PM yesterday afternoon at a café then we were going to head out to see some sites and do some last minute Christmas shopping. Well I woke up at 2:30. I also had unplugged the phone in my sleep, so I missed his calls. (I think it is quite possible I unplugged the phone because of his calls but not really sure.) Well after a rocky start we headed out to do some last minute shopping for his co-workers and some site seeing. I thought I was in for a tough day, being ... read more

They have craigslist in Bangalore!!!!

Asia » India » Karnataka » Bangalore December 22nd 2005

Scot C

For those of you that don’t know what carigslist is, well…get with the program. It is an incredible website created in San Francisco by a guy who if I remember correctly wanted to find housing and couldn’t find one place to go. It is completely free and the site is basically one huge garage sale/classified ad/personals page. Some entries from today’s craigslist in Bangalore just cracked me up (I will leave the typos as they were printed): Under the Men seeking Women section: I am an American Man, age 30 interested in finding an Eastern Women willing & able to travel to the U.S. for the purpose of marrage You will have to pay your own way here as well as all other expenses until we are wed. (This guy wants to find a wife and ... read more

FIRE! No thank you, I don’t smoke.

Asia » India » Karnataka » Bangalore December 20th 2005

Scot C

So there was a fire at my office building today….well kind of. Before I explain that I need to explain how my office building is so the story makes sense. I work in a 3 story building that is actually a 4 story building which is actually a 5 story building which is actually a 6 story building. See there are four floors in my building, I work on the second floor, which is actually the 3rd or 4th floor depending on how you look at it. When you drive up to my building you pass the guards, and come up to a set of stairs. Now if you stayed at driveway level there is a kind of a bank. It is not really a bank, but there is an ATM and you can get money ... read more

Packages - Who would have thought it would be so tough

Asia » India » Karnataka » Bangalore December 19th 2005

Scot C

So Monday was spent driving around Bangalore trying to ship packages home to my family in Chicago. Who would have thought a task so easily accomplished in the States would cause me so much frustration. I had purchased some small items for my family and I had intended on shipping them back in time for Christmas. Getting the packages home was difficult in itself, but my problems began a week earlier when I tried to get gift wrapping for them. I actually had purchased most of the items within the first week of being here but finding wrapping paper was quite difficult. I knew that Christmas was not as big of a holiday here as it is in the States, but I really didn't think about the stuff we take for granted when it comes to ... read more

Brief history of India

The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest invaded about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab in...more history

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