Find a different starting point.

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Bangalore, India 100707 0617 local time

Arrrggghhh! Two and a half hours of sleep and I’m awaken by the Bangalore Philharmonic again, toot toot, honk honk. And supposedly this hotel is quieter than the first. We work from 3p to 3a local time to catch most of the states online, which means we get back to the hotel around 4am. Morning light reaches us shortly after 6am. My confounded body has to wake up with the daylight even though I have the curtains pulled tight. As I write, it is almost 8p at home in Austin. Enough about me…

Another observation from Rick, if at first you don’t succeed, find a different starting point. There is very little developed around the office complex from which we are working. I mean much in the way of eateries. There is this little snack bar on the roof of the other building. The guys don’t frequent it and I’m of the Nathan sort of traveler now, “follow the crowd”. There is a new place as of last night, China Yo, Chinese food out of a cart. Its slogan is “Yo on the go.” Told Rick I didn’t know if that was a promise or a threat. He was all excited that they had forks though so maybe he’ll try it. And finally there is Dominoes. Yes Dominoes, with 3 types of soda, Coke, Sprite and Orange Fanta. (It’s true I’m over the DTs, I’ve gotten over my Diet Coke addiction.) Hopefully I’ll get to the lost soda fridge key in the blog sometime. It was dinner and a show last night. Anyway I digress… Before I forget, when you walk up there is this sign that says “Ham and Pepperoni are Pork products”. I love this place. Anyway, I regress… Rick and Scott wanted the works but it’s not on the menu. So they ask for a “Farmhouse” pizza with Pepperoni on it. “Farmhouse” being the pizza loaded with vegetables. “Not possible”, comes the reply. “You can’t just put the pepperoni on and charge us extra for the pepperoni?” “No sir, it’s not possible.” “Ok, how about a pepperoni pizza with all the same vegetable that the ‘Farmhouse’ has on it extra?” “We can do that.” “Great.” See, you just have to know the right starting point.

And then there was the street sweeper who dutifully swept up all the trash in her street section with her hand made grass broom into the bucket, only to walk it into the next persons section of street and dump it. You can’t make this stuff up folks. Responsibilities are highly segmented. As Scott put it, he doesn’t have to lay sewer pipe to the treatment facility, only to his neighbor’s yard.

Time for a note on cultural sensitivity. As I write this, I hope it’s not lost on you, that it works. All of this chaos works! 9 million people. I am amazed (and confused) on a daily basis how they don’t have wrecks, they don’t fight, etc. I’m sure the Indians think it’s as much of a riot that we Americans look for meaning in shades of grey where none exist. I’m struggling to articulate it better but to suffice it to say, “It works!”

As we were driving home from work last night, I saw my first stray cat. Dogs are all over the place but no cats. Not sure why this is yet. When driving to Mysore, I saw a dog on top of the metal roof of a house. No idea how he got there. There is a dog that hangs out at Dominoes. According to one of the agents, he was there as a puppy when they moved into the office building. Walking away from the Mysore temple we were trailing a dog through the market who felt the call of nature and lifted his leg on the bottom purse of the handbags kiosk. Don’t know where the kiosk owner was. I have a feeling they would have come running if I had stopped though.

Which brings me to one of those things that I see on a daily basis that no longer carries any shock value, men (and boys) regularly urinate on the side of the road. I was told I was going to see it, and “check” within the first 24 hours it was off the list. On occasion there is a sign painted on the wall that says no littering or urinating on the wall. I’ll try hard to get a picture sometime. At first it was a real chuckle like the “Ham and Pepperoni are Pork products” but the sign is everywhere and just isn’t so funny anymore. Not that the act is bothersome. The men and children are somewhat discreet, well somewhat. It’ll be funny again when the new folks come over and see it for the first time. I’ll laugh then. No live action pics on this one folks.

Ok, I’m going to try to go back to sleep.

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Comments

[Diane]

urinating in public
You know, Dylan and Simon often urinate in public, too. That is probably why it is not that novel to you! Here is hoping that you find some decent vittles soon!

[Lilly and Simon]

Please
We really want a dog and we don't care if it's a unibreed. Please bring one back. Please. Please. Please. Thank you, Mommy!