Today was a hectic day. I have quite a lot of work to do back in the office, but in addition to that I have been arranging my holiday, hunting a new apartment and trying to cope with my discomfort for the whole situation. I find it relieving to get out from here and to the middle of civilization, but on the other hand this place is somewhat sympathetic: kids in the yard, noises in the corridors, hard-working people around and a million other things remind me how real families live here (not even mentioning the ones on the streets). In an hour I will be checking in to a sanitary, faceless hotel that separates me from the real world and ordinary people.

Even though the hotel is right next to the office, is by far better built and will probably provide me everything I need, it doesn’t completely feel like I’m going to a better place. There will be less space, no unintended contact with the outworld, no kids staring at the first white face they’ve ever seen and definitely no personality to match the one DD has. In a word, it is going to be boring.

Ten more minutes and my transportation should be here. I don’t really know what to think right now.

— (the next morning)

The hotel is exactly what I expected. It has the usual pros and cons of a hotel, and when inside, I can’t really tell if I’m in India or in Espoo. At least for as long as I don’t see the staff around me.

I have to figure out something to prevent boredom in the night time.

Tags: accommodation, diamond district, hotels, people in india, what is different

This morning was quite awkward and I was extremely happy when the E came to pick me up from DD. I felt like a trapped animal inside the apartment even though the conscious part of my brain is trying to say there’s nothing to be afraid of. It is easy to get paranoid in the middle of nowhere after such things happen.

My next move is to discuss budget issues with the Big Boss back in Oulu, get a decent serviced apartment close to the office and leave DD behind for good. I am even considering a hotel room for some days if suitable apartments can’t be found promptly.

I hope to get this thing resolved before Christmas holidays.

Tags: accommodation, diamond district, stress, what is different

I got an interesting visit from the management of the housing company just some minutes ago. The gang behind my door included two executives and the guy who arranged the incident last Saturday. They came in for a talk since it seems that the Corporation had forwarded my description of the happenings to the housing company. The managers took immediate action and came to apologize personally, not only by themselves: they also gave a humiliating speech to the now ex-employee. He apologized and was dismissed shortly after that.

The executives then apologized once again and told me that the guy was really sacked immediately. They assured me that the incident is now handled and everything is back to normal again, but somehow I’m not entirely convinced. Even though the risk is minimal, I still feel unsecure and somewhat compromised. The management has been really nice and the maid is lovely with her sunny attitude, but I think I still have to move to keep the paranoia away.

Today I’m again more than happy to have this journal for writing down my adventures. This blog has proved to be a good way of clearing things to myself and making more informed decisions about things.

Now I’ll call my boss, explain the situation to him and continue looking for my Christmas vacation. Things will eventually be all right, no matter what these people throw at me.

Tags: diamond district, people in india, travel, what is different

The incident on Saturday and all the fuss after it gave me something to think about, and I finally had my eureka moment. I had mistaken two things to be the same, but now I know better. Finally.

The thing with accommodation is that there are three types of acommodations a white guy should take into account when planning a trip to Bangalore. The first and the most obvious altenative is of course a hotel, with prices ranging from 6000 to 20000 rupees (~100-300 euros) a night. This is quite a standard price in any given metropol for reasonable short-term accommodation.

The other alternative I was aware of beforehand is to rent an apartment, but I mistook serviced apartments to be the same as standard rental ones. I knew that renting an apartment costs about the same as in Oulu, but didn’t understand that this is not the case with proper service apartments.

You see, in Bangalore the standard forward payment for a rental apartment is ten months rent in advance. It is easy to guess how many rental apartments are available for six week periods at a time when advance payments are so high. This the fact that separates Finnish rentals from the ones in India.

So then there is the third alternative, a service apartment. These places are provide a feasible way of living in an apartment with domestic servants and such, but because of shorter rental periods the prices are closer to hotels than ordinary apartments. I didn’t realize this fact when making the reservation, so I naturally thought that prices would be about the same as in Oulu.

Which brings me to Diamond District, with its cheap prices and lousy service (I have last eaten serviced breakfast over a week ago). This place is a serviced apartment, yes, but the price was closer to a rented apartment. I am no longer the least bit surprised that this place is in the middle of nowhere, crumbling to pieces and maintained by people who come begging from their customers. Man, how stupid have I been?

This probably means that I will have to change apartments to one that is closer to the office. I have already sent a request for an apartment closer to the office and will hopefully get some offers tomorrow. It’s interesting to see what happens.

Tags: accommodation, diamond district, practical stuff, prices

Yesterday I faced a surprising situation that escalated into a real moral dilemma for me. Writing down all the aspects of the story can be difficult, but I’ll try.

I had just returned to the apartment from a walk when the doorbell rang. It was the man who introduced me to the maid on my first day here, so I presume he is working for the company that rented this place to me. He asked to come in and sat to the table right in front of me. He was carrying some motorcycle brochures, so I thought he might have had something to do with my humble request of getting to ride a Bullet. When he opened his mouth, it turned out to be something completely different.

What I understood of his bad English was that he was aging (yes, around 55 maybe) and was having prostate problems. This of course would require medical attention, but less surprisingly he was short on money and wanted me to help him.  He didn’t have anything specific to offer in return, so it would be pure charity from me. The whole time he was smiling widely, like he was telling me about a newborn baby or asking something from an old friend. I turned him down and walked him to the door, giving him a vague promise to not bring the whole incident to public. He left without any drama and left me puzzled with my thoughts.

On the other hand it would be humane to forget it all, but my sense of justice says something else. I have always tried to be honest, open and dignified, so I am tempted to let the manager of the company know what his employees are doing behind his back. I think it would be beneficial for everyone to try and reduce corruption from this country, bit by bit. Also it would give a better image to the outworld and encourage future expats to come here if these kinds of things were addressed properly.

It is easy to see the motives of the guy – bad financial situation, easy access wealthy western people, not much to lose – but there is still one fundamental difference I find disturbing. I am fine with beggars facing me on the street and asking for money, since that’s all they have. I can easily ignore them knowing that I don’t have to have anything to do with them if I don’t want to. With an employee of the housing company things are a little different: he has access to my apartment, he knows where I live and in the worst case I will have to do business with him in the future. In other words, I can’t just ignore him and go on with my life.

So I am facing a guy with nothing more than his job to lose, and I can make that loss happen. In my opinion it would be a healthy thing for the country to happen, but on the other hand I can’t be sure of my safety if I do the thing I consider right. I don’t want enemies with nothing to lose, especially in a country like this.

This whole thing has really gotten me thinking of my basic values. If this was a question in a survey, I would definitely and without second thoughts bring out the whole incident, but in real life it is not that simple. I want to set things straight, but I don’t want to compromise my own safety. I’m also thinking of bringing this out just before I leave, which would pretty much eliminate the safety hazard.

I am really puzzled. What should I do?

Tags: culture, diamond district, let me know, morale, people in india, surprises, what is different, what?

After getting used to pre-heating shower water, minimal selection of kettles and some other unfamiliar things, there is one major problem with living in Diamond District: distances. The whole district is in the middle of nowhere and it takes a lot of time and effort to get anywhere near the shopping centres, offices or anything I would generally consider “somewhere”. There is the exact same problem with my home in Oulu, but there are also two differences that make Oulu far better than DD. First of all, my apartment is right next to the office and it takes around 5 minutes by bike. The second major factor is that traveling downtown is not a jungle of congestion and exhaust fumes, but a straight road to drive when I want. No sign of honking horns and suicidal pedestrians/rikshaws/motorbikes trying to block my way, which makes the journey much less stressful. My next apartment in this country will reside much closer to the office and shops, not in some bedroom town.

The more time I spend here, the more I learn how to cope with the locals. The motto of all India seems to be “now”, meaning that long-term plans should be done only by yourself. Most people either come to work by their own means (motorcycle, car, walk) or take the first rikshaw they can stop outside, instead of having someone pick them up at certain time. Punctuality and reliability seem to be out of the question as well as ability to handle unexpected situations. For some reason it is too much to ask from a driver to inform you if they are late or something similar happens. This results in wasted time, frustration of both parties and increasing stress levels, avoidable by a simple phone call or two.

One of the main reasons for being late is the traffic, which seems to have to major problems. The first one is that the road network is not even remotely sufficient for the amount of traffic there is, resulting from the exponential growth of the city. The second reason is a self-feeding loop of stress, irritating behavior, congestion and fighting for your space on the road. A little co-operation would help a lot, but it’s again one of these world peace ideologies. Maybe some day, but probably not in my lifetime.

Seems like I return to the traffic almost every time now, but it is so totally different it’s hard to believe. Maybe someone will catch the clue after reading all my rants.

I noticed a major flaw in the plan to collect photos of different modes of transportation here. Usually I see those only by a glance and there is not enough time to snap a photo. I will try to catch those while I’m out there, but there will probably be only a few incidental shots.

Today I visited the local ISKCON, one of the largest and newest temples in Bangalore. The amount of gold, jewelry and work put to that temple is something amazing, and they were even planning to expand it with a new 400-foot-high temple hall. It seemed like an ideal place to snap a ton of photos, but all cameras had to be left to the gate before entering. I tried to find some pictures from Google, but the results were quite disappointing. You will have to see it for yourselves, sorry. If you do, there is an interesting experience waiting for you. The whole temple area is filled with loudspeakers that play Hare Krishna chanting all the time, boosted with some prayers or such in between. The surreal atmosphere was mainly created by the constant background noise, but luckily for me the insides of the temple were more quiet.

I bought some souvenirs from the numerous shops inside the temple area and I’m hoping to be able to send some of those to Finland via mail.

Ada, if you are reading this, I found some sandelwood incenses at a ridiculously low price. You will get them as soon as I figure out the best method of delivery

Tags: culture, diamond district, people in india, practical stuff, prices, religion, traffic, transportation, ways of working

I got a call from the manager of the place and he told me that my suitcase is finally here. Of course he sent someone to bring it all the way up here, so I didn’t have to go anywhere myself.

For some reason they had wrapped my luggage in plastic, and it had had a much harder ride than its owner. The bag itself was intact, but the stuff inside was a mess: chocolates all around (Iuckily in wrappers), rice box broken and all the clothes around each other. I guess there was too much extra space around the stuff so they could move around and hit the walls of the bag.

All in all, I could recover most of the rice (the box wasn’t that badly broken) and now I have everything I need: a change of clothes, medication, phone charger and even running shoes. If i have understood correctly, there is a running track on Diamond District. That would be good news now that the swimming pool turned out to be less than satisfactory.

Still no sign of the diarrhea. What is this shit?

Tags: diamond district, medication, travel, ways of working

Today I went out shopping with the E. The morning traffic was not that bad, but I would still rather skip the driving myself. No matter what I write about the traffic or how many photos I take, I can not describe how people behave on the streets. I might try taking a video clip when riding a bike, but haven’t had the chance yet. In other news, I’m dying to get on a bike, so maybe I will have to find a race track or something.

The malls were medium size complexes with  a variety of shops around. Books, electronics, clothes, groceries, you name it. A Lush shop in the first floor of one mall spread pleasant scents all around, inviting me to get a supply of solid shampoo and deodorant. I was going to buy those anyway, but I didn’t know there were two Lush shops instead of one in Bangalore. I even found an arcade there, with original coin operated games that are practically extinct in the west.

The main tourist street, Brigade Road, was just that. Western slogans, brands and ads were all around, including MacD’s, Levi’s and several chicken wing places. The local shoe polishing kids seemed to know their places since they were bugging me immediately after I arrived at their sights. It doesn’t feel very nice to ignore someone talking to you, but it’s the only way to get rid of them. I am thought as an easy target because of my pale skin, so I’ll have to be extra alert with beggars and such. I didn’t enjoy Brigade Road at all, but luckily the E knows the places where I can go shopping without annoying shopkeepers and kids trying to rip me off.

We visited a couple of shops that sell statues, idols and other such things, all handmade. The attention to detail in these things is from a totally different universe compared to anything I can get my hands on back in Finland. Unfortunately it was forbidden to take photographs in there, so no pictures at least yet. I’ll try to find a way to have some shots from those also.

Today’s culinary adventure was quite a mild one compared to the one I had yesterday. Today’s dish was called Murgh Tikka Makhani, which translates to roasted chicken with butter. I would rate it as very mild in the Indian scale, but still very tasty. I ate it with Roti, a traditional bread very similar to tortillas. The portion was quite small, so I had two and got it just right. The total price was 400 rupees, including drinking water and tip. In the future I can experiment with dishes by having two different ones at the same time, but now I know at least one I definitely like.

After lunch I took a walk around the surroundings of DD. Way over 90 per cent of the people were Indian, but I also spotted a couple of caucasians, a few Japanese/Chinese/Thai people (can’t really tell the difference) and some half-that-half-this races. In addition to people there are a lot of street dogs, usually with some deformations or other illnesses. I was warned that they can be dangerous in the night, but quite harmless in the daytime. I also run into a cow that was walking around the streets, but didn’t have my camera with me this time. For some reason the streets feel like I should keep my camera and phone out of sight, so I am not promising a lot of photos from the streets anyway.

I am thinking of a photo series called Transport in India, illustrating the various vehicles and tricks people use for moving around. It is not unusual to see a four-person family on a single 125cc bike here, but it is definitely something exotic for me. I’ll see if I can get the idea going.

Still no sign of stomach problems. I wonder if there is something wrong with me?

Tags: diamond district, food, people in india, prices, traffic

I already learned a lot about India yesterday when arriving at Diamond District. The chaotic traffic was not that surprising, but arriving at the reception was somewhat interesting. We took at least three stops on different guest blocks of DD to ask directions. Finally, in a dark corner of a block, I found the office of the apartment rental company. It took three or four trials on the doorbell before the door was opened, and after that some twenty minutes for the personnel to figure out what to do. There was no sign of the systematic approach I have gotten used to in Finland, so it took quite a long while to fill up all the papers and reach the apartment. All in all, India is the complete opposite of Finland in terms of punctuality, organiztion and labor practises. Everything is done by hand, since there are so many people to do so little.

The attitude to completing things is also totally different. I’ll let a couple of pictures tell it all:

Well, this stuff still works, at least most of the time. The shower sprays water all over the bathroom, water boiler can not be on at the same time with air conditioning and so on. Luckily I have two showers and the other one seemed to work better. Breakfast is served straight to my kitchen table and a maid will take care of the cleaning and laundry. The first shock is over, I am listening to my favourite music and I even have oatmeal whenever I want. These kind of small things make a huge difference, and I’m pretty sure I will like it here after learning the ways things work.

More pictures to be added later this weekend.

EDIT: The rest of the pics: http://heze.dyndns.org/gallery/v/misc/india/

Tags: diamond district, food, luxuries, ways of working, what is different