It’s funny how the role of money is different in here. Rupees feel like Monopoly money and it almost never feels like I’m spending a lot of money on anything. On top of that, I have almost zero capital expenditure, leaving me with too much to spare on living.

And still I feel like I might run out of cash any minute now.

This controversial effect comes from the combination of low-value currency (1000 rupees is 15 euros) and generally low prices (lunch buffets less than 300 rupees). While I can easily afford stuff here, there’s always the feeling that I wouldn’t have enough money for this and that back at home. I can spend 45000 on home decoration without realising that it’s actually more than 700 euros, and still feel hopelessly broke when my account balance drops below 300000 or so. Five years ago I got through a whole year with a similar amount of money – in Finland! I never had such amounts of money roaming free when I lived in Finland, but here – with cheaper prices and all – the world is not enough. Somehow no amount of rupees associates with Real Money, no matter how hard I try.

Maybe it will get a bit easier next month when I have the chance to convert part of the balance to euros.

Or not.

Tags: bank, luxuries, money, prices, what is different

Remember when I had my stuff packed in April for shipment to India? The ones to be transported by sea?

Well, it seems like they’re already in India. I was informed that the ship arrived at Chennai last Saturday and they are being moved to a train today. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to pay the customs on Thursday and may see the actual stuff before end of this week. I did all the paperwork today with some help from the removal company, meaning that their agent tells me where to sign and fills up the forms for me afterwards. All I had to involve in was listing the values of my goods for the customs declaration.

And boy, did I get a firm reminder of where I am.

The agent was quite close to passing out when he heard how much my video projector had cost, so he made some adjustments to the figures before writing them down. It seems now that my home theater – including the projector, amp, speakers and Xbox  with its controllers and all – is now worth 300 euros in total. Add in the other dutiable stuff and the shipment is valued at around 700 euros for duty purposes.

Right.

Tags: money, moving, people in india, practical stuff, prices, time, ways of working, what is different

My (hopefully) last weekend in a hotel for some time is almost at its end, and it could be worse. For the last two days I’ve been chilling out on the poolside, eating in ridiculously priced joints and reading a lot. I’m currently going through Steve Berry’s The Templar Legacy, which I bought just because I found The Da Vinci Code fascinating and well written. Berry draws his ideas from the same pool with Dan Brown, but his themes and locations are a bit less well-known than Brown’s. For example, while Robert Langdon deciphers messages in The Last Supper, Berry’s Cotton Malone has to settle with less known artists such as Don Miguel de Manara. Still, the story is quite interesting – I only bought it yesterday and I’m on page 350 or so already.

Things seem to be going well towards me moving out next Thursday, but there’s plenty of room for catastrophies to happen. I’m usually not this pessimistic, but seeing how things (don’t) work around here has given me enough reason not to hold my breath.

Tags: books, food, hotels, money, prices

Regardless of my previous post, being here is more than just dysfunctional interior, awful traffic and too much people. It’s just easy to see the bad sides first, especially when the contrast between home and India is so… so… big. It’s hard to explain, and I’ve tried so many times I don’t bother anymore. Instead, I’ll get to the latest news:

I spent the whole Sunday at the house, reading Richard Dawkins (which may have affected to my opinion on shrines in the house),  observing wildlife on the street and bathing my toes in the sun. I also found the three floors useful as I can do some aerobic exercise just by running up and down the stairs. And it’s surprisingly much more fun to cook when someone else is going to do the dishes

Today I went to my agent to get an estimate on how much money I can blow on furniture without going over my maximum rent. We have a deal with a rental company so that they buy what I want and rent it out to the Corporation as long as I stay here. After that they get to keep the stuff and make ridiculous amounts of profit by selling near mint stuff that have paid themselves back in the rent. Brilliant business!

I also got my residential permit for one year, meaning that I don’t have to worry about the legality of my stay before next April. My agent Vivek is one of the best Indians I’ve ever known, as he’s very helpful and sees things through. I must figure out a way to thank him properly when all the initial hussle is over. Good agents, drivers and maids are worth gold here.

Speaking of maids, I have a good one at the house: does her job well, speaks rather good English and cooks good veg curry (among other dishes, I suppose).  When needed, she can also do some shopping and boss the guards around to do something – especially handy since the boys aren’t that fluent in languages other than their native ones.

Oh, the allowance for furniture? More than the Engineer makes in six months.

(I’ll post some photos when I get the stuff, most likely next month)

Tags: accommodation, colleagues from India, luxuries, my pimped-up interior design, practical stuff, prices, shopping

My last day in Bangalore (for now) was quite a hectic one. The day at the office was full of trainings, meetings and even a surprise souvenir from my beloved colleagues in the Corporation. After work I went to see how expats live here and found out that the apartment I saw was much more to my tastes than DD or the Engineers place. We had a hilarious dinner with a few colleagues, some of which are coming to Finland in a few months. Right now I’m pretty optimistic that working in India can be a feasible option for me.

I arrived at the airport a little over two hours before departure, only to again find out that I’m early. The security staff on the entrace looks really scary with their AK-47s and commando-style headwear, especially when some of them take shelter against the cold by wrapping scarves over their heads. Add in the sand bag bunker on the roadside and you could imagine arriving on a terrorist training camp of some sort.

During check-in I found out that I had been hauling a total of 34 kilograms of luggage with me all the way from the hotel. No wonder I feel a little fatigued and my muscles ache. I think I succeeded in distributing the weight pretty well, since my hand bag with its two extra kilograms was accepted without scrutiny (is that the correct word in here? Maybe it is now). Finally I was charged 60 euros for two kilograms, although my check-in overweight was more that double of that. Thanks to the friendly airline worker for that.

— (Some 10 hours later in the German airspace)

Ah, the bloody air travel organizations and their overenthusiastic security paranoia. I have to admire the amount of irrational and completely useless rules they have introduced since 9/11. The goddamn Germans nicked my whiskey bottle in Frankfurt, even though it was properly sealed and bought from a certified tax free shop. The problem? It was sold, certified and sealed outside EU.

The bottle is exactly the same, the sealed container is exactly the same, the price is at least almost the same, but still Ms. Sauerkraut-Nussbaum could not allow me to take it with me in the cabin. Being in a hurry already, I couldn’t check it in, so I had to leave it there. Another 50 dollars well spent, goddammit.

I took everything out of my generous 45-minute transit time and bought a new one. I’m still pissed.

— (Just now)

So I’m back in Finland and trying to adjust to the cold again. It seems like I won’t be here for long since the top management has already approved the resources for my expat contract and the guys in Bangalore are already working on the arrangements. It may be that I will be celebrating my birthday in India already.

Tags: flying, legislation, oh bugger, practical stuff, prices, shopping, surprises, travel, what?

Walking out of the office was exceptionally joyful today. My vacation started, I have found a really nice apartment and everything is in place for taking off tomorrow. If I believed in some cosmic balance, I would already be waiting for setbacks and guessing what they could be.

Instead I enjoyed a nice, spicy Murgh Tikka and Stuffed Kulcha dinner in the hotel restaurant for 330 rupees (around 5 euros). I have a conservative hunch that 90 per cent of Finnish people would have left it uneaten due to excessive amounts of chili it contained, and even I broke a nice sweat during the dinner. After all the chicken was not that hot, but the problem was that I didn’t have anything for breaking the burn for a while (rice, milk, or white bread – the kulcha was stuffed with spices). I anyway ate the whole thing, but I might encounter a ring of fire the next morning. What better way there is to start a holiday?

By the way, I found the post office and got my package on its way. The central post office of Bangalore is a large, old building that would easily qualify as a mosque from the outside. Inside I was a little lost and it took me a while to figure out how the system works. I had to visit two different counters, one for the packaging of the parcel and one for the actual mailing process. Getting instructions was somewhat difficult, so here’s how it goes:

You first have to make sure there are no liquids in the package (presumably they are prohibited for some reason) and preferably pack the stuff in a cardboard box. Then you find the packaging counter, where the cardboard box is taped firmly shut and wrapped in fabric. The packager actually sews a pouch around the package while you fill in the customs declaration. You should be able to identify each item or item category (“foodstuff” is too general, “idols” should be fine) along with the weight and value of each item/group. On top of all this, two identical copies must be written, of course by hand. Finally you will be given a worn-out marker for writing in the address to the surface of the fabric. It is a good idea to bring your own marker just in case.

After all this you get to take your package to another counter for weighing and payment. The customs declarations should be attached by now and the address should be clearly visible. The fee will be determined by weight, destination country and type of transport (sea or air). My 3.4 kilograms of sea freight to Finland cost 820 rupees or about 13 euros, but may take up to three months to arrive. For some reason I didn’t ask the air fare, but I presume it would have been significantly more expensive. Maybe next time.

In fourteen hours I will be on my way to the airport, so it’s about time I get some sleep now.  I don’t feel like Xmas at all, but on the other hand I think it was exactly what I was looking for: something completely different, as inspired by a brilliant group of British comedians.

Brace yourselfs, I’m about to fly again.

Tags: accommodation, food, holiday, hotels, planning, post, practical stuff, prices, service, travel, ways of working, work

I visited the tailor today for final fitting. The tail was a little long, some adjustments to the front were made, but otherwise the whole thing looks promising. I will try to get some photos when it’s ready, but I’m afraid I will be missing some parts of the suit until I get back home.

After the fitting I went for dinner and ended up in IndiJoe Sizzling on Church Street. The place was quite tidy, the staff was friendly as usual in restaurants and the ambience was somewhat western. When I got my Sizzling Chicken in Garlic Sauce, I realised what the name meant: it was served on a hot stone plate, still cooking and emitting a huge cloud of steam. The food itself was not to my taste, especially because the plate overcooked the whole thing and every piece had a charcoal topping in the end. The prices seemed reasonable on the menu, but after adding taxes, service fees and a small Kingfisher, the total went over 660 rupees (10 euros). To me it was worth it for once, but I will not be going there again anytime soon. Still, the sizzling portion is worth seeing.

Tags: clothing, food, prices

I slept over breakfast today, so I did a couple of Google searches to find a decent Sunday brunch. I have already seen the one in Leela Palace, so after a couple of results I ended up walking to the Taj West End hotel. They serve an all-inclusive Sunday brunch with sparkling wine and a full range of foods from salads to grilled meat and dozens of desserts, which seemed exactly what I was looking for.

The place was empty when I arrived, so I got to choose a table from anywhere around the place. I ended up in an outdoor table on the terrace, just beside the bushes that surrounded the back yard:

For starters I pursued the salad table, from which I found about ten different kinds of dishes from all around the world. It made collection of them to my plate and ended with this:

The selection included German potato salad, chicken salads from Hawaii and India, large shrimps and octopus salad, just to mention a few. I was a bit hesitant with the octopus, but it turned out to be really good! The other salads were also brilliant, so ten points for them.

Next I went for the main dishes and again there was a variety of choices waiting for me. I gathered a nice set of meat, bread and vegetables to fill up the next plate:

Yes: meat balls. Apart from them, there is some chicken in a tomato-and-strawberry sauce (yum!), German and Italian bread, some lamb and those Italian pasta thingies I never remember a name for. I could not have imagined eating strawberries in a salty main dish, but the combination came out really nicely. Again, ten points.

I didn’t have the time to get up and get the next plate, when a waiter from the grill brought me a sample platter with a little bit of everything:

There you have it: chicken, pork, lamb and a some kind of a cake grilled on mild flame. To me, this was the weakest link of the brunch, but still the lamb was excellent. The chicken was not thoroughly white, so I decided to skip it just in case. I don’t want to get a food poisoning three days before my holiday, thank you.

Seems like the sparkling wine had a little effect already since the next picture is not entirely vertical:

Double chocolate mousse, some kind of a pudding thingy and a cake with white chocolate decoration, all extremely tasty and sweet. Ny personal favourite was the cake, apart from the fruit on top – I’m not sure what it’s called, but the taste was really mild. The mousse was overwhelmingly heavy and I had to give up with it before my stomach exploded. I left at least a dozen of desserts to be tried later, since I just couldn’t eat more. Luckily I got a glass of whiskey included in the brunch after a minute of haggling, so I could let the food settle down before getting back.

The whole thing cost me a little over 2700 rupees (42 euros), but was definitely worth it. There were several occassions where I just sat in the table, held a glass in my hand,  peered at the birds in the sky and felt like I was really alive. Enjoying life seems to be something I can do here more frequently than in the cold, dark winter of Finland.

If you ever happen to visit Bangalore, I definitely suggest you to try out both Leela Palace and Taj West End. Just don’t go to both on the same day as it would be total waste of your money,

Tags: food, hotels, luxuries, photos, prices

For once I wanted to have something particularly non-Indian, so I went for lunch to the local Pizza Hut. I am getting used to taking a rikshaw now that I know the price range, so it took me only a good five minutes to reach Brigade road. That was the only quick thing in the whole lunch, since of course the Hut would be crowded as hell on Saturday afternoon. On the way I spotted this:

It took almost an hour from my entry to the point when I finally got the food, including a twenty-minute wait between getting the menu and having my order taken. To add injury to insult, I ordered only a personal size pizza and was left hungry after all the trouble. The price of the meal, including a nice cooler drink, was a reasonable 300 rupees (around 5 euros), but the visit wasn’t really worth it. I will have to try my luck again another time, definitely not in the middle of the weekend rush. It didn’t exactly cheer me up to see the all-American decoration overflow landing to India too:

I made the mistake of trying to catch a rikshaw from the north end of Brigade road, the worst of all those tourist traps. The best offer of a 20 rupee distance was 50 rupees (the most ridiculous one was 100), so I decided to walk instead. Luckily I had my camera with me, so I snapped a bunch of photos to illustrate the overall look of streets in Bangalore. This is what I came up with (and here you can find the rest):

Cost-efficient transportation of goods

These traps are all over the walkways…

…even in front of these

And especially these

Walking around here is significantly different, but I seem to get used to it pretty quickly. I know my way around the most important places already and I have an understanding of the distances, so I am not that likely to be cheated on anymore. Living here doesn’t look that bad at all.

Tags: food, people in india, photos, practical stuff, prices, service, time, traffic, transportation, what is different