Today I took a day off from the office, went almost out of town (55 minutes by car) to pay some custom fees and did a million small things to make this place more me. My furniture from Finland arrived today and I’ve been busy arranging things and setting up the equipment. I’m already writing this on my desktop PC, but there’s still work to do with my home cinema and Xbox setup. More on those tomorrow.

As I didn’t send my office chair here from Finland, I had to get a new one:

One of the buttons has come off already, but I don’t think I want to go through the trouble of hauling the chair back to the shop for that. See, I’m getting more Indian every day?

For the guests I got something in the upstairs:

And of course there has to be a bar with such setup:

The glasses are still missing, but that only gives me one more chance to post a pic of this awesome piece of handicraft. I just think it kicks ass.

And finally it feels like I live here!

Tags: accommodation, it's good to be me, luxuries, moving, my pimped-up interior design, photos, shopping

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?

I figured out one of the major things that greatly reduce my comfort while living here, but luckily it’s something non-permanent.

In fact the problem is exactly that: everything is non-permanent. Even though the hotel room has a kitchenette, it doesn’t make sense to collect a full-blown storage of foodstuffs just to throw most of it away when I leave. So I eat out or buy my snacks the very day I intend to consume them, because I don’t want to leave a heap of uneaten food behind next Friday.

On top of that, shopping is usually a real pain in the butt. Supermarkets of the city are far away from the hotel, my only means of transportation is taking a rikshaw and on average it takes a hell of a long time just to get through the cashier queue. Finding more specific items (like razor blades) usually takes visits to many stores, making it even more tedious to keep the stock up.

To make things worse, leaving the hotel is not that simple either. All valuables must be kept behind locks, so I have to disassemble my workstation every time I go shopping or to find something to eat. This may not be a problem on shorter trips, but after five weeks it’s more than annoying already. I need a place where I don’t have to destroy all evidence of my life every time I leave the premises.

I want a home.

Tags: accommodation, food, people in india, practical stuff, shilton suites, shopping, time

I am finally starting to get around Bangalore easily and by myself. I was warned about the rikshaw drivers being unreliable, but there is a simple way of not getting cheated. All you have to know is the distance to be travelled and that one kilometer costs 7 rupees (10 cents) in the daytime. Then you simply pick up a rikshaw, tell the driver where you’re going and agree on the price before jumping in. This way you don’t have to worry about driving around the city since both of you have the motivation to get there fast. You may pay a couple of rupees extra, but at least for me it’s worth the peace of mind I get.

I went shopping this morning to find something to bring back to Finland and to fulfill a couple of requests from friends. I also had to by a pair of Speedos for the diving course. My old ones are probably too loose to wear under a wet suit, but I found a nice pair for only 460 rupees (some 7 euros). In addition to my own stuff I found some idols and cosmetics, some of which I have to mail back home in order to keep within the weight limits of my flight luggage. I hope the Indian post does it job well.

The more time I spend in India, the less I find myself puzzled about the way things work around here. It could be that I’m only used to all the chaos around me, allowing me to ignore most of the stuff I was first so amazed of. They say that it is possible to get used to anything, so maybe that’s exactly what’s happening to me. I am even considering renting a motorbike in Goa for moving around and seeing places that are usually not shown to tourists. And it was less than two weeks ago when I said I won’t be going to the traffic with anything short of a Panzerwagen!

I also got the wireless working from the hotel, so I hope to post more pictures and videos soon. Now I’m off to search the post office and see if they even deliver to Finland. The rates look promising in general, but the problem is that they don’t mention Finland at all…

Tags: motorbikes, planning, post, prices, shopping, swimming, ways of working

Today started a bit badly, but got significantly better after leaving the apartment. I went to a tailor with the Expat and left in an order for a white tie. The total price of the suit with a tail jacket, trousers and a shirt was around 30000 rupees (about 450 euros), of which some 27000 was for the fabrics. Now I will have to find some photos of those suits in order to have it exactly as I want it to be.

From the tailor we went for brunch in Leela Palace hotel. The serving features everything from soups and pâtés to grilled dishes and various desserts. We started with a selection of salads, including smoked salmon, large shrimps, different beef bits and of course the all-inclusive champagne (okay, sparkling wine) servings. We then continued with some eastern style soup and bread, accompanied by butter that was heated to the exact temperature for easy spread. The main courses included different types of chicken, lamb, beef and vegetables in all sorts of Indian and western gravies and fresh-baked breads. I especially liked the slamon with saffron sauce, cooked just right and served with couscous. Second main course included lamb, beef, chicken and shrimps from the grill, inclding the genuine charcoal flavor from the cooking. I skipped the third main course of kebab, but the dessert was too much to resist. I found half a dozen kinds of chocolates, about ten different cakes, some shots, different fruits and a vanilla sauce fountain for coating the sweets. I have never eaten so well on one meal in my life!

Those who know my appetite can imagine the brunch by thinking that I ate it on lunch time, but I am still quite satisfied. I don’t remember the last time I have survived this long with a single meal.

We also went to see some commercial streets in the heart of Bangalore. The amount of clothes, idols, backpacks and all kinds of different things was really massive, I finally bought a small backpack for day trips and paid a staggering 300 rupees (less than 5 euros) for it. Now I will have something to carry stuff around in.

The Expat promised to help me with travel arrangements for Christmas time. I hope to have a week off with overtime hours I have done beforehand, take a flight to some nice island and spend my time there diving and resting. Lakshadweeb would be ideal for that, but I’ll see what I can find.

Tags: clothing, food, luxuries, planning, prices, shopping, travel