Week 2 Begins

Today, we will commence working from 3:30pm - 12:30am which is two hours earlier.  Last week, they announced a shift change for the team which everyone was very pleased with, and so are we.  Leaving at 12:30am will also enable the HSC team to catch cabs home directly outside of their building rather than taking a van to a different location.

Bhaji & Poori

This morning for breakfast, I decided to switch up my routine and have pancakes.  Most of the waiters know me well because I come every morning for breakfast and on weekdays around 9:30, not many people are around.  While waiting for my pancakes, one of the waiters encouraged me to try Poori and Bhaji (not to be confused with the Bhuja snack which I will finally try tonight).  Poori spelled Puri was one of the items mentioned by Andy on his list of Indian food.  The waiter described Bhaji as a mixture of vegetables in a gravy.  He explained that you tear a piece of Poori and eat it with some Bhaji, and that it is very good.  He was right - it was tasty with a mild flavor of potatoes, carrots & vegetables, and it was not spicy at all.  The Poori is very light and it is as thin as tissue paper used to wrap presents.  The chef looked at me strangely when I snapped a photo.

Pancakes with American Garden Syrup

The pancakes were pretty good considering that it is their version of American food.  It was funny that there is only one big bottle of pancake syrup called American Garden, so if another guest orders pancakes, they take the bottle to the next table.  Having observed this on a prior day, I knew to immediately put some syrup on my plate before the bottle was taken away.













This morning's weather turned out to be quite nice although  Accuweather.com is calling for temperatures in the 90's with thunderstorms for the remainder of our stay here.  It was forecasted to rain this past weekend, but thankfully it rained heavily only in the evening, once we had already returned to the hotel. 

Commercial Street

More Shopping...

Commercial Street

Pavitra and Saloni from the HSC team kindly offered to take us shopping on Sunday, so we met them on Commercial Street which is about a 45-minute drive from the hotel.  It is actually a series of roads and alleys with shops, outdoor stalls and places selling snacks.  Goods ranged widely from American brands (official Levi & Wrangler Stores) to trinkets (carvings of animals in wood and soft stone, wooden boxes and paper mache items) to jewelry stores as well as clothing stores (both modern and traditional Indian styles & fabrics).  Bangalore is known for its silk and for its sandalwood which has an aromatic smell & is grown here.  Except for the nice stores, it is expected that you bargain, so we were glad to have Pavitra & Saloni with us.  Street carts sold guava, starfruit, green grapes and freshly squeezed sugarcane juice. I watched as a man on a bicycle with young coconut attached to it, used a huge knife to whack off parts of the skin to make coconut drinks for thirsty shoppers.  After a couple hours of shopping, we stopped by KFC and had a light snack and a delicious mango smoothie.  The restaurant was quite crowded and Saloni shared that she and her friends will meet and hang out at KFC.  While we were shopping, our driver waited for us nearby. When we were done, he took us to see some government buildings with nice architecture and a park.  The city is currently constructing a metro station near the High Court of Karnataka, a beautiful red structure.  Bangalore is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka.  The driver stopped in the road for us to quickly take a photo as other cars honked at us, of course.  Apparently, it is also against the law here to talk on a cell phone while driving because our driver was pulled over by a motorcycle cop.  It was the first police vehicle of any kind we had seen.  You have to pay 300 rupees or they will confiscate your driver's license.  It is common to see people driving cars, motorbikes, mopeds and bicycles while on the phone, although you'd think they would especially want to pay attention given how people drive here.  Shortly after being stopped for using his cell phone, our driver's phone rang again.  We yelled  in a joking way to him, "Be careful! Don't pick it up."  He did anyway.  Our regular driver was not available on Sunday, so this driver came instead.  He was very kind and friendly, so we were glad that he took us around the city that day.

High Court of Karnataka

Weekend Visit to Mysore

"Horn Please OK" "Goodbye"

We arranged through the hotel a tour of Mysore, which departed at 6:00am on Saturday.  Mysore is approximately a 3 hour drive each way from Bangalore.  Despite the honking and speed bumps, I managed to fall asleep several times on the way.  On the highway, I noticed that many large trucks had "Sound Horn" painted on the bumper or back panel.  Variations were "Honk OK", "Blow Horn" and the more courteous "Please Sound Horn."  One truck had a typo: "Soun Horn".  Some were painted decoratively in fun fonts while others were in plain block letters. My favorite is found in the photo to the right.  What I found ironic is that even if the truck didn't indicate that honking at them was okay, other drivers did it anyway, so what's the point of the sign?

Sri Ranganthaswamy Temple

Mysore Palace

Our first stop was a Hindu temple in Srirangapatna called the Sri Ranganthaswamy temple, located 11.8 miles outside of Mysore.  It was built in the 9th century.  Being a group of 4 foreigners, souvenir hawkers and people offering tours immediately closed in on us the moment we stepped out of the van.  Entering the temple requires you to take off your shoes & socks, and leave them at the "slipper parking" area where a man collects 20 rupees to watch your shoes (although he really isn't).  I chose not to go inside because while temples are interesting to look at, it conflicts with my beliefs as a Christian.  My 3 co-workers received a bindi (red spot) between their eyebrows which they said represents another 100 years of life.  The driver also took us to a lake which we didn't understand the significance of, but it had a sign saying that swimming was against the law.  Many people walked down the concrete steps and splashed the water onto themselves.  We also visited the Summer Palace of Tipu Sultan who was the ruler of Mysore during the 1700's.  People from India were charged an admission of 5 rupees.  As foreigners, we had to pay 100 rupees.  After lunch, we visited the Mysore Palace which I later learned is one of the most famous attractions in India after the Taj Mahal, with 2.7 million visitors annually.  After navigating through souvenirs stands and hawkers trying to sell us sandalwood crafts & a snake made of wood that looked real, we purchased our ticket of 200 rupees (vs 20 rupees for locals).  It was built in 1912 and is the home of the royal family of Mysore.  On the building were thousands of light bulbs, and during festivals and special occasions the building is lit. I wonder how they often they replace the light bulbs since they are incandescent and do not last as long as the energy-efficient type. Photos that I saw on the internet reminded me of Main Street at Disneyland when the buildings are lit at night. 

Having light-colored skin is valued here in India, and my coworker mentioned that while watching TV in her hotel room, she saw at least 6 different commercials for skin lighteners.  During our visit to Mysore and at the temple, people often snapped photos of my co-workers Tina & Lynn, or directly asked to take a photo with them.

A Changed Perspective

Buildings at a Distance

At our hotel, which is inside a gated community with guards 24 hours/day, you feel completely safe, and in being surrounded by such modern and plentiful amenities, you could be anywhere in the world. Yet down the road beyond the ultra-rich homes of Expats, extreme poverty exists just outside the gates. Earlier this week, I wandered to the 3rd level of the main building of the hotel to see their library, billiards room and business center. As I happened to look out the etched picture window, first I saw the beautiful view of the hotel in the forefront, and then I noticed some buildings off in the distance, so I snapped a photo. Later, as I reflected upon that moment, I realized that it's a great analogy of how easy it is to feel insulated while on the immaculately maintained hotel grounds because you feel far removed from the "outside world"... yet, once noticed, the extreme contrast is unmistakably striking.  Along the roads to the office, you will see people's homes made of crude coverings in the midst of rubble. There are piles of dirt and bricks in random places, and the roads are dirty with many sections in disrepair.  Wild dogs and other animals roam freely. When you finally allow yourself to realize it, you feel sad as you gaze upon such destitute conditions, and you gain a sense of compassion for the people who have lived such a hard life with so little.  During our drive to the office, I thought about how we have all grown tired of the hotel food here, yet any one person we witnessed on the road that day, probably would have been so grateful for even a few bites of the meals we have had. I felt incredibly humbled.

A Day in the Life...

Beautiful Clouds After the Rain

It turned out to be a beautiful day after the rain with huge puffy clouds floating by. After a cooler morning, it has warmed up again.  Yesterday, it rained well into the early evening which is unusual for this time of year in Bangalore.  We did not bring umbrellas so we had to walk quickly from the entrance of Tesco HSC to their office building. 

Thunderstorms

It is Wednesday, and today’s excitement was the rain and thunderstorms that began at 1:00pm.  Since then, it has been raining off and on at varying levels of intensity.  I was in my hotel room working near the balcony when I heard the sound of falling rain against the foliage, so I took the opportunity to use one of the many free blue umbrellas available at the hotel to walk around outside in my shorts and flip-flops.  The staff quickly lowered the clear plastic shades around covered walkways to keep the path dry and lifted up the cushions on the recliners near the pools.  The team at the office shared with us that commonly, when it gets very hot, it will rain for a short time to help cool down the temperature.  The monsoon season starts in the Summer from June to September.

Challenge: Let's see if you can spot the differences in the pictures below.

Answer: There are several differences, but the two primary ones are the umbrella and in the second photo, the waterfall is turned off.

Our First Days at Tesco HSC

Entrance to Tesco HSC Main Campus

It was exhausting but we survived our first two days at the office.  We were far more relaxed on the drive there, probably because we expected the honking and packed roads.  There are large cattle meandering in the middle of the road, and they obviously pay no attention to the honking, so our driver had to carefully go around them on the narrow, unpaved road.  It is only a 15 minute drive to the Tesco HSC (Hindustan Service Centre) campus – a large complex of offices supporting the 13 countries where Tesco operates retail locations.  On our first day, we were warmly greeted by the staff of approximately twenty, some of whom we had previously seen during videoconference calls and of course, talked to over the telephone and via email.  They are kind and wonderful people.  The chocolate bars survived and arrived at the office unmelted.  Today we felt a nice evening breeze during the dinner break at 9:00pm when we went to, what they call, their "food court" - imagine a very large, white permanent covering in the courtyard where they serve free dinner to those on the evening shift because there are no places nearby the Tesco campus to purchase food.  The food, which tonight was an Indian dish not recognizable to us, is described by many of the staff as "okay."  By 10:00pm (or sooner), we all began to feel rather sleepy as we checked our watch to see what time it is: 4 1/2 hours to go.  At the end of the day at 2:30am, the entire HSC team leaves the building together to take a van to another building to catch their cabs home.  We learned that some have commutes for 1 hour or longer.