Thorsten in India

Jaipur, Day 1

2007-07-01T03:49:00.000-07:00

After having slept till 10am, we woke up and tried to find a suitable restaurant for a kind of breakfast. Actually, we already found one in near distance to our accommodation. But once we went out of the hotel, we were surrounded by rickshaw drivers immediately, trying make business. As the restaurant was in near distance, we preferred to go there on foot. From the beginning on, Jaipur made to me a very pleasant impression. Especially, when we approached the Cill Wall. The older part of the city is surrounded by a huge wall made of red sandstone. There are only a few possibilities for entering this part of the city. But once you have left the wall behind you, we will have a great view of Jaipur’s streets, all tarried with buildings made of red sandstone and constructed in very certain manner. That’s the reason why Jaipur is also called the pink city. First we simply were hanging about the Bazaar. It is a real shopping area, where you can find all kind of stuff, clothing of course in particular. At each shop we passed vendors invited us to enter their shop for simply having a look what he is offering. Indeed, we were interested in some clothes, but in order to get a good price you should never show your interest. Therefore rummaged the displays for a while, then asked for the price and decided to move on. He vendors were certain to follow by calling a reduced price.
Finally, I went for 2 pairs of shoes and a couple of shirts, most of them with a typical Indian symbol, like a camel or an elephant embroidered on it. Really beautiful, I tell you. Be anxious, one of them might be gifted to you. After having finished our shopping tour, we more focussed on doing some sightseeing in Jaipur. The building Jaipur is famous for is the Hawa Mahal. It was build by the Maharaja in 1799 for his wifes, so that they were able to observe the processions held on the streets without being seen themselves. The Hawa Mahal is quite an impressive building, almost similar to the Taj Mahal. We climped up the small stairs through its little passages and once arrived behaved like the women 200 years ago by sitting behind the window and watching the goings on the street. After the Hawa Mahal we went to the City Palace, sightseeing in Jaipur worth having a look at it. On the way to the City Palace, we saw a child shitting next to the street. As I was not eager on observing it, I immediately averted my eyes of it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t enter the Palace. But the Palace domiciles two interesting museums exposing weapons and clothes of that time. We really had the feeling being back to the 18th century. Also because of the guardians who were wearing typical uniforms. Next to City Palace the Maharaja built his own planetarium. A few interesting devices were part of the planetarium. Quite striking how the observed the stars in the former time. When the sun was already about to set, we climbed up to the Nahargrat Fort which was a retreat. All the room were painted in the same style with very sophisticated patterns. It was told these rooms were used for the Maharaja love acts with his wifes. From Nahargrat Fort we had a great view over Jaipur and attended a romantic sun set. The day then ended with a nice dinner on a roof top’s restaurant.

Agra, Day 2

2007-04-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

The night was very short. The alarm clock started ringing at 6am as we planned to visit the Taj Mahal early in the morning as it would be less crowded and we could see the sunrise. The entrance fee for the Taj Mahal was 20 Rupees for the Indians and 750 Rupees for the foreigners. It is a great injustice, in my opinion. What counts is the height of income and not where you come from. As if each foreigner is wealthy. But that's India and it is ok. Anyway, you can't change it. In order to enter the Taj Mahal area, we were shaked down. No high resolution cameras were allowed. They really take care of their Taj Mahal. As the sun rose behind us and in front of the Taj Mahal, it was not as awesome as it would have been when the sun rose up behind the Taj Mahal. We hung about, took some nice pics of the Taj Mahal and, of course, entered the Taj Mahal. But honestly speaking, there is not much to see inside. It is dark and the tomb can not be visited and it is located in the basement. The two coffins you see when you enter the Taj Mahal are not one of Maharadsha’s wife who died in 1631 while her child was born. In the early afternoon we went to Agra Fort. Before have reached there entirely we had been already asked whether we want to hire a guide. As a little discount was given to us, we decided to take one. All summed up, it was not a worthwile as his English was more or less not comprehensible. But nevertheless, Agra Fort was very interesting and we have seen so many monuments being part of Agra Fort.
We wanted to finish the day by visiting Itimad-ud-Daula, also called the Baby Taj Mahal as it looks similar to the Taj Mahal. It is called Baby Taj Mahal as it is much smaller than the real Taj Mahal. As it was constructed before the Taj Mahal, its appearance must have been copied to construct the Taj Mahal. On the way to the Baby Taj Mahal we had to cross the river Jamuna. This was an adventure itself. We saw people getting cut their hairs in the streets by simply sitting in front of a pole where a mirror was attached. And the bridge we used to cross the river was crowded with vehicles edging their ways through. Simply incredible. Once we reached the Baby Taj Mahal, we were surrounded by some kids asking for money and food. I wanted to give them my water bottle. But as they all of a sudden started fighting for the bottle. Therefore, I decided to keep the bottle. They fighted like hell, as if the would die if I didn’t give them my bottle.
When we returned to our hotel, we simply went for dinner and arranged our luggage. We planned to take the train at 5.30pm for Jaipur. We took a rickshaw in due time for the railway station and awaited the train on the platform to run in. In the train I had a nice conversation with some Indians about their culture and religion. It was quite interesting. During the journey, a little boy tidied up the floor without having been asked for it. Afterwards he asked for some money. That’s evidence, how poor India in some area still is. But it also shows how smart some people are and how they manage to survive every day, again and again. At about 10pm we reached Jaipur and took a rickshaw for the Evergreen hotel which was recommended by Lonely Planet and some other trainees who had already stayed there. It was a very simple double room but settled our claims.

Agra, Day 1

2007-04-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

The Taj Mahal Express arrived in due time in Agra. The first thing we did, was to get a rikshaw, which was of course again related with doing some bargaining. After having arranged a good prize we drove to the main city. Karolina and I decided to stay in a hotel close to the Taj Mahal, in a area called Taj Ghat. It was pretty obvious by the first view that Agra was completely different from how I imagined it to be. Anyhow, it is the city of the Taj Mahal. It was very polluted and all summed up, a very messy city. One the way to our hotel, we were stopped by the police. I was so excited to see the Taj Mahal that I got angry because of this stop. What on hell could the driver had done to be fined by the police I asked myself. I was very startled as the driver told me the reason for the stop. It was all because of the Taj Mahal. Due to acid rain the Taj Mahal loses it beauty and pureness of the white marble. Therefore, only rickshaws those engines accord to a certain standard are allowed in the area around the Taj Mahal. When we arrived at Hotel Kamal, I could bear to see the Taj Mahal. The hotel’s roof top is to have a great view to the Taj Mahal. Hence, after having checked in, we climbed up to the roof top immediately. I still remember what I thought, when I climbed up the last steps to the roof top. As I reached the top, I was looking around, to the east, to the west, in each direction, but couldn’t find the Taj Mahal. It was like a desperate search for something you have missed for so many years, for example. The reason, why I couldn’t find it was because of a tree standing in front of the house and constraining me to see the Taj Mahal. After taking some steps forward, I finally saw it. It was awesome and breathtaking. To be honest, I can’t describe it in words. It is definitely the most beautiful building I have ever seen. And I don’t think that any building in the world is more beautiful than the Taj Mahal. After so many years of simply hearing that there is supposed to be a building called Taj Mahal which is supposed to be so beautiful, now it was me standing approximately 500 meters away from it. I mean, this building is what India famous for. And all Indians are proud of it, and they are right to be. We had a breakfast at the roof top and kept on staring on it all the time. We decided to visit the Taj Mahal the next day in the morning as it would be less crowded then.
Thus, the first day we took a bus to Fatehpur Sikri. Before the bus left Agra, a man entered the bus delivering a speech. At least, that’s what I thought at the beginning. But actually, he tried to sell some stuff. Fatehpur Sikri is a city close to Agra, those monuments have become a World heritage. Mogul Akbar ruled from here in 16th century before he moved to Lahore. We have seen monuments like the Jama Masjid or the Diwan-i-Am, the main palace. It was all very impressive, especially because the monuments were carved elaborately. We took some pics and went back to the bus stop were we waited for the departure of the bus. As it was already dusk when we reached Agra again, we simply decided to have dinner on another hotel’s roof top while again starting to stare at the Taj Mahal.

Train to Agra

2007-04-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning we took the train to Agra. At 6.30am we waited on the platform of Nizamuddin Railway station for Taj Express departing at 7.15am. The railway station is of course a polluted area. I have seen rats wandering around on the railways searching for something to eat. Even a cow was roaming on the railways, not bothering about prospective incoming trains. We haven’t been alone on the platform; we have been surrounded by tourists, Indians sleeping and lots of goods including herbals, vegetables and so on. All those things were packed in sacs. At about 7am our train arrived. Usually Indian trains are delayed, but fortunately not this one.
We went to Agra by taking Taj Mahal Express. The train promised what his name has got supposed to, it was a really fast train; it only took 3 hours to Agra. On the way to Agra the surroundings of the rails have been polluted with different kinds of garbage. People even stood up to throw their garbage out of the opened doors, instead of keeping it and tiding up it correctly. But obviously, it was their way of tiding up their garbage correctly as first everybody did it like that and second, the environment seams to be simply their garbage can. Otherwise, I suppose, they wouldn’t have made such an effort to get rid of it. I noticed at once the numerous fans hanging on the ceiling. Fortunately, they were out of order as I might have blown away if they had worked all together. Anyhow, it was really sultry or hot as if we would have needed them.
A lot of business was made on the train starting with people selling coffee and Chai, the most famous and most tasty Indian tea and followed people selling papers, newspapers and crisps. Moreover, kids were roaming through the train playing the drums and the flute. But that’s not the end. I could have even got fixed my shoes or my clothes! Tailors and shoemakers were also going to Agra. I don’t know if the paid a fare or if they are tolerated by the Indian Railways so that they are able to earn some money.
The trip was going on quite well, apart from the fact that the Indian woman sitting next to me was snoring most of the time and the train was shaking slightly back and forth, left – right, left – right. If I had been a baby I would have easily fallen asleep on the way to Agra ;-)

New Delhi, Day 2

2007-01-04T08:55:00.000-08:00

The next day then we woke up early in the morning as there was still a lot to see and a lack of time. I have slept well which is no wonder after spending the whole last day with sightseeing and Karolina didn’t complain about a prospective snoring of my part. Hence, day two could start. After having had breakfast in our hotel again, we quit for Old Delhi, crossing again this great messy area called Paharganj. Arrived in Old Delhi, we first paid a visit to Jama Masjid, India’s biggest mosque. I was impressed by its size and beauty as well. Build out of red and white sandstone, it can house at about 50.000 believers at the most including the whole courtyard. We were roaming around and have been asked whether it would be allowed to take a snap of us or in particular Karolina. We refused each time but have been bothered again and again by the same people who either didn’t understand the meaning of the word “no” or were deaf. So what, the choice is yours. As for us, we took a cycle rickshaw to Red Fort. Red Fort has been a resort hundreds of years ago in case of wars. One the way to Red Fort I say another cycle rickshaw loaded with to huge carpets. The driver had to make a lot of efforts to move on – incredible India. Red Fort was build completely out of red sandstone. It actually comprises several buildings including temples, tombs and so on. No wonder, as it had to be used as a town itself in principle. When we saw hundreds of people standing in line waiting for admission, we expected to wait for hours. But as we had to pay a higher entrance fee than Indians it has been allowed to us to overtake all the others. We hung about at Red Fort for almost two hours before we moved on to Raj Ghat where Mahatma Ghandi was burnt after his death. Unfortunately, the gate was closed, so we couldn’t visit the place. The only this we could do, was to behold the beautiful green garden of Raj Ghat and to cross the street and pay a visit to the Gandhi museum on the opposite side. It was rather interesting; especially the chronicle of his life represented in pictures is recommendable. As we had covered the most important monuments in Delhi, we decided to take a rickshaw to Connaught Place, where we wanted to have lunch. After a lot of bargaining, we finally found a rickshaw driver asking for a reasonable fare. “It was the last time we took a cycle rickshaw”, I promised myself. I don’t know why but when these partly old cycle rickshaw drivers convey me and Karolina, I always had the impression that we will be the last customer; they had to strain themselves and it was a wonder they survived. After all, Karolina and I weigh at about 150 kilos. I pitied them, these poor guys. But however, it may be better to go by cycle rickshaw, so that they earn at least some bugs. The late afternoon and the evening then we spent with shopping again. Here and there we bought some cheap gifts like jewellery, shirts and blankets and so on. After a late dinner including a bottle of King Fisher bear. This had to be hidden as it is forbidden to drink in New Delhi even though we have been in a restaurant. Hence, the waiter wrapped some sheets of newspaper around the bottles; smart isn’t it? Since we had to wake up early the next morning in order to get our train to Agra, we went to bed early and dreamt of the Taj Mahal which we would see the following day and which as for me, I will behold for hours, I thought.

New Delhi, Day 1

2006-12-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

On the 18th November, finally, I took off from Bangalore for New Delhi. It was the first destination of my two weeks trip around Rajasthan, one of India's most impressive states. New Delhi itself like Agra by the way are not part of Rajasthan. But in any case, being in India includes having seen the capital as well as the Taj Mahal, located in Agra. After a 2 1/2 hours flight I landed in New Delhi on time, more or less at least. When we were about to land, the aircraft soared up again. Nobody was wondering why this had happened as it would have been something normal. Well, as for me, I was wondering, if we have been hijacked. Actually, I was pretty sure about it. But then, after one minute of incertainty, the pilot informed us, saying there had been some birds on the runway all of a sudden.
As I switched on my phone, I noticed that it was not working anymore. The day before, I activated "roaming"; at least I thought I would have done. "How to get in touch with Karolina now", I asked myself. Karolina is from Poland. I met her in Bangalore. She is also a trainee. As we both wanted to travel around Rajasthan, we decided to go there together. But she arrived in New Delhi already the day before. "So what, first I have to go to New Delhi Train station", I said myself. Karolina and me arranged an appointment at New Delhi Train station for 10 o'clock. In front of the airport, I was asked by taxi drivers where I would like to go. I refused to go by taxi as I had planned to go there by metro. But unfortunately, there is still no metro going to the airport. I was pretty sure that there is one, but I was mistaken. All of a sudden, I guy offered me to go there by his own shabby bus for 50 Rps and I agreed. After some time the bus built for 8 people has become crowed. At the end, he conveyed 14 people in the bus. During the way to the train station I was surprised about the cleanness in the streets. "Well, it is the capital of India, so it has to be clean", I explained myself. To be honest, I was missing the garbage and the cows in the streets. But I can already reveal, the garbage and cows would be still coming. Arrived at the train station, I had an impressive view of Paharganj, a messy and polluted area of Delhi. This area is what I consider to be the real India; bustling people trying to sell their stuff, Indians hanging about and cows and dogs rummaging in garbage for something eatable. And then this nice taxi cabs standing in front of the rainway station, the body in black and the roof in yellow. I decided to make a phone call from one of the public telephone cabins, called STD/ISD as couldn't find Karolina. After a while, I finally found Karolina then. We edged our ways through the main street of Paharganj while we were asked by more or less all the vendor whether we would be interested in their merchandizes. We refused every time. After having checked in at Vivek Hotel, we had a breakfast on the hotel's rooftop restaurant. From there, I had an awesome view in this bustling street. In the late morning, we decided to hire a cab for 600 Rps for a sightseeing tour in Delhi. Our driver promised that we would see all the important monuments, which, we noticed later, is impossible because of two reasons. First, there is too much to see and second, the admission is only possible till the sunset, what is at about 5.30pm. Nevertheless, we have covered quite a good many things like Birla Temple, built by the Birlas, an industrialist family in 1938 or the Parliament House. Close to the Parliament House, India Gate, also known as All India War Memorial, is located. It looks similar to the "Arch de Triomphe" in Paris and is dedicated to the 80.000 soldiers who died in the World War 1 and the Afghan wars. In addition to that, we went to Qutub Minar, a monument built in 1199 by Qutub-Ud-Din-Aibak in order to give calls for prayer. Built out of sandstone, it is India's highest tower with a height of 72,5m.
It is one of New Delhi's most attracting sightseeing. Therefore, it was very crowded by tourists and Indians scattering themselves. As the sun was already about to set, we rushed to the Lotus Temple. It is a place of praying for people of all religions. The fact that it looks like a lotus blossom, gave the temple its name. It is surrounded by a beautiful green garden. The monument we were able to see, was Humayun's Tomb. It was designed and erected by Humayun's queen Hamida Banu Begam in 1570. Humayun's Tomb was the first garden tomb in the subcontinent. With its red and white sandstone it looks really overwhelming. As it is believed having inspired several other Mughal architectural innovations like the Taj Mahal, I was anxious to see it; but I would not see it before the 20th. While we were hanging about at Humayun's Tomb, the sun had set completely. Therefore, we requested our driver to drop us at Connaught Place, a big shopping and business circus, from where we took a rickshaw to Paharganj after having gone for a walk. The evening then we spent at Paharganj, went shopping and ate some good food in one this cheap restaurants. Especially shopping is recommendable there. It is cheap and you have big offer of things like jewelry, clothes, carpets, tissues and so on. I bought some stuff, of course which might have meant for you. Be anxious. In comparision to Bangalore, at Paharganj, it is much fun to bargain. If you have a glance to one of the shops, you will be asked to enter the vendor's shop, for sure. Well, and then you show a little interest, the vendor utters a prize, you reduce it by the half and try to move on. After having told a prize in between yours and the vendor's at the beginning, the vendor now all of a sudden accepts your prize and you get what you want. You can be sure, it works - always. And if not, don't worry, there are so many shops. You will get what you want for a reasonable prize.

5 minutes at Bandra Railway station

2006-12-15T04:24:00.000-08:00

Bandra is a quarter in the heart of Mumbai. It is the final stop for long distance trains. Apart from that is has also a railway station for local trains. I had the pleasure to wait at the main entrance of Bandra railway station for five minutes. My impressions and feelings I would like to share with you. Be anxious.Bandra railway station is a messy and polluted area. Everywhere around I see garbage, every now and then some shit, probably from cows. It is very hot and sultry as well. I stand close to a pillar, lean against a pillar to avoid being rubbed from behind as I am carrying my trekking rucksack on my back. Next to me a guy is selling shabby shirts, all are displayed on a kind of table. It doesn’t take a minute and while I am looking around I am asked whether I want to buy one. “Very, very cheep!”, he praises his merchandize. I shake my head for negation while some other perspective costumers rummage about the heap of shirts. A worn off bus arrives. Not even stopped, people jump out of the bus which has neither doors nor window panes. As I am probably the one white human being around, they are looking at me and behold me unceasingly. To my right, another guy is sitting on the floor selling vegetables. He doesn’t offer a lot, just some onions, tomatoes and potatoes. He had made an effort in stringing together the vegetables thoroughly. “CCCrrrrrrooooaaaaakkkkk, pffffffttttt!”. Just in front of me someone spew. While seeing his spittle, I notice that there is spittle all around me. Some are even in red colour as they had chewed betel nuts along with some tobacco. After a while, certainly due to the heat, my heavy rucksack and the air pollution I can hardly breathe. The noise is indescribable, caused especially by these noisy and honking rickshaws arriving almost every 20 seconds. After having dropped their costumer, they have a look at me asking me with a gesture if I want to be conveyed. Again, I shake my head for negating. While I am beholding the enormous movie poster on the other side of the road, I little boy touches me showing me a wound on his right elbow and begs for some bugs – again I shake my head. He goes on and asks a customer recently arrived with a rickshaw and who is being about to pay the fare. All of a sudden, a black, air-conditioned Toyota Corolla stops just in front of me. One of these lucky Indians who is earning a fortune for Indians standards is dropping his girlfriend or wife or whatever. She is being asked for some bugs by an aging, grey haired man basing on himself with crutches as he has only one foot. She goes on without giving some money. On the opposite side I notice a guy kneeling while he is peeing against the wall. “Ooooiiiiiippppp, oooooiiiiiippppp!!!”, again a rickshaw almost reached the railway station but cannot move on due to the traffic jam which has been caused by a cow being about to cross the road but doesn’t care about. The people around seize this opportunity to cross the road more secure. The rickshaws now all try to edge their way through by driving around the cow while the cow itself now decided to clear the road slowly after having beheld the road users boringly. Now, Faiz, my friend is arriving, picking me up for a coffee at the café “Just around the corner”, where Zarine used to have her coffee when she was about to go to college. As I have been staying in India for almost six month, all what I mentioned doesn’t cause any problems to me. It has become normal and I have become at least half Indian.

Streets, traffic and everything around

2006-11-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

It is worth dedicating the traffic in India an own chapter. Everything you know about traffic in Germany, forget it when you should come to India one day. There is so much to tell about Indian traffic that I don’t know to start with. Well, first of all, due to the fact that India was ruled by the Britain decades ago they use the left trace and the steering wheels are all on the right side. To get a driving licence either for two or four wheelers or both of it you have to pass an exam of course. Taking driving lessons in advance is not required. Those who want to learn driving ask their relatives or friends to show them. As for the two wheelers, to get the driving licence you have to drive on a wide road and on a narrow road very slowly in order to prove that you are capable of holding the balance. Well, but apart from that there are a lot of differences between German and Indian traffic behaviour and appearance. On the roads you find more or less the same vehicles like in Germany, including cars, buses, lorries, some bicycles and lots, lots of rikshaws and bikes. Bangalore is supposed to be the town with the most bikes in the world. They cause a lot of pollution and leave a lot of stinking cloud behind them as well as the rikshaws by the way. And what about traffic rules? Are there any? There are not many but there is at least one very important one – honk whenever you want. Of course the meanings are different depending on the situation. Basically, there is always a reason and if not, congratulations then you have invented a new one. The most common use of honking is for overtaking what will mean you announce when you want to overtake. The other reason for honking is when you are standing in a traffic jam. Due to the fact that the Indians overtake all the time and there are traffic jams almost the whole day, you can imagine how loud it is in the streets. On big crossings you will find traffic lights or traffic police officers. If there is nothing of the sort you just enter the crossing. Of course that will cause a little traffic jam and will induce the others to start honking but it works. I have never seen an accident caused because of that. The road users certainly apply the brakes, start honking and wait impatiently till you have immersed into the traffic. It assumes to me to be a kind of war. Nobody wants to loose his position or surrender. It is always a tug of war for the best position in order to move ahead faster than the others coz nobody wants to waist his time in the traffic jam.
The roads by the way don’t deserve to be called roads, they look more like agriculture fields, full of holes and dust and every now and then little speed breakers which force the road users to slow down. It is really awful. In addition to that the roads are too small. Bangalore has grown and is still growing so fast that there is not enough space for the vehicles although currently some of the roads are maintained or widened. In order to gain space, Indian drivers clap their mirrors, use the sidewalks as roads as well in case there are any or the traces are simply divided according to the strength of traffic for the two directions. By the way, in case there is a sidewalk, it is usually in very bad state. Therefore, even in this traffic, you would prefer walking on the street. At least this applies to some sidewalks. One of the reasons for that is the fact that Indians throw everything in the streets. Hence, the sidewalks are full of garbage which I have to admit is tidied up at least in Bangalore by some old ladies every morning in some streets. But nevertheless, streets are dirty in whole India. And the second reason is peeing. You don’t have to read it twice. Yes, it’s true, Indians pee in the streets. Of course, not each Indian is peeing in the streets whenever he has to. But you will see at least one Indian peeing in the streets when you go around for some hours, believe me. At the most frequently used walls and sidewalks you can even read the sentence “Don’t urine here”. As if it is necessary to mention it. Well, unfortunately, it is but some still don’t care. Logically, there is sometimes a horrible perfume in the streets also because the cows join them. Well, what else is different concerning Indian traffic? I have made an effort and have taken notes whenever I have seen something incredible in the streets. Here is my schedule. Buses are usually crowded because it is the cheapest vehicle to go from one place to another. I have seen Indians both standing on the step with one leg and holding down on a rod and even sitting on the roof. Thus, buses have neither doors nor windowpanes; at least the public buses in the cities. Anyway, it is not necessary coz even if there were windowpanes you would open them. Having no windowpanes is the Indian way of providing air conditioning. By the way the same applies to lorries, especially when it deals with construction workers. The workers sit on the back of the lorry, which is usually much too small. It is so dangerous, I tell you. But not less dangerous is the carriage of gas bottles, ladders or windowpanes on a motorbike. But the funniest thing was a man with a sheep on the bike. I don’t know if it was still alive but I assume it was. I have even seen a complete family including three children sitting on a motorbike whereby the mother sits lengthwise on the bike and holds her baby in her arms - incredible. In Bangalore’s traffic you will find a lot of company cars conveying employees to work and back home. At the back of these cars there is usually a phone number mentioned which you can call in order to complain about the driver’s manner of driving. Sometimes even the victim brings the driver to justice himself. One day our driver almost touched a pedestrian and on another day almost a motorcyclist. In both times, the driver has been hit fiercely. The first time, I interfered but then the alleged victim also tried to hit me. They just want to get rid of their anger. As long as they haven’t got rid of it, they won’t stop and honestly speaking, you can't do anything against it. It is because of the casts in India. The driver is definitely in the lower cast than the pedestrian or the motorcyclist. Even it was told to the drivers by the our company, not to fend. The simply have to endure the hits. Let me lose one word about the rickshaw drivers. Judging what I have experienced in India, they always try to cheat you. Either they charge you a higher fare without going by meter or they take you for a ride when you go by meter. The only way to escape it is to know the fare or the shortest way.
The funniest story happened when we had to stop at a level crossing barrier on the way back home. In fact, it was not a level crossing barrier. It was more a gate, which was closed by a guard on both sides of the railways. Well, due to what happened then, I understood, why the unique traffic rule in India seams to be “There are no rules!“ On both sides of the railways they started waiting also on the trace for the oncoming traffic. Hence, you can imagine what happened when the gate was opened – a huge traffic jam and chaos. Everybody tried to edge his way through to cross the railways, the bikes and rikshaws first as they are small. All I could do was to smile and shake my head.

Pray to the equipments or Ayuda Pooja

2006-11-15T01:27:00.001-08:00

On one day when I was on my way to work I was very surprised seeing all the cars adorned with flowers and paintings. It was really gorgeous. They have put palm leaves all around the cars. Inside the cars they installed light chains flashing on and off. At the beginning, I didn’t thought about what I could be. Then at work, the same view. Now, even the systems had been adorned by having put a little colourful pattern on the top of the system. It is a kind of festival at which the Indians pray towards the equipments. It is called Ayuda pooja. Well and this also takes into account that all the equipments are being adorned for the time of the festival. It is done because the equipments contribute enormously to everyone’s success. Without having equipments working when they are required to work, Indians were lost. So they pray to them hoping that the equipment won’t break down. Ayuda pooja traces back to a legend. It is said that a man had to pray towards his wife to get her recovered from an injury. But he was only allegedly praying to her. In fact he was praying to arms and rifles. Since she recovered from her injury, Indians follow now the same rule. Actually, I don’t know if it has really happened or not. But it is strange that people pray to equipments. But it is like that and that’s why India is different but admirable.

Unveil the secrets of your future

2006-11-15T01:27:00.000-08:00

Sunday the 12th of November Simon, Daniel, James, Steffen and I went to the palm leaf library. Palm leaf library, you will interfere now, what is that? Well, actually, it is exactly what you would assume it to be, when hear the name. It is a library with palm leaves instead of books. Hundreds of years ago some guys wrote the people’s destiny down on palm leaves. The destiny of the people lived at that time and even the destiny of the people who will be born in the future, maybe hundreds or thousands year later. Strange, isn’t it. Well, we wanted to check it out and therefore went there. Honestly speaking, at least as for me, I didn’t want to know anything about my future. I think, if I knew what will happen next, I would just relax and say to myself, I can’t change the future, so what’s the use anyhow? At least if I believed in it. But, I am not quite sure of it. The palm leaf library was hard to find. Even as we arrived in the quarter, where this palm leaf library is supposed to be, nobody knew it. We supposed to enter an old building but what we found was a small office in the corner of a parking garage. Should this really be the “Nadi Gruha” (palm leaf reader); impossible, I thought by myself. But, obvious, we were right here as there were some people waiting for their session. They were German and so we introduced ourselves and had a little conversion about this palm leaf library. Fortunately, this guy we spoke to could tell us a lot over it. He actually manages trips for people who are interested in their future. He also meant, it would useless to try to get an appointment for today as the “Nadi Gruha” has only about six sessions per day. One session takes at about 1 ½ hours, so it is hopeless today. We should have arranged an appointment in advance, but nobody told us, I am afraid. Daniel also meant that he actually already knows when you will be coming as it is predetermined when you have to come. But I am not sure about that. Anyhow, the guy we met told us that the forecasts he made, all came true. He told us about one man who came having an appointment and it was told to him that he is going to die in half a year and it came true. Also the stories he told about the past were all true; it is all written down on this palm leaves. So, what do you think of it? As for me, I am not sure, what to think any more. It cannot be true that people thousands of years ago already knew about the destiny of people who were not born yet. Maybe, it is all a big fraud and a big business coz usually people donate at about 1.500 Rupees for this service. So let’s sum up the money he earns per day. 1.500 multiplied with 6 makes 9.000 Rupees per day. Then, this guy has a day’s week; so that will be 45.000 Rupees per week. And finally, 45.000 Rupees multiplied with 4 makes 180.000 Rupees per month. This 10 times more than I earn and more than some Indians earn in their whole life. I don’t want to start a conspiracy against this guy but I have my doubts, that’s it. It is all very mysterious. But, come to your own decision and visit “Nadi Gruha” in Bangalore. His garage office is located in Chamarajpet, 5th main road No. 33. Good luck.

Things disappear at Robertson House

2006-11-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

All of a sudden, some guys at Robertson house were missing some stuff. Among other things food including rice, bread, chocolate, instant coffee powder and so on. As for me, I was missing two also some provisions. But what was even worse, I was missing my two vouchers the company gifted me due to my good work I provided ;-) and my mp3-player was disappeared as well. Both things were stolen out of my chest of drawers. And 5.000 Rupees had been stolen from Hans out of his unlocked wardrobe. But the worst, Deniz one morning couldn’t find his mobile phone anymore. It was pretty obvious, that our house guard who is supposed to keep an eye on us so that we don’t have parties in our house in the last evening, stole at least some of the things. We also suspected the cleaning ladies having stolen at least some provisions. Who else should steel rice and instant coffee? As if it was one of us, he would have to prepare the coffee and the meals at Robertson house so that he would have been revealed as the thief. No, it is proven, at least to us, that the cleaning ladies and Murthy stole the things. We have seen Murthy rummaging the shelves and seen the ladies wearing our slippers. As I asked the ladies whether the stole the things, they claimed not to understand English – ridiculous. Hence, we complained at Sharan, the house-keeper about the happened incidents. He was supposed to come in between 1pm and 2am but was more than 2 hours delayed. Murthy, who actually, shouldn’t have been at Robertson house at that time wanted to attend to the appointment with Sharan as well. He assumed that we suspected him and therefore he fought for his job which he was obviously about to loose. As he didn’t want to go, even though we requested him to go, Simon became very angry and threw him out of the house applying violence. But still, Murthy retorted and insisted to attend to the appointment. I was very surprised about Simon’s behaviour as I detest every kind of violence. Later on, Simon explained why he had to do that. In India, strong hierarchies exist. And Murthy as a simple house guard with no education is definitely in the lowest hierarchy. He has to follow the rules anyone else orders him to do. If someone of a minor hierarchy doesn’t follow, there is no other way as to apply violence. It would be seen as a kind of weakness if someone of a superior hierarchy didn’t apply violence in such cases. Well, finally we got rid of him coz as Sharan came he also requested him to go. Sharan then was very cooperative and promised us to change the cleaning ladies, to provide a lock to each wardrobe and to let Murthy move out. As for me, I was much more comfortable afterwards. But, unfortunately I haven’t seen my voucher again as well as my mp3-player.

“Dal fry and one sweet Lassi, please”

2006-11-12T19:43:00.000-08:00

If you are vegetarian you can eat quite good meals in India. The Indians like vegetarian food due to two reasons. One reason is that vegetarian food is much cheaper than non-vegetarian food. And the other reason is that Indians don’t eat beef at all coz cows are holly in India. Hence, dal, which consists of beans and peas, is the most popular food also coz it is cheap, very saturated and full of energy. When Indians eat meat then they eat chicken at the most. As a guy from Europe I had to form a habit of Indian food at first coz Indian food is usually except for some dishes, very spicy. You can not imagine how spicy it is. If you added just some pepper or curry on your dish in Europe, the Indians wouldn’t taste that kind of spice. In India it is much worse. An Indian sometime explained me why all the dishes are so spicy. In former times, the Indians were forced to eat more or less rotten vegetables coz hadn’t anything else to eat. So they added quite a lot of spice to the meal in order to digest easier. I have had some upset stomachs at the beginning, but that’s normal. A lot of us had problems and even diarrhoea, also due to the fact that the meals are often not so hygienically prepared than they are in Europe. In the meanwhile I have three favourite dishes. One is Paneer butter masala. It is made of cheese added with some gravy and masala. Masala is just a kind of spice which gives the dish a really good flavour. Usually you eat it with some bread. I prefer parotha, but chapatti is good as well. The bread does not look like the bread you know from Germany. It looks merely like a pancake as it is flat and round. The second one is chicken tikka gravy. You eat this dish with a kind of bread as well. And the most favourite one is masala dosa. It is just a dosa which is a kind of bread, I would say, flavoured with some malasa. Then it is wrapped and inside smashed potatoes are added. To flavour it even more, two tasty sauces are offered as well. Usually you eat all the Indian dishes with your fingers. Hence, you immerse the bread in the gravy and wrap the chicken or whatever with it. A spoon is usually offered to you but as for the Indians, they only use it in very rare cases. Indians are poor people, so having spoons or forks is a kind of luxury. And there is another reason for avoiding taking any cutlery. The Indians assume the cutlery not to be clean. Well, actually, they are right, coz you never know what has done with the cutlery before; if it has been really cleaned and if yes, how. So, when the Indians have washed their hands before eating, they know definitely that at least their fingers are clean. When they eat, they make sure that the food doesn’t touch their palm. The food is supposed to touch only the tip of the fingers, nothing else. For that reason they eat everything with their hands, even rice. It looks really disgusting when they mix the rice with gravy by using their fingers. Bye the way, as the Indians use the left hand for toilet affairs, only the right hand is used for eating, never the left hand. Of course, you have dirty fingers when you don’t’ use a fork or spoon. Therefore, after having finished your meal you will get a small bowl of hot water to which a little piece of lemon was added. Then you rub your greasy fingers on the lemon and bath them in the hot water and that’s it. The fingers become more or less clean, especially when you wipe them afterwards with a napkin. For drinking you get water from the tape for free. For any sealed water or soft drinks you have to pay. What I‘ve mentioned regarding the cutlery applies to the glasses as well. From this it follows that Indians drink out of the glasses by just pouring the water in their mouth; the egde is never touched with the lips. I tried to eat with fingers as well as to drink in that manner; I failed in both. Ok, I managed to eat with my fingers but you don’t want to know how it looked like. And I poured the water more or less over my shirt than in my mouth. A typical Indian or even better Asian drink is Lassi. It is made out of water or milk and yogurt which are mixed in a proportion of one to one. Apart from the most common ones, sweet and salt Lassi, it is served both with crashed fruits like banana, mango or pineapple and spice if you ask for it. I only can recommend you to try it once, it is very tasty. The dishes usually don’t cost more than 100 Rupees. Thus, as for me, I go out for dinner quite often coz I am not a good cook and in addition to that I don’t feel like cooking when I come back from work at about 8pm. Once you have finished your meal, you will get the bill immediately. But don’t be surprised when you ascertain an additional amount to be added to the regular prices of you dishes – it’s the tax. The tax is 12,24 % for food and is not included in the prices which you find in the menu. The bill is presented to you in a kind of wallet. Then you put some notes inside and return it without saying anything. After a while the servant returns and hands over the wallet including the change to you again. Then if you want to you can take the change of course or give the servants a small tip. We usually do the second one. By the way don’t be surprised if you sit close to Indians and all of a sudden hear them belching. In India it’s not unusual and nobody bothers about it. Thus, if you have ever searched for an opportunity to belch at table or in a restaurant, here it is. One day I went to McDonalds. Actually, I don’t like that food so much but when you spend some months in India, you feel like having this stuff. But I was a little bit surprised as I saw the menu. No Hamburger, no Big Mac. Instead the menu included some additional vegetarian items and for non-veg chicken is offered. Well, in fact, I should have known that as Indians don’t eat beef. Indians or better Hindi believe that they are reborn as cows. Not at McDonalds but of course at some places you get beef.

Troublesome work on sites

2006-11-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

As you can imagine the work at the sites is different from Germany. Believe it or not, I have seen Indians destroying a complete house which had two floors by using nothing but their hands. First they removed the roof and afterwards they used a hammer to destroy the walls. Of course, it was very exhausting for the work men. Due to the fact that the site was in our neighbourhood, we suffered of the dust ;-). I also had the impression that they recycle the house in a certain extend coz they gathered steel and bricks of the house. Maybe some weeks later they have rebuilt the house somewhere else, who knows. All together it took much more than one week till the house was disappeared.
And when the worker men have to open a street they open it with a rod of steel. Hence the soil becomes looser so that they can dig afterwards. The soil then is removed by using a little plate which is lifted above the head. I am sure they have diggers, even though I haven’t seen any for instance. But instead of using them, they use their hands. It might be much cheaper because of the lower labour costs.
Sites, which leave a hole back on the road, are secured by putting some stones or tyres around the hole, that’s it, no lights warning you about the danger. By the way, it is not only the men working on sites. I have also seen quite lots of women. The workers earn at about 75 Rupees per day one of my colleagues told me. This applies to those who have no education. It is subject to the construction companies whether they use steely or wooden poles for scaffolds. I have seen quite a lot of scaffolds made out of wood. The poles are tied together with ropes. I was wondering how it works. But obviously, it works.

Pondicherry 27th - 29th of October

2006-11-07T19:15:00.000-08:00

In the south of India, I had already everything seen which would be worth seening, except for one destination, called Pondicherry. Pondicherry has been a French colony some decades ago. Hence, I was eager to see what there is around. I was sure that I would not have to expect a Eiffel tower, but at least nice cafés would be good. Furthermore, it is supposed to be famous for its beaches as it is located at the Eastern coast. The 29^th of October then finally 12 trainees took a semi-sleeper bus to Pondicherry. The bus left Bangalore at 10.15pm. I could catch some sleep but honestly speaking I just slumbered the most time on the way to Pondicherry. I was surprised as at 5am the bus driver shouted “Pondicherry!”. Could we have already arrived, at 5am? Well, obviously, then I read the name Pondicherry on the plates and commercial posters around. But what the hell should we do at 5am in Pondicherry. Everything was still closed and it was still dark. Well, time passed by as Simon first had to arrange his return ticket. At about 6.30am then we took the bus to Auroville beach which is located at about 8km away from Pondicherry. When we arrived in Auroville, it started raining. And I can already reveal that we would not get rid of the rain for the time we stayed in Pondicherry. The accommodation we have chosen was quite nice but very simple furnished. Actually, we had to stay in palm huts which have been erected on stone pillars. Inside there was nothing else but mattresses and a lot of flies. In fact, they were everywhere and tried to assault me when I was trying to get some sleep. It must have been hundreds of flies. I have never seen something like the before. In order to protect I covered myself under my blanket. I could hardly breathe anymore now but at least I got rid of these flies. When I woke up, the rain has gone. Therefore, I decided to go for a walk on the beach which was just a stone throw away. And what I have seen there is incredible. I say an Indian shitting on the beach, just two metres away from the sea. He just sat there and shitted while he was cleaning his teeth at the same time. I mean, if he had shitted in a hole on the beach or just a few metres away from the beach, I would have tolerated it. But this upset me really. The truth is that if he had shitted far away from the water, he wouldn’t have been able to use the sea to clean his ass. Unfortunately, after some minutes it started raining again. As for me, the wish of going back to Bangalore the same day arose more and more. As I was not the only one, some guys and I took a bus to Pondicherry to check whether there are some vacancies in some of the evening buses. Thank god, we could book four tickets in a sleeper bus for 10pm. After this victory we went around Pondicherry in order to do some sightseeing. But what to see, there was not much so see. We saw rickshaw drivers trying to hire passengers in vain, beggars asking for some bugs and Indians throwing their garbage in the streets. Honestly speaking, this place was not different than the others I have seen down to the present day. Anyway in this rain, it wouldn’t have been much fun. To my surprise, the names of the streets are labelled in French. But I have seen any Indian speaking French. Probably, this is just a remainder of the time when Pondicherry was a former colony. So, we decided to do some errands and to have a cup of tea or whatever. For that reason we went to Daily bread Café where we also got some very good pastry. Daniel bought the horn form the rickshaw driver who conveyed us there coz the rickshaws in Pondicherry are furnished with simple horns which you have to push to make it honking; really funny. In the late afternoon we went back to Auroville again getting our luggage. When we arrived there, I was completely soaked. The rain was so strong that even a rain coast was of no use. Hence, with time passing by I became more and more indifferent concerning the rain. While I was taking shelter of the rain at the beginning, I now didn’t care anymore about the rain. Anyway it just would have extended the time I would have kept more or less dry. All the others as well came to the decision to go back to Bangalore the same day. At about 6pm we started for Bangalore. But as we had more than three hours left when we arrived in Pondicherry, we decided to hang about in Daily bread Café again and have dinner. It was a miracle that we arrived there coz nobody of the rickshaw drivers we requested to convey us there, knew the place or understood the word channel. In Pondicherry, in contrast to Bangalore, they don’t speak any word in English. Punctual, at 10.15pm our bus started for Bangalore. Daniel and me shared one cabin the bus. I could sleep quite well in the bus. And again, after a ride of seven hours we reached Bangalore. All summed up, the trip was rather disappointing but at least I can assert having been there. And even if we could have taken a bath in the sea, the beach in Mamallapuram is much better.

Being protected through a rakhi

2006-10-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

One day in August, I forgot the exact day, something really nice happened. All the girls rushed to these little shops which you can find almost on each corner and where you can also buy some useless stuff apart from food, sweets and drinks. But the girls neither bought sweet not food, but a rakhi. A rakhi is a kind of bracelet tied among the wrist of the brothers by the girls. The Indian girls do that in order to request the protection of the brothers. On the opposite, the boys pledge to keep an eye on their sisters for the rest of the life. Something funny happens when a guy she doesn’t like hit on a girl ceaselessly. As it is a custom occurred among brothers and sisters, tying a rakhi among the wrist of an annoying guy means that they are brother and sister. From this it follows that they would never be able to get married in the future. Well, it is not that guy then becomes really her brother of course. But the girl can show the guy on this way that she is not interested in him; not now and in the future. Therefore, a rakhi often is used as a weapon, in order to get rid of the annoying guys. In my opinion, that’s quite a convenient way.

Elephant riding at Bannerghatta National Park

2006-10-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

As a lot of trainees went on leave during Diwali, Simon, Valery, Daniel and me decided to move at least a little bit as well. We didn’t have many opportunities as our trip would be limited within the boundaries of Bangalore. Therefore I proposed to go to Bannerghatta National Park, a zoo which is located about 20 km south of Bangalore and where also safaris are offered. No sooner said than done. On Sunday morning we took a rickshaw for Majestic bus station. When I asked the rickshaw driver for the number of the bus to Bannerghatta National Park, he meant that it would be better to go to Botanical Garden as there are leaving more buses for Bannerghatta National Park than at Majestic. He even guided us to the bus. He was definitely the most friendly rickshaw driver I have ever met. After about 45 minutes we reached Bannerghatta National Park. We decided to take part of the grand safari, including lions, tigers, bears and dears. As the safari was 110 Rupees, I didn’t expect so many Indians to join us. But that was falsity. We had to stand in line and were waiting for more than 30 minutes. As our bus arrived finally, fortunately we could take a seat in the front what enabled us to see the wildlife from close distance. The bus made to me the impression to be used for prisoner transportation, as there were grids all around. What would we have to expect, I asked myself; tigers attacking the bus? The first animal we saw then was a dear lying in the shadow under a tree. As it saw the bus stopping for taking pictures, it even stood up and approached the bus –great! Then we went on and saw bears, lions and tigers. The most impressive adventure we experienced when a group of huge tigers were lying just next to the road. I can’t remember that I have never so close to a tiger – it was awesome! Although the tiger seamed to be very calm the driver meant that the tigers would attack me if I got out the bus – quite intimidating, I would say. During the safari we even saw white tigers. The driver reported that they are about to die out. What a pity coz they are such beautiful animals. The safari took at about half an hour. And as we saw a huge elephant in front of the park carrying some people on his back we also decided to go for a little elephant ride. In order to climb on the elephants back we had to use stairs. It was only around the area, let’s say at about 300m but nevertheless it was a great ride. We sat in a height of about 4 meter and when the elephant moved on, it was rather wobbly; we were swung from the left to the right and back again. The guardian steered the elephant by pushing his feet behind he elephant's ears. Well, and in addition to that he shouted some words to it. After this amazing trip we entered the park again and beheld the other animals like hippopotamuses, peacocks, crocodiles, apes, pelicans, leopards, zebras and even a cobra. As we were tiring out after a while and I have searched the lions in vain, we decided to take the next bus back to Bangalore at about 4pm. Although Diana meant it were not worth paying a visit to Bannerghatta National Park, as you would not see any tiger, we went there and it was definitely worthwhile! As for me, I have never been so close to a tiger and I enjoyed it ;-)

Happy Diwali

2006-10-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

On October the 21th one of India’s most important festival was held, called Diwali. It lasts for four days as Sanj told me. Corresponding to its importance, Diwali is comparative to Christmas. During Diwali, whole India is lightened. In former days, oil lamps were used, but now the switched to light chains, which are hung up actually everywhere. The lights are to show the pitris, the ghosts of the deceased the way to heaven. There are three important customs being followed during Diwali. First, people are paying visits to each other. Second, everybody gifts sweets to their close friends and last there is a lot of noise in the streets due to fire works. These fire works start often already some days before when little kids crack the crackers in the evening. People in addition to that wear their newest clothes, which are often times especially bought for Diwali. Nevertheless, I haven’t seen so many people wearing expensive clothes, neither at work nor in the company. But maybe, they wear these clothes more in private. But what the Indians definitely don’t do in private is cracking crackers. Especially on Saturday, I had the impression that the third world war has been declared. It was incredible loud in the streets and dangerous as well. In particular you should pay attention to the small green ones. I still could feel the shockwave, even though I stood at least 5 meters away from the explosion. I don’t know what they have put inside these crackers, but I am sure these ones would be banned in Germany, definitely. I heard that last year, even eight people were killed by rockets or crackers and hundreds were badly injured, lost one of their eyes or burnt their hand. Although Diwali is considered to be one of the most important festivals in India, shops are open as if it were a normal working day. This by the way applies to all the festivals. At least they stay back from work. But as I am working for a business process outsourcing company, I had to work of course. All the others went for a trip. Most of them went to the beautiful beaches of Goa. Those of us, who stayed back, spent a wonderful Saturday evening in Asia’s and Ula’s house with a lot of alcohol and good Hungarian food. I have to add that on Thursday already, two days before Diwal actually really started, we attended to an Aiesec meeting in order to show us what Diwali is about. We all were supposed to dress in Indian clothes, what meant that the girls wore a saree and the guys a kurta. We spent some awesome hours on the roof of one of the Aiesecers house with sweets and masala tea.

Dress yourself like an Indian

2006-10-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

The way Indians dress cannot be generalised. In a big town like Bangalore, you might see Indians dressed with jeans and sport shoes, all summed up they might dressed very casual. But then, of course, on the other hand you will find also Indians wearing typical Indian clothes. As for the men, the most popular dress is doti. It is just a kind of fabric wrapped around the hips and fixed by a more or less complicated knot. Due to the fact that the fabric reaches down to the knuckles even, the Indians wrap the fabric from the bottom upwards so that still the thigh remains covered. It is more comfortable for walking. More or less without any exception, Indian men wear a shirt. Usually it is ragged, chequered and hasn’t been washed for at least 4 weeks or even longer. When men are not wearing a doti, a simple pair of trousers dresses them. Except for the pattern, all mentioned above applies also for the pair of trousers. Another typical Indian dress both for men and women is called kurta. You can get it in long and short versions. The longer versions reach almost till the knuckles. Hence, wearing it makes you look like you are planning to go to bed with a nightdress. But the bridegroom wears especially this kind of dress for marriages. In these cases it looks really gorgeous and beautiful. Also due to embroidery on the kurtas, which often times include some golden jewellery. Of course, me also, I had to go for a kurta. I bought one in black, including a white pair of trousers exceeding my knuckles by 20cm and being much too slack around my hips. Manju, my colleague at HCL with whom I went shopping, meant that it is the normal way of wearing it. Ok then, I thought, added a golden scarf to the kurta, asked for the bill and paid a little less than 1.000 Rupees for a silk kurta. The first time I wore it, was at work next Monday as Diwali was still celebrated. I felt the people gazing at me, in the streets as well as in the company. Usually, even the Indians don’t wear this kind of dress in the public. Well, and then all of a sudden they see a white guy wearing their most traditional clothes. Of course, that fact had to attract their attention and it did. Bye the way, wearing a kurta is quite comfortable, as it doesn’t nip like close fitting jeans for example. Women usually wear a Salwar kameez. It includes a pair of trousers, which is worn very slackly, a kind of frown and a scarf wrapped around the throat. I would say that it is the most popular dress for women. Especially in the company, more or less all women wear a Salwar kameez. A more expensive and more rarely seen dress is the sari. That is the women’s dress what India is known for. When you have ever watched an Indian movie, the women in the movie must have worn this kind of dress in case a typical Indian dress. It is nothing but a close fitting waistcoat and a really long tissue, which can be either in silk or cotton. The tissue is wrapped around the body several times. Girls look quite beautiful in a sari, believe me. The footwear of the Indians in general consists of slippers or, as for the poor peoples; they wear no shoes at all. At work businessmen just wear a good pair of trousers, shoes and shirt and that’s it, no tie or suit. It would be too much in this climate, anyway.

Getting married in India

2006-10-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

Getting married in India is one of the most important topics. People don’t get married coz they felt in love but due to economical reasons. And how does it work. Well, let’s say in the age of around 22 the parents consider their daughter to be in the age of marriage. Either, they already know a family having a handsome son who meets the approval of the daughter’s parents or they search for a suitable bridegroom on the Internet or in the newspaper. There you will find a lot of information about the castes, the education, and the salary drawn by future bridegroom. You won’t find any word about the appearance as it is of no importance. In the next step they get in touch with each other and arrange a meeting. Maybe, the opportunity to spend some minutes in private will be given to the young couple so that they become acquainted at least a little bit. Depending on the parents, it could be that the young couple is getting engaged already in the same evening, while the girl has no chance to contradict to the engagement. My colleague even told me that her mother would commit suicide if she didn’t get married with the guy she had chosen. The colleague burst into tears while she was telling me this story. All she wanted was to spend the life with the guy she felt in love – but she couldn’t, her mother extorted her. Why do they do that? It is a waste of life, coz once they are married there will be no way back as divorces would be a disgrace for the family. I am sure, a lot of matrimony are worth getting divorced but aren’t. Getting married then is quite simple. All which has to done is to arrange two witnesses confirming the marriage. That’s all. It is up to the bride and bridegroom whether they register their marriage at the registry office or not. To get informed what kind of clothes the bride and bridegroom in general wear for weddings, have a look at the chapter “Typical Indian clothes”. The guy’s parents arrange the marriage. If they need money for the marriage, they ask the girl’s parents for the same and they will get it. A considerable amount will be meant for the girl’s trousseau. It is not necessary to mention that this money actually is meant for the husband and his convenience. The marriage itself lasts several days including al lot of feasting of course. After the marriage, often times the bride moves to the guy’s parents house where she will be from now in captivity more or less. Still, in a lot of families it is like that although it changes more and more, what will mean that the married couple could stay by themselves but in short distance to the parents’ house. The bride considers the bridegroom to be a kind of god. Whatever he says has to be done by her. The woman is responsible for the education of the children and the whole household whereas the man earns the money which then will be spent by the woman. The wife always has to show respect towards the husband whereas this doesn’t apply to the husband himself.

Karnataka is acting up

2006-10-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

The 4th of October was a rather strange day in Bangalore and whole Karnataka, the state of which Bangalore is the capital. At that day, a bandh was conducted. Basically, Bandh means nothing but ‘closed’ and is form of protest by political activists. Hence, at that day all the shops were closed, companies were not supposed to work, rickshaws were not supposed to drive, as well as buses. To make it short, the whole city slept, inhabitants stayed at home the day. The Bandh this time was conducted because Karnataka and a neighbour state are having a tug of war about the boundaries and the population of Karnataka supports the government in his politics. The Bandh started at 6am and lasted till 6pm. Then, normal life came back to Bangalore. A Bandh is similar to a strike but it includes the whole state and not only a certain group of people. A Bandh is feared by all companies as the cost them a lot of money. My company nevertheless tried to have a day as usual. In order to achieve that employees were supposed to be picked up at 5am while other employees spent the night in the company, and some also spent the night in guest houses, located near to the company. The reason is because during a Bandh violence has to be expected. Some years ago, some people even were shot, cars and buses were burnt. And those who are not taking part of the bandh might be attacked by the activists. Therefore, as for me, I requested my manager to spend the day at home and he fortunately accepted. During the day then, I was hanging about with the others and did nothing. In the evening, we all together watched a hindi movie called “Krish”. Fortunately, no incidents were registered, the city just seemed to be fallen asleep.

Ooty 13th - 15th of October

2006-10-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

Finally on the 13th of October I went to Ooty. I had already planned to go there, since I arrived in India. But either I never found a group joining me or I wasn’t in the mood of going there. Our trip started with an argument with the rickshaw drivers who conveyed us to Majestic. Since I have gone to Majestic quite often already, I know the prices very well. It is about 40 Rupees. But I was rather surprised as the meter showed already 15 Rupees after some hundred meters. I interfered immediately saying that we are not going to pay this price, no matter what will be displayed. To my surprise, he agreed adding that we will pay the meter of the other rickshaw. But of course this meter also had been manipulated. Thus they were about to cheat us. Arrived at the bus station, I paid our driver 45 Rupees which already includes a little tip. But those guys claimed more money what I refused to pay. Hence, we just walked away and left them behind. We had booked a semi-sleeper but unfortunately we all had seats in the back of the bus. These are always the worst seats, as you will jump ceaselessly in case the roads are bumpy. And what I have heard that it’s like that on the way to Ooty. At the beginning, I could catch some sleep but when we were starting soaring up the hill towards Ooty, it started. These roads didn’t deserve to be called roads any more. These were more agricultural fields, holes everywhere I looked. The bus had to take one curve after another in order to avoid driving over the biggest holes. I was surprised how the bus could survive. I wouldn’t have been startled if the bus had broken, honestly. But fortunately, it didn’t happen. At about 7am we reached Ooty after an incredible ride of about 9 hours. We immediately checked in at Reflections Guest House, which is recommended by Lonely Planet. And actually, it is quite a good accommodation for young people and the rooms are clean. In addition to that, three little ladies (about 140cm) take care for their guests as if they were their own children. Since the guesthouse provided a hiking tour at that morning starting at 9.30am, we joined a group of already 11 people, including medicine students, backpackers and a Canadian married couple doing a world trip, and paid 300 Rupees each. During the tour we saw different kinds of landscapes, including tea plantations, forests, mountains and wide pastures. We also crossed some little villages. This was the most impressive part of the whole trekking tour. The people live there as western Europeans did more than 100 years away. They just live in simple cottages, still made out of stone but definitely without a heating, washing machine or TV inside. They cultivate whatever they need. The most of them and that applies especially for the women, work on tea plantations. Basically, you find them everywhere you look. The children were so keen on taking pictures. When we marched past the villages, the children started shouting “Camera, Sir!” They wanted me to take a picture of them. Well, and as for the most of them, I fulfilled their wishes and always had to show them the pics. They were so proud having been photographed and that they could see themselves in the camera. Should you plan to go there, take along lots of sweets and cookies for the children. You can’t imagine the cheerfulness and kindness of the people around there. Whenever they saw us, they greeted on us. I was surprised how less money and property is sufficient to let people be happy.
In the evening we went out for dinner at Sidewalk’s cafe. There, we met most of the tour’s participants again. As for me, I had a huge pizza and some even better chocolate. Ooty is famous for its home made chocolate. And believe me, I have never eaten such good chocolate; especially cashew rock is really recommendable. 100 g should not cost you more than 60 Rupees. On Sunday then we took the miniature train down the hill to Coonoor. It is said that one the way down catching a seat down is worth the trouble. But as we were delayed at the railway station, we could just sit somewhere in the middle. The train is pulled by a steam engine downwards and pushed up the hill on the way to Ooty, really incredible. During the journey down to Coonoor, the Indians with whom we shared the chariot started a party by means of shouting and dancing, especially when we drove through a tunnel. On the half way to Coonoor we had a commercial break at which some snacks have been sold. It was a kind of cookie, looked really strange. Hence, I didn’t dare to try one. After one hour we reached Coonoor. As some rickshaw rides have been recommended in the Lonely Planet we decided to hire two rickshaws for such a trip around Coonoor. First we paid a visit to a tea factory. It was quite interesting to see how they manufacture tea using outdated machines and a lot of handwork. The most famous and probably the most delicious tea sort is Masala Tea, even though Chocolate is worth tasting as well. Some of us bought a package of tea. I didn’t, although it would have been a good gift for one of you, Tobias what about you? After the tea factory we went for a walk in Sim’s park. It is quite a nice park with more than thousand different kinds of plants. All together we only spent about half an hour there as we had to move on in order to arrive on time at the railway station. But before we went back to the railway station we soared up the hill for Lamb’s Rock from where you are supposed to have an amazing view over the place around. As the weather was misty or cloudy; I couldn’t distinguish it, we couldn’t see anything. Hence, we took a group picture and moved ahead back to the railway station down the hill. We edged our way through the small streets of Coonoor and enjoyed an awesome view over Coonoor with its colourful small houses. At 1.35pm we took the train back to Ooty, as we had planned to pay a visit to the Botanical Garden of Ooty. Unfortunately we had to skip it due to rain started in the early afternoon. But that was not the unique problem – Janina lost the return tickets. When we arrived at the bus station after having had dinner and hanged about at Reflections Guest House, we tried to convince the inspector to let us enter the bus without charging us again - in vain. We had to pay additional 440 Rupees for issuing new tickets. We all didn’t get that coz of two reasons. First, we could prove that it has been Janina who booked the tickets and nobody else. And second, after issuing the tickets, even the bus inspector didn’t care about the tickets any more. Hence, for what reason did we have to pay this additional fare? I tried to bribe the inspector with 100 Rupees but he refused – well, 440 Rupees are more than 100, probably that’s why. Nevertheless, as for me, first of all, I was glad that we sat in the bus and drove back to Bangalore where we reached at about 7am.

Nandi Hills

2006-10-18T06:28:00.001-07:00

Since I haven’t been for a trip since Kerala, I asked Manju, one of my students at HCL if he were interested in going to Nandi Hills. The Nandi Hills are located in the North of Bangalore, at about 60 km away. I proposed to go there by bus, but Manju refused coz he assumed the bus to be overcrowded. Therefore, we went there by bike. At 11am he picked me up on MG Road. Although Manju said it would only be a one hour trip, it took at about two hours. It was not really convenient to sit two hours on a bike, especially in consideration of the traffic and the dusty and sometimes bumpy roads. Anyway, at about 1pm we reached the Nandi Hills.As we had almost reached a policeman stopped us and asked for the papers. Unfortunately, Manju couldn’t find them. I already thought we might get detained and the trip would be finished. But a little bribe of 50 Rupees solved all the problems. The final incline to the Nandi Hills was fringed by a lot of bikes standing on the roadside. Manju told that there were couples having sex somewhere in the shrubbery as it would be only place where they can do it without being disturbed by their parents. Arrived at the summit, I invited Manju for lunch and afterwards we went hiking a little bit around on lovely trails. You have an awesome view over the landscape around Nandi Hills as the highest point is at 1.478 m and there is nothing else around. Basically, it is not really worth going there unless you like hiking within a limited area or committing suicide. I forgot the name, but a sovereign hundreds of years ago killed soldiers by bumping them down the rocks. Unfortunately some desperate Indians adapted these stupid habit and committed suicide as well. But now, it is quite a long time ago that the last incident was registered. One temple at Nandi Hills is not worth mentioning. We went inside and were bored by it. After at about two hours, then we took off for Bangalore again. The day finished with a dinner at 20th feet high, an intercontinental restaurant in Church Street, next to Brigade Road amid of Bangalore.

INXS in concert

2006-10-18T06:28:00.000-07:00

I don’t know when and how exactly I noticed that a concert of INXS is going to be taken place in Bangalore. The only thing I knew about INXS down to that day was that they were more or less successful in the 80ies. But as Zarine, a friend of mine, sent me the song “Afterglow” which is part of the new album, I was eager to meet them live in concert. No sooner said than done, some days later I bought four tickets at Planet M for Deniz, Hans, Janina and me, each worth 1.200 Rupees. And after having watched a gig of INXS in television, I was looking forward to the concert and couldn’t stand it any longer. Ok, I have to admit that the CD I bought of INXS together with the tickets shortened the time to the concert considerably. At the concert, conducted at Palace Grounds in Bangalore then we were nine finally. Palace Grounds is just a part of Bangalore Palace. A stage was set up just in the middle of the ground. As we had tickets for “Front of stage”, we were very close to the musicians. The concert started at 8pm, what meant that we had to wait almost two hours due to the fact that we reached the Palace Grounds already at 6pm in order to capture the best places. But, basically that was not necessary – apart from us, let’s say, at about hundred more requested for admission. I was scared that the concert would be a flop. But finally, I would say that at about 5.000 people attended to the concert. We were a little bit disappointed that there was no concert of a sub group provided. But it is supposed to be not common in India I heard some Indians saying. The concert then was awesome. They played a lot of old songs, starting with “Suicide Blonde”, probably one of the best songs ever of INXS. Actually, I recognized only one song of the new album and that was the song “Afterglow”. As they performed that song, the mood, which was already great, even increased. As for me, I could sing the song. It was amazing like basically the whole concert was amazing. Indians jumped to some of the songs, whereas another next to me smoked a joint patiently and blew a strange smelling cloud towards I was standing. The only two things, which were missing, were beer and a shopping stall. Neither one drop of beer nor T-shirts were sold. We could have bought a glass of water what I refused. And of course I would have bought a T-shirt if it had been possible. Probably they kept the T-shirts in stock for the other concerts, which still will be performed in Europe. When you have the opportunity to attend to a concert of INXS, I can only recommend you to do it – it is a lot of fun with really good rock music of the 80ies from Australia. As for me, they convinced me completely and so I have become fan of INXS. One week after the concert I bought the best of album called “Definite”, so that I can always remember these fantastic two hours we spent at Palace Grounds on the 7th of October. To my favourite songs of INXS appertain now “Need you tonight”, “Beautiful girl”, “Mystify”, “Devil inside” and of the new album “Afterglow” and “Hot girls”.

Teaching Indian employees in German

2006-09-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

Monday, the 17th of July I had to hold my first German class. It was a German class Level 1 what will mean that they were absolute beginners with no pre-knowledge, neither in German culture nor in German language of course. Since I have been working for HCL, I prepared German’s classes Level 1 to 3. During this preparation I took notice how difficult German really is. When you grow up with the language you don’t think about its difficulty, coz it is no problem for you to speak and write. But believe me, in comparison to English for example, German is much more difficult. I decided to start my first class with a little introduction of myself, Germany and its culture including a German song (“54, 74, 90, 2006” of Sportfreunde Stiller). After that, my pupils introduced themselves by using a little sheet, which I handed out. The pronunciation, I remarked at once would be a problem for the entire class. Although I repeated the word again and again, they were not able to pronounce it correctly. Especially the “Umlaute” represent the biggest problem. The first lesson then finished in becoming acquainted with the German alphabet.
Also they are confused about T and D as well as about E and I and P and B. But that’s normal, I think. They were very astonished about how Germany looks like when I was showing them pics of Frankfurt, Berlin and Baden-Baden. Some of them wished to take the next plane to Germany, I think. In addition to that I showed them pics of the “Schloss Neuschwanstein” and of the FIFA World Cup which was occured at that time. I decided to speak German from the first lesson on. Of course, they wouldn’t understand any word, but that is not really important, I think. As long as they will be able to understand the context, it is enough. And in addition to that, thus they get used to the pronunciation. But nevertheless, I had to repeat lots of sentences in English, of course.
The next sessions then I had to take notice that not all of the employees are really interested in learning German. Hence, the number of pupils decreased more and more. Ok, I have to admit that some of them are forced to quit coz they were too much involved in their process and therefore couldn’t afford to be absent. Some of the pupils attended only every now and then to German classes due to different reasons. It was difficult for them to follow the further classes. Basically, I should have kicked them out of the course when they missed more then three classes. But believe me, after a while I would have been the unique participant. Hence, I decided to let them attend to German classes further on. The biggest problem I noticed at once was the fact that the Indians usually never do their homework. In fact, it puts you off a little bit, coz I was making such efforts and they did nothing to contribute to the classes. But what should I have done? Kicking them out or punishing them? Well, after a while then I conducted like a German professor at University – I didn’t bother about their success. Anyway they are already off age and should know what they do or not. Although most of the pupils are much younger than me, except for some of them. In average, I would say they are 25. All summed up, it is much fun to teach them. In the class they are very ambitious and once I ask a question to someone the whole class answers. It’s really funny. They sometimes behave like little children and every now and then it is really difficult to keep them calm.
As I already mentioned, it was the first time that I have been a German teacher. Therefore, first it was me to teach myself in German. Or do you know why the ending of the adjective in the sentence “Ich komme aus meiner großen Dusche” is –en? Now, I know. And believe me, it is quite complicated and difficult for foreigners to understand or even to remember. After 10 weeks of classes I prepared a final assignment for both level 1 and level 2. Of course, I couldn’t do some listening and comprehension exercises as the company is not furnished with the required equipments. Therefore, I compiled a final assignment containing grammar exercises and writing exercises whereby the most part of the exercises were grammar exercises including personal pronouns, possessive pronouns and adjectives and so on. Some of them performed very well and some failed completely. For that reason, I decided to provide another final assignment two weeks later in order to give them the opportunity to improve their grade. On a whole, I dare say that it was a great experience and rather challenging at the beginning. But I don’t want to miss one class I held with my pupils. Even if it was not really related to my studies, you never know what the use of it is in the future. In any case, I can claim to have teaching experience.

Kerala 11th – 15th of August

2006-08-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

A long time before the Independence Day of India which is the 15th of August, we thought about taking a day of at this day and spending an extending weekend in Kerala. Kerala is one of the states of India and is located in the Southeast of India. It is also called Godown’s country coz of its beautiful and breathtaking landscape. Well, but unfortunately we haven’t come to a decision early enough. Hence, the train to Cochin which is the capital of Kerala was completely booked out. Anyway, we would have only booked “Sleeper” to go there, coz it takes about 10 hours by train to go there. So what else to do? Ewa arranged a private bus which was supposed to be a very simple furnished bus. And yes, she was right. All together we were 21 people in the bus and now guess how many seats were in the bus? Exactly twenty one. So you can imagine how much space each of us had, especially when you take into consideration that each of us had at least one baggage with him. As for me I felt like sitting in a shoe carton also due the big guy to my left. Yes, I mean you Bijoy. You are definitely to big for such a bus ;-). During the whole journey I was pushed at the window by him. Very uncomfortable, believe me. But nevertheless, I am wondering, how I could catch quite a good many sleep, at least six hours in a row. So he first time I woke up was in the dawn. On the further way, I could fall asleep every now and then. What was very strange is once we entered Kerala there was rain, really hard rain. No wonder, ok, it is monsoon time, but the rain changed with sun and then it went back and forth, really strange. When we finally arrived in Aleppey which is located 80km in the South of Cochin, is was already 4.30pm. Hence, we spent almost 17 hours in the bus, less some peeing breaks. We could catch still some views of the famous boat race which is taken place once a year in Aleppey. About 50 men sit in each boat and row. The crowd was amazing when the competition started. They were screaming and shouting, maybe also due to the fact that quite a lot of the men around us were drunk. I couldn’t see any woman. I don’t know if is prohibited to women to attend to the boat race. After the boat race we checked in and had a dinner in a restaurant and as for me I went to bed early. The following day we spent on a house boat. The boats were built for five or six people at the most. So we had to divide ourselves into groups of six and five people. I share one boat with Simon, Ewa, Karolina and Reinier. The rain accompanied us during our whole stay on the boat. We crossed the backwaters of Alleppey. Its landscape is so unique, incredible. For those who have already been to Venice, it is similar, but in comparison to Venice, in Kerala you have no buildings around. Instead of that you are entirely surrounded by nature and nothing else. The people live in little cottages and washing their laundry in the backwaters. Every now and then, you find little shops at the shore. In one of these shops we stopped and bought some coconuts. When the people move, they always move using a boat, either a big one, which is then I would say comparable to a bus or their own private boat (car). During our stay on the house boat we had a lunch as well as a dinner and some snacks in between. It was very. The rest of the time on the boat we spent with chatting and making fun, although or maybe because it was raining most of the time. Before we had dinner some of us ventured to have a bath in the backwater. Actually, I also felt like having a bath. But I was uncertain about the safety regarding bacteria and animals. You never know what is inside. So, I remained reasonable and left dry although the others tried to persuade me. After we had dinner, all the others came to our house boat where we then celebrated a little party with music and some drinks. Unfortunately our neighbours didn’t want to be disturbed so we had to finish the party before 11pm. But nevertheless we had a nice party, even though it was too short.
The next morning then we just went back from were we started our little journey in the backwaters. But what next? We decided to go to Cochin. Deniz has been there before and told us that it would be definitely worth visiting. In Cochin we had to take a ferry to Fort Kochi which is a little island but belongs nevertheless to Cochin. Cochin consists of several islands. The main part which is on the land is called Ernakulam. In Fort Kochi then we had to find an appropriate accommodation. It was pretty difficult coz in order to check-in a lot of hotels required a passport including the visa. And unfortunately, not all of us had their passport with them. But, you can keep calm, of course, we found an accommodation. We then had lunch close to the sea. Deniz ordered craps, as for me and the others, we just ate the normal food like rice. It was quite interesting to watch him eating the craps. But for sure, he was still hungry afterwards coz there is not much meat around a crap and in addition to that it is quite a lot of work to open it so probably he was more exhausted than saturated. But for dinner I decided to have sea food as well. In the evening we attended to the famous Kathakali Theatre. It is a kind of theatre including dancing and singing of the actors who are disguised in gorgeous dressings. But not the actors sing, it is a man in the background who sings. If you are capable of understanding the language you understand the contents. If not, you are more or less lost, coz there is only a little introduction about the meaning of movements and emotions expressed by the actors. I tried to recognize some of them but I didn’t. Anyhow, it was an exciting performance. Simon and me went out for dinner alone coz in the restaurant we all wanted to have dinner, they didn’t want to prepare our sea food we bought just a few minutes before. I had 18 prawns. I tell you what, I have never eaten such a good sea food before. Some of the prawns were still alive when I bought them – incredible, isn’t it? The next morning then was Independence Day in India. The Indians celebrated their independence from the British government. Sixty years ago, it was Mahatma Gandhi who brought independence to India. For that reason, you find Mahatma Gandhi on each bank note and in probably every Indian city one big road is called Mahatma Gandhi Road. Unfortunately we didn’t see much of the celebrations. In the early morning, Deniz, Simon and me stood up in order to see the fishermen selling their sea food on the shore. It was impressive seeing them coming from the sea and selling the sea food just next to the shore. It is a kind of stock market as I know it from Germany. The fishermen just threw the alive fishes on the floor and then there was a guy shouting and offering the fishes to the restaurant owners. Before we took the ferry back to Ernakulam we paid a visit to a part of Fort Kochi, called Jew town. In former days a lot of Jews lived there. We visited the Synagogue but there was nothing really interesting to see. After having had a lunch we went to the ferry station where we then took the ferry to Ernakulam. In Ernakulam we were already awaited by our two bus drivers. Immediately we took off for Bangalore. From now on, we had an horrid trip ahead us with as for me, nearly no sleep at all. When we arrived in Bangalore at 6am, I could hardly walk any more. Although, it was really an exhausting trip to Kerala, it was worth the trouble. And maybe, I gonna go there again, coz as the citizen told, there is supposed to be a very nice beach on one of the other islands.

Hampi 28th – 30th July

2006-08-17T03:22:00.000-07:00

At the 28th of July we went to Hampi from where the south of India and Sri Lanka were ruled centuries ago. Strictly spoken, Hampi was the capital of one of India biggest empire. But now, there are only ruins left. This time we took the train to Hospet which is close to Hampi. At the Majestic Western Railway Station of Bangalore we entered the train. In order to get on the platform we had to cross the railways and even a train standing on the precedent platform. In Germany that would be unimaginable but in India nobody bothered about that fact. We had booked “sleeper” what meant that we had very simple furnished seats which could be used as a bed as well. Of course, it was no separated part in the train we had. Everybody could edge his way through the narrow passages. And there was no bed sheet distributed, of course. The train was delayed but that´s nothing unusual in India. They are always late. It was the 10.40pm when we left Bangalore with destination Hospet. From now on, it would take about 8 hours to go to Hospet which is only about 500km far away from Bangalore. So you have an imagination about the speed of the train. Due to the fact that it was already very late and I worked the whole day I tried to fall asleep at once. But unfortunately my bed was a little bit too small and the other passengers, in particular the Indians were snoring the whole night. It sounded like a hippopotamus when it is hunt. Hence, I just slept some hours during the journey. I woke up in the dawn and enjoyed the view out of train. The doors of the train are easily to open and it is ok, so I did it and also did some train surfing. The landscape is really great, .all around the railways palm trees fringed the railway.
As we finally arrived in Hospet this fucking bargaining with the rickshaw drivers started again. You can not avoid. But in the meanwhile I don’t bother any more. For me it has become a game in a certain way. You ask for the price, they say an unrealistic price and the party starts. There are so many, so you can be sure that one of those will take you, no problem At the ending then we paid 90 Rupees from Hospet to Hampi which was in my opinion really a good price. In Hampi we stayed in Shanthi Guest House which is quite a traditional and peaceful accommodation. I shared the room with Felix, another German. We had shared toilets and showers for the whole guests of the house. Before we went out for sightseeing, we had a breakfast at the Mango tree, a quite nice restaurant, located near the Tungabhadra River. From there we had a beautiful view over the landscape of Hampi while we were having our breakfast. In addition to that there is a swing hanging down from a huge mango tree.
Of course, all of us used it. The dishes, by the way are served on a banana leaf, really great. And to go to the Mango tree you have to go through a banana plantation. After our breakfast first we visited Queen’s bath where they have taken their baths in former times. It must have been fun to them swimming in the bath at that time, I can imagine. After that, we went to the impressive Vittala Temple. It is definitely the highlight of the Hampi ruins. It has become a World Heritage and purists are gasping to maintain it and protect it of collapsing. The pillars of Vittala Temple make a nice sound once you hit them, incredible. In the middle of the expanse of the Vittala Temple there is an ornate stone chariot. Its wheels were capable of turning in former days. Our last temple for today was not really a temple, though there are quite a lot in Hampi. But due to its appearance the Elephant stable looks like one. Here the state elephants resided. On the courtyard there is also the Lotus Mahal, a pavilion which was built of a great synthesis of Hindu and Islamic styles. In the late afternoon we then visited the Virupaksha Temple in the main city. There I met Lakshmi again, the adorable temple elephant who I got to know in the morning already. She is really a beautiful animal and was decorated with flowers and paintings on her forehead. Once you give one Rupee to her attendant she blesses you by touching your forehead with her trunk. Our first day in Hampi then finished with a dinner at Mango tree Restaurant
The second day then we went to the Hanuman Temple, also known as Monkey Temple, coz there are a lot of cheeky monkeys fringing the way upstairs to the temple which located on the summit of a hill. From above we enjoyed the view over Hampi, quite striking. It was really exhausting to soar up, in particular .coz it was so hot at that day. On our way to the hill we crossed some rice fields which were fringed by palm trees. It was very impressive to see how they cultivate rice by submerging the fields. To do that they use a quite interesting drain system, so that every field can be submerged, no matter were it is located. To go the Hanuman Temple, first we had to cross the Tungabhadra River. We did that by using two little boats which looked like big nutshells. It was a kind of little adventure when we had problems to get back and had to get out of this nutshell in the middle of the river. As I have read in the Lonely Planet recently you have to pay 20 Rupees to cross the river. Guess what each of us paid – 150 Rupees! We should have read the Lonely Planet prior to our trip to Hampi, then we would have saved a lot of money. I am sure, the guys went home and celebrated for the next 5 few days after having done their job. But I don’t bother about it. The Indian nationals have certainly a much more difficult life than we have and hence, we did a kind of welfare. When we went back to our accommodation we watched some more temples but they were not as interesting as the ones we had already visited. Due to the fact that I had some money left I bought a nice casual Indian pant. After our dinner then we took the rickshaw back to Hospet where we then took the train to Bangalore. When we arrived in Bangalore, it was already 6.30am. But fortunately this time I could sleep quite good coz my bed this time was much longer than on the way to Hampi two days before. At Robertson House I took then a shower and went to work. So, that was the week-end in Hampi. I can only recommend you to go there, when you are in India once, it is really a nice place. But avoid to be cheated by the rickshaw drivers and the guys at the river ;-)

Mamalapuram 14th – 16th of July

2006-08-01T02:17:00.000-07:00

When I arrived back from work on Friday only one hour was left to pack my baggage for the next trip. This time we planned to go to Mamalapuram, a little coast town between Chennai and Ponticherry, located at the east coast of India. At 9.30p.m then we took off for Majestic bus station. Ricardo arranged the tickets during the week. We went to Mamalapuram with 11 people. In Mamalapuram then Maarten, Gaya, Maria and Carolin would join us. They have been to Ponticherry already the day before. As our bus didn’t take off at Majestic, we had to take a little bus to the City Market, from where we took off for Chennai at 11.30p.m.. The bus was really packed. On the roof they have fastened so many baggages and I don’t know what else - really incredible. Therefore, the height of the bus was added by 2 meters. The night then was so boring. Well, we tried to sleep, but as for me, I didn’t manage to sleep. Also in the strength of the noice the bus made. Whenever the bus driver accelerated the bus made such an indefinite noice, it was roaring like bulls in a stampede. I slept 2 hours maybe but not more. So the most time of the journey to Chennai I listened to some music, I have put on my bend drive. At 6a.m. we arrived in Chennai. It is really an awful city. As soon as we went out of the bus there was a stinky smell in the air. Simon recommended booking the tickets for Bangalore first. There were so many travel agencies at the bus station so we thought we would have the choice between several offers. But there we were wrong. I was so tired of bargaining that I let the others negotiating the price. It was impossible to get a reasonable price. So, at the ending, we decided to take a bus for 600 Rupees. At least it would be an air-conditioned bus. After having booked the tickets we went to the local bus station to get the bus for Mamalapuram. It was typical Indian bus, no doors, no glass in the windows, very simple furnished. But it is cool, you should take a bus such like that when you are in India one day, it is fun, especially if you sit in the back. We paid 22 Rupees for the bus. Usually the money is collected by an officer during the journey. I really enjoyed the journey to Mamalapuram. I sat next to a window and thus I could see the whole life of Chennai, very striking. When we left Chennai, we took a road along the bay. Hence, every now and then I could catch a view to the sea. The landscape is really nice, completely different to the landscape I have seen in India down to that day. Here you find palm trees and beautiful beaches. In fact, it is how you would imagine that the South Sea looks like. After 2 hours in the bus we arrived in Mamalapuram. It is a beautiful little coast town. But nevertheless, here also, you find the typical Indian clichés like cows and garbage in the streets, beggars and so on. Mamalapuram was submerged by the tsunami in December 2004. But nowadays you don’t see anything more of that event even though it was badly destroyed the tsunami. In the strength of its proximity to the beach we decided to check in in the hotel called Sri Lakshmi. We paid 200 Rupees per room. So due to the fact that it were double room, each of us paid 100 Rupees. After a little lunch we went to the beach for the whole afternoon and went swimming. The water was very clear, there was no garbage or anything comparable in the water. In addition to that there were really good waves. So it was fun. The beach is, except for some areas, where the Indians throw their garbage, very nice and even fantastic. In Mamalapuram, there are still some fishers who go fishing with a little boat and a net, exactly how the Europeans went fishing decades or even centuries ago. The weather during the whole day was very hot and what was even worst, very sultry. I could drink the whole day long, believe it was like a furnace, nearly unbearable. As a result of that, I have sunburnt my back. In the evening it was entirely red and already started hurting. As it were off season in Mamalapuram (monsum time) there were not much people on the beach. So we were surrounded by two ladies who wanted to sell blankets, shells and so on. They were quite nice and so I had a little conversation with them and Ceasar tried to hire them or at least one of the two as a waitress coz we wanted to drink an icy cold beer at the beach but nobody wanted to go in the city and buy some bottles. Unfortunately, Caesar didn’t make it although we would have paid a tip of 50 Rupees and so Ricardo had to go after we had drawn lots. But it was quite funny to see him bargaining with these two ladies. In the late afternoon a drunken Spanish guy invited us to his house for a dinner. We didn’t take him for serious and didn’t go there then in the evening. Hopefully, he hasn’t cooked for us. Some of us wanted to eat fish for dinner, so we went to one of the numerous sea food restaurants. There they displayed half a dozen fishes on a simple plate, not even cooled with ice. Actually, I was interested in eating a fish as well, but as I inquired which fish exactly is going to be served and he answered this one and showed with his finger on the fish lying on the plate, I refused by saying "no thanks". After dinner then, we went on the beach and had some drinks all together. At beach a lot of people were sleeping, I don’t know whether in the strength of the sultry air or due to the fact that they had no house. But we had to pay attention that we didn’t fall above anyone. When I went home, I felt asleep at once.
The next day then we did some sight - seeing. Actually, there is not much to see in Mamalapuram, but nevertheless, you have to see these trifles. So first, we went a little bit around the coast, saw one of the ancient temples of India, but only its outside, coz we had to pay an admission of 250 Rupees, whereas the natives are charged only by 20 Rupees. In the city then we went on a little hill, where we also found some little temples and a very huge stone. I would say, he was 4 times higher than me. A native, to whom I spoke, told me that the stone is here due to a tsunami which happened centuries ago. From the hill we had a fantastic view over Mamalapuram and its beach. When we descended the hills, I had a coconut drink. I really felt like being on the South Sea. The only thing that was missing, were some young girls dressed in bikini around me ;-). The afternoon then we spend on the beach again and as for me, I spend also some minutes among the swimming pool. On the beach I bought a dhoti, a traditional India n dress for men. But to tell the truth, it is nothing else but a kind of fabric which is wrap around your hips. But it is traditional, as well as the saree for women. And now, it belongs to me :-). At 5p.m. we wanted to take the crowded bus to Chennai. We all sat in the bus already but then they told us that it would be broken. So what could we do? Of course, there would be another bus leaving Mamalapuram for Chennai but you can imagine how crowded this bus would have been. Therefore, we decided to take the hotel bus which was definitely much more comfortable than the public bus would have been. We told the hotel manager that we want to leave Mamalapuram at 8p.m.. But Indian comprehension of time is different from ours. That will mean, we left Mamalapuram at about 8.45p.m.. So we were not really in a hurry, coz I bus would take off at 11.15p.m.. And in consideration of the traffic in the big cities, it was not certain that we arrive on time. But we had a good and crazy driver, so that we made the bus without problems. On time at 11.15p.m., we left this ugly Chennai for Bangalore. Fortunately; I could sleep the whole journey back to Bangalore. When we finally arrived at Robertson House is was already 7a.m.. Hence, I decided to keep awake and take a shower coz in approximately one hour I would be picked up.

Mysore – 9th July

2006-07-24T00:56:00.000-07:00

It was the second week-end in a row that I was travelling. This time I went together with Rebecca, Carolin, Reinier, Ricardo and Viola to Mysore, a small town with about 500.000 inhabitants, located approximately 180 km away from Bangalore. Early in the morning, at 6a.m. we woke up and at 6.30a.m. we took a rickshaw to the central bus station of Bangalore, called Majestic. As we arrived there we could see busses wherever we looked, incredible. It must have been about 500 busses, I bet. Travelling by bus was easier than assumed. You only have to choose one of these busses, sit in and wait till someone asks you for money. In India exist several bus companies. The busses of the state are in the worst shape. For a trip to Mysore you would only pay about 56 Rupees (1 Euro). We decided to take a more comfortable bus of one of the private bus companies. The bus driver was crying “Mysore”, “Mysore”, “Mysore” all the time so that we couldn't refuse his offer. For the trip to Mysore we then paid the enormous amount of 110 Rupees. The bus was very well furnished. There was even a TV on board, but it wasn’t working. But we didn’t care about that, coz we wanted to sleep and as for Ricardo and Viola, they managed to sleep, but not the others and me except for some minutes perhaps. After a journey of 3,5 hours we arrived in Mysore. And at the first view, I immediately saw, that Mysore is a really beautiful city. Moreover, it is an architectural vaudeville of fine buildings and monuments. Once we took off the bus we were surrounded by some citizens. At the beginning I didn’t know what they wanted. Are they only friendly or do they want to sell something, that’s always the question. Indians always introduce themselves and then ask for your name and offer you a friendship and that after 2 minutes, ridiculous, isn’t it. We wanted to go the Devaraja Fruit & Vegetable Market first. So at least 2 guides showed us how to go there and even accompanied us. The Market was really very interesting. Fruits wherever you looked and a lot of other different things. If we had arrived in the early morning we could have seen the trucks delivering all the fruits. It must have been a dozen of trucks. At the market I bought 10 little bananas. I have never seen such little bananas before, they aren’t available in Germany I think. In fact, they were really tasty. One of the guides then showed us a shop, where incentives are made. Well, and now the question is answered. His task was to show us this little shop. And in case we buy something, he would get a provision, for sure. An old woman demonstrated how to make incentives. In one working day, the shop owner explained, the women make about 6.000 incentives, what is really a huge number. After that we went to the Chamundi Hills, where we paid a visit to the Sri Chamundeswari Temple. It is a nice temple, but nothing more. We went there by bus and paid 6 Rupees. As we arrived at the summit, there was already waiting a huge crowd of Indians for the bus. As soon as they have seen the bus arriving the conquered the bus. I thought, I was dreaming, but it was like a stampede. You couldn`t leave the bus, unimaginable. After a while, I had enough of this stupid game and started to offend them. But they didn’t care. Everything what counted for them is to get a seat and that’s it. But why I am to complain, that’s Indian culture. They are used to crowded buses and so they edged their ways through. The Sri Chamundeswari Temple was nothing special. We went inside, but before could enter, we had to take off our shoes again. Actually, it has already become a habit to me. But this time I found it a little bit disgusting, coz there were cows, muttons as well as some little monkeys around and you could see them urinating in the streets. But, so what, when you are in India, things like that shouldn’t disturb you. In the temple I put a red point on my forehead again. For, it is something special and I like it. It gives you the feeling to be adapted to Indian culture. For the way down to Mysore we decided to descend on foot, also in order to see the 5m-high Nandi, a bull made of stone. In fact it was probably the best decision, especially in face of what we were experiencing when we arrived on the Chamundi Hills. The Nandi was adorned with flowers and actually, it was very nice. While we were having a break around the bull, some little monkeys came and requested for some food, coz they have seen my little bananas, which I bought at the market. One of the monkeys came very close. Ricardo then took the bananas, held them in the air and the monkey jumped in the air, seized them and then went away for lunch – great!
Once we arrived in Mysore again, this fucking bargaining with the rickshaw drivers started at once. They always try to cheat us. Usually, you don’t pay more than 30 Rupees to Mysore center but they wanted 130 Rupees! Probably, they thought that don’t know the prices, but we did J. So finally, we drove to Mysore center for 50 Rupees, but with 4 persons in one rickshaw, so it was ok. Im Mysore then, before we went to the Maharaja’s Temple we paid a visit to St. Philomena´s Cathedral, which is a Roman Catholic Church. In India you don’t find so many Christians. Most of the Indians are Hindis of course, followed by the Moslems. Then the highland of the day was approaching, seeing the brightly lighted Temple of Mysore.
On our way to the Palace some kids wanted to sell me a piece of fabric. I said them that I am not interested in buying such useless stuff but they didn’t stop offering it to me and calling “10 Rupees”. Then I had a really good idea. I seized in my pocket and then raised a piece of toilet paper in the air and called loudly “20 Rupees”. The kids started to laugh and after a short while, I got rid of them. So keep this trick in mind when you are in India the next time ;-).
What we were seeing when we arrived at the Maharaja’s Temple then is, believe me, impossible to express in words. As far as I can remember, I have never seen something beautiful like that. The Maharaja Palace was completely lighted by more then 5.000 lights fixed at the Palace. I had the feeling to be in fairy tale. The only thing what was missing, were a prince and a princess. But the next time when I go there, I will arrange a prince and a princess. After about half an hour we went back to the bus station. On the way to the bus station, an Indian asked me for a pen. First, I didn’t understand for what reason he wants to have a pen. But ok, I had still such a cheap commercial pen from the city of Giessen in my bag and so I gave it to him. You can’t imagine how he was beaming. Maybe, now he can boast off with it and pretend that he has already been to Germany, I don’t know. Fortunately we found a bus to Bangalore immediately. We paid again 110 Rupees and arrived at Majestic at 11p.m., so that we even made the World Cup final.

First impressions from work

2006-07-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

On Monday, the 19th of June was my first day at work. Ujjvala, the vice president of Aiesec Bangalore came for me and brought me to work. The company is located in Whitefield, a complete new area in Bangalore. It is completely different to the rest of the city. You find here a lot of construction areas, coz a lot of companies discovered the Indian market and want it to conquer from Bangalore. Probably all of the most famous IT companies in the world like Oracle, Dell, IBM, Igate, Infosys, or SAP settled in Whitefield, Bangalore. Well, and my company, HCL Capital Market Services settled there as well. HCL Capital Market Services is a subsidiary of HCL Technologies, which is Indias´ biggest IT company. In former days it was called DSL Software. But when it was bought by HCL Technologies and merged completely to HCL it was renamed. When you enter HCL, nothing reminds you that you are in India. All is absolutely western oriented and sophisticated. Air conditioned and well furnished rooms with the newest equipments and cleaners wherever you look. Each department has even its own office boys, some unlearnt employees who support us. Hence, for example they make copies for us, having a look at the equipments and so on. Labour force in India is so cheap that the company can afford to employ quite a good many of them. In the HR department we have 5 for example. A cleaner, to whom I have talked, said to me that he draws a salary of 2.400 Rupees per month, which would be about 45 Euro! So you can imagine, that I am living here like a king with my salary of 17.000 Rupees per month. I earn even more than some of my colleagues. What I forgot, by the way, the cleaners are really necessary, coz just in front of the company area, there are still dusty streets and some small “shops” on wheels. I would never buy there anything, coz you never know how hygienicly it was prepared and if it is fresh or not. So whenever a customer or employee enters the company, his shoes are dusty in any case, you can't avoid it. Unfortunately, my boss, Mr. Vadiraja, wasn’t there at my first days. But I will get acquainted with him in two weeks they said. Then he will be back from his journey. I was introduced to all the others like Rashmi, who will sit next to me for the next 6 months. Furthermore, the training team is completed by Ammeta, Dakshyani and Prathibha. In detail, my tasks for the next 6 months will be to teach employees in German language. All together, I was planed that I hold lesions for three different levels – absolute Beginners, advanced speakers and Business speakers. But due to the fact that for level 3, the Business speakers, only 3 people enrolled, this level was cancelled. Furthermore, I will help to develop a German learning software as well as to coach the staff and attend to recruitment meetings in order to judge the applicants German skills. Lunchtime is usually at about 2 p.m.. The reason is, that we don’t start working at 8 a.m. like in Germany. Working time is from 9.30 a.m. to 18.30 p.m.. You need more than one hour to go to work. Usually I am picked up at 8.20 a.m. by the company owned transport system. Well and then due to the traffic it takes more than one hour. The traffic, especially in the morning is unimaginable. Cars and motorbikes wherever you look. Therefore, the air pollution is very high. You don’t even see the road any more. And there are no traffic rules, everybody does as he pleases. But it works, so what. The cafeteria is on the roof, which is then the fifth flour. Thus, it is very windy sometimes but nevertheless very convenient. But what can you eat there? Well, rice of course. Actually, it is part of each meal, except you choose sandwiches. All summed up, you can choose between non-vegetarian and vegetarian. But you will have a spicy meal in any case, you can’t escape it. Then usually you get Chabati, a kind of bread, curd, which is very similiar to German butter milk and actually tastes like that. Normally, I don't like butter milk, but due to the fact that it isn't spicy, I began to like it. The range of prizes is from 5 Rupees for a plate of rice till 35 Rupees for a non-vegetarian meal. The Indian food is really tasty, but I’m afraid, in my opinion, it is a little bit too spicy. My colleagues usually take their own food with them and share it among themselves. If I want, I can always taste their food. Some of the food looks really strange. One meal Rashmi offered me looked like a dead insect which was then boiled afterwards. Fortunately, it was no insect, and besides it was tasty. In the meanwhile, by the way, I am rid of my upset stomach which I had for the first 2 weeks. I have no problems with Indian food any more, doesn´t matter how spicy it is. A funny story occurs in the cafeteria when you want to get a drink. Coz there was a self service machine for drinks displayed. But unfortunately, it doesn’t work. So what did they make? They have engaged a person, who is now in charge for the drinks instead of repairing the machine. Crazy, isn’t it. And now, for all who got sick of German banks, here is a great story coming up next - real customer service as it supposed to be. The company wanted me to open a bank account here. In my judgement, it would not have been necessary, coz I will only stay here for half a year, so it is not worth the trouble. But ok, if they want to, I will open a bank account, I thought. The next day then, a bank consultant of ICICI Bank came to the company. Then I had to fill out a form and sign here and there and that was it! He didn´t want to see an identity card or something like that. Incredible, isn´t it? But my astonishment was going on, as he gave me a starter kit which included a Mastercard, PIN, some cheques and so on. So, my bank account was already opened, it just had to be matched with a person! Indian way of living is so easy. I dare say that I am rather content with my colleagues, my tasks and so on. They are all very nice and the tasks are very challenging. So, it was definitely the right decision to go to India instead of China.

Sravanabelangola, Hassan, Halebid and Belur – 1st + 2nd July 2006

2006-07-04T02:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, the 1th of July at 7.30 a.m. Rebecca, Maria, Gaya, Carolin, Karolina, Jaap and me started on our trip to Sravanabelangola, Halebid and Belur. All these towns are located very close to Bangalore. So we decided to go there by car, what meant, that we hired a driver for two days. Due to the enormous supply of car transporting, we only had to pay 150 Rupees for the driver per day and 6,50 Rupees per kilometre. All together, a very cheep trip in my opinion. It was the first time that I left Bangalore. And it was a very impressive trip, that’s what I can already say without having already told too much. The area among Bangalore is really rural. Once you have left Bangalore you are in the middle of agriculture. Very poor people live here, although only some kilometres from the “Silicon Valley” of India away. Here, probably some of the farmers haven’t seen any white men before. So, as we made a break to get some air for the tires, we were surrounded by some citizens of this small village. It was so incredible to see in the eyes of one of these little boys who seemed to ask himself what kind of thing these white men are holding in their hands. You can´t imagine, how he looked then when he recognized himself in this little thing called camera. He was wondering, how on earth he could come inside of this thing. The citizens here wash their clothes in lakes and then know the clothing on stones. Exactly how the Europeans did it centuries ago. And wherever you look, you see cows and sheeps eating close to the streets. The farmers use oxen to cultivate their fields, no machines or anything comparable to it. In a nutshell, the people here live very simple, some of them can’t read or write, for sure.
Our fist stop then was Sravanabelangola. Here we paid a visit to the famous Gomateshvara, a Jain deity. It´s a completely naked statue of 17,5 meter height and is supposed to be the world´s tallest monolithic statue. From this it follows that the monolith was carved out of stone. Incredible, isn't it? I don't want to know how much time it took to finish it. It must have taken decades. It stands on a hill called Vindhyagiri Hill. We had to take off our shoes before we could start climbing the 615 steps upstairs. The reason is that shoes are very dirty in the Indians thinking and in order to keep the place pure we had to do that. But it was no problem, although it was raining a little bit and thus not completely free of danger. On our way to the top we had a great view over the landscape.
India is a really beautiful country, trust me. We came unfortunately four month to late, coz in March there was a festival held only every 12 years on which blossoms, milk and paint were poured above the Gomateshvara´s head. Because of that, its colour has changed from grey into red. Gaja even took part of a prayer with some Hindus in front of the Monolith. Afterwards we went down to continue our fantastic trip.
Our next destination then was Hassan. Here we wanted to stay for the night. We found a hotel for 213 Rupees per night and person. But nevertheless, this was quite expensive. Rebecca told me that on a former trip they paid only 40 Rupees per night and person. Well, but Rebecca had to admit that the room wasn´t as good furnished as our room. Anyhow, it is incredible, isn’t it? 4 Euros per night and person. In Hassan itself, there is nothing worth visiting.
Thus, we decided to go to the pictures to watch the movie “Honeymoon Express”, an Indian movie. We paid each 25 Rupees (40 Cents). Of course, we haven´t understood any word, coz the movie was spoken completely in Kannada, the language of Karnataka. But nevertheless it was real entertainment, for us as well as for the others, coz it was very strange for the citizens to see white men in their cinema. The movie was very funny and of course with a lot of songs in it. I have to admit, that I start liking Hindi music more and more. After the break of the movie we decided to go for a walk in the city. But in advance, we first bought some popcorn. It was tasty and I wouldn´t have expected that, spicy. Indians seem to add spice to every food. The walk in the city was unbelievable. For that evening, we seemed to be celebrities. We were surrounded by the citizens and of course, lots of beggars, as everywhere. They wanted to know our names, funny, isn’t it? But that´s the Indian way of starting a conversation. They want to know your name, so that they can claim later then having talked to you and even knowing you! The streets in Hassan were unbearable. We walked in mud and nothing else, especially in the side roads. I don´t understand why it is so difficult to build acceptable streets.
After having had a dinner in the hotel, which cost 409 Rupees (8 Euros) for 7 persons, we all together watched the match England vs. Portugal and later then went immediately to bed.
In the early morning then we left Hassan for Halebid which is only 35 kilometres away from Hassan. But nevertheless, to go there you need nearly one hour. Why that, you ask now. Well, the answer is very simple. Although the roads between two more or less big cities are in good shape, it is impossible to drive more than 80 km/h. And of course, every now and then the road is crossed by cattles. As we finally arrived in Halebid, at once, we were surrounded by several vendors who wanted to sell postcards, little elephants made of stone and so on. But first, we wanted to pay a visit to the Hoysaleswara Temple. It is a really nice temple. It was impressive to see all the figures of stone which must have been made with a lot of patience, coz otherwise it wouldn´t have been possible to sculpture the statues so detailed. Here, we had to take off our shoes as well. Actually it´s really strange, coz the Indians are used to throw their garbage in the streets, but if garbage is related with Hinduism, they are very severe. On our way back to the car we were again surrounded by vendors. I was interested in such a little statue made of stone. At the beginning, I should pay 50 Rupees, but at the end then, I only paid 15 Rupees for a little elephant made of stone. It is quite nice. When we meet each other one day I will show you, I promise. After having seen Halebid, we went to Belur to visit the Channekeshava Temple there. This temple is even more impressive as the temple of Halebid. Around the temple, there is a big court with about 100 of 100 metres and in its middle you find the temple. The two temples have a lot in common, but the one in Belur is bigger and there are several other little temples joining the big one in the middle. As I was in one of the other smaller temple with our driver, I had a prayer with some other Hindis. At the end of the prayer I became a little red stain on my forehead. I was so proud of it, that I left it on my forehead for the rest of the day. As we left the temple it was already past 1 p.m.. So we decided to go back to Bangalore. But first we had a lunch in Hassan again, in the Southern Star Hotel exactly. It was very tasty and we all had continental food, no Indian food. Afterwards, we took-off for Bangalore. We had 180 kilometres to go to Bangalore, which lasted nearly four hours. At 6.30 p.m. we arrived in Bangalore, at Robertson House. We had to pay the trip at once. Altogether we paid 4.200 Rupees, 3.900 Rupees for the car and 300 Rupees for the driver. But due to the fact, that we were very content with our driver, we gave him a tip of 140 Rupees. All summed up, I can recommend you to do such little trips when you are doing a traineeship in India one day. It is really interesting, especially the trip itself is nothing but fun. On such trips you can experience the true India, coz about 40% of the Indians live close or even under the poverty limit. For that reason, India is still a developing country, definitely. Everybody who claims the contrary is lying or has a completely different judgment concerning valuing the facts. Due to the fact that down to this week-end, I had only seen Bangalore, it was a good contrast to the life in Bangalore. And the mood among us was also good. Let me loose one personal remark to you, Maria. I will never forget as you lost your temper when the guy in the hotel was preparing your bed on the floor and as you asked the boy in the streets of Hassan, what else would be worth visiting here. Hey, you six! Thanks for this great trip and the fun we had. I hope we will go on a trip again in the near future. As for me, I would be a party to that, definitely! And all you at home in Germany, be anxious what’s coming up next.

The Robertson House

2006-06-26T02:52:00.000-07:00

As I have already told, the Robertson House is a house full of trainees. All together, there are 14 beds, distributed among 6 rooms. There is only one single room, which belongs to Simon, an American guy. Originally he is from China. His room is in the ground floor. The entrance hall is used as the sitting-room as well. It is furnished with a couch, but which is completely worn out. There is also the kitchen and one bath room, including a toilet. In the kitchen is also a washing machine. In the first floor, there are three rooms. In the first room Ricardo, a Mexican and Martin, a Dutch are living. In the next room are living Caesar, who is also Mexican, Mata, a German girl and Zhenia, who is from Canada. In the next room are living Alex and Brendon. On the opposite side of their room, is my room, which I share with Damien from Switzerland and Deniz from Turkey. On the second floor are living Jaap from the Netherlands and a Swedish guy who I still haven’t got to know. His name is supposed to be Eric. I was surprised as I heard that most of them are doing a development traineeship with Aiesec and not like me a management traineeship. But as Damien told me, as for him, it is necessary to have at least basics in Business Administration. Therefore, also students of Business Administration apply for these traineeships. Furthermore, there is a balcony and a kind of terrace on the roof. Well, that´s our team for instance. But every once in a while, there are some substitutions, of course. Let´s see who is coming next.
What is quite strange, is the fact, that from 9 p.m. on one of the house keepers´ “employees” guards us. The reason for that is because, that in the past, there has been nearly every evening a party held up with approximately 50 people. And that was something, the neighbours, all Indian citizens, didn’t understand and then called for the police. The power is provided by a generator standing next to the house. Let me loose some more words to the kitchen. There are living some insects, a mouse and a dozen cockroaches for sure. In a nutshell, there is not much hygiene. But I got accustomed to that very fast. The house keeper has engaged two cleaner who clean all the rooms, tidy up and clean the dishes. In order to sweep the floor they use only a kind of bouquet of bough but no broom. This applies for the streets as well. The bathroom is furnished with a quite simple shower next to the john. There is only an indefinite thing on the ceiling which delivers water. That’s all, no basin or something like that. Strictly speaking, you enter the bathroom and you stand already under the shower. I don`t have to mention, that the bathroom as well isn` t in good shape. Especially on the ceiling and at the walls you will find a lot of stains. I am not sure, from where they came and in fact, I don`t want to know it.
I am bound to say, that I am quite content with my accommodation and my flat mates as well.

My first day in India

2006-06-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

When I woke up, it was 8 a.m.. So I slept only 3 hours. But ok, that´s life and actually I felt quite good. After having breakfast, another Aiesec member came for me in order to bring me to my new accommodation, so called Robertson House. The rent per month would be 3.200 Rupees, what will be about 60 Euros. Quite cheap, I think. I have already heard about that Trainee House in Germany, Barbara, who I got to know at the culture preparation seminar the week before, told me about it. She was in Bangalore from June 2005 to December 2005. It´s supposed to be a complete house full of trainees. In my judgement, it is quite a suitable accommodation. The way to Robertson House was indescribable. It was completely different to what I had experienced the night before on my way away from the Airport. I had the impression to be dropped in “nowhere”. The traffic was even worst than assumed. There seem to be no rules expect for honking. They don´t look on the right or on the left, when they change their ways, back mirrors aren’t used or are even absent. Were the streets build for two cars for each trace originally, now they are used by at least four cars on each trace. Furthermore, the noise and the air pollution are immense. And then, I have seen a cow crossing the main road! Nobody cared about that, it seems to be quite normal. And yes, it is normal. Cows are a part of life in India. You can see them everywhere in the cities and, by the way, as well as dogs. Both, cows and dogs belong to nobody, they are just there. And what I haven´t seen the night before as well, was the garbage and mud in the streets. Some Indians just throw their garbage in the streets. In case it is natural garbage, it is no problem, the dogs and cows will eat it. If anyone from Germany complains about how he is badly off or that he earns not enough money, feel free to come to India. What you will see here, that´s real poverty. You are welcome. In comparison to India, Germany is the heaven on earth. Poor people here live in little cottages or just in the streets, surrounded by mud and garbage. I don´t know, how they survive day by day. I would survive one or two weeks probably, not more. After approximately 30 minutes, we arrived at Robertson House. For the taxi rickshaw we paid only 74 Rupees. In Euros, that will be approximately 1,20 Euros. Some of the trainees have already gone to work, on Saturday by the way, or travelled. Brendon, an Australian, was sitting in the entrance hall watching TV and welcomed me. He showed me my room and the other rooms as well. I live with to other guys in one room, Damien from Switzerland and Deniz from Turkey. Both were out for a trip. And then, I got acquainted with Alex, a German guy from Nuremburg. He came here at the beginning of June. He invited me to accompany him and some friends in the city of Bangalore for doing some shopping. Of course, I accepted. Then, I met John from Canada and Viraj from Sri Lanka. Both arrived one week before. On our way from Frazor Town to the centre of Bangalore we had a drink in one of several juice shops. It was tasty, but nevertheless, purchasing drinks and food in the streets could be dangerous. You must always pay attention on what you eat or drink exactly, coz it might be full of bacteria. The Indians are used to it, but as for me, it would perhaps occur an upset stomach to me. And I have seen people urinating in the streets due to the fact that there are no public toilets. And even if there were public toilets, they would be in bad shape and would stink for sure. After a walk of 30 minutes, we finally arrived at Mahatma Ghandi Road. There everything is very western oriented, shops wherever you look. Each shop is guarded by a security person. As for me I bought a bed sheet and a map of Bangalore. Whenever I talked to a native Indian, I couldn´t hardly understand what they were saying. The pronunciation is completely different. I think, even someone from Great Britain would have some problems to understand them. Hopefully I will get used to that, otherwise, for the time being, I don´t know how to understand my pupils in the company if they ask me any questions. We had lunch in a big mall, where you would find everything. I tried some typical Indian food. Although I ordered a middle spicy meal, they served me a real spicy food. I think Indian food is either spicy or not-spicy. There is nothing in between. So, here is a good advice to come. Whenever you order Indian food, take care, it is definitely always spicy! In the early afternoon then, we went home to prepare for a party in the evening :-). But prior to the party, I went to a super market. There I saw one single toilet paper role for 44 Rupees!, which is about 90 Euro Cent. Toilet paper in India is a luxury good, coz Indians don’t use it! They just use their left hand and water, nothing else. So always pay attention to the left hand of natives and avoid touching it. But everything else is more or less cheap unless it was imported to India. In that case it can be as expensive as in Germany or even more expensive.In the evening then, Brendon, Alex and me went to John´s and Viraj´s party. They are also living in a trainee house, not far away, so we went there on foot. On the way to them, I bought 4 bottles of Indian beer, so called King Fisher and paid 60 Rupees for each, what will be a little bit more than one Euro and which is quite expensive for Indians. But fortunately, the size of the bottle in India is 650ml, so after having drunk 2 bottles, most of the Indians got already drunk. Viraj had prepared some typical food from Sri Lanka, but I didn´t like it. At the beginning we were for our own and I had already accepted that it will be boring party. But then, the two Indian flat mates joined the party as well as some other trainees from, for example from Sweden, the Netherlands, Greece, France or Brazil. And then it began to be a good party and the mood was increasing. Unfortunately, we had to be quit coz Indian aren´t used to make party and so it would disturb them. Moreover, there is a law in India which prohibits to make party after 11.30 p.m.. This is no joke. All pubs must close at 11.30 p.m. at the latest. Nevertheless, we went on the roof of the house and made party there. It was quite cool. And then with time passing by, we went home.

Departure to India

2006-06-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the 11th June 2006. I just came back form the Aiesec outgoing seminar in Rotenburg an der Fulda. I have to admit, that we had a tremendous fun with all the guys from all over Germany. During the weekend I seized the opportunity to get in touch with some incoming guys who had done a traineeship in India already. It was a great experience to talk to someone who has already been there because I am having a kind of culture shock already. Some questions are bothering me already although I am leaving Germany only on Friday. In particular, I am clueless about what excatly will await me in India. Sure, I have already read a lot about India, its culture, its people, its deseases, its poorness in some areas and so on. But to experience all that in reality might be quite different. Well, I am clear in my mind that I will make all these experiences, but how will I cope with it?
At the evening, Sandra and me went out for dinner. She invited me to an Indian Restaurant. In fact, that´s what I wanted to do prior to my journey as well in order to begin to get used to Indian food and culture. I am afraid, I forgot what I have eaten. But what I know for sure is, that it was very spicy. But never mind, that’s how Indian food is like, spicy and greasy. After having had dinner, we went to Haarlem club. I don´t know exactly why I went there with Sandra, coz in face of my what I have experienced the last 3 days during my culture shock preparation seminar with Aiesec I should have gone to bed. But what a luck, I didn´t do that, coz what awaited me in the club I would have never expected. Sandra arranged a farewell party for me. It was a very good feeling to be surrounded a last time by most of my best buddies. Thanks a lot Sandra for this great evening. I will never forget what you have done, and I hope we will keep friends for the rest of your life, even if you won’t be there, when I come back.
The day after there were only five days left till I will take off for India. And there were still a lot of things to manage, for example to apply for a visa. And furthermore, I was quite surprised as the house keeper all of a sudden told me that I shall leave my room in the flat. So 4 days prior my flight I had to manage that as well. Hopefully, I have probably the best brother in the world. Whenever I am in need of him, I can count on him. Thus, he came on Thursday and took all my stuff along to our parents. Thanks a lot to all who helped me. I wouldn’t have managed it without you.
On Wednesday I went to Francfort to apply for my visa. Fortunately this time, everything was as I wanted to. They issued a visa from the 14th of June till to the 13th of December, which will be the date of departure from India. Once I were already in Francfort I decided to attend to World Cup match Germany versus Poland at the Main Arena. There the organisation had installed a huge screen in the middle of the Main. Believe me, it was striking. Michel decided to accompany me to the match. I wouldn´t have thought, that German supporters are able to have such a great party already an hour before the kick-off. Well, and as Neuville scored for Germany in the additional time, we were all having a blast. I am very pleased having had at least once the opportunity to party in the streets and to celebrate the FIFA World Cup in Germany.

Thursday then was my last day in Germany. At the evening I met the last time with Sandra to say good-bye and to hug her one last time. We had a drink at the Unique. It was quite strange, coz I knew from that point on that I won´t see her now for months. Her and my eyes as well were filled with tears. It was very hard to go. I had never thought that saying good-bye can be so hard.
The night I spend at Lars, coz I had no room any more. Therefore, thanks a lot Lars that I could sleep at you. The next day, I got my last shot at 7.30 a.m.. Lars brought me to the doctor and to the railway station later on as well. At the platform we were waiting for the train and for Matthias as well, coz he wanted me to accompany at least to Francfort central railway station. Very late but still on time, he arrived at the platform. And one more person appeared at the platform who I wouldn’t have expected to come – Sandra. She had asked for a day off in order to accompany me to the Airport as well. What a nice surprise! In the train we became acquainted with Raji, a girl originally from Sri Lanka. We had a small conversation about India. Thanks for your tips, Raji, I try to act on your advices. Arrived at Francfort Airport I checked in at once in order to get rid of my baggage, which was really heavy, 23 kilos exactly. After that, I invited Matthias and Sandra for a drink. Time was passing so fast, and so after some minutes, it was time to say good-bye. This moment was even harder than the moments I had at Haarlem club on Sunday or the day before. Tears were running down my cheeks and it was an indescribable feeling. I knew, at that moment, that it would be a sort of dead end street, if went through the security control. But what should I have done as go through? So I went through it. I still have that feeling how it was when I am thinking of it.
The flight was very good, exactly how I had assumed it to be if you fly with Air India. It was a little bit delayed, only one of three big screens was running, some of the radio stations were out of order and the toilets might had been cleaner. But, when you go to India, you don’t need to go there by using a luxury airline coz in India, there will be no luxury as well, you will see, believe me. Fortunately I had a place beside the window, so I could see a little bit of the landscape under us. In Europe, especially in Germany, the weather was not good, very cloudy. So when we were above the clouds I couldn´t see anything. But as we flew above Austria and the other countries located more in the south, I had a fascinating view over the whole beauty of the landscape there. In the meanwhile, the air waitresses, by the way, all dressed in a saree, the traditional dress for Indian women, served a meal. As for me, I chose dal, a vegetarian food. It´s supposed to be one of Indian most favourite meals. It is made of beans in particular added by a sauce. It was quite tasty. So whenever you have the opportunity to try it, do it. Unfortunately, after about 2 hours flight we had to close the windows and I couldn´t see any more of the landscape during several hours. The next time when I opened the window I saw mountains and nothing else, no town, no streets, only mountains. I asked myself where we could be. Most likely, we flew over Iran, I would say. Now it was already dark outside and had been flying now for a little bit more than 5 hours. Certainly, we will arrive on time in Mumbai, what will mean after a flight of exactly 8 hours. And then suddenly, I saw a big bright lighted town under us. This was definitely Mumbai. Believe me, there can´t exist lots of more big cities in the world than Mumbai. I couldn´t see the end of the city, there were light everywhere I looked. It was very impressive. I have never seen something comparable to that before – just unimaginable. When we arrived in Mumbai, it was already 12.30 p.m.. Now, I had to change the plane for Bangalore. At the waiting area, some passengers, who were waiting for their flights, watched the FIFA World Cup. Due to the fact, that my plane to Bangalore was already ready for boarding, I couldn´t watch the match. But that was not worth mentioning, I will certainly watch a lot of matches in Bangalore, coz India is 3 and a half hour before Germany concerning time. So when the matches will be played at 3 p.m. local time, it will be 6.30 p.m in India, what will be a convenient time to watch football, I think. When I took off for Bangalore, it was nearly 2 a.m.. At the beginning, the screen was running, but then, as probably in every flight of Air India, it was out of order. During the flight I had a nice conversation with an Indian girl sitting next to me. She could tell me a lot about the behaviour of the Indians, its culture and so on. Most Indians appear not to be in the way as it is described in my book “Kulturschock Indien”, which I began to read when I had left Francfort. Well, after one and a half hour, I finally arrived in Bangalore, where I, from now on, will stay for half a year. As I left the plane as one of the first; I was one as the first at the pass control as well and had not to wait till it was my turn. I had the impression that none of the Indians cared about my contents in the hand bag. “What´s this there?”, one of the safety staff asked me. I answered, “well it´s a thing to separate power and these are two bottles of beer” and that was it. In case of need, I had opened my baggage, but he wasn´t interested in proving it. Now, there were only a few steps to enter a new civilisation. “What will be behind that door in front of me?”, I asked myself. “What experiences will a make and will I come to terms with the Indian food?” were only some more questions. Well and then, like Armstrong in the Sixties, I took the final step and passed the exit. Bangalore, here I am! At once, I saw some young men waiting. And yes indeed, it was a part of the local committee of Aiesec Bangalore, all together six members of Aiesec. I greeted them with “Namaste” and folded my hands. This is the traditional greeting in India. They, of course understood, but were very surprised, coz it has become unusual to greet one another in this way. One further part of Indians´ tradition which will get lost more and more. You must be interested in my first experiences in India. But keep calm, here they are coming. First, although, I knew that India was ruled by the Britain in former days, I was surprised that they drive on the left side of the street. But ok, I got used to that at once. But then I asked myself, why the drivers always sound, although there were not much traffic in the streets. Well, that´s a part of Indian traffic system. They always sound and horn. Even on the back of the cars you can read “Sound and horn, please”. And what I noticed at once as well, was the bad state of infrastructure. The streets have, here and there some holes. Some streets are even not worth appointing them streets, coz they are made of soil and nothing else. And wherever you look, you see these taxis, so called taxi rickshaws. The taxis have only 3 tires and are open on both sides. Fortunately, there is a roof at least. The first night, I spend at an Aiesec member. It was already 5 a.m. as I heard some strange noise - The Muslims prayed and used even a speaker! And this in the middle of India’s biggest cities. Germans would have called for the police – but not in India!