The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,300 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 55 trips to carry that many people.
By Connie Curtis
This is my first time in India. There were many sights today as we travelled into Bangalore city to a shopping mall.
The drive was very eventful all the the sights on the road on the way there; all the people you can get on a motorbike and ladies riding side saddle in sarees. Drivers don’t keep to the white lines and meander all over the road. The contrast in living accommodation and conditions is marked.
When we arrived at the mall there is a person to give you your carpark ticket from the machine and another person opens the boot and searches it – a security measure. Once in the car park There are a lot of people directing cars into free spaces and blowing whistles to direct and attract attention.
To get into the shopping mall there is an airport style security scanner and a bag check too. A security wand is also waved over your body. After that you are allowed in to wander around but you can’t walk into any old shop without being stopped if you have bags. All bags have to be checked in with security and a token is given for it – you retrieve your bags when exiting the shop. The security guards in shops are also the tiniest security guards seen. They almost all welcome you with “namaste” or “namascara”. When buying items sales assistants insist on taking an Indian mobile number before any purchase can be made. Whilst there are loads of people to assist the service is slow and no one works quickly. When leaving a store you have to show your receipt – some shops stamp, some hole punch and other just look at it.
Every lift has a lift attendant who sits in a lift all day pushing buttons for the floors. Everyone pushes and barges out in lifts – nobody lets people out first – people are trying to get in before anyone can get out.
There is no sense of personal space – everyone stands so close behind you that you can feel them. You are however aware of people looking and staring at you. (We did not see any other white people in the mall.)
Inside the shopping mall there are so many people employed to clean but walk a outside and it’s a rubbish dump. It’s difficult to comprehend that they don’t want to keep area around the mall (or other shops in general) clean and tidy. Even the steps going up to shops are dirty and/or broken.
There was one huge benefit to shopping in Bangalore though. When in a shop looking at tunics a lady just approached me and gave me a compliment. She said I was “an exceptional stunning and beautiful woman”. It’s not a compliment someone in the UK would give to a complete stranger!
We have had the delight of welcoming our first guests to our house in Bangalore. Mandy (my twin) arrived on the 16th Dec. She was swiftly followed by Bujji (Mandy’s friend of over 20 years) and her sons Sunny and Finny on 19th Dec. We have had a wonderful time together chatting, eating and visiting some of the sights of Bangalore. Mandy lived in India for 6 months (a long time ago) and of course Bujji, Sunny and Finny live here (in Hyderabad). It is so refreshing to be able to speak (in English) to someone who understands the trials and tribulations of everyday life in incredible India. Speaking to friends and relatives over coffee and cake makes everything seem better.
On Sunday we went to church as usual (CFC in Bangalore) and it was a usual service. No Christmas decorations, no carols, no lights – nothing. It was very odd. As a Christian, celebrating Christ’s birth is pretty much up there. Not at this church – which I just found weird. After church we went to the Persian restaurant in town called Ayda. The food there is delicious and authentic. There are always other Iranians eating in ther when we have been. Starters, mains and (soft) drinks for 7 people came to just over £50. We had so much food left over we had a take home bag too. I can hear the audible gasps from those of you living in the UK, and especially in London.
After the restaurant we needed to walk off the lunch and headed to Lalbagh Botanical Gardens (“The Red Garden”). It houses India’s largest collection of tropical plants, has a lake and a Japanese garden. It has a glass house based on Crystal Palace and hosts an annual flower show. Entry is 50p for adults and 10p for children at weekends and holidays (otherwise 40p for adults).
There is also petrified tree which is millions of years old but he highlight for Zahra is always seeing the monkeys who live in one of the trees in the gardens.
On Monday we headed out to WonderLa Amusement Park whilst Rez attended a work conference. Cultural difference right there – a two day conference just before Christmas and after the children have broken up from school. It just wouldn’t happen in the UK. Anyway, we got to WonderLa around 1pm (after a two hour drive). We bought FastPass tickets to enable us to queue jump all day.
We went on most rides and had a great time in the Waterpark. It did feel weird that in the middle of winter we were enjoying 30C heat and an outdoor Waterpark. The rain disco was great fun. There were a lot of happy and tired people in the car on the way back. Even better was getting back to a dinner cooked and ready for us. I hired a cook for 3 days so we could enjoy our short time together. It was a bit of a risk as chilli and masala features highly in dishes here but I asked for no chilli whatsoever and we got that. The dinner was delicious.
We all had a lazy morning on Tuesday morning and headed out to Bangalore Palace in the afternoon. Bangalore Palace is based on Windsor Castle and completed in 1944 and is owned by the Mysore Royal family. The ground floor has an open courtyard and the first floor has an elaborate hall known as the Durbar Hall which is reached via an elaborate staircase with a massive elephant’s head. The maintenance inside is not great and it could really do with some investment to make it more appealing. There is an audio tour available (but we hired a guide to take us round when we first went).
The sprawling palace grounds are used for large weddings – massive in fact. There seems to be one or more going on every time we pass by. It also used to be used for public events such as music concerts but the government banned that in 2011.
From there we headed off to Mantri Mall to pick up a last couple of Christmas presents and to have a decent coffee at Starbucks.
The evening was spent having an Indian style dinner (prepared by the cook) followed by Christmas Pudding and present exchanges. It was a lovely evening.
The morning of Wednesday 23rd was spent enjoying an English breakfast (well the best I could rustle up out here) before heading down to the pool in the complex for a bit of fun.
Swimming caps are compulsory in the pool here so it was a little strange seeing the boys don swimming caps. Zahra loved having two older ‘brothers’ around to play with and generally look after her. She’s had a wonderful time with them. Mandy and Bujji spent the time chatting and catching up – it’s been a while (years) since they’ve seen each other.
Frankly, one of the best Christmas presents I’ve been able to give Mandy was having Bujji, Sunny and Finny to stay. Everyone has been so happy for the few days they were here – it’s been marvellous to enjoy the company of friends and to forget for a short while about the everyday difficulties of living in Bangalore.
As we waved goodbye to our friends at the airport I wondered how long it would be before Mandy would see them again. A friendship that has lasted a lifetime will continue to do so across the continents.
One of the things that has been really useful since moving into the house is being added to the community groups on WhatsApp. WhatsApp is used by everyone here. It works across iPhones and Android devices and it is free. One of our lovely neighbours (Aude) was very helpful when we moved in and introduced me to lots of people, got me added to the community WhatsApp groups and took me on a tour of the local village called Sahakara Nagar (pronounced Sha Kar Na gar).
Once you’re added to one group, you are introduced to other and soon you are on many useful information or ordering groups. Zahra’s school class has its own group for parents for example, organised by the parent class rep called P7S Parent Group. It’s really useful for clarifying information from children about school activities – any parent will know that you only ever get half a story (if you’re lucky!) about what’s going on at school. It’s been particularly useful as end of term activities ramped up and there were lots of things going on.
As regards the group ordering on WhatsApp there are several groups that work in slightly different but similar ways. It’s certainly a new, but extremely useful, experience for me. So the groups I am currently a ‘member’ of (for want of a better word – no entry requirements here) are detailed below. Some of these would be useful in the UK but some are born out of necessity due to the difficulty of getting hold of some items and the time (stuck in traffic) to get them here in Bangalore.
Vanessa’s BakeHouse – delicious breads and cakes on a weekly basis. Cakes and breads being baked that week are listed by Vanessa and everyone puts in their order. Prices are listed next to the item. The breads and cakes vary each week. Special orders (dairy free birthday cake for example) are available on request. Typically orders are placed the day before collection. Collection is from Vanessa’s house which is in the Sobha Malachite complex where we live. This week Vanessa offered Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (80p each), beetroot chocolate cake (75p a slice), Christmas cookies (25p for 6) and strawberry mousse tarts (75p each). I ordered a dairy free orange cake for my birthday last weekend. A 1kg cake cost £7.
Momo Lovers – very yummy Chinese style steamed dumplings made by Anu. This is a huge WhatsApp group and being copied into everyone’s orders can send the phone into a spin. Anu offers these on alternate days and lists what will be available that day (depends on available ingredients and time to prepare). Everyone races in with their orders and even put in requests on days when Anu isn’t offering them – and sometimes she has made some on request. MoMos are available in ‘plates’of 5 and Saturday’s MoMos were Veg (40p a plate), Mix (50p a plate), chicken (60p a plate) and pork (70p a plate). Anu lives at the end of our row of houses so it is extremely convenient. We just walk up the road with our thermal pots (I had to buy one here – they’re super cheap) and cash and hey presto – takeaway dinner!
Cheesy Ladies is an Italian cheese ordering group and one that I haven’t ordered from yet. Orders are taken via WhatsApp on a Monday and delivered to a group members home for pick up on Tuesday. Payment on collection.
Cheese – the French cheese group. Cheese other than paneer is expensive and difficult to get hold of here in its not in supermarkets but stocked only in western supermarket suppliers, usually imported and usually very expensive. This group orders from Mango Hill who offer cheese by the 100g as follows: cream cheese(£1.60), Borsalino (£1.60), Feta (£1.60), La Buchette (£2.50), Le Pondicheri – a curry leaf cheese (£2.50),Camembert (£2.50), hard cheese (£2) and sometimes goats cheese (price on application). Orders are made via WhatsApp on a Tuesday and delivered to north Banaglore on Thursday (along with the bread). Payment on collection from the north Bangalore pick up point – a member of the WhatsApp group.
Bread – French bread and pizzas ordered from Chez Mariannick and as the group is so large there are strict ordering protocols in place so the person collating orders can cope with the demand. Bread in the supermarkets here contain sugar so obtaining decent bread without sugar is very popular. I’ve not tried the pizzas yet but the bread and baguettes are good. Rez and Zahra love the croissants too. Bread is ordered on a Wednesday via WhatsApp and delivered to North Bangalore on Thursday. The group is advised when the delivery has been made and the collection times. Payment on collection and includes 20p towards the delivery to pay for the auto rickshaw from central Bangalore.
Malachite bread – is a subset of the bread group so we can arrange collection, between us in rotation,from the North Bangalore drop off point in Sanjay Nagar, to bring back to the Sobha Malachite complex. It’s my turn to collect next week , for the first time, so I hope I don’t get lost!
Meredith’s kitchen – Meredith is a lady who organises the north Bangalore group of the Overseas Women’s Club of Bangalore (‘OWC’). The OWC is very useful for information for those who are new to Bangalore. They also have regular coffee mornings but as that is at least 1.5 hours each way in traffic for me I haven’t really been to any. Anyway, Meredith lives in the Jakkur area and bakes cakes as well as jams. Cakes and jams are available when Meredith has time and when ingredients are in season. Strawberries are currently in season in Bangalore (you can imagine how wrong that feels for a Brit – strawberries are available in June not December right?!). Meredith made strawberry jam last week – it’s delicious. She charges £2.50 for 200ml or £1.25 for 100ml with 50p refund if you return the jar for reuse. Meredith also made me a dairy free lemon curd. It is simply delicious. Last week Meredith also made chocolate brownies (£5 for 16 pieces). Meredith lets the group know what she is making and everyone puts in their order. For my jam order I met Meredith at the end of the Jakkur Plantation Road (about a 10 min walk) to collect my order and pay. As Meredith pointed out – it looked a bit dodgy handing over cash and been given a product on a street corner!
Aquamarine- fish from the east coast (Pondicherry or Chennai – I can’t recall which). The excel spreadsheet is emailed round with details of what is available, pricing, ordering instructions and estimated delivery date / time. The supplier is wholesale only and will supply in specified weights or pack sizes. As well as seafood there are sausages and imported meats available. Aquamarine supply hotels and restaurants in Bangalore and deliver fortnightly; the group tags onto that delivery schedule and as a consequence there are no delivery charges. Aude organises the collection from central Bangalore and let’s us know via WhatsApp when the order is here and we collect from her house in the Sobha Malachite complex, paying on collection. I ordered 1kg of ‘shrimps’ for £9.50 – they are very large prawns. I’m looking forward to having them over Christmas.
The group ordering has worked well for me so far and has certainly taken hours off my time sat in the car. It’s a good use of technology and a great way to get to know people. The only issue is the high volume of messages through the groups as orders go in, are confirmed and collection details broadcast. I soon worked out how to turn off notification sounds!
It’s just starting to look like Christmas is on the way here in Bangalore. One of the Malls has a Christmas tree and some of the hotels have decorations or a tree or in the case of the Marriott in Whitefield, both. Advent isn’t recognised in Bangalore (I’m not going to generalise about the rest of India as I have a sneaky suspicion that the predominantly Catholic Goa will be different). Some of the neighbours children have been fascinated by our decorations and have asked to see the Christmas tree and asked questions about Christmas. Trying to explain an Advent calendar to a child who has never seen one before has been unusual and interesting. They certainly like the idea of a countdown to Christmas with a treat everyday.
The lack of enthusiasm for Christmas was a relief from the constant consumerism in the UK but when Advent came and there still was nothing it was a little perturbing for me. Whilst in the UK the shops are emailing ideas for “last minute” gifts, here in Bangalore the shopping doesn’t start until the week before Christmas. We gave up trying to find a hotel that was doing anything special for Christmas. We’ve bought a turkey and hope the power lasts to cook it!
It was therefore a great relief that the Marriott in Whitefield put on Gingerbread House decorating for the children as it is one of only two Christmas related activities for children. (The other being breakfast with Santa at a different hotel). We didn’t know what to expect when we arrived but we were pleasantly surprised. The chefs had made the gingerbread and made the houses ready for the children to decorate. Each decorating station was ready prepared with icing bags and bowls of sweets. There were a lot of very excited children!
After briefly meeting the creepiest Santa I’ve ever seen (full face mask), Zahra popped on her apron and the chef put on her chef’s hat. All ready to go. After a countdown, the children all started decorating the houses. The excitement was palpable.
Zahra set to it straight away and was too busy creating and concentrating to notice the chefs coming over to look at her creation.
Concentrating:
Some finishing touches:
The finished product:
Transporting the fabulous creation back home (a 1.5 journey on bumpy roads) was not so easy but there was minimal damage in the end. Now we’re just waiting for Mandy to arrive so we can tuck in!
Some of you have asked to see pics of the inside of our new home. Whilst I think it seems odd sharing pics with the whole worldwide web (rather than a controlled list of friends on FB) here they are. What this did highlight is that I have already got used to some of the differences here and I have commented on a few below.
So the first picture above is our (rented) house. It’s one of the biggest on the complex being 4 bedroom instead of the usual 2 or 3. It is an end house as it is a 4 bed, but still semi detached. Apartments here are common and detached houses are rare. The proximity of neighbours, the train line running passed the complex and children being able to play out well after dark (as it’s a secure complex) makes it quite noisy at times. However it is much quieter than the city itself where the noise is relentless.
So as you will be able to see I’ve made this a bit more homely with our name plate (thank you to my sister Alison for that present) and made a flower border, planted roses, gerberas and orchids among the other things. A couple of Union Jacks / flags to let the neighbours know where we’re from (the first question everybody he asks) and some bunting (recycled sarees- bought in the UK, made in India).
The front porch. As it is warm enough to sit outside here.
So this is our garden at the side of the house. The estate gardeners maintain the front lawn, trees, bushes etc but nothing else. We have to employ our own gardener to maintain the side garden and the rear patio area. We have the lovely Brabama who come 3 mornings a week to sweep leaves (everyday leaves and flowers fall), trim, plant, water etc. Brabama also maintains the plants on the balcony. As these are small plants they can’t be seen yet – but everything grows fast here.
The back patio with doors to the dining room
The back patio again showing the outside sink and gas bottle storage. The door on the left is the outside loo.
A traditional Indian squat loo is the outside loo.
Kitchen, with an oven under the hob – an uncommon feature in Indian households. Everything is cooked on the hob and usually fried. The water filter (for cooking water) is above the sink. It plays a tune when you use it. Not at all annoying…
Utility room. We added the IKEA bookshelf for storage. The washing machine also plays a tune when it’s finished!
Other utility housing the dishwasher (thankfully tuneless). The cages are to keep the monkeys out (and I’m not joking).
This is a space you would never find in the UK – in between the kitchen and dining room is the hand wash area. Note the lack of built in under sink cupboards or storage – they just don’t have them here at all and have to be made bespoke.
The dining room with the fridge/ freezer as the kitchen is too small to house it. (Yes that is a nod to Christmas with the space decorations!)
The living room in all its Christmas glory! The box on the wall is the Aircon unit (for those of you who live in the UK and will never ever need one!).
Guest bedroom (which Zahra has decorated within Christmas cuddlies) and bathroom with a bath on the ground floor. The bath is another unusual feature. This was the only house we looked at that had a bath. The hot water tank is above and (power permitting) you have to switch on the tank 10-20 mins before for hot water.
The downstairs loo. We’ve utilised cheap plastic stands as an alternative to underside storage. We’re not buying proper standalone cabinets as we won’t be able to get them into the container when we leave.
Rez’s office (downstairs) and the tidiest it has been in 10 years!
Under stairs storage area nicely showing Zahra’s super soaker which has had a few outings here.
So at the top of the stairs on the left is Zahra’s room with blue ensuite (and evidence she is turning into a teenager already with that towel on the shower floor).
At the top of the stairs on the right is the other guest room
With a delightful pink ensuite.
The balcony accessed from the first floor landing. The garden furniture is locally produced Indian furniture we invested in. Garden furniture here is extortionate and people here use normal sofas on their porches etc (it’s cheaper). This pic was taken at 8am so a little dull.
My office and craft space on the 1st floor landing (with access to the balcony). This is the space that still needs to be sorted. The computer has died due to the power surges. That waste paper basket is made from recycled juice cartons and made by ladies in a social enterprise scheme here.
The master bedroom with green ensuite. White clearly isn’t a colour choice here. There’s a lot of things that remind you of the 70s in the UK – high street independent shops in need of maintenance and repair and coloured bathroom suites being the most prominent ones.
So I hope you have enjoyed this tour of our home for the next two years. And remember, don’t take for granted electricity and a clean water supply – I really miss both.
Going to the cinema in Bangalore is something else. Not only is it super cheap (compared to the UK) it is very comfortable and just a little bit retro with an intermission. PVR cinemas are common in Bangalore and they show films in Hindi, Telegu, English, Kannada and Tamil. The cinemas are contained within the shopping malls here – there are no separate cinemas like the Odeon for example.
Tickets are sold in silver, platinum and gold. We’ve experienced silver and gold. Silver are like the premier seating in Odeon. Gold have wide, reclining seats and the more expensive ones come with waiter service for your drinks and snacks. Silver tickets cost us £3, the gold tickets cost £3 and the separate gold cinema cost £8 ( and was ridiculously luxurious). Drinks and snacks are relatively expensive in comparison to the tickets but still cheaper than the UK with 2 drinks, 2 large popcorn and a hotdog was £9.
We’ve seen films in English (obviously) but they are all sub titled in English too. The adverts and trailers are all in Hindi though, which made them pretty pointless for us. Half way through the movie there is an intermission. The intermission is sudden and not at any natural break point in the movie and nor is it faded away – the film just abruptly stops and the lights come on. Everyone quickly vacates the cinema presumably for snacks and the loo. The intermission lasts between 10-20 mins and the film starts again as abruptly as it stopped. People quickly scramble back to their seats when it does. When the film finishes everyone exits through the fire exits, always. It feels really bizarre.
So, what is Bollywood exactly? Well, we’re still trying to work it out and we’ve not yet gone to watch a Bollywood film, but as far as we can gather Bollywood is just the Hindi film industry in Mumbai (previously Bombay hence the term Bollywood). There are various film industries in India which are both language and region specific.
Tamil language films are made in Chennai’s Kodambakkam district and is called Kollywood. (NB Chennai is currently suffering huge floods and there is a massive relief effort going on to deliver supplies and rescue people). There is a Malayam language film industry in the state of Kerala called Mollywood. Then there’s the Telegu language films from Andhra Pradesh, Tollywood, and Bengali language films from Kolkata. India has to have one of the biggest films industries in the world and Bollywood leads the way as regards influence and box office sales.
One thing we have noticed already in Indian is the heavy editing of the films to remove any physical intimacy, even kissing. Public displays of affection here are frowned upon and movies reflect that attitude. We recently went to see the new James Bond film Spectre and all the romantic scenes had been edited out completely.
We’ve seen the listings for the Bollywood films (and I include all the film types in that phrase for ease) and the films all seem to be really long. I mean really long too – over 3 hours. Which sort of explains the intermission- you’re going to need one in a 3 hour movie but they add it in for every movie even when one isn’t required.
When we’ve been brave enough to venture into a Bollywood movie screening (with subtitles) I’ll post again. For now we’re going to try and catch up on the movie releases we’ve missed in the UK (although they seem to be released here a month or so after the UK so we should be able to see some). Bring on the popcorn and comfy seats!
After a late Friday quiz night at the Marriott with our Uk friends before they returned home, we got up at 5:30am on a foggy (yes foggy!) Bangalore morning to head to the airport. Narayan (our driver) must have been tired too as he would have got home later and up earlier than us – but you couldn’t tell. His cheery greeting hid any tiredness.
On the way to the airport the fog got thicker and Zahra declared it a real pea souper – she wasn’t wrong and it didn’t bode well for the flight. Sure enough we were told the flight was delayed for over an hour. Not too bad we thought. Then it got delayed again, and again, and again. To add to the confusion, the gate number kept changing and Air India staff changed gates at one point and told passengers the wrong gate number. People were walking backwards and forwards all over the airport with their luggage. On the final gate change irate passengers started yelling at security and surrounding them. Rez and I stood back watching, slightly amused – like they could do anything about it – but also slightly nervous, they have guns here and you don’t want to mess them around!
After a 4 hour delay we were on our way and arrived in Hyderabad an hour later. The airport in Hyderabad is lovely – better than Bangalore and Goa. (Perhaps a blog post for another day about the airports and the multiple security checks you have to go through – entering the airport, check in, usual security check, boarding and getting on the plane.)
As we exited the airport with our bags I spotted Sunny and Finny immediately then Bujji. Big smiles as they ran to greet us. We were excited and nervous – we had never met Bujji (or her boys) although we have known them as a family since 1988. Proper snail mail letters and cards, the occasional long distance phone call but more recently via Facebook, Messenger and video messages. Social media really has made the world a smaller place.
Big hugs all round and a few tears too. Lots of pictures (family requested them) and then garlanded with beautiful flowers. What a wonderful welcome.
Lots of sightseeing from the cab on the hour journey to the apartment. The roads are a lot better here than in Bangalore and the traffic is much lighter. We also ate lots of rose cakes that Bujji had made. They’re delicious.
We were somewhat of a curiosity with the children when we arrived. We settled quickly and chatted and ate the most delicious lunch cooked by Bujji. The prawn curry in particular was delicious.
After a nap (we were all shattered by the long delay) we headed out to a mall and Zahra enjoyed playing some games in the arcade as well as air hockey with both Sunny and Finny. Zahra had a go on the climbing wall , barefoot. She got about half way up before the pain got to her and she dropped off. Not a bad effort though. Of course there was the obligatory ice cream too.
On Sunday we woke too late for the (really early!) church service – as we were clearly still tired. After a delicious doughnut (Indian style) breakfast we headed out to Golconda (the round fort). The entry fee was cheap (£1) but not as cheap as it was for locals (5p). I’ve since discovered that the entry price has been static for at least 12 years – someone is missing a trick by not increasing it in line with inflation.
Golconda derives its name from the Telegu words “Golla Konda” which means shepherd’s hill. It’s a massive ruined fort with a three tiered fortification protected by a moat. There are 8 entrance gates, a citadel, armouries, reservoirs, mosques, township, clapping tower, mortuary, bath, guard lines, offices and a jail amongst other things.
The Taramati Mosque was the most impressive mosque inside Golconda. Unfortunately there was no public access to the mosque itself but we could admire the Qutb Shahi architecture from the outside. It has 3 arches with the central being larger than the rest. The parapet wall has a Chhajja of the Hindu architectural pattern and is embellished with square openings.
It was truly stunning.
We headed off to a mall for lunch and then Zahra spotted the ‘Dolphin Race’ which of course we had to try. It was such a laugh.
After huge ice creams it was time to head back to the airport for the journey back to Bangalore. It was a wonderful weekend.
Expat Life in Bangalore 