Bad Hair Day?

The big day is here! Mona has her 4-hour appointment to get her hair straightened. This is a major make-over ($$$). We are leaving on vacation in a couple of days and she has been planning this for quite some time. The appointment is for 4pm on Saturday. My cousins are coming over for dinner around 8pm on Saturday - so this should work out just fine.

She is at the beauty salon where the first phase (yes, this treatment must be administered in multiple phases) has been completed when the power goes off. Not an uncommon phenomenon in this part of the world. This is the reason why diesel generators were invented. Everyone is waiting for the generator to kick in but ... no electricity. Power comes back on and off but is not staying on consistently enough for phase two to begin. Finally, the generator comes on-line until someone decides to start a water pump, which blows the generator again.

Finally, the owner requests Mona to continue the treatment at home. So next thing I know, she is back at home with a hair dresser and her assistant (and a bunch of supplies and equipment) in tow. Treatment continues at home and is completed after a couple of hours.

Results: A+!

Boo!

It is the end of October and it is Halloween in Bangalore! Yes ... last week it was Dassera and next week it is Diwali but now it is Halloween. With the large numbers of expats living in the city, there is no reason to not celebrate the festival of fear!

OWC (Overseas Women's Club) had a Children's Halloween party at the Doodle Den on Sunday. All the NRI kids in town (and believe me ... there are hundreds of them in town) who cannot miss a year of tricking and treating showed up in their finest costumes. Kids had a blast with face painting, arts and crafts, games etc. etc. Ayaana dressed up in a pirate's costume and went to the party with Mona. Aanish is too old for Halloween and spent time at home playing cricket with me.

And the party goes on ... and on ... and on

Last week, Ayaana turned 11 - her first birthday in India!

Planning for the celebrations started a few weeks ago. She was going to have two parties - a day party for her friends in our building and a sleepover for her friends from school. Of course, we had planned a family dinner for her birthday and we could not forget celebrating her birthday in school! I don't even want to think about what the wedding plans are going to look like for this girl.

Regular readers of my blog have probably figured out by now that Indians are extremely social. So these multiple celebrations should come as no surprise because it is natural for one to share happy moments with as many people as it is humanly (and economically) possible.

All the planned celebrations went well and she had a great time during the entire week! The girls had a blast during the sleepover (I am still not sure why they call it a "sleep"-over). Multiple cakes, dozens of phone calls, dinner at a favorite restaurant, a pile of gifts and a ton of best wishes .... this was a memorable birthday for her!

Advertising takes wings!

Inspite of flying extensively in India for the last 10 months or so, last week was the first time I flew Air Deccan. I understand that this is an extremely innovative airline when it comes to revenue maximization. Which is probably the reason it was acquired by Kingfisher some time ago. Air Deccan was started with a mission to bring air travel to the common man. Translation: cheap, low frills airline!

You quickly begin to understand their success when you notice the large ads painted on the exterior of the plane. You settle down comfortably in your seat and you see an ad starting back at you from the back of the seat in front of you. There are ads on headrest covers ... ads everywhere!

The airline even has a silent auction that is conducted during the duration of the flight. You can actually bid on items ranging from keychains to watches. If you have a winning bid, you pay cash for merchandise and pick it up before you deplane!

"Dining" with the stars

Vidhyarthi Bhavan is an old iconic restaurant that has served legendary Masala Dosas for generations. The place is a must-stop for South India's most popular movie star, Rajnikant on his trips to Bangalore. After nine months in Bangalore, we finally made it out to VB last week with Maya Mami, who was visiting us from Los Angeles. We had actually gone to MTR for breakfast but seeing the crowd and not wanting to wait an hour, decided to go to Vidhyarthi Bhavan instead.

The restaurant is in the heart of Gandhi Bazar - an old building with the long and narrow interiors resembling a tourist bus. There is no air conditioned waiting lobby, no reservation system and no system of queue. If a table is not available, you simply target a table where you might want to sit and go stand next to it. Don't worry about offending sensibilities as the restaurant's patrons are quite used to this. You grab a seat when it is available, seat, eat and leave.

Masala Dosa is the main specialty here and you will be served one by default. The menu is limited to a couple of different types of dosas, idly, masala bhat and vada. Mona and Mami loved the Dosa but I thought it was a bit too oily and thick. The Chutney has a thin consistency but the Sambar was delicious. Vadas were fresh and crisp and definitely my favorite here.

Overall, quite an experience and if you are a foodie, you must check it out at least once.

Grocery Shopping in LA!

Some things never change.

This is the thought that went through my mind as I was pushing my shopping cart at Ralphs in Glendale earlier this week. I was back in Los Angeles and made my mandatory visit to the local grocery store with Mona's shopping list. It's been nearly ten months in India but there are some things that we still miss. Such as Mexican Food!

So I am here - 10,000 miles away from Bangalore and still shopping at the store for salsa, beans, tortillas and cheese! Of course, I can't forget the muffin and biscuit mix.

Most other products are now easily available in Bangalore but for some reason, supplies for Mexican food are virtually impossible to come by. But we are well equipped now for our next meal of fajitas, enchiladas, spicy salsa and spanish rice!

Buenos Noches!

'Jet'ting to London

I flew Jet airlines on my recent trip to London. For those among you who are regular travelers to India, Jet is a well-known name. They are one of the premier domestic airlines known for great service, terrific cuisine and friendly staff. The airline has recently been granted licenses to fly on overseas routes and has started flights to Singapore, London etc. The New York segment is scheduled to be operational soon.

I was not disappointed flying an international route on Jet. The 777 was designed with passenger comfort in mind. Subtle design changes (like moving the handset/remote control from the side of the seat to the back of the seat in front) make flying more comfortable. The TV screens are huge and are equipped with touch screen control. Seats are ergonomically designed with built in comfort such as lumbar and neck supports.

Service is exceptional as expected and the cuisine is top class.

In the eye of the storm

The monsoon season in India is a unique experience especially in an urban center such as Bangalore. September is supposed to be the highest rainfall month and as the resident expert here, I can certainly vouch for that. While Bangalore rains do not come close to Bombay rains, they come down hard.

I have written numerous times about the traffic in Bangalore so my regular readers can imagine the impact of the rain on commuting. Without a decent drainage systems, roads are generally flooded within minutes of a heavy downpour. The traffic clogged streets get further congested and the vehicles (except for bicycles and 2-wheelers) come to a virtual halt. And of course, this is precisely the same moment when the drivers of vehicles on the roads (especially the large buses) take leave of their senses and rather than heading for their destination, start moving in the direction of any empty space that comes in their sight.

You must have the ability to set aside your anger, frustration and other negative emotions and learn to enjoy this (unless you are an hour late for an important investor meeting). If you can do that, it is quite entertaining and in some ways uplifting! The fury of the rains is insufficient to quash the human spirit here. It is amazing to see children playing in ankle deep waters or pedestrians bravely making their way to their destinations with minimal protection against the rain. And the patience of the drivers – to my knowledge there has not been a single incident of a person shooting some one else due to road rage.

Now that is Nirvana!

It's a dog's life

Mona joined a Yoga class last week. An instructor from the Art of Living foundation offered a week-long course (2 hours daily) at the building. Over two dozen residents from the building participated in the class. Mona has been gaga over the class and I spent an hour learning the basics from her today.

Of course, tennis lessons are still going on (thrice a week) for both Mona and Aanish. They have been learning for months and I suspect they are both getting pretty good at it. Ayaana makes a new friend every week and with her new and shiny bike is out every evening.

I am trying to visit the gym twice a week and a gym trainer has developed a customized one-hour workout plan for me.

Back to School

It is September 1.

According to the Vedic Calendar, it is Chaturthi h. 06-33, Asvini Nakshatra h. 54-16, Vriddhi Yoga h. 48-41, Balava Karana h. 06-33.

Aanish and Ayaana have been back to school for a couple of weeks and a new routine has set in our daily life. There was the usual excitement about new classes, new friends, meeting old friends, getting new books & supplies and meeting new teachers. Ayaana is continuing Bharat Natyam lessons while Aanish plans to continue guitar lessons. Ayaana has moved out of the primary block. She will be leading the school assembly next week and will lead the singing of the Indian National Anthem (yup - she has memorized this).

Aanish has an interesting program this year with some exciting classes. His business studies class is quite fascinating and is focused on turning 9th graders into real business people.

The road to school has been upgraded (it was a bumpy rocky road for miles) but there are more kids in school this year. So the trip to school still takes about 40 minutes.

A new director of administration is in charge this year and discipline has been tightened. Strict guidelines for hair (short for boys, shoulder length or tied up for girls), uniform and behavior have been posted. iPods and video games of other students have already been confiscated for the academic year!

Move aside Mel

Bollywood beats Hollywood once again! If you thought that Mel Gibson's troubles with the law when he had the altercation with cops last year was a big deal, you have seen nothing yet. Two of the biggest stars of Indian Cinema have been sent to jail within a few weeks.

Sanjay Dutt was charged with possession of illegal arms about 14 years ago (yes, yes ... that's the pace of the legal system here) and has finally been convicted of the crime and sentenced to 6 years of prison time. He started his jail term a couple of weeks ago causing huge distress to movie producers who have millions of dollars invested in films starring Sanjay Dutt on the production floor.

Meanwhile, Salman Khan (another Bollywood favorite) has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for the shooting of two black bucks (considered to be a protected animal) during a hunting trip in 1998. Salman is expected to be arrested today.

As expected, the news media can't stop talking about these and you get to see/hear friends, families, lawyers, cops, news analysts, film industry colleagues all expressing their opinions!!

Saare Jahaan Se Accha

If you want to get a feel for the vitality in India, you must visit the country around August 15th - India's independence day. This year, the country is celebrating it's 60th year of independence. While there is a lot of hope and optimism about the country's future, there is also a growing recognition about the problems (poverty, overpopulation etc.) among all. The newspapers today were full of debates and discussions about the progress made since independence and the way forward.

At the office yesterday, folks split up into three teams and competed to create an exhibit that represented India. These are the guys who represent the future of India where nearly 50% of the population (500MM) is 25 years old or less. It was a fascinating experience to view the country through their eyes. One exhibit represented India as a growing sapling (high prospects) on a rock foundation (difficult circumstances). The second had the country represented as a pigeon in a cage with the door open. The cage is open but the bird has not flown out yet. The third was full of optimism and was a celebration of the country's achievements and prospects for the future.

The residents association at our building had organized an Independence Day celebration complete with flag hoisting, march past, children's concert and breakfast. A school next to our building had their celebrations at 10AM with speeches and patriotic songs. The theme in all these events was pretty consistent - future looks bright and there is no stopping the young, bright and talented of this country. But there is also a tremendous responsibility to ensure that the opportunities are made available to all (250MM still live in dire poverty!).

Jai Hind!

Enchanting Tamil Nadu

The children's summer vacation was coming to an end last week and we planned a quick last minute vacation to Tamil Nadu. We decided to visit the famous temple city of Mahabalipuram (also known as Mammalapuram) and Pondicherry (famous for it's French Quarter - a'la New Orleans). We took a train to Chennai where Mona and the kids spent the day sightseeing while I spent the day at work.

Next day we drove to Mahabalipuram - destination GRT Temple Bay. This is an exquisite beach resort and a must-stay during any visit to South India. The kids absolutely fell in love with our beach front villa and did not want to leave. Game room (X-Box, table tennis, dart board, carroms and more), Infinity pool, fabulous restaurants and organized tours - you name it and they have it.

The highlight of our trip was a visit to see the old and ancient temples built during the fourteenth and fifteenth century. These heritage sites have been well preserved and are quite a sight and experience. The recent Tsunami has uncovered a few more temples under the water and a small boat ride from the resort takes you to close to the spot where you can see the roofs of the temples under water.

We thoroughly enjoyed our 2-day stay here and moved on to Pondicherry. But more on that in a future post.

Bangalore Monsoons

The monsoons have finally arrived in Bangalore but so far they are nothing compared to the rain that we have seen in Mumbai. It rains hard several times a week. You don't get to see this kind of rain in Los Angeles so it is a new experience for us. Monsoon rain creates some unique challenges for people out here.

There is a lot of two-wheeler traffic on the roads in India. When it is pouring hard, the roads clear up amazingly quickly and if you are in a car, you are zipping to your destination. Most folks however are not deterred by the rain and getting soaking wet is taken in stride. The children are loving this season and actually head out to play outdoors when it rains.

Occassionally water will seep into our flat and towels strewn around the place during heavy rains is not an uncommon sight. Mona also gets impacted by rain because her tennis lessons get cancelled! But at the end of the day, we all enjoy the rains! Water level in the lake across from our building is rising and the green cover in the city looks fresh and rich.

Fun in Fundustan!

We were in Hyderabad last week and finally made it out to Ramoji Film City. This has been on our list of places to visit for quite a few years and this time we were determined to make it part of our visit. Film City is the Universal Studio of India and has the credit (according to the Guinness Book of world records ... don't believe me? Check it out here.) of being the largest film studio in the entire world.

We did not know what to expect but were pleasantly surprised. Film City is spread out over 1.5 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds and is an attractive tourist destination as well as a successful studio for movie and television production. Indianized versions of popular Universal Studio attractions (stunt show, behind the scenes, tour through movie sets etc.) are combined with themed attractions such as a haunted house and a ride similar to It's a Small World!

No tour is complete without good food and this was no different. Our tour package included lunch at the 5-star hotel Sitara located on the grounds. All I can say about the food is ... YUM!

Potter mania hits Bangalore

Harry Potter is no less a sensation here in Bangalore than any other place in the world. The release of book 7 - Deathly Hallows was as heavily anticipated here as in any other major city around the globe. There was plenty of pre-release media buzz and Indian children were anxiously wondering the fate of the wizard boy - who would die and who would survive?

We had the book reserved at Landmark several days prior to the day of the launch. Saturday morning (D-Day) we set out to buy the book. Fortunately, there were no long lines and crazy crowds at the bookstore. There appeared to be an adequate number of copies for all. Aanish was determined to start reading the book at 7PM. I suggested that he wait until 8:17PM (77 minutes past 7PM). He started reading it the minute we landed at home with a plan to read about 100 pages/day. He finished it the following day!

The Hindu reported a sale of 20,000 copies in Bangalore on the first day! Clearly a global phenomenon.

Live Earth!

If you were at the Live Earth concert last week (7/7/7), we were there with you! We watched quite a bit of the 24 hour marathon concert held in over a hundred countries to focus attention on the climate crisis. One of the major highlights for me personally was to see a holographic image of Al Gore opening the event in Tokyo. Cool! It was fun to see the coming together of Genesis and Police, see Bon Jovi in New York and Shakira in Germany.

While we feel pretty good about our contribution to help solve this problem (significantly less trash, reduced power consumption, high degree of recycling etc.), we came up with an action plan to do even more. Aanish has the responsibility of turning off appliances that are not in use while Ayaana has promised to take shorter showers. I took an oath to reduce the usage of air conditioning in the office and Mona is already doing more than her fair share of this.

If you have not had the chance to see any part of this event, check it out online (YouTube, MSN etc.) and help save the planet!

Partying - Indian Isshtyle!!

The Mantri Sarover (building where we stay at) home owner association planned a big bash last weekend to celebrate the onset of the monsoon season and to welcome new residents who have moved in over the past few months. They promised an evening of fun, games, music and good food. We decided to give it a try and am glad we did!

The party was organized on the tennis court. There were probably over a 100 people (40 of them young children under the age of 10). While the kids were busy playing Treasure Hunt and Bomb the City, the adults were enjoying beer and appetizers (hot potato tikkis, chilli paneer ... yummm!). It was funny watching Aanish join the fun and play these games with 5-year olds! But heck, you can never stop being a child. Actually, he was not very keen on coming but his opinion changed when he won Rs. 500/- in a game of Tombola (also known as Housie or Bingo in other parts of the world). Ayaana enjoyed herself thoroughly and stayed back late even after we had gone back home.

The company was good. We met a lot of new and interesting people. Food was delicious. Music was a bit loud but you can't listen to Bollywood any other way.

Great party and we are looking forward to the next one.

A new Dawn of the Brain Gain era

In the 80's and early 90's, India was suffering from a massive Brain Drain. Talented and highly educated university students and professionals were moving to the US, UK and Middle East in hordes to create a better future for themselves. The India Boom has reversed this trend and the country is now experiencing a Brain Gain as many of these professionals are moving back in equally large numbers. These folks are bringing back world class expertise, overseas professional experience and higher education from reputed universities and helping to accelerate the growth of India Inc.

I recently met with Asif Noorani, who is a reputable journalist with a Pakistani newspaper, Dawn. He was fascinated with this phenomenon of returning expatriates and has written a piece in the newspaper. I get a mention in his piece as well! You can read all about it here.

Monsoon Landing

From the hot and dry climate of Los Angeles (90 degrees+) to torrential rains of Mumbai!

I have never been in Bombay during the monsoons so it was quite an experience for me. Mona sent me an SMS while I was at the Kualalumpur airport indicating that the Bombay airport may shut down because of the monsoons. All passengers had their fingers crossed as the flight to Bombay took off from KL. Fortunately for all, there was a brief respite from the rain when the plane arrived in Bombay.

Over the next couple of days, the rain was non-stop and the downpour brought over 10cm of rain just on Saturday. City services were crippled and streets were deserted. Over 40 people have died as a result of this year's monsoons. But spirits are still high and Mumbaikars are getting on with life despite the rains. Bombay has seen worse in past years! The drainage system is going through an upgrade to deal with the heavy monsoons but the project is not scheduled to be completed until 2011.