Rain, or is India already crying over me...?

After four weeks it is time for me to leave India. I am flying tonight to get some paperwork done in the Netherlands, most importantly, apply for my workvisa. I have a whole bunch of documents with me, stamped, signed and looking oh so professional. My return is planned for September 27th.

These four weeks have been interesting, and I can honestly say, they have turned out to be more or less as expected. A little tough, a little rough, but nothing that I had not experienced before when moving to Russia. Then again, I also grew older a bit, and less scared I guess :)

I am looking forward to come back again and live in my new appartment (which we are finalizing, after which I will write about it, experience tells me already not to cheer to soon). Work also becomes more and more interesting the more I get into it. Yes, I think this all will be a very interesting experience.

Near our office

So, to get to the subject of this writing. What started out as a beautiful sunny day, turned into a dark and rainy one just after lunch. It just poured and poured and poured turning the streets into rivers, where cars are honking non-stop at..? The rain I guess, since it makes no sense to honk at eachother when everybody is stuck.

The road in front of my hotel

Our office did not flood, but the car entrance changed into a small muddy river, with all kinds of debris floating in it. Outside the roads literally disappeared, motorcyclists and cyclists alike try to keep their feet dry, while pedestrians take off their sandals or shoes, roll up their pants and, well.... they got wet.

Same road, taken from the balcony

Some Words On Booze, Supermarkets And Civilization..

A hot day today again, after all the thunder and rain of last night. It's Saturday, so time to venture out for some new experiences. Not many of them are shocking, but it gives an idea of everyday life for a foreigner like me.

When I walk to the central MG road in Gurgaon, approximately 15 minutes from my place, I pass quite nice houses. Many are being constructed and what immediately attracts the attention are the women who are carrying the bricks on their heads to the site. Not uncommon here, I know, but still, a little weird for me walking by with a bag of groceries, books & DVD's (on the way back that was).

I decided to visit some new malls, the ones where once again it becomes very clear how the world is merging into one big eating & shopping paradise. McDonald's, TGIF, KFC, Pizza Hut, Levi's, Lacoste, Hillfiger, Adidas, Canon, Nokia, Blackberry etc. etc. etc.

Funny how we measure civilization....

Of course, I do not have big problems with that, because I went to TGIF for a chickenburger, a Mojito (alcoholic one this time) and a brownie/ice-cream. Hmmmmmmm. For this I paid 25 EUR. One of the more expensive lunches to be honest. Would I have chosen an Indian one it would have been 4 times less (and maybe also more healthy).

Wine, unfortunately, is an expensive item in India. Comparable what it used to be in Russia up untill a couple of years ago. At TGIF you pay an approximate 40 EUR for an imported bottle. And to my big surprise, minors up untill 25 (!) cannot consume alcohol here. Now, India has a double standard concerning alcohol anyway. In many restaurants they don't serve it and supermarkets do not sell it. So where do you buy your favorite beers, wines, whiskeys and what more? Right, at specialized shops that are spread out along the main roads. In Delhi they close at 22pm, in Gurgaon a little later, but then again, you can actually buy whatever you want 24/7. Even when the shop seems completely closed, a tiny little window, just enough for a bottle to pass through, is always open.

Wine menu TGIF

In the evenings and during the night, you can see cars standing near these shops, people lining up to buy their drinks. And then they drive... With families living together in one house and mothers, fathers, wives being not to keen to see their kids and husbands drink, where else can the latter go?

A licquor shop

 Anyway, today I bought myself a nice bottle of wine for 17 EUR. With which they did not allow me to go inside the mall, so I brought it back to the place I bought it from to pick it up later.

The supermarket is actually nothing special, so just see for yourself if you recognize all the vegetables and other stuff they sell there.

A Day In The Life Of The Office

Maybe it is interesting to tell you a little bit about an average day in the office. Luckily, I haven't had too many of those, since most of the times we're out at meetings, but today was one of those days.

Approximately half an hour later then I was told the driver picked me up this morning. I got used to adding time to everything I am promised, because no one seems to be on time here. If you adjust, it is rather easy to live with and then suddenly everything actually happens on time.

Our office is located in a cellar, so very little daylight enters, which is good cause it does not get too warm. But why most of my colleagues hardly seem to go out for a little stroll to catch some fresh air is a mystery to me. The office is a nice one, it's open space, light, some nice designer features.

My desk

 In every office you enter, as a visitor, or for us, when entering our own office, you get some cold water offered by the office-help. He in this case, brings us a thermos and comes during the day to give you some tea with milk, grean tea, cookies, a snack - you don't hear me complaining.

Lunch is served in the office and taken from the home of the owners, prepared by their cook and served from small metal containers. Indian food of course, freshly made, really nice. I have to be careful though not to bit on the red peppers, I am also the only one eating with me water-thermos next to me.

Meeting and lunchtable

During the day you get used to the regular fall-out of electricity that after a few seconds comes back on.

So, as you see, nothing really spectacular, I am sorry if I have disappointed you, but now you know that life in India can be almost like anywhere else in the world. I guess....

Concerning A Flower Market, A Monkey God And Urdu Theater

Yesterday was an interesting day. Went out to look for an appartment and it seems that we are finalizing soon. I saw several and now we need to hassle a bit with the owners. Expect to inform you all tomorrow.

But that is not what this story is about. Last evening we went to see a theater play in Delhi. On our way, we had to stop at a local flower market, because some offerings needed to be made tomorrow by our female companion. While she stayed in the car, we, her husband and I, went to look for some nice flowers. He regretted taking me into the market, since when the sellers say me, the prices hiked immediately. It was a funny looking market and since it had been raining quite a bit, it was very muddy as well.

The flowermarket

Near the flowermarket I saw this enormous statue of some kind of local god, there were also several temples around. Of course, I had to make a picture after which I learned from my companions about Hanuman. This Monkey God is a central figure in a story about the struggle against some demon king. He also vowed to never marry so as to protect a prince & princess his whole life. Therefor, people who decide not to marry in India but sacrifice their lives to the greater good, pray to Hanuman.
We also got to talking about why the cow is holy for so many in India, but they could not give me a satisfying answer yet, even after consulting with their parents on the phone. So we'll get back to that. The one comment the mother of my companion gave was that she "just did not like people who eat cowmeat."

Hanuman, the monkey god, between the trees

When we finally arrived at the theater, we had to rush to make it in time to our seats, but then again, even the Indian theaters do not start on time. Although I did not understand a word of what was going on, it still was quite interesting and nice and the atmosphere was real good. It turned out to be a very funny story.... (you can read one of these so-called 'folktales of Rajasthan' here).
There were 2 men on stage who told a story that has been orally told for many centuries by the Urdu-speaking people of India. Only lately all such stories have been written down by scholars and are now being put on stage. Luckily for me, I could buy some of these stories in English translation, so I will be the last to laugh!

The actors on stage were friends of my companions and they all decided to go out for drinks & dinner. They brought along a Bollywood director and some other friends. We drank wodka from a water bottle, ate braincurry, butter chicken, grilled chicken, muttoncurry, naan, roti and ended up with the sweetest (literally) dessert I have ever tasted. All in all, a very fun and inspiring evening with fun and great people, who knew how to tell stories even off stage.

Palmtrees near the restaurant we ate

Over Schoonmoeders, Bedelaars, James Bond En Een Overwerkte Beveiligingsman

Vandaag een rustig dagje, nadat mijn maag het uiteindelijk heeft moeten opgeven tegen de agressie van het Indiase eten. Tijd dus om de krant eens door te nemen. Hiervoor nemen we The Times of India.

De gemiddelde editie doet sterk denken aan Engelse tabloids, veel roddel en achterklap, veel moord & doodslag en veel kritiek op de overheid (al is dat natuurlijk niet allemaal iets exclusief van de Engelse tabloids).

Een kort overzicht van vandaag:

• Bedelaars

Men heeft genoeg van bedelaars op de straat, ze lopen in de weg en stelen spullen uit auto's. Blijkbaar is er een anti-bedelwet, die de politie het recht geeft de bedelaars aan te houden. Waar ze naartoe gaan is niet bekend. Maar in het betreffende artikel zegt een politie agent, "het maakt ons niet uit of ze naar een ander district gaan, als ze maar niet hier blijven."

• James Bond

De nieuwe film van James Bond wordt voor een gedeelte opgenomen in India. Daarbij zijn zoals altijd weer spectaculaire actiescenes bedacht. Maar niet alles wordt goedgekeurd door de Indiase overheid. Zo mag de scene waarin James Bond van de ene rijdende trein naar de andere springt geen beelden bevatten van Indiers die op de daken van diezelfde treinen meerijden. Dit is een gebruikelijk fenomeen in India en van de week was er zelfs een youtube filmpje van enkele waaghalzen waar veel ophef over ontstond.
De nieuwe James Bond film zal de hele wereld overgaan en India heeft geen behoefte vooroordelen op deze manier te laten bevestigen. Er schijnt zelfs een deal gemaakt te zijn tussen de producers en de Indiase spoorwegen. 007 zal in de film de volgende zin uitspreken: "Indian Railways is stronger than James Bond."

• Familieperikelen

 Blijkbaar hebben schoonmoeders het zwaar te verduren. Indiase families wonen vaak met elkaar in 1 huishouden. Net als voor bedelaars zijn ook hier speciale wetten die huiselijk geweld aan banden leggen, maar die wet moet aangepast worden. Het schijnt dat niet alle leden van de familie bescherming genieten tegen geweld onder deze wet...

• Overwerkt

Een 23-jarige beveiligingsman heeft in een vlaag van woede over het uitblijven van loon, de hoogte van zijn loon en de overuren die hij moest maken, twee voorbijgangers en vervolgens zichzelf van het leven beroofd. De krant bericht dat hij last had van een "groot ego".