John, Sarah's Driver

This is John, Sarah's driver. He did a terrific job. Unfortunately for Sarah, John got a promotion to a larger car. John sent Sarah the nicest card and note. Sarah said whenever she feels a bit stressed out, she'll just think of the note John sent and realize this has been a wonderful experience. Sarah's new driver starts tomorrow.

The Industry and Tech Museum

This is an exhibit from the Visweswaraya Industrial and Technological Museum. There seems to be some variation of the spelling of "pilot." There is a life-size model of the plane flown at Kitty Hawk including models of the Wright Brothers.

An Evening at the Windsor

We had a nice surprise the other night. We found this invitation slipped under our door at the hotel. The Windsor puts on cultural events for the Bangalore socialites. They invite a few guests from the hotel as well. I guess we got invited because we have been here for more than a month!. The play was a farce along the lines of something by Oscar Wilde. The dialog was snappy, the acting first-rate, and the set design was pretty good since it was just put up that afternoon. Many in the audience seemed to know each other, probably from past events. There was an open bar before and after the play...well attended by the audience, and a lavish buffet afterwards.

Poverty

I don't think a westerner really can comprehend the level of poverty many people here endure.

There do not seem to be the governmental and social structures in place (i.e., Welfare programs, soup kitchens...).

It's hard to take pictures like these unbeknownst to the subjects, for example, the man in these photos with the children saw me take them from a rooftop.

Poverty like this can exist right next to upscale apartment buildings and private homes. We do a better job of corralling it in America.

Pictures of Rome

Gerard & David's Trip to Rome
Our friends Gerard & David just came back from Rome and set up this web site of their pictures. I think the pictures are terrific (and so are Gerard & David) and give you a good feel for the Eternal City.

I'd like to have such polished pictures from India. However, I do feel that to get out of the car in some of these areas would be extremely intrusive. In case you haven't noticed there are not many Westerners in these neighborhoods.

Got Goat?

I saw this riding back to the hotel. What I didn't capture was the live goat tied up outside the store.

Street map

The streets of Bengaluru are not laid out like in Manhattan. Trying to walk anywhere is really not possible. Fortunately, the tuk-tuks are everywhere and cheap. It is also pretty cheap to get a car and driver for the day.




If you enlarge this picture, you will see The Windsor Manor near the white area at the top. This is our hotel.

Bengaluru Sidewalks

Bengaluru is not a real easy city to walk. In addition to the streets not being laid out in an easy to follow system, the sidewalks are not paved as they are in America. Some sidewalks have large cement slabs laid over drainage ditches. In some cases, pavers are laid. Most walkways have areas where the underlying ditches are visible. You definitely have to watch your step at night.

Signs of Bengaluru

Bangalore has changed its name, like Bombay and Peking. So Bangalore is now known as Bengaluru. Several other cities in India have changed their names as well. In the meantime, I thought you'd like to see some of the signage I've seen. Spitting is quite a problem in India.

You look familiar

Say, this reminds me of people I've worked with!!!

Chitra and Sarah

Sarah with our best friend in India, Chitra at her apartment in Bengaluru

Digging a hole

These men are putting up a second pole, like the one to their right. The second picture is more revealing. They are digging this hole with a stick about 6-8" long.

People on the Street

I thought I would add a few shots of people I saw on the streets as we were headed to our friend (and Sarah's IBM colleague,) Chitra's house. This first picture is a motorcyclist and his rider. In India, only the drivers are required to wear helmets.

Vidhana Soudha - Capitol Building of Karnataka

This building is massive. It is over 5M square feet. Built in 1954, it houses the Secretariat, State Legislature and several other government offices.




Although some shots appear more blue (I shot these through the car window) it is a gleaming white building reminiscent of the palaces of Mysore. These first four pictures are of one structure.



On Sundays and holidays, the entire structure is lit up at night.



A few years ago, a new addition was built keeping the same architectural style.

Near Palm Meadows

These are some shots taken very close to the entrance to Palm Meadows.
Pepsi is actually more of a presence than Coca-Cola in India. Both taste different than in the US. I think they use different sweeteners.

These areas really come to life after dark. The shops are teeming with locals and stay open late at night. The streets are so crowded that the pedestrians spill over into the street making driving even more of a challenge.

Bangalore Golf Club

The Bangalore Golf Club was founded in 1876. Here is Sarah and her caddy on the first fairway. He's been doing this for 35 years. Greens fees are $20 US and a caddy is $2.25, yes that is Two Dollars and Twenty-five cents. Sarah's caddy said we were supposed to buy them lunch. Something we doubted but handing them each another $2.25 seemed to be well received.
This is the 10 hole. The course is narrow and we often had to wait as people on other fairways ended up playing their balls from ours. We of course, always kept our balls in our fairways!
This is my caddy walking along some trees with beuatiful flowers. The course has many old trees and beautiful flowers. We were told the spring time is really beautiful
We thought these trees were rather unusual.
This is our hotel overlooking the course. You can see why we were frustrated when British Airways delayed delivering our clubs for two weeks!

Sarah's Birthday

We went to the Leela Palance Hotel in Bangalore, Home of the restaurant Jamavar, rated by Forbes as one of the top 10 power lunch spots in the world. We went there for dinner so I guess we missed the Power Lunchers like Bill Gates and Putin. This shot is the entrance to the hotel. I decided it would be cheesy to take a picture inside the restaurant. Sarah is posing at the fountain located in the Hotel Galleria of some high end shops.
This bowl of flowers is located outside the entance of the hotel.

Palm Meadows

We visited this gated community in Bangalore this weekend. There are about 100 units laid out in a grid around the clubhouse. There are a large number of Westerners here and some Indians. It is 3 years old. Three years ago a unit sold for about $100,000, today I'm told they go for close to $1M. The pool area is huge. There is a 24 hour restaurant that has filtered water so I was actually able to get a Diet Coke with ice. Something I had yet to be able to do.