Welcome back. Let's dive right in, shall we?? If you read my first post, you're all well aware of the delay I encountered getting here due to the Lufthansa strike. Since arriving, I've experienced some even more interesting/amazing situations with transportation.
I'm staying about 15 kilometers (approx. 10 miles) from the office I commute to every day. Because this is an official business trip, my company has hired me a driver to pick me up outside the hotel ever day at an agreed upon time, and drop me at work. He then picks me up at the end of my shift and brings me back. I'm sure this isn't cheap, but hey, it's a business trip, so they were counting on this.
Good thing I have a driver too, because the roads are crowded, and traffic is wild. I mentioned previously that my trip from airport to hotel at 2AM was a bit crazy, and that was with no traffic on the road. When my driver picks me up at 5PM, it's rush hour. School buses are out, rickshaws are out, other people commuting to/from work are out, and there are moped and small motorcycles galore. The rules of the road here basically dictate that the bigger vehicle has the right of way. It's everyone else's responsibility to navigate around them. I'm told by someone with local experience that the hierarchy of the road is basically this: elephants (haven't seen any....yet) --> trucks (like, work trucks) --> cows --> small cars --> rickshaws (golf carts acting like taxis) --> motorcycles/mopeds --> pedestrians.
So on a good day, my commute to work is maybe 40 minutes. On a busier day, it might take an hour. But usually it's somewhere in between. Most days I can't even look out the windows to watch the scenery passing by because I get so nervous for everyone out on the road. I've been here almost 2 full weeks now, and I've had multiple crazy encounters in such a short time. I have about 6 more weeks to go, so I'm not exactly sure what will happen next.
Commuter Day 1 (Wed, Sep. 12) - My first time commuting to my new 2-month office. I had made arrangements through my company before leaving Chicago that I would be picked up at 4PM for my first day (I think I mentioned before that I'm working Chicago hours...6PM to 2:30AM local time). I was told by a co-worker who just returned from India that it takes about an hour to get to RMZ Ecospace (a corporate business park in SE Bangalore) from my hotel. I gave myself extra time for day 1, just in case. A few minutes before 4PM my room rang, and the front desk informed me that my driver, Azmathulla, had arrived.
Azumath (I think that's how he pronounces it) is very professional and polite. Again, I'm treated almost like royalty, though I'm just a lowly desk-worker. He opens the door for me, closes the door for me, and calls me "sir" every time we chat. The car is small, but it is a real car...not a junky taxi or a rickshaw. So here we are weaving our way through traffic on winding roads...he could be taking me anywhere, but I have to assume that he's done this before because he asked me which location I was going to (we have 2 operations centers in Bangalore). We're cutting off motorcycles, I'm in awe of the random cows, goats, and dogs rummaging through the trash, and suddenly we skid and rear-end the Land Rover-sized vehicle in front of us.
Azumath puts it in park and hops out of the car (in the middle of crazy traffic) to discuss who is the bigger idiot in this wreck. Apparently, the other guy started to go left as the light was changing (remember, the lights are not followed closely, and left on red in India is light right on red in America). My driver was planning to go left also, but the big vehicle decided otherwise and stopped suddenly. No damage to the "Land Rover" and our car only cracked a headlight cover. The actual headlight was fine, but still. So I sat in the car while they worked it out and thought to myself, "this must be totally normal. Traffic is nuts, so obviously people get in crashes all the time." Well in any case, there was no insurance information or money exchanged. Azumath just got back in the car and we continued on our way. Other than pulling a U-turn in heavy traffic right in front of the access road to get me to work, the rest of the drive was otherwise uneventful.
Day 2 & 3 didn't have any such hiccups, but I was told by my driver and colleagues that the local city bus drivers were all on strike. Apparently they had just received a 4 or 5 percent pay raise, but they wanted more. Somehow buses on strike lead to less crowded roads, I guess. I don't know if people just stayed home, or if they all hopped in taxis instead. Either way, less buses somehow translates to less traffic...clearly, this doesn't apply in Chicago.
On Monday and Tuesday of this past week I didn't have any true traffic issues. Wednesday was the start of a traditional Indian celebration called Ganesha Chaturthi. Ganesh or Ganesha is the Hindu elephant-god. In a nutshell, the people of India will buy idols of the god and sing songs and chants specific to the festival. They keep the idol in their homes up to 10 days (or less, based on family tradition) and then they take the idol to a large body of water and submerge it. The link above gives more details, and the story is interesting if nothing else. Needless to say, it made for some good scenery on the commute with all the large, colourful (see what I did there?) Ganesha idols being sold along the road.
On Thursday, there was yet another "strike". This one was across the entire country for a recent hike in diesel prices imposed by the government. This strike was different than the bus strike from last week. In fact, this would be called a full-on protest in America, just short of a controlled riot. It was a planned event from 6AM to 6PM. Basically no cars were to be on the road during this time, and my colleagues at work told me to stay in my hotel all day. The hotel is near a stadium and some government offices in the center of Bangalore, so it is ground-zero for protesters. The hotel (and shopping mall it sits on top of) took extra precautionary measures to protect against anyone who might be inclined to throw rocks if the strike escalated.
Finally, I've never really ridden a motorcycle. I rode a dirt bike around on some country roads in Nebraska at a friend's house one summer, but that's it. Until today. My company sponsored a weekend tournament for soccer (futbol) and throwball. The guys I've been working with on this training project invited me to come out, and of course I want to see more of the city and experience life outside my hotel room. Friday afternoon at work, Sai and Aravinda agreed that it would be best for Sai to pick me up and give me a ride to the fields on his "motorbike" (they are just not as suped-up as American crotch rockets or Harley's). Luckily everything went fine. No crashes, no falling off the bike, but I think my boss and girlfriend will both not be thrilled when they read this. I'm okay ladies! It was a little nerve wracking knowing that I was now on the low-end of the road hierarchy. Morning traffic wasn't bad, and Sai said he would take it easy, so I'm sure that helped. But I still am not comfortable with the constant beeping of cars and other vehicles alerting you that they are coming up beside you, so don't make any sudden moves.
That's all I've got for today. I'll keep posting these about once a week if I can. I usually have more time on the weekends, obviously. Hoping to get out and get some local photos and give you a quick run-down on the food lingo next week.
Take care!
I'm staying about 15 kilometers (approx. 10 miles) from the office I commute to every day. Because this is an official business trip, my company has hired me a driver to pick me up outside the hotel ever day at an agreed upon time, and drop me at work. He then picks me up at the end of my shift and brings me back. I'm sure this isn't cheap, but hey, it's a business trip, so they were counting on this.
Good thing I have a driver too, because the roads are crowded, and traffic is wild. I mentioned previously that my trip from airport to hotel at 2AM was a bit crazy, and that was with no traffic on the road. When my driver picks me up at 5PM, it's rush hour. School buses are out, rickshaws are out, other people commuting to/from work are out, and there are moped and small motorcycles galore. The rules of the road here basically dictate that the bigger vehicle has the right of way. It's everyone else's responsibility to navigate around them. I'm told by someone with local experience that the hierarchy of the road is basically this: elephants (haven't seen any....yet) --> trucks (like, work trucks) --> cows --> small cars --> rickshaws (golf carts acting like taxis) --> motorcycles/mopeds --> pedestrians.
So on a good day, my commute to work is maybe 40 minutes. On a busier day, it might take an hour. But usually it's somewhere in between. Most days I can't even look out the windows to watch the scenery passing by because I get so nervous for everyone out on the road. I've been here almost 2 full weeks now, and I've had multiple crazy encounters in such a short time. I have about 6 more weeks to go, so I'm not exactly sure what will happen next.
Commuter Day 1 (Wed, Sep. 12) - My first time commuting to my new 2-month office. I had made arrangements through my company before leaving Chicago that I would be picked up at 4PM for my first day (I think I mentioned before that I'm working Chicago hours...6PM to 2:30AM local time). I was told by a co-worker who just returned from India that it takes about an hour to get to RMZ Ecospace (a corporate business park in SE Bangalore) from my hotel. I gave myself extra time for day 1, just in case. A few minutes before 4PM my room rang, and the front desk informed me that my driver, Azmathulla, had arrived.
Azumath (I think that's how he pronounces it) is very professional and polite. Again, I'm treated almost like royalty, though I'm just a lowly desk-worker. He opens the door for me, closes the door for me, and calls me "sir" every time we chat. The car is small, but it is a real car...not a junky taxi or a rickshaw. So here we are weaving our way through traffic on winding roads...he could be taking me anywhere, but I have to assume that he's done this before because he asked me which location I was going to (we have 2 operations centers in Bangalore). We're cutting off motorcycles, I'm in awe of the random cows, goats, and dogs rummaging through the trash, and suddenly we skid and rear-end the Land Rover-sized vehicle in front of us.
Azumath puts it in park and hops out of the car (in the middle of crazy traffic) to discuss who is the bigger idiot in this wreck. Apparently, the other guy started to go left as the light was changing (remember, the lights are not followed closely, and left on red in India is light right on red in America). My driver was planning to go left also, but the big vehicle decided otherwise and stopped suddenly. No damage to the "Land Rover" and our car only cracked a headlight cover. The actual headlight was fine, but still. So I sat in the car while they worked it out and thought to myself, "this must be totally normal. Traffic is nuts, so obviously people get in crashes all the time." Well in any case, there was no insurance information or money exchanged. Azumath just got back in the car and we continued on our way. Other than pulling a U-turn in heavy traffic right in front of the access road to get me to work, the rest of the drive was otherwise uneventful.
Day 2 & 3 didn't have any such hiccups, but I was told by my driver and colleagues that the local city bus drivers were all on strike. Apparently they had just received a 4 or 5 percent pay raise, but they wanted more. Somehow buses on strike lead to less crowded roads, I guess. I don't know if people just stayed home, or if they all hopped in taxis instead. Either way, less buses somehow translates to less traffic...clearly, this doesn't apply in Chicago.
On Monday and Tuesday of this past week I didn't have any true traffic issues. Wednesday was the start of a traditional Indian celebration called Ganesha Chaturthi. Ganesh or Ganesha is the Hindu elephant-god. In a nutshell, the people of India will buy idols of the god and sing songs and chants specific to the festival. They keep the idol in their homes up to 10 days (or less, based on family tradition) and then they take the idol to a large body of water and submerge it. The link above gives more details, and the story is interesting if nothing else. Needless to say, it made for some good scenery on the commute with all the large, colourful (see what I did there?) Ganesha idols being sold along the road.
On Thursday, there was yet another "strike". This one was across the entire country for a recent hike in diesel prices imposed by the government. This strike was different than the bus strike from last week. In fact, this would be called a full-on protest in America, just short of a controlled riot. It was a planned event from 6AM to 6PM. Basically no cars were to be on the road during this time, and my colleagues at work told me to stay in my hotel all day. The hotel is near a stadium and some government offices in the center of Bangalore, so it is ground-zero for protesters. The hotel (and shopping mall it sits on top of) took extra precautionary measures to protect against anyone who might be inclined to throw rocks if the strike escalated.
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| From the local paper. A protective net draped over my hotel. |
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| My new team in India. L to R: Aravinda, Sandesh, Jayanth, Saicharan, and Sooraj. |
Take care!
Your Pow is getting more spoiled than she already was.....re-training will be required. We miss you.
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