The Robertson House

As I have already told, the Robertson House is a house full of trainees. All together, there are 14 beds, distributed among 6 rooms. There is only one single room, which belongs to Simon, an American guy. Originally he is from China. His room is in the ground floor. The entrance hall is used as the sitting-room as well. It is furnished with a couch, but which is completely worn out. There is also the kitchen and one bath room, including a toilet. In the kitchen is also a washing machine. In the first floor, there are three rooms. In the first room Ricardo, a Mexican and Martin, a Dutch are living. In the next room are living Caesar, who is also Mexican, Mata, a German girl and Zhenia, who is from Canada. In the next room are living Alex and Brendon. On the opposite side of their room, is my room, which I share with Damien from Switzerland and Deniz from Turkey. On the second floor are living Jaap from the Netherlands and a Swedish guy who I still haven’t got to know. His name is supposed to be Eric. I was surprised as I heard that most of them are doing a development traineeship with Aiesec and not like me a management traineeship. But as Damien told me, as for him, it is necessary to have at least basics in Business Administration. Therefore, also students of Business Administration apply for these traineeships. Furthermore, there is a balcony and a kind of terrace on the roof. Well, that´s our team for instance. But every once in a while, there are some substitutions, of course. Let´s see who is coming next.
What is quite strange, is the fact, that from 9 p.m. on one of the house keepers´ “employees” guards us. The reason for that is because, that in the past, there has been nearly every evening a party held up with approximately 50 people. And that was something, the neighbours, all Indian citizens, didn’t understand and then called for the police. The power is provided by a generator standing next to the house. Let me loose some more words to the kitchen. There are living some insects, a mouse and a dozen cockroaches for sure. In a nutshell, there is not much hygiene. But I got accustomed to that very fast. The house keeper has engaged two cleaner who clean all the rooms, tidy up and clean the dishes. In order to sweep the floor they use only a kind of bouquet of bough but no broom. This applies for the streets as well. The bathroom is furnished with a quite simple shower next to the john. There is only an indefinite thing on the ceiling which delivers water. That’s all, no basin or something like that. Strictly speaking, you enter the bathroom and you stand already under the shower. I don`t have to mention, that the bathroom as well isn` t in good shape. Especially on the ceiling and at the walls you will find a lot of stains. I am not sure, from where they came and in fact, I don`t want to know it.
I am bound to say, that I am quite content with my accommodation and my flat mates as well.

My first day in India

When I woke up, it was 8 a.m.. So I slept only 3 hours. But ok, that´s life and actually I felt quite good. After having breakfast, another Aiesec member came for me in order to bring me to my new accommodation, so called Robertson House. The rent per month would be 3.200 Rupees, what will be about 60 Euros. Quite cheap, I think. I have already heard about that Trainee House in Germany, Barbara, who I got to know at the culture preparation seminar the week before, told me about it. She was in Bangalore from June 2005 to December 2005. It´s supposed to be a complete house full of trainees. In my judgement, it is quite a suitable accommodation. The way to Robertson House was indescribable. It was completely different to what I had experienced the night before on my way away from the Airport. I had the impression to be dropped in “nowhere”. The traffic was even worst than assumed. There seem to be no rules expect for honking. They don´t look on the right or on the left, when they change their ways, back mirrors aren’t used or are even absent. Were the streets build for two cars for each trace originally, now they are used by at least four cars on each trace. Furthermore, the noise and the air pollution are immense. And then, I have seen a cow crossing the main road! Nobody cared about that, it seems to be quite normal. And yes, it is normal. Cows are a part of life in India. You can see them everywhere in the cities and, by the way, as well as dogs. Both, cows and dogs belong to nobody, they are just there. And what I haven´t seen the night before as well, was the garbage and mud in the streets. Some Indians just throw their garbage in the streets. In case it is natural garbage, it is no problem, the dogs and cows will eat it. If anyone from Germany complains about how he is badly off or that he earns not enough money, feel free to come to India. What you will see here, that´s real poverty. You are welcome. In comparison to India, Germany is the heaven on earth. Poor people here live in little cottages or just in the streets, surrounded by mud and garbage. I don´t know, how they survive day by day. I would survive one or two weeks probably, not more. After approximately 30 minutes, we arrived at Robertson House. For the taxi rickshaw we paid only 74 Rupees. In Euros, that will be approximately 1,20 Euros. Some of the trainees have already gone to work, on Saturday by the way, or travelled. Brendon, an Australian, was sitting in the entrance hall watching TV and welcomed me. He showed me my room and the other rooms as well. I live with to other guys in one room, Damien from Switzerland and Deniz from Turkey. Both were out for a trip. And then, I got acquainted with Alex, a German guy from Nuremburg. He came here at the beginning of June. He invited me to accompany him and some friends in the city of Bangalore for doing some shopping. Of course, I accepted. Then, I met John from Canada and Viraj from Sri Lanka. Both arrived one week before. On our way from Frazor Town to the centre of Bangalore we had a drink in one of several juice shops. It was tasty, but nevertheless, purchasing drinks and food in the streets could be dangerous. You must always pay attention on what you eat or drink exactly, coz it might be full of bacteria. The Indians are used to it, but as for me, it would perhaps occur an upset stomach to me. And I have seen people urinating in the streets due to the fact that there are no public toilets. And even if there were public toilets, they would be in bad shape and would stink for sure. After a walk of 30 minutes, we finally arrived at Mahatma Ghandi Road. There everything is very western oriented, shops wherever you look. Each shop is guarded by a security person. As for me I bought a bed sheet and a map of Bangalore. Whenever I talked to a native Indian, I couldn´t hardly understand what they were saying. The pronunciation is completely different. I think, even someone from Great Britain would have some problems to understand them. Hopefully I will get used to that, otherwise, for the time being, I don´t know how to understand my pupils in the company if they ask me any questions. We had lunch in a big mall, where you would find everything. I tried some typical Indian food. Although I ordered a middle spicy meal, they served me a real spicy food. I think Indian food is either spicy or not-spicy. There is nothing in between. So, here is a good advice to come. Whenever you order Indian food, take care, it is definitely always spicy! In the early afternoon then, we went home to prepare for a party in the evening :-). But prior to the party, I went to a super market. There I saw one single toilet paper role for 44 Rupees!, which is about 90 Euro Cent. Toilet paper in India is a luxury good, coz Indians don’t use it! They just use their left hand and water, nothing else. So always pay attention to the left hand of natives and avoid touching it. But everything else is more or less cheap unless it was imported to India. In that case it can be as expensive as in Germany or even more expensive.In the evening then, Brendon, Alex and me went to John´s and Viraj´s party. They are also living in a trainee house, not far away, so we went there on foot. On the way to them, I bought 4 bottles of Indian beer, so called King Fisher and paid 60 Rupees for each, what will be a little bit more than one Euro and which is quite expensive for Indians. But fortunately, the size of the bottle in India is 650ml, so after having drunk 2 bottles, most of the Indians got already drunk. Viraj had prepared some typical food from Sri Lanka, but I didn´t like it. At the beginning we were for our own and I had already accepted that it will be boring party. But then, the two Indian flat mates joined the party as well as some other trainees from, for example from Sweden, the Netherlands, Greece, France or Brazil. And then it began to be a good party and the mood was increasing. Unfortunately, we had to be quit coz Indian aren´t used to make party and so it would disturb them. Moreover, there is a law in India which prohibits to make party after 11.30 p.m.. This is no joke. All pubs must close at 11.30 p.m. at the latest. Nevertheless, we went on the roof of the house and made party there. It was quite cool. And then with time passing by, we went home.

Departure to India

Well, today is the 11th June 2006. I just came back form the Aiesec outgoing seminar in Rotenburg an der Fulda. I have to admit, that we had a tremendous fun with all the guys from all over Germany. During the weekend I seized the opportunity to get in touch with some incoming guys who had done a traineeship in India already. It was a great experience to talk to someone who has already been there because I am having a kind of culture shock already. Some questions are bothering me already although I am leaving Germany only on Friday. In particular, I am clueless about what excatly will await me in India. Sure, I have already read a lot about India, its culture, its people, its deseases, its poorness in some areas and so on. But to experience all that in reality might be quite different. Well, I am clear in my mind that I will make all these experiences, but how will I cope with it?
At the evening, Sandra and me went out for dinner. She invited me to an Indian Restaurant. In fact, that´s what I wanted to do prior to my journey as well in order to begin to get used to Indian food and culture. I am afraid, I forgot what I have eaten. But what I know for sure is, that it was very spicy. But never mind, that’s how Indian food is like, spicy and greasy. After having had dinner, we went to Haarlem club. I don´t know exactly why I went there with Sandra, coz in face of my what I have experienced the last 3 days during my culture shock preparation seminar with Aiesec I should have gone to bed. But what a luck, I didn´t do that, coz what awaited me in the club I would have never expected. Sandra arranged a farewell party for me. It was a very good feeling to be surrounded a last time by most of my best buddies. Thanks a lot Sandra for this great evening. I will never forget what you have done, and I hope we will keep friends for the rest of your life, even if you won’t be there, when I come back.
The day after there were only five days left till I will take off for India. And there were still a lot of things to manage, for example to apply for a visa. And furthermore, I was quite surprised as the house keeper all of a sudden told me that I shall leave my room in the flat. So 4 days prior my flight I had to manage that as well. Hopefully, I have probably the best brother in the world. Whenever I am in need of him, I can count on him. Thus, he came on Thursday and took all my stuff along to our parents. Thanks a lot to all who helped me. I wouldn’t have managed it without you.
On Wednesday I went to Francfort to apply for my visa. Fortunately this time, everything was as I wanted to. They issued a visa from the 14th of June till to the 13th of December, which will be the date of departure from India. Once I were already in Francfort I decided to attend to World Cup match Germany versus Poland at the Main Arena. There the organisation had installed a huge screen in the middle of the Main. Believe me, it was striking. Michel decided to accompany me to the match. I wouldn´t have thought, that German supporters are able to have such a great party already an hour before the kick-off. Well, and as Neuville scored for Germany in the additional time, we were all having a blast. I am very pleased having had at least once the opportunity to party in the streets and to celebrate the FIFA World Cup in Germany.

Thursday then was my last day in Germany. At the evening I met the last time with Sandra to say good-bye and to hug her one last time. We had a drink at the Unique. It was quite strange, coz I knew from that point on that I won´t see her now for months. Her and my eyes as well were filled with tears. It was very hard to go. I had never thought that saying good-bye can be so hard.
The night I spend at Lars, coz I had no room any more. Therefore, thanks a lot Lars that I could sleep at you. The next day, I got my last shot at 7.30 a.m.. Lars brought me to the doctor and to the railway station later on as well. At the platform we were waiting for the train and for Matthias as well, coz he wanted me to accompany at least to Francfort central railway station. Very late but still on time, he arrived at the platform. And one more person appeared at the platform who I wouldn’t have expected to come – Sandra. She had asked for a day off in order to accompany me to the Airport as well. What a nice surprise! In the train we became acquainted with Raji, a girl originally from Sri Lanka. We had a small conversation about India. Thanks for your tips, Raji, I try to act on your advices. Arrived at Francfort Airport I checked in at once in order to get rid of my baggage, which was really heavy, 23 kilos exactly. After that, I invited Matthias and Sandra for a drink. Time was passing so fast, and so after some minutes, it was time to say good-bye. This moment was even harder than the moments I had at Haarlem club on Sunday or the day before. Tears were running down my cheeks and it was an indescribable feeling. I knew, at that moment, that it would be a sort of dead end street, if went through the security control. But what should I have done as go through? So I went through it. I still have that feeling how it was when I am thinking of it.
The flight was very good, exactly how I had assumed it to be if you fly with Air India. It was a little bit delayed, only one of three big screens was running, some of the radio stations were out of order and the toilets might had been cleaner. But, when you go to India, you don’t need to go there by using a luxury airline coz in India, there will be no luxury as well, you will see, believe me. Fortunately I had a place beside the window, so I could see a little bit of the landscape under us. In Europe, especially in Germany, the weather was not good, very cloudy. So when we were above the clouds I couldn´t see anything. But as we flew above Austria and the other countries located more in the south, I had a fascinating view over the whole beauty of the landscape there. In the meanwhile, the air waitresses, by the way, all dressed in a saree, the traditional dress for Indian women, served a meal. As for me, I chose dal, a vegetarian food. It´s supposed to be one of Indian most favourite meals. It is made of beans in particular added by a sauce. It was quite tasty. So whenever you have the opportunity to try it, do it. Unfortunately, after about 2 hours flight we had to close the windows and I couldn´t see any more of the landscape during several hours. The next time when I opened the window I saw mountains and nothing else, no town, no streets, only mountains. I asked myself where we could be. Most likely, we flew over Iran, I would say. Now it was already dark outside and had been flying now for a little bit more than 5 hours. Certainly, we will arrive on time in Mumbai, what will mean after a flight of exactly 8 hours. And then suddenly, I saw a big bright lighted town under us. This was definitely Mumbai. Believe me, there can´t exist lots of more big cities in the world than Mumbai. I couldn´t see the end of the city, there were light everywhere I looked. It was very impressive. I have never seen something comparable to that before – just unimaginable. When we arrived in Mumbai, it was already 12.30 p.m.. Now, I had to change the plane for Bangalore. At the waiting area, some passengers, who were waiting for their flights, watched the FIFA World Cup. Due to the fact, that my plane to Bangalore was already ready for boarding, I couldn´t watch the match. But that was not worth mentioning, I will certainly watch a lot of matches in Bangalore, coz India is 3 and a half hour before Germany concerning time. So when the matches will be played at 3 p.m. local time, it will be 6.30 p.m in India, what will be a convenient time to watch football, I think. When I took off for Bangalore, it was nearly 2 a.m.. At the beginning, the screen was running, but then, as probably in every flight of Air India, it was out of order. During the flight I had a nice conversation with an Indian girl sitting next to me. She could tell me a lot about the behaviour of the Indians, its culture and so on. Most Indians appear not to be in the way as it is described in my book “Kulturschock Indien”, which I began to read when I had left Francfort. Well, after one and a half hour, I finally arrived in Bangalore, where I, from now on, will stay for half a year. As I left the plane as one of the first; I was one as the first at the pass control as well and had not to wait till it was my turn. I had the impression that none of the Indians cared about my contents in the hand bag. “What´s this there?”, one of the safety staff asked me. I answered, “well it´s a thing to separate power and these are two bottles of beer” and that was it. In case of need, I had opened my baggage, but he wasn´t interested in proving it. Now, there were only a few steps to enter a new civilisation. “What will be behind that door in front of me?”, I asked myself. “What experiences will a make and will I come to terms with the Indian food?” were only some more questions. Well and then, like Armstrong in the Sixties, I took the final step and passed the exit. Bangalore, here I am! At once, I saw some young men waiting. And yes indeed, it was a part of the local committee of Aiesec Bangalore, all together six members of Aiesec. I greeted them with “Namaste” and folded my hands. This is the traditional greeting in India. They, of course understood, but were very surprised, coz it has become unusual to greet one another in this way. One further part of Indians´ tradition which will get lost more and more. You must be interested in my first experiences in India. But keep calm, here they are coming. First, although, I knew that India was ruled by the Britain in former days, I was surprised that they drive on the left side of the street. But ok, I got used to that at once. But then I asked myself, why the drivers always sound, although there were not much traffic in the streets. Well, that´s a part of Indian traffic system. They always sound and horn. Even on the back of the cars you can read “Sound and horn, please”. And what I noticed at once as well, was the bad state of infrastructure. The streets have, here and there some holes. Some streets are even not worth appointing them streets, coz they are made of soil and nothing else. And wherever you look, you see these taxis, so called taxi rickshaws. The taxis have only 3 tires and are open on both sides. Fortunately, there is a roof at least. The first night, I spend at an Aiesec member. It was already 5 a.m. as I heard some strange noise - The Muslims prayed and used even a speaker! And this in the middle of India’s biggest cities. Germans would have called for the police – but not in India!