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.
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.
posted by Thorsten at 12:15 AM
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