A weeks worth of pithy thoughts :-)

About time to write more for my faithful readers :-)
Last weekend I pretty much hung around quietly. I did make another walk to MG Road to the supermarket to get some more things. When I came out of the store it was clearly going to rain, so I grabbed a rickshaw back to the apartment again. This time I knew where I was going :-)
I've pretty much decided that the reason I like coming to India is at least two-fold. I really find the place fascinating. The teeming masses of people with so many difference who live together at least semi-peacefully under a government that more-or-less works. I read a book called "India after Gandhi" which is a history of India starting just before independence in 1947 and going up to the modern day. Anyway, it seems to me that there are parallels and comparisons to be drawn between India and a number of the countries that were 'created' . For example, Yugoslavia, Iraq, maybe even Israel. In those cases a unifying government was imposed on a culturally diverse area. In the case of Yugoslavia and Iraq, they ended up being rather totalitarian and look what happened when the totalitarian government went away. The cultures weren't so unified as we all thought. OTOH, India did not have a government imposed. It was created by the people of the country (with some help, occasionally). It was designed from the start to incorporate the diversity of the region. Many Muslim leaders were not confident that that would happen, so they insisted on partitioning the region into E. Pakistan, W.Pakistan, and India. The West Pakistanis (at least according to the book) imposed their culture and language onto the E. Pakistanis and whoops! rebellion and the formation of Bengladesh. But while India has had a lot of conflict and I don't want to say that there are not some REALLY thorny issues, it has held together and it works.
Anyway, I'm also happy to have read that book since I now recognize many of the people that streets are named after. There is a street, for example, called Dr.Ambedkar street, and there is even a statue of him in front of the main government building. Dr. A was a Dalit (formerly known as 'untouchable') who against all odds got a law degree and was instrumental in creating the Indian constitution.
The second reason I like being here is to prove something to myself about myself. I've always felt a bit ashamed that maybe I don't quite live up to my ideals in that despite being quite a traveler etc, I'm kind of afraid of the strange. I do it, but with a knot in my stomach. I've noticed that since my last trip to India, that is better. And this time in India, I truly feel comfortable and unafraid. Not that I understand everything that is going on around me, but I feel able to go into unfamiliar situations: To hop into a rickshaw, to ask directions. This morning I went into a little beside-the-road food stall to buy some bread. I got bread that was fully wrapped up, of course, but I did not feel afraid that I "would not know how to do it".
My apartment is maybe 1/2 mile down the road from where my previous apartment was, so I am pretty familiar with some of the area. I did not venture down this way much before though so there is an entire direction to explore (and I have not done that much other than finding my way to the phone vendor to deliver my picture. (Apparently he made the connection since my phone has not been cut off!) Apparently I am actually closer to a different part of Cubbon Park than I was before. I'll have to give that a try.
I've been getting up at about 6 every day and leaving around 7:15-7:30. HP assigned me a taxi driver (named Manju) who takes be to work and back, and is actually at my disposal any time. I called him at noon once and he came to take a group of us out to lunch with about 10 minutes notice. That kind of implies that he hangs around all day nearby waiting for a call from me. This is pretty freaky to me, but I also know it is pretty standard, and he is getting paid for it. Anyway, I always manage to get to work around 8. Maybe Manju varies the time he comes based on the traffic; I have no idea except that I get there at a pretty consistent time. The traffic is truly awful, and if we waited any later it would be even worse. HP has consolidated their workplaces so that a lot of things that were spread all over town are now in the one out-lying building. A lot of hitech expansion is going on in that same area (Whitefield) and the infrastructure has not kept up so the traffic is getting worse and worse. In some places the road is pretty wide and at other places there are choke points. Another thing about infrastructure: Apparently there is not enough electricity so HP has its own diesel generator. I wonder if that is actually less expensive than keeping massive UPS systems (uninterruptable power supply...big batteries that keep the power running when there is a failure). You really need a UPS for computer systems since the utility supply is subject to frequent blackouts. Even at HP the lights go out a few times a day. I'm assuming (but don't know) that the generator does not have much excess power and every once in a while they need to shed some load, or maybe it is just a circuit breaker that is overloaded.
At work, I have been giving almost non-stop classes. I enjoy teaching, especially with motivated students like these folks, but it is exhausting. I started preparing these classes early (unlike the last time) but I was not done by the time I came here, so the teaching slowly overtook the preparing, and the last day or so was a lot less pre-meditated.
A couple of things to note: Ashlesha, the woman who "taught me how to cross the street" last time I was here, is engaged to be married. It was an arranged marriage in the sense that the two sets of parents introduced the couple but they did have a choice (they decided that they had a lot of common interests and would proceed ahead). Anyway, on Friday she hosted (hostessed?) a lunch for some of her friends in honor of her engagement. I felt truly honored that she invited me. It was really just a lunch among friends as we might do at work in the US, no special ceremonies, but it was "real"; not made for tourists. The restaurant was a nice place nearby "The Spice Garden". There was a buffet which, with a little consulting, I did just fine with. Also nice vanilla ice cream for dessert. They had some apricot (we all figured out later) sauce to go on it, and it looked delicious, but I'm being extemely careful of fruit, so I just took the ice cream.
I should also mention that I've been eating at the HP cafeteria. There is a lot more variety at the new building than there was at the old place. You have a choice of "North Indian" or "South Indian" as well as various specials-of-the-day, Chinese, and various sandwiches and wraps. I had a special, a N. Indian, and a Chinese at various times. All good (to me at least). I suppose that I should mention that unlike the last time I have not been sick in the slightest. Either I've been being more careful ro
I also went out to lunch another time with Shyam, Sandeep, and Clarete. This place had several different "cuisines" (please forgive the use of that word in this context), but Shyam ordered. One of the choices he made (mischievously I think) was, according to him, quite hot and spicy. To me it was indeed hot, but nothing more than I liked. I guess I passed the test :-)
Most evenings I have been very tired after teaching all day (imagine if I were driving that brutal commute myself!) One evening I actually stayed late to have a phone call with the US. In any case being alone and tired etc. I've not been very varied in my eating habits. I've eaten at home a couple times (Cup-o-noodles, I'm ashamed to say) and the rest of the time gone across the street to "Sunny's" mentioned earlier. I think as my duties switch from teaching to more just working in tandem with my group and when my roommate arrives so I'll have someone to eat with we may be a bit more adventuresome.
As I mentioned briefly above, a colleague is arriving later tonight. It's my job to meet him at the airport. Ha! I guess that really makes me a native of the place. Anyway, he has never been here before. It will be interesting to see things through new eyes. We will be sharing the apartment and probably a lot of meals. That will be nice. I know a lot of restaurants, but none that I really wanted to go to the trouble of visiting alone!