So the ladies are back in the UK (well I sincerely hope they are!) and I am currently in Mumbai, where I am sweltering, if I thought Bangalore was hot I was in for a surprise in Mumbai.
But that's getting ahead of myself somewhat...
On Saturday I left Bangalore, after a gorgeous lunch with Jacqui. However as I took my somewhat obese suitcase down to the car the sky overhead turned black. I bade an almost tearful farewell to half the staff and Jacqs before climbing into my red cab for the last time. Almost immediately after pulling out of the hotel the very grey clouds emptied their tears over Bangalore. This deluge seriously hampered our attempts to get to the airport. The driver, Manju, was seriously concerned about whether we would make it time. Thankfully he'd arrived early and given us plenty of time. The problem with rain in Bangalore is twofold; one it hammers down and two it floods everything (some problem with sewers and roads and stuff!).
Nearly two hours later; with lots of detours, some incredibly small "roads", lots of rain and stuff we made it to the airport where I said goodbye to Manju. Check in was smooth and I found myself in the first class lounge having a cup of tea and watching the start of the 3rd place play off for the IPL. Good beginning, Bangalore took 2 early wickets (they went on to win while I was in the air!). When I boarded the plane I was the only person in the first class area, which meant I got a fair bit of attention. I then had a coach all to myself to take me to the airport from the plane. The joys of first class never cease to amaze me, it's a different world.
Once all the usual airport faff was done I booked an AC cab to take me to my friend's house. Mumbai is in many ways so very different to Bangalore. Where Bangalore appears to really stop after 11.30pm, Mumbai is still a hive of activity late into the night. And where we saw a few people sleeping rough on the streets in Mumbai there are thousands of people... The rickity cab, the crazy driving of Mumbai cab drivers, the strange mix of rich and poor side by side, the rich smells and the ridiculous heat. I felt a million miles away from home and yet felt at home all at the same time.
Charni Road has changed a bit since I was here 3 years ago and thus I got a bit lost. Praise the Lord for mobile phones, my friend's managed to direct the taxi driver to the right part of the road! The last 3 days here have been wonderful, so very very relaxed and laid back. Full of shopping, silliness, ridiculous heat (I know I am labouring this point but seriously it's way too hot!), lime soda, pepsi, chinese food, pasta, daal and rice, chocolate, shopping, a bit more shopping, silliness, scrabble, CSI, cinema (they play the national anthem and every stands for it before the showing!), rickity taxis, insanely crammed buses, more pepsi, more heat. Even with the fans constantly on it's still hot!
And now I am about to go and shop one last time before having one last meal before having one last sleep before I return home. I can't wait and yet I know I will miss the country, I love it so. This is Mumbai calling saying I'll be home soon (and back in the office next Tuesday!)
And here I am just Thomas or DT or Daaaaaaaavid, no longer Mr Thomas (until I board my final flight in the morning that is!), good night and God bless.
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Friday 23 April 2010
Goodbye Genpact
Earlier this evening we said goodbye... I can't actually believe how quickly these 3 weeks have flown by... So many memories, so many wonderful people, so much hard work ...
Will hopefully get a chance to write about it properly at some point soon, in the meantime enjoy a photo (or two)
Will hopefully get a chance to write about it properly at some point soon, in the meantime enjoy a photo (or two)
Travelling Around Bangalore
The view from the top of the office - the road we travelled on every day to work...
On the above road making our way to work...
The metro being built, and bikes and rikshaws, they were everywhere...
On the above road making our way to work...
The metro being built, and bikes and rikshaws, they were everywhere...
Doesn't look any different to the UK does it?...
Our beautiful ride...
Our beautiful ride...
Cuisine
Some traditional Indian cuisine!
Ok so this is more like traditional Indian cuisine (thanks to Keshav for sharing this one with me!) and yes that is effectively donuts in syrup and icecream!
Spaghetti, chicken, twas absolutely gorgeous in a lovely Italian Restaurant.
Butter naan, chicken curry, aloo gobi and some sort rice - gorgeous.
Room service - club sandwich.
Ok so this is more like traditional Indian cuisine (thanks to Keshav for sharing this one with me!) and yes that is effectively donuts in syrup and icecream!
Spaghetti, chicken, twas absolutely gorgeous in a lovely Italian Restaurant.
Butter naan, chicken curry, aloo gobi and some sort rice - gorgeous.
Room service - club sandwich.
Thursday 22 April 2010
Manbags, Sunglasses and Pamperings
I finally have a manbag, yay, courtesy of the friendly people in Puma.
Jacqui tried on a new world record of 15 pairs of glasses in under a minute.
Jay had a pampering session and is silky smooth and stuff.
All this before hitting the office where we're now working madly like mad working people!
Jacqui tried on a new world record of 15 pairs of glasses in under a minute.
Jay had a pampering session and is silky smooth and stuff.
All this before hitting the office where we're now working madly like mad working people!
Wednesday 21 April 2010
An Emotional Rollercoaster (That's Not Finished Yet)
The last week has been an up and down affair to say the least...
Last Friday night seems an eternity ago, but it feels only right to begin there. Achutha took us to a bar called H20, which was pretty flash. White lights, glass tables, white leather seats, no imported wine though. They also had a pool table and a wii! Oh and big TVs with the cricket on. While the girls knocked back a couple of muched needed drinks I knocked off Achutha at pool. I beat him 2 games to 1, testing long black, beautifully cut in to seal it (no sniggering Mike it did happen!).
We had a fabby time, chatting, a few drinks, some strange vegetarian food, a really lovely end to the working week. And like all these places it wasn't on the ground floor, this time we were on the 3rd floor! Getting a lift to a "pub" seems very strange to me. We were the last people out, we literally were holding the cleaners up!
Saturday was an "early" start (10ish!) as we went off to MG Road to do some shopping while out wonderful cab driver went in search of IPL tickets for the crunch match between Mumbai and Bangalore. We wandered round some amusing shops. Jay bought a couple of spinning tops for her lil ones; this is important because 4 different people were involved in the transaction of the purchase. The man who "sold" the goods. The man who wrote the receipt. The man who took the cash. The man who handed over the goods. Amazing. They know how to create jobs! I ended up with a Maccy Ds for breakfast, 121 rupees (about £1.80). The ladies found "Boots", we found a small clothes boutique where we purchased a couple of shirts to say thank you to our driver. Jacqui bought some more books from Crossworld.
We then had lunch at the 13th Floor restaurant (thanks Vishal for the heads up on this one!). And it was thirteen floors up, we ate inside because I don't particularly like heights. I hear the view was spectacular but I cannot really confirm this, sorry. The ladies partook of the buffet which was by all accounts gorgeous, apart from the black salt and ginger drink served (minging!). I had beer and naan bread on account of Maccy Ds still resting in my satisfied belly. Sadly as all meal times go it had to end and we ran across a very very busy road to meet our driver. Ok we took the lift down the 13 floors first if you want to be pedantic but anyways. At this point the driver informed us he was unable to get tickets (they'd actually be sold out for about 2 weeks), we were gutted but understanding.
Back at the hotel we saw lots of people milling around, upon investigation we found something going on. There was a small stall selling hand made crafts, we purchased, all in aid of educating poor people. The next stall was actually a drinks stall, so we partook of free alcoholic beverages. We then discovered the big hall which had lots of smartly dressed people, loud music and dancing. At this point we deduced we'd stumbled into someones birthday party! Oops! We even got a free goody bag with biscuits and a cd and stuff in it!
Sometime later we discovered the IPL game had been delayed. A little bit later still after Bangalore's batting line up had collapsed we all met up for dinner, Jay had found out that the delay was due to a bomb blast. At this point we were rather relieved to have not made it to the game. During dinner the heavens opened up, meaning insane amounts of traffic. It would have been a nightmare to get home from the match. We did smile though, in the UK a bomb scare would have led to match abandoned, here it's delayed by an hour. Mumbai won. They now face Bangalore again this evening (Weds) in the semi finals. A bomb blast also happened at MG Road about half hour after we left. After a lowkey meal we went our separate ways to sleep.
Sunday, our day of rest involved the three Ss - sun, swimming and sunburn! And a rather amusing, extremely delicious and minorly embarrassing evening meal. It would appear that one of the restaurant managers kinda likes me. Jac's gaydar had been going off for a while. When he started complimenting me on my attire, then giving me his card and asking me to email him it pretty much confirmed it. Oh dear! The cuisine though was amazing; rice and daals and curries and vegetables, so beautifully prepared, succulent, enticing, tender, so very tasty. We retired to our beds in a rather high spirits after the wonderful food and randomness of it all.
Monday morning sobered us up, then soured us off and generally left this week feeling disappointing. The volcanic ash has meant that Jason is unable to make it out of the UK to Bangalore, thus Jacqui and Jason can't travel to Goa for a beautiful get away. What has made it harder has been the fact that the last three days has been no hope, tiny slender piece of hope, no hope, tiny piece followed by none at all. As I type the planes are once more in the skies and the peace and quiet is gone. But the vast backlog leaves us wondering and hoping. Jay is supposed to fly home on Saturday, while it looks like Jacqui will be catching the same flight home as me next Wednesday.
A strange ole week, up and down emotionally, and this rollercoaster ride isn't over yet...
And to everyone who has sought to encourage, help in whatever way they can or say a prayer or two, you have our thanks.
Last Friday night seems an eternity ago, but it feels only right to begin there. Achutha took us to a bar called H20, which was pretty flash. White lights, glass tables, white leather seats, no imported wine though. They also had a pool table and a wii! Oh and big TVs with the cricket on. While the girls knocked back a couple of muched needed drinks I knocked off Achutha at pool. I beat him 2 games to 1, testing long black, beautifully cut in to seal it (no sniggering Mike it did happen!).
We had a fabby time, chatting, a few drinks, some strange vegetarian food, a really lovely end to the working week. And like all these places it wasn't on the ground floor, this time we were on the 3rd floor! Getting a lift to a "pub" seems very strange to me. We were the last people out, we literally were holding the cleaners up!
Saturday was an "early" start (10ish!) as we went off to MG Road to do some shopping while out wonderful cab driver went in search of IPL tickets for the crunch match between Mumbai and Bangalore. We wandered round some amusing shops. Jay bought a couple of spinning tops for her lil ones; this is important because 4 different people were involved in the transaction of the purchase. The man who "sold" the goods. The man who wrote the receipt. The man who took the cash. The man who handed over the goods. Amazing. They know how to create jobs! I ended up with a Maccy Ds for breakfast, 121 rupees (about £1.80). The ladies found "Boots", we found a small clothes boutique where we purchased a couple of shirts to say thank you to our driver. Jacqui bought some more books from Crossworld.
We then had lunch at the 13th Floor restaurant (thanks Vishal for the heads up on this one!). And it was thirteen floors up, we ate inside because I don't particularly like heights. I hear the view was spectacular but I cannot really confirm this, sorry. The ladies partook of the buffet which was by all accounts gorgeous, apart from the black salt and ginger drink served (minging!). I had beer and naan bread on account of Maccy Ds still resting in my satisfied belly. Sadly as all meal times go it had to end and we ran across a very very busy road to meet our driver. Ok we took the lift down the 13 floors first if you want to be pedantic but anyways. At this point the driver informed us he was unable to get tickets (they'd actually be sold out for about 2 weeks), we were gutted but understanding.
Back at the hotel we saw lots of people milling around, upon investigation we found something going on. There was a small stall selling hand made crafts, we purchased, all in aid of educating poor people. The next stall was actually a drinks stall, so we partook of free alcoholic beverages. We then discovered the big hall which had lots of smartly dressed people, loud music and dancing. At this point we deduced we'd stumbled into someones birthday party! Oops! We even got a free goody bag with biscuits and a cd and stuff in it!
Sometime later we discovered the IPL game had been delayed. A little bit later still after Bangalore's batting line up had collapsed we all met up for dinner, Jay had found out that the delay was due to a bomb blast. At this point we were rather relieved to have not made it to the game. During dinner the heavens opened up, meaning insane amounts of traffic. It would have been a nightmare to get home from the match. We did smile though, in the UK a bomb scare would have led to match abandoned, here it's delayed by an hour. Mumbai won. They now face Bangalore again this evening (Weds) in the semi finals. A bomb blast also happened at MG Road about half hour after we left. After a lowkey meal we went our separate ways to sleep.
Sunday, our day of rest involved the three Ss - sun, swimming and sunburn! And a rather amusing, extremely delicious and minorly embarrassing evening meal. It would appear that one of the restaurant managers kinda likes me. Jac's gaydar had been going off for a while. When he started complimenting me on my attire, then giving me his card and asking me to email him it pretty much confirmed it. Oh dear! The cuisine though was amazing; rice and daals and curries and vegetables, so beautifully prepared, succulent, enticing, tender, so very tasty. We retired to our beds in a rather high spirits after the wonderful food and randomness of it all.
Monday morning sobered us up, then soured us off and generally left this week feeling disappointing. The volcanic ash has meant that Jason is unable to make it out of the UK to Bangalore, thus Jacqui and Jason can't travel to Goa for a beautiful get away. What has made it harder has been the fact that the last three days has been no hope, tiny slender piece of hope, no hope, tiny piece followed by none at all. As I type the planes are once more in the skies and the peace and quiet is gone. But the vast backlog leaves us wondering and hoping. Jay is supposed to fly home on Saturday, while it looks like Jacqui will be catching the same flight home as me next Wednesday.
A strange ole week, up and down emotionally, and this rollercoaster ride isn't over yet...
And to everyone who has sought to encourage, help in whatever way they can or say a prayer or two, you have our thanks.
Monday 19 April 2010
We May Still Be Alive But We Are Also A Tad Frustrated By Volcanic Ash
Ok tad frustrated is an understatement, it's more like "finely pulverized lava thrown out by a volcano in eruption causing a voluminous cloud of grey dust particles" levels of frustration...
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