TaniaLoG

I’m lazy to write since there are soo many stories to be told (although these are exciting stories! ), so I’ll just put things in point form. This will make my writing a lot shorter though I guess it’ll still be quite long.

So, here are some of the things I’ve experienced during my first (roughly) two weeks in Bangalore, India (18 May - 29 May):

• Stayed in a room with so many kinds of insects (many of whom I don’t know the names), including cockroaches (once, I had 3 of them in a night), mosquitoes, some moths, some bugs, etc.
• Hearing the “quote of the month”: “(I’ll meet you tomorrow at X a.m. …) God willing, traffic permitting.”
• Saw a 30 cm (green) snake after accidentally walking very close to it. It’s the biggest snake I’ve seen so far, although it’s not the full-sized one yet.
• Saw a lot, a LOT, of dogs (99.9% of them mongrels). But I haven’t seen a single cat here.
• Saw cows eating grass calmly in the middle of the road, or just standing or walking there.
• Hospitalized for 2 days and 2 nights for the first time in my life due to dehydration (after vomiting 4 times in a day + fever + loose motion). Put on intravenous drip as well.
• Listened to many talks on doing business in India and visited some (technology) companies in Bangalore.
• Getting myself familiarized with Whitefield and Brookfield area in Bangalore, though since I have a long history of getting lost in places, I doubt I’m that familiar with the area.
• Rode on the BMTC Volvo buses, which are similar to Singaporean buses, except that these ones have conductors who collect money from people.
• Rode on the brown-white non-A/C public bus which was really shaky and frankly quite scary (have heard from locals that it isn’t exactly a safe transport mode). And I was terrified by the sound of the (wind) brake…
• Rode on auto (autorickshaw, or in Indonesian term: bajaj) twice today (29 May). I’ve never even rode on bajaj (the Indonesian version of auto), but I just rode on auto! The first time, we stuffed 4 people, apparently cramming and numbing one of us ‘to death’. The second time, there were only 3 of us, but the experience was much more terrifying. The driver almost hit a motorcycle, and he looked like he wanted to fight with the motorcycle driver (scary!). Went pass some really dark areas too. And almost touched several cars and public buses.
• Got used to hearing loud honks here and there.
• Got cheated 40 rupees in Subway. Lesson of the day: you can get conned anywhere, so be alert.
• Got a good practice on crossing chaotic roads like what I used to do back in Jakarta.

Things I love about Bangalore and India:

• (Bangalore) The weather is so nice! Not too hot during the day and cool during the night.
• (India) Print publications (books, magazines) are so cheap!
• (India) I have the impression that many people here are well-educated and have high aspirations.

Currently I’m staying in an apartment with 5 other NUS students who are going to intern around Whitefield. Will start my internship next Monday. Hopefully everything will be smooth.