New Delhi

Last month I took a weekend trip to New Delhi. There was a lot to see in just a few short days, but I think I managed to see most of the landmarks.  There are few things I can say about Delhi that are different from Baroda, where I'm staying.  Delhi is a much larger and more modern city.  The roads and traffic also seemed to be more organized, although still not anywhere close to what it should be and still chaotic.  On a few occasions we sat at a stoplight for over 5 minutes (yes, they actually have stoplights).

There isn't much I can say about the landmarks I saw other than they have a history that I didn't pay much attention to.  I was more interested in the intricate stone carving and enormity of some of the structures.  You can see what I mean in some of the pictures below.

To the left is the Lotus Temple.  It is called such because of it's resemblance to a Lotus flower.  It serves as a place of worship for people of all religions. It has received numerous art and architecture awards since it was built in 1986.

After seeing the Lotus Temple, we were on our way to see Old Delhi and I snapped the picture below.  The man had 5 propane tanks strapped to his pedal bike.  I actually saw this a few times in my short stay here.

In Old Delhi, there are few major landmarks.  One is the Jama Masjid which is the largest and best-known mosque in India.  It sits at the top of a hill which has a very narrow road and only bike-rickshaws are allowed up.  Cars must be parked at the base of the hill.  The bike-rickshaw driver has a tough job going up the hill as he can have up to 3 people on the back while pedaling all the way to the top.  The narrow street was lined with street vendors and various shops.



Once we got to the top of the hill to enter the mosque courtyard, I heard an all-to-familiar sound over the loudspeaker.  Again, I happened to arrive just as the Muslim prayer was beginning.  So I waited for almost a half an hour until I could enter the mosque.  There is still a large Muslim population in India to follow these prayer times, although it's not near as large as it is in Saudi.


We went back down to see the Red Fort which sits at the base of the hill.  Its perimeter walls are close to 2.5 km in length.  I only saw the outside but that was impressive enough.  The walls were so massive and strong that it was hard to believe it was constructed without modern technology.  Some pictures are below.

The next morning I went to see Qutub Minar which is the tallest minaret in India at 72.5 meters.  Minarets are a distinct feature of Islamic mosques and historically, its main function is to provide a point where the call to prayer can be made.  Today, I think it mainly serves as a visual feature for the Islamic community, since most of the calls to prayer are done through loudspeaker.  The complex around the minaret has various tombs and monuments for many past Indian rulers.  Most of these monuments have very intricate carvings covering every surface of the stone.  It was very impressive to see.  Some pictures are below.        





















Following the Qutub Minar complex, I went to see the Tomb of Humayun.  Not sure who Humayun is or what his significance was but his tomb was there and the architecture was incredible (see below).  There was a lot to see here and I'm glad I took the trip to Delhi.

Kite Day

I know it's been a super long time since my last post.  Sorry.  Until now, I haven't had much time to sit down and write.  Things have settled down some at work so I have a little bit more free time now. This post is from my experiences from almost a month ago.

On January 14th, the state of Gujarat has a holiday called Kite Day that originated in Baroda.  There is no religious significance to this day and I'm not really sure of the significance of it.  No one works, all the businesses are closed, and every gets up on their rooftops and flies kites.  That's pretty much the extent of it.  I went to the downtown area and stood atop one of the private hospitals.  By the way, I hope I never need to go to the hospital here because it wasn't a pretty sight in there.

Once I got up to the rooftop, I was amazed at the thousands of kites in the air as far as I could see.  There was hardly any wind that day and I developed a great appreciation for the thousands of people who were able to get their kites in the air.  I remembered back to when I used to fly kites as a kid, but that was always in an open field with plenty of wind.  I didn't realize how difficult it would be to fly a kite from a tiny rooftop (surrounded by 5 others trying to do the same thing) with no wind.  I tried for about an hour and then gave up, failing miserably.  The pictures don't really do it justice, but it was the best I could do.

Obviously, no room to get a running start to
get a kite in the air.  It wasn't unusual seeing
at least 15 people on a roof like this with no
railings or walls to keep from falling off.

Not sure if you can see all the kites but this was all around me.

The kite strings everyone used is actually coated in glass, so most people put tape on their fingers to avoid getting cut.  The reason for the glass-coated string is that people have "kite battles" by which they try to move their kite string into another's kite string and cut it.  Whenever this happens the winner usually gives out a yell similar to the yell those blue people in Avatar give when when they're riding the dragon-like things.  The kites are sold along the streets at makeshift shops and are bought in packages of about a dozen for around 2 dollars.   They are made of strong tissue paper and flimsy sticks, so it wouldn't be a big deal if someone cuts your string. I, on the other hand, would have been pissed if I spent an hour trying to get a kite in the air and then someone came along and cut my string.

Fireworks were plentiful in the distance and right above,
lit off from many of the rooftops.  The hot air balloons filled
the air as well.

Once the sun set, the sky became lit up with fireworks and mini hot air balloons let off from rooftops.  This, again, was like nothing I had ever seen before.  The firewoks for any 4th of July party were nothing compared to this.  Again, the pictures don't do it any justice, so you're just gonna have to trust me.

These are the mini hot air balloons.
A little wire basket holds a kerosene
soaked block under the balloon.

I arrived back in Baroda on January 8th and I'll be here until March 30th.  Today is Super Bowl Sunday which I won't be able to watch for the second year in a row (see previous posts).  I tried to go golfing today, but there was a tournament scheduled so I wasn't able to.  Hopefully, next week will work out.  I have been eating meat probably one meal a week which isn't enough.  I'm ready for a big, greasy bar cheeseburger.  I think I'll have to wait until I get home for that one :(.

Baroda or Vadodara?

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am staying in a city called Baroda in the state of Gujarat.  Most of the major cities have been going through a renaming process ever since the end of British rule, which is why you will hear most Indians say Bombay instead of the city's new name since 1995, Mumbai.  Similarly, the city of Baroda was renamed to Vadodara in 1974.  You will hear these city names used interchangably and if you don't already know a city's second name, it can be very confusing, as you might imagine.  As I doing some research on this, I discovered that one of the proposed city renamings in from Delhi to Indraprastha.  I'm fairly certain I will never be able to pronouce Indrap.... correctly, so I'll stick with Delhi if that change ever goes through. 

Here's some more cities, if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaming_of_cities_in_India

Vadodara (Baroda), Gujarat, India

Baroda is more rural than some of the larger cities in India, such as Delhi or Mumbai.  Because of this, there are a lot more motor bikes and scooters on the road than cars.  In the larger cities, I'm told there are many more cars and hardly any bikes.  This is probably a good thing.  I'm surprised that most of these people riding bikes here even make it home every night without being killed.  I myself had a few bike-riding experiences this past week and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, definitely not safe, but it wasn't too scary.  I'm sure it would have been a lot worse if I was the one driving.

Today, I actually got a bike ride to McDonald's for lunch.  I got a Chicken Maharaja-Mac meal (India's version of the Big Mac) and it was pretty good.  The rest of the menu is other chicken and veggie patty sandwiches (no beef).  The fries taste the same and the Coke is much sweeter and smoother than Coke in the US. The meal cost 150 rupees, which is $3.



Woman sitting side saddle on a bike,
this is very common



Family bike ride, the most I have seen on
one bike is 5

 McDonald's isn't the only thing that is super cheap here.  Pretty much anything you can think of is less expensive than the US and I'm guessing most of the world, except gasoline.  Gas is the equivalent of around $7 per gallon.  But a bottle of water from a vending machine at the airport is $0.20.  The cost of going to see a 3D movie is $3.  It's too bad some of these things aren't the same price back home, but I guess everyone in the US can be happy that gas is less than half the price it is here.

I'm going to finish watching Dumb and Dumber in Hindi.  It's just as funny in another language even though I can't understand the words.  Maybe I've seen it too many times...

The Indian Difference

Well, India is definitely different.  I still have not seen another white person, or anyone other than Indian, that I could tell.  In fact, we were at a grocery store the other day and there was a little girl, age 5 or so, staring at me like I was an alien.  I'm pretty sure she had never seen a white person before.  I got a good laugh out of it.  Many people live on the sides of the roads in little homemade tents and raise their families there.  But, the single craziest thing here has to be the driving, and it's not because they drive on the wrong side of the road (silly Brits).  Thankfully, I don't have to drive.  On the roads you will find cars, motor bikes, pedal bikes, three-wheeled auto-rickshaws (as they're called), dogs, and cattle.  Never have I seen such chaos.  On one occasion there was a herd of about 6 cattle just running down the middle of the road into oncoming traffic with cars and motor bikes just flying right by.  It was a pretty unbelievable sight.  I'm sure the monkeys occasionally roam the streets as well, but I only just saw a few for the first time today sitting on a ledge next to our residence.

Cow eating from the dumpster with an auto-rickshaw
 coming up on the left, typical morning ride to the office.

Cow running down the road along with the motor bikes.
 It's actually very odd that this guy is wearing a helmet,
not very common.







 

Someone's home, they have a lot of neighbors
to the right.





 Other than that craziness I encounter everyday, on the way to and from the office, it's a pretty mundane world here, at least in Baroda.  Baroda is the city I'm in and it's in the Indian state of Gujarat which is the only dry state in India.  But I've heard it's a lot easier to get alcohol here than it was in Saudi, but I haven't tried yet.  It gets pretty warm here in the late morning and early afternoon, close to 100F, but it is very pleasant in the morning and evening.  There really isn't much to do in Baroda other than walking around some shopping centers.  I haven't really done too much outside of work because there really isn't time.  The work schedule here is typically 9:30 to 6:30.  I am staying with the manager of our India office.  He has a very nice home with 4 bedrooms and a big living area.  So when we get home from the office we'll usually watch some TV while we wait for his cook to prepare our meal.  He only cooks vegetarian meals, so I have not eaten meat for over a week now.  This is the first time I remember going this long without eating meat.  But, it doesn't matter, the food is delicious!  It's a little spicy but not so much that I can't handle.



There is also a servant who cooks breakfast in the morning, does my laundry, irons my clothes, etc.  He is such a sincere guy and he is probably getting paid close to nothing for doing all of this.  I find that everyone here is just so happy to have any kind of job because it's the only opportunity they will ever get.  It's kind of eye-opening when you compare it to life in the US with people who do half-ass work and complain they're not getting paid enough.  I'm definitely getting spoiled over here.  I think I'm going to miss all this food and service when I go back home.

Delicious food, the main vegetable at the top of the plate

is cauliflower.

 

More delicious food.

 



 

I'm only here for another 5 days then I'll be back in the US for a week before heading right back out here until Christmas.  If I don't have anything to write before then, check back after Thanksgiving.



  

Baroda skyline, view from a balcony in the early evening at the office.















First Impressions

Let me start this by saying that I think I have already experienced more than anyone should experience in India, and I barely left the airport!  Since my second flight from Abu Dhabi was delayed for three and a half hours, I missed my connecting flight in Mumbai.  But I tried my darndest to try to make it.  That's where this adventure begins...

As we were landing in Mumbai (most people here call it Bombay, as it used to be called), I could already see all the dirt lingering in the air and the moment I stepped out of the plane the smells took over.  It's not a super pungent odor, more like a gentle scent that never goes away.  I can imagine that living here will make your clothes always smell that way, no matter how many times you wash them.  I bet it's similar to how smokers' clothes have that smoky smell all the time. 

Anyway, since the flight came in so much later, I had to rush to get my bag (which I waited over 15 minutes for) then go from the international terminal to the domestic terminal, which is 20 minutes away!  So I paid for a cab at the cab stand and was walked to the cab by a man, he wasn't the driver, just a guy who walks you to the cab which he could have easily pointed to.  Once in the cab, that man demands a tip (I probably shouldn't have told him it was my first time in India).  "I'll tip the driver, all you did was walk me to the cab, I could have done that by myself", I said.  He wasn't budging, so I gave him 10 Rupees (which is around $0.20).  Then I closed the door so the driver could finally leave.  "My flight leaves in 45 minutes and I still have to check in," I told him. 

Sure, lets take a pit stop where the driver can get out and walk 30 feet (very slowly, I might add) to have a ticket over and then walk (very slowly) back to the car thingy.  I was too rushed to even think about taking any pictures, but it was more like a covered 3-wheel motor bike with doors.  In the end, I didn't make it to the airport on time and missed the connecting flight.  So here I sit, writing this long, boring post with no pictures.  I have to wait another five and half hours until my new flight departs.

Just before I sat down to begin writing this, I brushed my teeth using a bottle of water, which was very weird.  I didn't want to risk getting any of that tap water in my mouth.  It was an odd experience.  Now, I'm drinking a Kingfisher beer out of a glass that was probably washed in the "dehli-belly" water.  I just thought about this now actually, when the beer is almost gone.  Oops, hopefully I'm OK.  I see others around me doing the same thing so I'm not too worried.

So my first impressions are about what I expected, the people are friendly, but they like to take their time.  Everything is smelly and dirty, but not to the extent that I previously thought.  It's been quite an experience so far and I've been here for just over 5 hours.

India

Well, I'm getting ready to embark on another adventure across the Atlantic.  This time it might be a bit more of a culture shock, so I'm expecting the worst.  The nice thing is that I will only be there for 2 weeks until I come back to the US for what will be an awesome time in Las Vegas.  Not sure if I will be heading back to India after that.  But, please check back to see the updates over the next couple weeks.  I will try to be more diligent in posting than I was during my last trip.  Wish me luck!

Sand Golfin'

There aren't many golf courses in KSA.  There were a few grass courses around Jeddah, but they recently closed.  There aren't many locals who take a liking to golf.  Most of the golfers are from somewhere in Europe or the US.  Also, as you would imagine, it costs the golf courses too much to keep the grass alive.  It makes sense that you wouldn't see a golf course anywhere over here.  The only golf course I have seen anywhere around Jeddah is the Desert Lakes Golf Club.  It's located on a barren, sandy plot of land just north of the airport.  I golfed there last week and it was a very unique experience.

Turf mat, your best friend

for the round.

The cost was 180 SR for the golf, 80 SR for club rental, and 80 SR for cart rental.  I think that amounts to around $90 or so, not too bad.  They give you a little square green mat of turf, which you use to hit your ball off of in the fairway or rough.  The sand on the course is more of a fine gravel than sand so your clubs wouldn't be happy if you hit directly off the sand all the time.

Below is the view looking out at the first hole.  As you can see, no trees, no grass, nothing but sand.  There are steaks along the edge of the fairway that mark the line between the fairway and rough.  The "rough" consists of a bunch of mounds of sand.  Hitting into the rough doesn't really affect your shots as much as it would on a normal course.


View overlooking the first hole.


So you hit your ball, pick up your turf buddy, and then do the same thing again until you make it up to the "brown".  Now, this is probably the most unique part about the course.  What would normally be a grassy green is a sandy brown.  The browns are made up of fine sand mixed with oil.  Surprisingly, they roll pretty much the same as a normal green.  The most tricky part about the browns and the course in general is that your ball rolls forever.  Sometimes it seems near impossible to land the ball on the brown without it rolling off the other side.  Some of you will say that it was my terrible golf game that made this so difficult, but I assure you that you would struggle as well.  Next time you're in Jeddah, you can find out for yourself.  Later in the round, when the sun started getting really hot, I could smell the oil coming from the brown.  It was funny to think that they use oil to maintain the course since it is cheaper than water.  There are brooms on the sides of all the browns so you can clean up your tracks after putting.

Rough

 The course was the same length as any other golf course.  I didn't do too bad considering I was playing with rental clubs and it was the first time out this year.  Now I can leave Jeddah saying that I golfed on sand.  Pretty cool.

Speaking of leaving Jeddah, that is exactly what I am doing in about 9 hours from now.  I'll be back in Chicago for at least a few days, weeks, months, not exactly sure how long.  So Scribbles might be taking a break for a while, check back for updates soon!









Brown





Sign