Pubs, clubs and cafes

We got to check out Hyderabad's only sports bar , 'Xtreme Sports', last Friday. They had a local live band playing some real rock music w/ good food and beer on tap. We were surrounded by expats, a few happy Taiwanese, several funny Brits, Aussies and of course Americans. Its interesting to note that the two bars I have been to in Hyderabad have had non-Indians working for them in management and PR roles. Xtreme has a young Aussie lady and FireFly (a new lounge bar) has a NewYorker and they have both brought in a refreshing global touch. The music is not as loud as other Indian pubs, here people can actually have conversations and not go deaf( and the crowd is also a lil' older :)).

In India, one doesn't find beer or wine at grocery stores or at super markets. Instead its usually only available in seedy and creepy stores called "Wine shops". I would never want to be caught or seen anywhere close to one of these 'wine shops'. Especially, as drinking is still not kosher (in Hyderabad) at typical extended family gatherings. However, the younger generation has a whole different lifestyle and doesn't fit into this stereotype.

I haven't been happy with the wine in India. Local Sula wines are the ones most readily available at restaurants, but are mediocre and relatively expensive (I paid $7.5 for a small glass). Its always safe to stick to Kingfisher beer.

Hookah bars are popular with the younger crowd. I have not been able to relate to this in any way and I cannot stand the smoke.

Regular coffee shops and bakeries are great. My favorite is Ofen (a french bakery) and I also frequent the usual Coffee day and Barista (which are comparable to Starbucks). I haven't as yet checked out the art cafe (cafe de art) which is supposed to have great ambiance and coffee.

Anyway, this landscape in India is constantly changing and I don't think I can keep up.
Cheers!!

Double Bogey!

Whether its the fairway or rough, bunker or hazard, eagle or par, against the backdrop of boulders, greens and palms it could be Arizona or Texas.

I know but little about golf and have only gone as far as the driving range, however this place that's close to our neighborhood gives one a truly global experience (more so from a non-golfer's perspective).

Its a nice refreshing sight of wide open space, azure sky, natural boulders, rocks and greenery (whether its chemical fertilized greenery becomes less relevant) amidst the concrete jungle.

This golf course also sports homes and apartments with a southwestern and spanish architecture which probably the execs of wall street could have afforded and might still be able to afford with their golden parachutes.

We might just give in and take some lessons.

Life, Asterix, Cartoons & Super Mario

The six year old graduated to a 7 year old amidst a little fanfare, a few kids, a magician, some pizza, lots of balloons and a Spiderman cake. And he continues to make these random comments on Life, Asterix, Cartoons etc.

(a lil' tiger wannabe)

Here are some of his comments at random moments:

"Life does not go backward, it only goes forward." (profound indeed)

"I love being a kid and not an adult. Kids have a lot of playtime and toys." "Mommy, do adults get playtime? What toys do adults play with?"

"When will the driver buy a car?" (Why?) "So, he can go home when it rains without getting wet on his bike"

"There's one teacher who pulls my ear and I don't know why. Did I do something wrong?" (we found out later that she thought he was cute and pulled his ear as a sign of affection, but he was horrified by it and thought he was being punished for some unknown reason)

Once in a while you hear him say "Chala Hot Guru!" (which is from a Telugu radio station our driver listens to :))

(What's all this mess in the kitchen?) "I did a science experiment and followed all the instructions in the book. I took a glass of water, covered it with a sheet of paper and turned it over. But the water splashed all over the kitchen. The experiment didn't work."

He made a little sign board for himself in his room using one of the card board boxes saying: "No girls allowed" (he later added 'except Moms').

He is now into drawing cartoons and making up his own visual stories of characters he created called the '5 Funny Brothers and their Adventures'.

The Wii and the Super Mario Galaxy have kept him busy on weekends. You sometimes hear him walking around the house (from Asterix and the Normans) yell..."By Thor!", "By Odin!".

How young is your city?

70.4% of the 6+ million population of Hyderabad is under the age of 35. Hmmm....which side of the fence would that place me at :)

This fact is so evident while walking around the streets, malls, banks, grocery stores, offices --- everyone around you is *young*.

Once I started noticing this, I realized that the bankers, the chauffeurs, the sales people for your wireless provider and even the traffic cops look like 22 year old 'bacchas' (a hindi term for a kid). Microsoft recently had a big bash to celebrate their 10 year anniversary in India. And I am estimating that over 70% of the employees who attended were between the ages of 24-35.

These young adults are already today's wage earners, consumers, spenders, thinkers and leaders no matter which economic ladder they come from. Imagine that just Hyderabad by itself could produce a workforce that is equivalent to the workforce of one or more European countries.

Rocky Road Home

Driving in India is already chaotic, unpredictable and crazy. However, there is always something new to keep you on your toes and feet.

Here are more tips for driving:
1. Watch the road! (literally). Never be over confident about driving in the 5th gear or about speeding. Even on a six lane highway in our area you will find unmarked speed breakers with no warning signs whatsoever. Get ready for the nice bumpy rides :)

2. The missing lane game. Never assume that a four or six lane street will have the same number of lanes throughout the street. On several local streets two or three lanes will suddenly merge into "one" tiny 15 foot lane and separate out again in several lanes. The merge happens as the streets are built around temples and mosques which are now bang in the middle of busy thorough fare or a multi-lane road.

3. Watch out for the Rocks! Its quite an experience to follow a large truck (like the one in the picture above) carrying huge rocks and boulders which are not fastened in any way or form with no enclosure at the back of the truck. Several areas of Hyderabad are rocky and hilly and no one would ever want to ever be stuck behind one of these trucks along any uphill route. Its absolutely a disaster waiting to happen -- there needs to be ban on this.

4. Look out on both sides and keep your rear view mirrors extended out and open. Two wheelers whiz past your car on both sides and confuse the heck out of you. As a friend pointed out, atleast having the mirrors out gets you a few inches between your car and them.

5. Avoid sitting in the front passenger seat. This will save you some nerves and reduce stress (esp. for someone like me as I also duck while sitting in the car to avoid the traffic :)).

6. Be prepared for oncoming traffic on YOUR lane (even though there are separate lanes for oncoming traffic this doesn't stop people from driving on the wrong side). There seems to be this strange confidence in people that--- the other person (ie the rest of the traffic) will look out for me and drive defensively so I don't have to worry about following the rules.

I drive on weekends and holidays and stick to a certain radius where the roads are less crowded. However, all of the above still apply in someway or the other.

Monsoon Madness

India's climate is dominated by monsoons, seasonal winds that bring torrential rainfall during the summer. This arrival of incessant rain brings both joy and pain.
Joy, because the year's water supply for millions of people largely depends on these huge yearly downpours which fill up the reservoirs and rivers. Indian Agriculture is so heavily dependent on these rains that even a few days of delay in the monsoon can affect the economy adversely.
Pain, as several calamities are caused due to the flooding, and navigating though the huge puddles, and zillion potholes on the streets is almost impossible. Unlike Seattle, the whole town stops for rain, all schools and several offices were closed for two days. I dared not venture outdoors with the fear of getting stuck, esp. in a tiny car and canceled all of my meetings. In someways ways, I can draw a parallel to the yearly snow fall in the suburbs of Seattle where traffic halts for hours and life comes to almost a standstill. Though, the kids have a lot more fun sledding down their neighborhood hills and making the most of their unplanned snow break.

More deep thoughts from a six year old

I love the 'curd-rice' at school, its the world's best curd-rice. I am the only one who eats the 'curd-rice' at school, the other kids just don't like it. ('curd-rice' is plain yogurt mixed with white rice and its a staple food in the south which the local kids find 'extremely boring' but a novelty for this kid :))

I sit next to a boy and a girl. The boy is Adaaarsh (an americanized mis-pronunciation of the name) and I don't know the name of the girl. All I know is that she talks like a baby (with a hint of disapproval. I am sure he knows her name but is refusing to acknowledge it :) )

Guess what! I met another American at the music school (anyone who talks like him is an american).

I don't want to ever go to China, the Dragon King might capture me (he just finished reading the 'day of the dragon king').

Today was my lucky day, I got pancakes for breakfast (I obliged after several requests for it).

Oh man! Why can't we go camping this weekend. Why don't we ever go camping in India? (unfortunately, Hyderabad doesn't have a lot of nature preserves, hiking, camping areas close by compared to Bangalore where eco-tourism and adventure travel options are available)

There are a lot of poor people in India. Can we give them money, so they are not poor anymore?

Is this a scary tale?

the headlines in the past two weeks have been unreal and its implications grievous. Multiple bomb blasts across 2 major cities, a train on FIRE, a major stampede --- all of these causing fatalities ranging from tens to hundreds.

I haven't regularly followed local news, politics and sports in India for over 17 years, so I am definitely behind on a lot of stuff. I could pass off as the dumb american :) except when it comes to business news. However, these recent events have given me a different insight into the country.

a) From an outsider's perspective, this country does seem to have a lot of continuous and serious issues - whether its political, infrastructure or resources, communal or terrorism.
b) Support given to people affected by these calamities is very limited. A lot of these calamities happen due to limited support in the first place. Again, the infrastructure and services needed to support a country of 1.1 billion is always going to be a daunting challenge and one that is not easily solvable anyway.
c) However, people seem to bounce right back and live with all of these issues and move on with life. There is also an informal support structure in the community that springs into action in times of need.

Again, I can't compare this to all the fatalities that have recently affected the US soldiers and the supporting cast in Iraq which is also equally distressing in its reach and impact.

India's Economy Hits the Wall?

What happened to the speed train that India Inc. was supposed to be on? Did we miss it?
The headlines of the main story in a recent business week starts off with "India's Economy Hits a Wall".

Now such articles and news are not necessarily what I was looking forward to right after a big move across continents.

Well, inflation is in the double digits, but what does that mean? In the US the and other developed countries the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is used to calculate inflation whereas in India the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is used for the rate of inflation. So there could potentially be some or even a major discrepancy in the meaning and impact of this double digit inflation number. Does this mean we disregard this inflation number and assume that the situation might not be as bad as its portrayed? Or on the other hand, is it a lot worse?

Meanwhile, how does this inflation rise, the lack of investments in infrastructure, the oil crisis and other global slowdowns directly impact a local or me (its hard to separate out all these issues)?

a. Diesel shortage in the city. Long lines at gas stations and rationed diesel is a common sight. Several people in India have diesel run cars as diesel is cheaper and gives better mileage.
b. Black outs ie power outages between 11am-3pm everyday in most parts of Hyderabad (this has not directly impacted us a lot because the entire housing area has full power backup. However, the backup power runs on diesel and diesel is in short supply, so there have been instances where we have had outages too).
c. Retail prices of grains, food etc. are on the rise, but I don't have the data points to compare the % increase and its impact.
d. The stock market has tanked and is still on a bear run (or fall as the case may be) leaving several investors way under water. Several IT companies have slower growth and their valuations have tanked.
e. The global slowdown will directly impact jobs, salaries and overall growth in services, retail, financial services, IT sector etc.
f. Airlines are grounding planes because of the fuel crisis and transportation costs have gone up significantly. I now pay double the price for airfare between local Indian cities. I also pay more for the school bus.
g. I'll stop here for now...

Its amazing how people just go about their business and don't let any of these shortages (water, electricity, diesel, broadband, cooking gas etc.) affect them. There is something to learn from this attitude and ability to adjust.

All this still doesn't answer my question about the fast train.

the maid brigade

Who would've thought that having too many attendants was a bad thing? We now have a cook, a maid for cleaning, an English speaking chauffeur and a gardener. As a friend of mine rightly pointed out...I now need someone who can manage all 4 of these folks.

I can't deal with so many people on a daily basis. Even giving the cook instructions for the menu of the day seems like a chore :) Jokes aside, it is not easy to manage them, esp. as work ethic, security, trustworthiness etc. could becomes big issues. Everyone around me has maid stories and I am sure it goes both ways. However, we also pay way above market rates and treat them fairly well which may help in retaining the right people.

Privacy, is one BIG reason why we chose not to have live-in attendants. Though we might end up changing our minds over time, esp. as our house comes with living quarters for attendants.

Good, dependable, chauffeurs are hard to find these days. One who interviewed with me wanted a providend fund (which is like a 401k), a yearly bonus, special holiday bonuses through out the year, 8 hour work days and more. Hmmm...I would need to then also hire an HR person and ADP for payroll. While I myself haven't seen a paycheck in a long time :)

The reason one can afford help in India and other developing countries is because of the huge difference in the economic standards of people. The cost of house hold labor is definitely going up however I think there will always be an endless pool of them (from the 1.1 billion) that are affordable by many.

Should the maids and household help be organized in some fashion? ID cards, rights, min. time off etc. Well, that's another topic for another day.

Happy July 4th!

Hope all of you had a great and sunny July 4th weekend. Every year we celebrate this event with a lot of outdoor activities, visits to local fairs and events that culminate in spectacular fireworks.

However, this year, we found ourselves in a quandary. Typically, immigrants to the US do their best to educate their first generation American offspring on the culture of their country of origin and celebrate the holidays, cultural and festive activities of that country (as portrayed in My Big Fat Greek Wedding :)). However, this year we found ourselves in a reverse situation. We now have a first generation American living in India. He obviously does not need to be educated on the Indian culture any more (as he is immersed in it). However, how do we expose him to the true culture of the US? How should he be celebrating July 4th and Thanksgiving? Any thoughts?

Deep thoughts from a 6 year old

Here are some excerpts from the eyes of an easy going 6 year old whose hero is Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes). This kid moved from a Japanese run private school (known as a boot-camp because of the high work load and the higher standards of conduct expected) in Bellevue, WA to a local school in Hyderabad.

The Journey:
On our way to India, we had a stopover in Amsterdam, where I offered him a bag of candy that looked like 'm&ms' and made by Hersheys. He read the label and immediately protested:
"I will not eat 'kissables', if I do I may fall in love. I do not want to eat them. I do not want to fall in love."

The School Bus:
I am very excited about going in a School bus, I have been on a School bus only on field trips. I don't like the new school, but I like going on a School bus.

You know, the first day when the bus was about to reach school, something strange happened, "all the kids on the bus got up and crowded to the front of the bus". Isn't that funny? I was the last to get up and get off the bus.

I got bullied by some older kids in the bus, they asked me not to talk in the bus and that I needed to go back to Seattle if I wanted to talk.
(I reacted quickly and asked, "why didn't you bully him back?" his response -- "Bullying is not a good thing, and its not right, so I will not do it")

(What is the solution? Do our kids need to push and be more aggressive? Will our kids survive if they are proper and follow the western etiquette?)

School:
I hate recess (from a kid whose life revolved around recess and play time). I don't have any friends, they all talk in 'Hindi' and 'Telugu' and I cannot understand them.

There is one girl in my class who came up to me and said she was from the US. But I don't play with girls.

I am the best behaved kid in class. There are kids who sit on desks, some even walk on them and others talk during class (this coming from a kid who was very talkative and had his share of quiet time in class).

Why is everyone here called an auntie? *smirk* We have two class teachers and an auntie, they come and go, in and out of the class through out the day.

We work all day, we write a lot and we also eat a lot. They make us finish all the food on our plate. I had idli for snack, rice and dhal for lunch, milk and samosa for afternoon snack. Work here (in school) is very easy, BCA (Bellevue Children's Academy) was a lot harder (this coming from someone who actually skipped a grade and jumped up a grade level in order to be with his own age group in India).

We had a lot of homework at BCA. This school doesn't have much homework.

In India, everyone is 'brown'.

Random:
You know, in India you can have other people drive for you. Also, you can honk whenever you feel like it (this was during my first attempt at driving).

When I ask for my turn, why is it that others don't listen?

I don't like mosquitoes. I hate mosquitoes. I don't like India because of the mosquitoes.

My life has completely changed. Its so different. Can we go back to Seattle?

Tennis Anyone?

Thanks to Sania Mirza, several Tennis Academies have sprung up across Hyderabad. The NVK Tennis Academy, run by S. Narendranath, former coach to Sania Mirza is one such club. This also happens to be the one closest to our house and where I signed my son up for lessons. Works out well for me, as I get to hit balls during his instruction time. Its been over 2 years since I played tennis and it took me a while to get used to the red clay courts. I found it harder to play in these red courts as compared to the green American ones. However, this is still way better than not playing any tennis and more fun than watching it on TV.

The youth of India really needs to get into playing sports and I hope role models like Sania Mirza take on a more active role in encouraging this and other sports.

rules of the road

"Chaos" is the one word that best describes road travel in India. Besides, this word could also be applied across several other areas, but we'll leave that for another day. No one follows traffic rules in India, stopping at red-lights, use of turn indicators, pedestrian right of way are considered optional while lane driving is almost a foreign concept. However, I discovered that there is a method to this madness:
Rule#1 - the guys who are ahead of you on the road rule, whether its a bicycle, 2 wheeler scooter or a bus. They get to move around the road as they please.
Rule#2 - the guys who are behind, honk their way ahead and insert their noses into any little space they can find while still keeping Rule#1 in mind.
Rule#3 - the big fish rule over the small fish
Rule#4 - no matter what, in any situation whether its a small scrape or an accident, its not your fault.

A friend of mine who moved back from the East coast loves the thrill of driving in India as it brings out an aggressive side of hers she didn't know existed (kinda like the Goofy cartoon on 'road rage' that we watch in Texas as a retribution for speeding tickets).

Today was my first attempt at the drivers seat (in Hyderabad), I chose a Sunday as the roads are less crowded and managed to drive on the left side of the road with manual shift gears. I hope to be a more confident driver by not analyzing the chaos but by becoming a part of it.

A cup of ...

'TEA' (The Hyderabad Expatriates Association).

Last night we found ourselves (more by accident) at a casual dinner hosted by TEA at the Walden Club (in Whisper Valley). TEA is a network of expats from around the world -- they meet every week and organize family friendly events, trips and members participate in local activity based clubs for biking, running, hiking etc. Members also have access to the library and facilities at the Indian School of Business (ISB).

India is not an easy country to settle into, esp. if one has had limited exposure to the East and I can see a support system like this being extremely helpful in shaping one's experiences in a foreign land.

Are you an expat in your country of origin? The answer is complicated and confusing but I for now I am happy to meet people from around the world.

The sound of s...

Noise pollution hits one everywhere, the coffee shops, the cafes, malls, elevators, airports and even gyms are either blaring extremely loud music or have loud speakers making announcements or calling out numbers. People can barely hear each other, forget holding audible conversations. On the road, the non-stops honks of cars, trucks, buses and autos are common place. Indian cities are also construction zones adding to the already high levels of dust, noise and pollution.

What is the solution? Do people acknowledge this as a problem? Is it only me, that craves the soft tunes at Tullys or the light jazz at Starbucks while sipping a cup of coffee.

the villas

Its been about 2 weeks since we arrived and a week since we moved into our rented home located in a small gated community. These are about a 100 homes interspersed with greenery and parks, each house is fairly large (Texas sized) and roomy (literally, I counted this house has over 15 rooms incld. baths). We didn't really need a house this big, but heard the community advantages were worth the stay.

We are located at the heart of the IT center next to the campus of the Indian School of Business, Microsoft, Infosys and a host of other tech and financial companies. There's a brand new upscale international style 18 hole golf course and country club right across the street from this community.

The villas have ample security, on-call maintenance personnel and readily available housekeepers, cooks and chauffeur services. Of course, everything comes with a premium price. Who said living in India was cheap? The cost of living in Texas is probably cheaper.

the land of mangoes

For the past several years, almost all of our trips to India were in December cheating us of the elusive mango. However, this year I managed to get in at the tail end of the Summer season and have been savoring the delicious Banganpalli mangoes - at breakfast, lunch and dinner. The mexican and south american varieties now seem poor in comparison to the mangoes from Andhra. Now that I have had my fill I hope the novelty doesn't wear off too quickly.

the one way ticket

"When do people buy one-way tickets?", " What massive change could a one way ticket bring to their lives?" These and more questions like these rang in my ears. Why? Read on...

After a 17 year jaunt in the US, I will be returning to India on a "one-way ticket". This impending travel and its impact finally hit me along with the realization that life would not be the same anymore. Good or bad I was ready to embrace this change (I am starting to sound like a certain political campaign :) ), though reluctantly.

The Pacific Northwest has been the most beautiful place I have ever lived in with its numerous lakes, islands, rivers and evergreen forests set against the backdrop of snow covered mountains. Where, on a clear day, one can see the Olympics on the west side and the Cascades on the east with the gigantic mount Rainier standing tall and peering out between the clouds. For me, these are the most unforgettable scenes of Seattle and the east side where I live.

The prospect of moving from this sleepy, rainy, coffee-drinking town to the hustle-bustle of a noisy, dusty, overcrowded, concrete jungle in an Indian city is going to be a challenge. However, these challenges will also open up opportunities and one of them being the ability to convey and share these experiences and trials. I will be documenting my journey back through the country where I started from.