Curried Canadian

A simple blog about living in Bangalore, India.

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This is one of the many reasons I enjoy Bangalore - endless celebrations! I was unable to figure out what they were celebrating. However, it is a Wednesday, why the hell not?

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From what can be remembered

                   Over the weekend, I came across this scenario. Hopefully the words are descriptive enough to put you in the same situation to consider what you would do, say, or think:

You are out for a walk in your neighbourhood. There is a food stand where people usually buy something to eat. It is old, rickety, missing a few wood panels, and looks like it was pulled from shipwreck. No one is there. You continue walking only to realize, on the other side of the cart, there is a young girl sitting cross legged. She is probably 15 or so, and has dark hair and eyes. With the sun shining down on her face, she looks up and smiles. You notice she is eating something. She is eating it out of a dust pan. You look closer. She is eating dry rice out of a dust pan with her fingers. The crunch of the rice between her teeth is as loud as the honking horns of cars passing by. Crunch. She takes another bite, and smiles again. You wonder, 'Is she happy?'. Then she feeds some to an even younger boy who is crouched in her shadow behind her. They both laugh, get up, and runaway. You continue on your walk.

What are you left thinking? Do you worry for the kids? Are you happy they seem to be happy? Better yet, do you have a choice?

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Never see what you have done as a waste. It is waste that is used to fertilize the future.

Unknown

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This was taken while passing through some of the many winding roads that make Bangalore. It does not seem to matter where in the city you go, but there is always someone celebrating something with loud music. Today was no different.

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Hell, sometimes even a bike needs a lift in the famous rick-shaws...

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North America has tons of food carts - but there's nothing quite like lunch in Bangalore...

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Rajyotsava and other things...

It is interesting coming to India from Canada. Here, they have so much to celebrate. In Canada? Not so much.

This day, back in 1973, the state of Karnataka (home of Bangalore) was officially formed. It is known as Rajyotsava. It is a public holiday. It is just one of the many that have been celebrated over the past few months - from Diwali to Ganesha Festival, and Dussehra to Eid Mubarak among many others, India seems to be in a constant state of celebration. It is very unique to see the many cultures celebrate their diversity while co-existing peacefully.

In Canada, there is much of the same diversity. Yet, there does not seem to be the same frequency of celebration. Canadians wanted more - more specifically, Ontario wanted more. It was not long ago that Premiere of the Province of Ontario decided to declare one snowy February day, “Family Day”. It was conjured up. It is not related to any sort of cultural celebration or historical event, and as a result it feels superficial. Even with the additional day off to “celebrate” family, businesses across the province whine about it saying the economic impact of lost revenue is far worse than the need to spend time with loved ones. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this?

At least India understands who they are, where they came from, and the need to celebrate with those you love. Canada, unfortunately, has a long ways to go before that realization reaps the same benefits; time off for reasons that relate to its culture, its history, as well as spending it with friends and family – economic downtime, or not.

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I hope I don't get "Napstered" for this, but here's a clip of Metallica and their first appearance in India...

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Stuck in traffic, in an auto. The only dry place in the city apparently...

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It sounds and looks like there is a war. There is not. These are the sights and sounds of Diwali! Firecrackers and Fireworks non-stop here in India. Pretty cool to see it in action actually.

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The sounds of Diwali here in India - the crackers never stop!

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Where have you been all my life?

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1000 x 1000 = Speechless

Have you ever been a part of a new scenario which was interesting and exciting but would eventually become ordinary? Whether it was a new job, partner, or vacation, you probably have.

By September 22nd, I had been in India for 4 months. What was new, wild, crazy, and exciting at one point had now, to a degree, started to level out. Like anyone back home in Canada, I was working, chilling on the weekends, and finding new adventures in a new world where time allowed. That is why, only a couple of days later, on September 24th things changed.

My girlfriend showed up and would be in town for 3 weeks. She was amazed at every thing she saw. Whether it was the bee-hive of autos in the Bangalore streets, or the white sand beaches of Goa covered in sea-shells, she thought it was all amazing. In that light, I had started to take things for granted. She took as many pictures as she could to document the entire experience. From Bangalore, to Delhi, to Agra, to Goa, she took pictures of everything.

By the end of the 3 weeks, on October 15th, she was getting ready to leave. I asked her what she thought of the whole thing. Her response?

“Speechless...”

We took at look at her camera and realized that she had taken over 1000 pictures. If you stop and think about it, her moment of a speechless response makes sense.

If she took 1000 photos, and a picture is worth 1000 words, than that means she was left to sort through 1,000,000 words. In other words, not even a dictionary could prepare her for what she was thinking and feeling about India.

No wonder she was speechless.

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My girlfriend, when she was here, could not believe the amount of cars and how bad the rush hour traffic was. She was right. Bangalore, what happened? Aside from the meandering cows on every street corner (how now brown cow?), there must be a reason.

I pulled up Google Maps and it was clear what the issue was:

Poor planning.

This grid looks like some kind of optical illusion. It was most likely an inept city planner. Or, even better, a spider that got drunk off a bottle of Jack, wove its web, and never came back.

You choose.

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The past month has been amazing. However, you probably could not tell from my blog. I have been neglecting to post. At first there were, again, technical issues getting posts published. That was not the only thing that distracted me though. I also had a visitor.

For the past 3 weeks I have been enjoying the sights and sounds of India with my girlfriend. We had an amazing time. The posts to come will be about how having another set of eyes can really change your perspective on things. I will get to that later.

Never the less, when she was here, we visited New Delhi, Agra, and Goa. There is a reason they call it Incredible India – it lives up to the name.

Here is a shot of our visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra. What an AMAZING view... of my nose hairs!

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My friends and I decided we would head to the Bangalore Palace grounds to catch a concert that would kick off the Nokia CL T20 series. The show was pretty good. It featured Jay Sean, Ludacris, and Flo Rida. However, that was not even the most interesting part. What happened after the show was what really put stamp on the entire evening.

We all piled into an auto-rickshaw to make our way home. There were 5 of us altogether; including the driver. Too much weight? The front wheel BUSTED OFF and the axle was left to scrape along the ground as we veered into another lane of traffic. It happened pretty quick, and we were all left with spinning heads. Luckily, that time of night, there was not much traffic.

Pictured, you will see the scrape left on the road as well as the auto left tire-less, and an up close shot of the wheel that is no longer there.

In my head all I could hear was AC/DC's Highway To Hell...

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They finally put my name on the buzzer list for my apartment.