The Bangalore Climate

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I do not like heat. I do not like humidity.

I fear the Indian subcontinent has those in abundance. . .

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My first thought after hearing "We'd like you to help get our new studio in Bangalore up and running" was "I'm not going to India! It's hot in India! and probably really humid!". My first action was to type Bangalore, India into Google's map search box. What I found did not in any way, shape, or form comfort me. In fact it was just the opposite: Bangalore was way way down in the southern part of the country, and right smack dab in the middle. That had to mean "hot & humid", didn't it?. Plus, Bangalore was nowhere near the coast, where one might expect at the very least a cool breeze from time to time.

My second thought was "There's now way I'm going to Bangalore." My second action was to type Bangalore, India into Wikipedia's search box. After skipping down to the Climate section, one of the first things I read was Bangalore has a salubrious climate.

My third thought was "What the heck does salubrious mean?". My third action was to type salubrious into Dictionary.com's search box.

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sa·lu·bri·ous /səˈlubriəs/
–adjective
favorable to or promoting health; healthful: salubrious air.
[Origin: 1540–50; <>

My fourth and fifth thoughts were "Hmmm. . .they wouldn't really consider heat and humidity as promoting health, would they?" and "What are the chances that these Wikipedians are sadists?". My fourth action was to return to Wikipedia and read more about Bangalore and it's climate.

It turns out that Bangalore sits at an altitude of about 3000 feet, which gives the steamy air plenty of time to dry out and cool off as it makes it's way up from sea level. The hottest part of the year in Bangalore is in and around April, where temperatures can reach upwards of 100 degrees. However, I would only be here from August through to the end of the year, during which temperatures looked like they would be much more moderate. Granted August through September and into October is the so-called monsoon season, but I figured monsoon rains were far preferable to stifling heat.

I decided that the climate should not be much of a factor in deciding whether or not to come to Bangalore, India. I hoped that what I was reading was the truth.

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Drumroll please. . .

I've been here for a month. I have not yet been uncomfortable.

and there was much rejoicing. . .

Temperatures have probably ranged from the mid-70's to the mid-80's. We are definitely in the middle of monsoon season, however. We have cloudy skies most days (to which my photographs on previous blog entries will attest), some days the clouds and sky are very dark all day long. We haven't seen much of the sun, although we've had probably more sunshine this past week than the previous three weeks combined. Some days are definitely a bit more humid than others, but the more humid days are also the days with the most cloud cover, which tends to keep the daytime temperature down, and hence the effect of the humidity as well. Temperatures do not dip much at night, if at all. I doubt it rarely gets below 70 degrees around here. I leave a couple of the ceiling fans on all the time (assuming we have power).

The monsoon rains come a few days per week, usually after 5pm. Sometimes it's a hard rain, sometimes it's a torrential rain. Sometimes it rains for a few minutes, sometimes it rains for a couple of hours straight. Sometimes the rain brings strong winds with it. The past few days the rain has also brought thunder and lightning along for the ride. We had a couple of lightning strikes today that felt like they were literally right outside: the thunderclap followed the lightning flash immediately and proceeded to shake the entire building. It's really quite impressive at times.

The monsoon rains along the coast and up north are said to be relentless at times: it can and does rain for days on end. Add in the 90% humidity in these less fortunate parts of the country and I will take the Bangalore climate any day and be very grateful.

So the climate is mostly as advertised. I carry an umbrella in my bag. I brought shoes suitable for rain and the ensuing mud. The rains will last another four to six weeks but should then begin to taper off. The heat and rain in the north and along the coast should also abate come October, which means it will be time to stretch the tourist wings a bit further and wider.

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A final possibly interesting note:
Sunrise and sunset in Bangalore is currently about 6:10am and 6:30pm, respectively. Bangalore sits at just 12 degrees north latitude: nearly on the equator. The sunrise and sunset times do not vary much throughout the year. Sunrise on June 21st is 5:55am; sunrise on December 21st is 6:37am; sunset on June 21st is 6:48pm; sunset on December 21st is 6:00pm.

Being this close to the equator also means that there is very little twilight; complete and utter darkness is only 35 or 40 minutes away on either side of sunrise or sunset.

Mysore (concluded)

Part 4. The Journey Home

I dare not sleep, as I intend to meet Death with eyes wide open. . .

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Travelling along the roads outside Bangalore is quite an experience. The scenery can be serene and scenic, with intriguing rock formations and sugar cane fields that seem to stretch forever. The scenery can also be fairly depressing, as roadsides are often used as garbage dumps in the more populated areas. But no matter what one finds off the roads, driving these roads is always exciting. . .the adrenaline-pumping, white-knuckle kind of exciting.

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If there exist any type of driving laws here I dare say that I have no idea what they might be. Travelling these roads seems to be Darwinian in the extreme. In the absence of formal driving laws, one might at least expect a set of informal ones: slower vehicles stay to the left (they drive on the left/British hand side of the roads over here), pass on the right, try to stay within one's own lane lines (they were put there for a reason, right?), etc. My expectations seem to be too high.

In the absence of formal and informal driving laws, one might at the very very least expect common sense to rear it's head at some point. It does not (or maybe it's a common sense that is indigenous to only this part of the world and thus one with which I am not familiar).

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It was after 8pm before we started back to Bangalore: already dark. Driving on the roads here at night is quite an experience. There is all manner of vehicular traffic that attempts to share the road: bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, tractors, cars, vans, large trucks. Then there's the pedestrian traffic. They generally stay on the left shoulder. Generally. Tail lights are not common place, nor are brake lights or flashlights. There are no street lights. The painted lane line would lead one to believe this is a two lane road, but this road divider lane seems to be largely, if not entirely, ignored. Every vehicle is travelling at a different rate of speed, on a different part of the road. The driving pattern seems to consist of a somewhat random ordering of brake, horn, swerve left, step on the gas, swerve right.

There are no posted speed limits, fortunately most of the cars seem to be a little underpowered so speeds tend to top out at about 100 kph (60 mph). There are, however, a couple of speed regulation devices employed: the speed bump and the chicane. Speed bumps appear out of the night about every couple of kilometers. These reduce most vehicles to basically a full stop while the vehicles' shocks try to negotiate the single or sometimes triple bumps in the road. Most are marked; however, our driver is surprised a couple of times and by association we are too. Our seat belts save the roof from a head-sized dent or two. Chicanes appear along the more populated portions of the road, and appear as metal barriers staggered between the two lanes so one is forced to slow and navigate a figure s-shape. Problems arise when what was three-abreast traffic needs to be reduced to single file traffic to safely negotiate these chicanes. A working horn and the repeated application of said horn is most clearly the one indispensable piece of automobile safety equipment.

And then the piece de resistance arrives in the form of the monsoon rains, during which visibility is reduced to at most a few feet. The whole experience is intensified many fold. The real has become the surreal. Mere words are not adequate here. I can only refer you back to the top of this blog entry and the (seemingly over-dramatic) thought that popped into my mind around this point of the drive.

Luckily the rains this evening are relatively short in duration, if not in volume. We clip a scooter at a red light intersection on the outskirts of Bangalore, but no real damage is done. Our driver and it's driver exchange a few select words in Hindi; a translator is unnecessary. Yet for all the drama, we do survive and arrive back in Bangalore unscathed (at least physically).

But this must be said: for all the potential for absolute disaster out on the roads, there would seem to be very few serious accidents; a credit to the Indian drivers, the relatively subdued speeds, and to whichever Hindu god or goddess watches over travellers. I wonder what driving school is like over here, or if such a thing exists at all. Maybe the roads are the result of just throwing people into the proverbial deep end of the pool.

And with this the Mysore trip comes to an end. Although it's after midnight the adrenaline still pumping through my body makes sleep impossible for a couple more hours.

A chance to finally close my eyes, however.

I try hard not to think about the hornets' nest out on the balcony which has been steadily gaining in size the past couple of days. . .

Mysore (continued)

Part 3. The Mysore Palace

The Mysore Palace was the seat of the Mysore maharajahs. The original palace burned down in 1897 and the present one, designed by English architect Henry Irwin, was completed in 1912. It's quite a sight to behold. "Spared no expense" is the phrase that comes to mind. The exterior is much more stately and well designed than the interior, which tends toward the outright gaudy, which may be why they do not allow photographs to be taken inside (they don't allow shoes inside either. I like wearing shoes). OK, they probably have a real reason but they didn't share it with us. There is some incredible stained glass and some incredibly intricately carved wooden doors, but there are also lots of mirrors and lots and lots of colors that probably shouldn't be used together in the same room.

A progression of three photos of the front exterior. These photos were probably taken every 30 minutes starting a little after 6pm local time (sunset is at about 6:40pm in this part of the world right now and being this close to the equator it gets dark really quickly after the sun goes down).







And then every Sunday sometime after sunset they turn on the exterior lights for about an hour. It's a truly spectacular sight. A little Disneyland-ish maybe, but worth the trip in and of itself.



There's a small 7- or 8-piece band that plays music while the lights are on. The first piece of music they played was The Colonel Bogey March, better known as the theme from the film "The Bridge on the River Kwai". With this view and with this music it's hard not to sense the lasting vestiges and hear the lasting whispers of the old British empire.


A couple more photos. The first looking back at the main entrance gate from the courtyard, and then a view from outside the gate looking toward the palace.

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And a couple of postcard images I grabbed off the web:







to be continued. . .

Mysore (continued)

Part 2. In between the Temple and the Palace

We stopped at the Mysore Zoo for an hour or so. All the usual reservations about zoos certainly hold true here: small, outdated enclosures; too much concrete; too much chain link fencing. Mostly kind of depressing. You wish there were a better way to expose people to the beauty and the majesty of wild, exotic animals without putting them in places like this.

I will only include a couple of photos. The giraffes and tigers had a bit more freedom to roam than others.

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Late lunch at the Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel, a former palace of the Maharajahs. Very much an old-world colonial feel to the place.





to be continued. . .

Mysore

Location: 12.30 degrees N latitude, 76.65 degrees E longitude.
Elevation: 2500 ft.


Part 1. Chamundeswari Temple

We ventured to Mysore this past weekend. Mysore is about 90 miles southwest of Bangalore, although actual travel time on the deathtraps. . .errrr roads is about three hours.

Mysore is named after the mythical location of Mahisuru, where the goddess Chamundi slew the demon Mahishasura. The Mysore dynasty was founded in 1399 by the ruling Wodeyars, who ruled the region until Indian Independence from Britain in 1947.

Our first stop was Chamundeswari Temple located on the top of Chamundi Hills about 8 miles from Mysore's city center. If you look really closely at the below photo you can just see it off in the distance at the highest point on the hill.



The temple was named after Chamundeswari or Durga, the fierce form of Shakti, a tutelary deity/goddess held in reverence for centuries by the Mysore Maharajas.

The original shrine is thought to have been built in the 12th century by Hoysala rulers while its tower was probably built by the Vijayanagar rulers of the 17th century. In 1659, a flight of one thousand steps was built leading up to the 3000 foot summit of the hill. Of course we walked the 1000 steps. You have to.

There is a huge granite Nandi (the bull mount of Shiva) on the 800th step on the hill in front of a small Shiva temple. This Nandi is over 15 feet high, and 24 feet long. It's quite impressive knowing it was carved out a solid piece of rock.





Climbing the final 200 steps gets you up to the temple itself. The temple has a seven story tall gopuram (gateway tower) decorated with intricate carvings. The idol of the Chamunda Devi is said to be made of solid gold and the temple gates made of silver. They wouldn't let us touch them of course. The actual temple is really small, and they do not allow cameras (or shoes!) inside, as the goddess is not to be photographed. They shuffle people through fairly quickly; the whole temple experience probably took all of 10 minutes.

Important safety tip: be very careful where you step in your barefeet between the shoe kiosk (Rs 6 per pair of shoes. about a penny). You know. . .because of all the cows and what they leave behind.










Monkeys perched on temple ledges. I think this says it all: I am indeed somewhere in southeast asia and somewhere very far from home.



Another example of the local fauna which inhabit the temple grounds. This little one was easily the cutest one of the day. Yes, there are cows everywhere.



And at every even remotely-touristy location there is the inevitable local bazaar that seems to sprout up: local artists and entrepeneurs exhibiting and selling their wares. Us white folk are pursued quite aggressively at times. You don't dare buy anything, lest you be beseiged by every other merchant until you jump back into the car.





And finally. . .this merchant didn't get the translation quite right, but you still understand what he's peddlin'. No, I didn't have enough courage to give his concoction a try.






To be continued. . .

India Independence Day

The 15th of August is Indian Independence Day. They gained their freedom from British rule in 1947, marking this year as their 61st as a sovereign, democratic nation.

When we asked the Indian artists about what kind of festivities were planned, all we got back were blank stares. It's a national holiday with an official flag raising ceremony in the various state capitals, but no parades, no fireworks. A little disappointing really. So mostly it's a day off from work for all of us.

In lieu of the photographs and descriptions of the grand festivites that I had hoped to show you, I am left with an attempt to educate you instead. Sorry about that.

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(all of the following is a paraphrase or direct lift from Wikipedia)

India's political history is staggering complex to say the least. The first permanent settlements appeared more than 9000 years ago, gradually developing into the Indus Valley Civilization around 3300 BCE (modern western India & Pakistan).

In the third century BCE, most of South Asia was united into the Maurya Empire by Chandragupta Maurya and flourished under Ashoka the Great. From the third century CE, the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to as ancient "India's Golden Age." Among the notable South Indian empires were the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas, Pallavas, Pandyas, and Cholas. Science, engineering, art, literature, astronomy, and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings.

Following invasions from Central Asia between the tenth and twelfth centuries, much of north India came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate, and later the Mughal Empire. Mughal emperors gradually expanded their Kingdoms to cover large parts of the subcontinent. Nevertheless, several indigenous kingdoms, such as the Vijayanagara Empire, flourished, especially in the south. In the eighteenth century, the Mughal supremacy declined and the Maratha Empire became the dominant power. From the sixteenth century, several European countries, including Portugal, the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom, started arriving as traders and later took advantage of the fractious nature of relations between the kingdoms to establish colonies in the country. By 1856, most of India was under the control of the British East India Company. A year later, a nationwide insurrection of rebelling military units and kingdoms, variously referred to as the India's First War of Independence or Sepoy Mutiny, seriously challenged the British Company's control but eventually failed. As a consequence, India came under the direct rule of the British Crown as a colony of the British Empire.

During the first half of the twentieth century, a nationwide struggle for independence was launched by the Indian National Congress and other political organizations. In the 1920s and 1930, a movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, and displaying commitment to ahimsa, or non-violence, millions of protesters engaged in mass campaigns of civil disobedience. Finally, on 15 August 1947, India gained independence from British rule, but was partitioned with independent governments for the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan in accordance to wishes of the Muslim League, along the lines of religion to create the Islamic nation state of Pakistan. Three years later, on 26 January 1950, India became a republic and a new constitution came into effect.





The national flag, adopted in 1947, is based on the flag of the Indian National Congress, which was established in 1885 to press for independence. The flag is a horizontal tricolour of "deep saffron" at the top, white in the middle, and green at the bottom. In the centre, there is a navy blue wheel with twenty-four spokes, known as the Ashoka Chakra, taken from the Lion Capital of Asoka erected atop Ashoka pillar at Sarnath. The diameter of this Chakra is three-fourths of the height of the white strip. The ratio of the width of the flag to its length is 2:3.

The flag's saffron color symbolizes courage and sacrifice, white stands for peace and truth, and green is for faith and chivalry, and blue represents the color of the sky and the ocean. The central motif is a Chakra, or Buddhist spinning wheel. The 24 spokes of the wheel correspond with the 24 hours of the day, implying that there is life in movement and death in stagnation.

Abhinav Bindra (A New Indian National Hero)

India has a new national hero today. Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the 10m air rifle competition last night. He is the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games. Ever. He was the cover story on the newspaper this morning. He was the lead story on the news programs all day today. The sports channel which is broadcasting the Olympics here in India is right now doing a half hour special on Mr. Bindra. In all the footage I've seen he looks quite overwhelmed with his new found celebrity status, but I suspect he hasn't a clue what awaits him upon his return to India. Bindra's rifle is a Walther PPK.

Maybe the true testament to Mr. Bindra's accomplishment is that he has relegated cricket to second-class sports status. At least for now.

Before yesterday Indian athletes had won four individual medals (1 silver, 3 bronze). India has won 8 gold medals in men's field hockey, although the last of those wins was back in 1980. They failed to even qualify for the Olympics this year, which seems to be quite the scandal over here.

The Sobha Rose

Welcome to my home-away-from-home for the next few months: The Sobha Rose. "Sobha" is the name of the development company, "Rose" is the name of this particular development.


This is a serviced apartment, meaning I'll get some kind of maid service a few times a week. I'm not yet sure what that means exactly. The unit has 3 bedrooms and 3 baths (so if anyone wants to come visit I'll have room!). I'm on the lucky-number-13 top floor, but the unit number is 1135. Hmmm. . .

Let's take a brief photo tour of the inside.

Looking at the main living area from just inside the front door

and the opposite view from near the bedrooms.


Next, the kitchen. And a strange little kitchen it is. A small refrigerator (it's around the corner on the left hand side in the photo), a microwave, a separate 4-burner gas cooktop (although the gas isn't hooked up at the moment), and a small electric induction cooktop, which is supposed to boil water and warm liquids up very quickly. The one thing missing (besides an oven). . .go ahead and guess. . .you'll never guess. . .



. . .there's no running hot water in the kitchen. I know!! I had the exact same thought you just did. I am perplexed to say the least. Perplexed and befuddled.

Let's quickly just move on before I run straight to the airport. . .

what's next. . .

Oh. . .each bathroom has it's own separate (and fairly small) water heater.

The tanks are probably 10 gallons. maybe 15? I'm predicting speedy showers for my near-term future.

The views from the unit:



But don't let the serene views fool you too much. If there were an audio track to accompany these photos you would right now be searching for your "mute" button. There's a constant din consisting of barking dogs, honking horns and gale-force winds. There are several "vents" in the unit that are open to the outside world; it sounds like the interior of an airplane in here. But I'll save comment on the surrounding chaos for later posts.

The complex also has a small gym and pool. The pool is only about 3 feet deep and does not seem to be heated, so it's more of a wallowing pool, and then only when the sun has been out for a few days (which it hasn't been, but more on the weather later this week).



That's kind of it. I think it's safe to say there are a few minor adjustments to make and challenges to meet, and that's just in the apartment.

That which does not kill me makes me strong.

The First Posting

I can't seem to get this blog system to pre-date my blog entries, so I'm cramming the first 5 or 6 days into this first entry. The entries are in reverse date order (to match future blog entries), so start down near the bottom and work your way up. Please. Thank you.

5 August 2008 (Tuesday)
No ill effects from the ice-in-the-drinks yesterday. Perhaps a narrow escape, but an escape nonetheless. I think the fact that I've never been that adventurous an eater will serve me well over here. Having heard the horror stories from some co-workers already afflicted, I'm operating on the "better safe than sorry" plan over here.

By the way, I'm not a big fan of Indian food. Never have, probably never will be. I know. . .very strange to agree to come somewhere where I don't even like a lot of the native cuisine. While Bangalore isn't exactly a tourism hot spot, I do suspect that there are enough western companies (and hence employees) around that I don't anticipate this will be an issue (and "yes" I just knocked on wood).

4 August 2008 (Monday)
We dodge an ox-drawn cart on the drive into work this morning.

We are halfway done with our drinks at lunch today when we notice that we had forgotten to say "no ice". I suspect that the ice hadn't melted enough to put enough always-dangerous-to-westerners tap water into the drinks and hence into our gastro-intestinal system. This leads to the condition euphemistically called Bangalore Belly, which judging by the stories from afflicted co-workers is no day at the beach. So now I guess there's nothing to do but wait and see. . .

3 August 2008 (Sunday)
My first excursion into downtown Bangalore. I'm going to reserve comment and opinion until I go back a second time. The first time is completely overwhelming.

Although I did find this at a very small market on the way into the city. . .


2 August 2008 (Saturday)
A decompression day: didn't really do anything except try to get my head around where exactly I am. No small task.

I seem to have gotten away with a minimum of jet lag. I followed the common sense recommendations of setting your watch (and mental clock) to your destination time upon boarding the airplane, avoiding alcohol, and drinking plenty of water. I also took No Jet Lag pills. I don't really know if they help or not, but they certainly didn't hurt. The first day or two I was definitely ready to sleep by 7 or 8pm, and slept until 4 or 5am. Being busy during the day has certainly also helped. Slept until 6am this morning, so I'm now almost back a regular sleep cycle.

31 July 2008 (Thursday)
The earthquake hits at 11:42am in the greater Los Angeles area. It was definitely a pretty good shake. Biggest one since the 1994 Northridge quake. Harbinger of disaster or just a friendly reminder that my whole life is about to get a nice shake? Only time will tell. Either way a most auspicious beginning.

I land at just after 1:00am in Bangalore, India after leaving Los Angeles, California at 2:45pm on July 29th and a quick plane change in Frankfurt, Germany. A few quick facts about Bangalore, India: 1) Bangalore is situated in the southern state of Karnataka, right smack dab in the middle of the country, 2) Bangalore sits at 12 degrees 58 minutes north latitude 77 degrees 34 minutes east longitude at an altitude of about 3000 feet. Literally halfway around the world from my home in Hermosa Beach, 3) Bangalore is 12.5 hours ahead of the west coast of the United States, 4) the currency of India is the rupee (abbreviated Rs over here); at the moment about 42 rupees are equivalent to one U.S. dollar.



Learn more about Bangalore on the Wikipedia Bangalore Page.

I get through customs and immigration in a matter of moments. No one even asks me anything.

The ride from the airport to the hotel is quite an experience. The company has arranged drivers for all of us westerners, a very wise investment as I'm certain navigating the roads and all that come with them ourselves would certainly be the end of all of us in quick fashion. Stop signs are for decorative purposes only (seriously). Lane lines seem to be just as ignorable. There are speed bumps every quarter mile or so which at least seem to keep the speeds down to something reasonable. Most of the large trucks on the road do not have rear tail or brake lights. I begin to wonder just what I've gotten myself into.

Daylight brings with it even more revelations. This is certainly a land of high contrast. Our hotel is an very modern, 21st century oasis from the surrounding 3rd world country. It is totally foreign to this American who has lived an obviously very sheltered existence up 'til now. It's going to take some time for the mind to process all of this.

The Savannah Sarovar Hotel Bangalore, my home for the next week or two (their brochure image looks much better than my daytime picture):