Feeling happy!

I have completed one whole month in India, and I feel great! I enjoy my work, I love my colleagues, I adore my flatmate, I have fun with friends during the weekends, I have no time to stop and think, but I don't care, cuz I love my life!!!
Some time back I was chatting with a friend, and she commented: "You are always in a good mood these days, is it grass?" But no people, no grass for me, but I do realize that I might seem high all the time :)
Mumbai was good, didn't go out much, didn't shop, but enjoyed the company of the guys from the office, and the events we organized, and met up with some old friends. God, it felt good!!!
And yesterday we had an office party! I didn't expect much, but it was above all possible hopes, it was good fun, people getting drunk, dancing all the night long, staying overnight, mmmmmmmm Quite a surprising party for an Indian office :) My friends from Sweden can imagine how it was if I say - reminded me our crazy house parties! But with 70 people :)

Still to do:
- couldn't get time to buy stuff for the house, should be doing it sooon
- couldn't properly think about Goa trip for the new year's
- still didn't inform friends about my new address and didn't plan friends' visits, as well as my own trips
- can't find time to join the gym yet!!!
So many things to do, and time flies!

Accommodation

My life in Bangalore is shaping up well, and I’ve collected enough will to deliver another story to you – the story about my house hunting. It took me 10 days and 10-15 apartments to understand that the whole renting is gonna be a worse problem than I initially was prepared for. Before coming here I was told that the rent here is so low, and the flats are so big, that I had nothing to worry about. I did not do much, just arrived and started checking the places. One, it turned out it’s nearly impossible to get a house for less than 10 months, and to prove your stay for at least 10 months the deposit of the equal amount is required. Two, it’s very rare the house is advertised and shown by the owner, you get to go via broker, hence another expenditure – the broker fee (a monthly rent). Three, there is nothing like a studio in India (or at least in Bangalore), the smallest available place would have at least 2 rooms – a living room, and a bedroom – so you can’t decide on renting a studio, as it’s cheaper, there’s no option like this. Four, even one-bedroom apartment is very rare, more often there are 2, 3-bedrooms, ie you are bound to share with somebody (which was my last wanted thing). And finally five, if you require some furniture (even the minimum of a fridge and a bed), you gotta pay some 20% more to your monthly rent. Not speaking about the six, the fact that “decent place” for me is in “luxury-super-expensive” category for the brokers here.

So in the end, all my requirements were impossible to meet… I was getting upset and frustrated. Here I also must mention that I’d have never done any progress in the search without a friend helping me, sacrificing his time, calling up the brokers, driving me around on his bike from one place to another. And I’d not have settled so soon if all possible ways to find a place (read: all friends’ connections) hadn’t been tried so quickly. So thank to my beloved friends, who are here (physically or virtually) when I need them so much, thank to common efforts I have found a corner in this strange to me city! It’s a 2-bedroom place, which a colleague of mine has been sharing with a friend, who has moved out recently. It has a good interior, but a little empty inside, though it is only good for me, as I get to decorate the space upon my taste and imagination, have been always dreaming about it!

My flatmate deserves separate attention. He is one of the kindest guys I’ve ever seen! He made me feel at home and comfortable during the first days of my stay here, so that I decided not to shift anywhere else. Yeh, initially he just offered me a shelter for the timebeing while I was searching for a place. But I liked the experience so much, that decided to stay forever :) Plus to his kindness, he is also very chilled out, very modern and cool person. Kind of a character you feel easy with. And he gives me a lift to the office and back, so I’m saving on the rickshaw costs and saving my nerves to bargain with the drivers :)

Well, enough about housing I think. This Sunday me together with Neel (my flatmate), like a little family, go for shopping for some stuff we need at home. Hope to have some pictures of the place taken for you some day. Or better, you come and visit me here!

Next post will be on the city itself!

Read the previous post before!

But this is India, here the bad is side by side with the good.

So here there is another story for you:

I've been put up in a hotel till now. Every day when I come from work back here I find my soft toys (a horse and a small elk) lying on the bed in different poses and with TV and AC remotes somehow incorporated into the composition. Like if they watch the TV and change the channels, or if they speak on the "phone", or just lied down tired holing the remotes in hands. I'd take a picture, but too bad I don't have a working cam :(

It calls smile every time I enter the room, it is soooooo sweet and cute by the guys who clean the place every day (and by the way they are also men, no female staff here).

The good story is always shorter than the bad one, isn't it? :)

One big thing

I've been eager to share one big thing with you, a story happened on Monday, my first working day.

Me and a colleague of mine were trying to hire a rick after the office closed. We were on the road, in front of the building, some people from the office were standing at the entrance. Some people in India means 15-25 guys. So we are trying to stop a rick, and then a drunk man passing by us hits my colleague at her face. It wasn't a hard hit, still she swayed a little. I personally thought it was somebody she knew whose joke was too bad. After some seconds, when I understood that the guy was just a drunkard, and the girl got really pissed off with what happened, we saw all the guys from the office running after that idiot. They reached him just 10 meters away and immediately started to heavily beat him up. I WAS SHOCKED. I couldn't believe my eyes - 20 formally dressed office workers turned ruthless and mad in few seconds, and with no reason! You agree! And I just stood there, in shock. The poor drunk was small and defenceless. The action lasted for at least 10 min. But nobody left, in fact much more people came, some joined the beating, some just stared. Then beatings repeated every 5 minutes. The cops were called. We were waiting for them to come, not being able to leave.

At some point, I was still standing next to the "victim", I was approached by some men from the office with a general comment: "See, how protective we are towards our women! You should not worry about your safety here!". I was speechless. I could only say - leave the guy, he's just mentally sick, but you are inhumane. But my words were not heard. The crowd was in a rage, and I could not find any excuse for that.

When the cops came, they beat the guy with the thick sticks to make him get into their car, which was completely unnecessary, of course.

Next day the whole office was only discussing how badly the drunkard hit the girl (nothing was there on her chick, she was fine!), and how brave our guys were.

A friend of mine says it always happens, and people would bang up against a kid, if the moment comes. His explanation is that people here are suppressed so much, that given a chance they go mad and express their fear into beating. I want to emphasize - beating, not fighting. They are "brave" when there is no power against them. How sad is that?

This episode reminded me one story from "Shantaram". There the character saw the same street fight during his first days in Mumbai, and was shocked, and wanted to help the victim, but was stopped. Being a stranger to the place he couldn't interfere. But after spending several years in India, at another street fight he jumped into it, defending the beaten, and still there was not much he could do against that mad mob. And therefore I am sad...

Disclaimer: I don't intend to accuse my colleagues in anything, I still adore them as much. The situation is just a good example to picture cultural differences, and was not brought to the public to blame anybody for their behavior.