Monday, September 13, 2004
How is Louis doing in India !?
Today is the 2nd day since I landed in Hyderabad. I arrived Sat. at 4:30am and now the time is Sun. 12:30pm. First I want to say don't worry, I'm adapting very well here.
The place where I'm staying in is decent in Canadian standard and very luxurious in Indian standard. It is a 3 stories building with 5 rooms. Each room houses a TCS employee or contractor. Me and the other coop, Rohit, is sharing one room. The location of the house is at a place called Banjara Hills. It is considered as an upper class residential location. Kind of like the Mid-Hill section in Central, Hong Kong.
Yeah, washrooms in India are upside down. You'll believe anything I tell you about India, won't ya ?
There are 3 to 5 servants for the house. They clean, do laundry, cook, and stand-around doing nothing. Only the head servant can speak broken english, indian style. Rohit serves as a good translator between me and them. Even though it is difficult to communicate with them, they are good and friendly people. More like the Philipano maids in HK, except that they are males.
The chef and the .... well, dunno what he does specifically, but mainly housekeeping in general.
The food they cook is what you expect Indians will eat. The spicy level is not that bad, but every food here is spicy. When they have meal, there will be a yogurt side dish that you eat to reduce the spiciness in your mouth. Also, all dishes are vegetarian since all of the people in my house are. I kinda enjoy the food, but no way in hell am I going to eat this everyday. I'm going to cook myself tonight. And yes, they eat with their hands, and so do I. But no, they don't have the "eat with right hand, wipe ass with left hand" distinction.
There is always a sink near dining area for you to wash your hands.
Me and Rohit went out to check out the market and some tourist spots yesterday. The city is crowded and filled with crazy drivers. The driving style is even worst than HK. Something comparable to Macow. The worst thing is that there is no pedestian sidewalk. Everyone walk on the side of the road. And if you think HK is polluted, then you've gotta see the visible black smoke on the street.
Auto Rackshaw, a 3 wheeled mini-taxi. Our main means of transport.
The people you see on the street is like what you see in CNN. Muslim women all covered with black clothes and creepy tatoos showing on their hands. People sitting out and eating with their hands on the street while inhaling the black air. Little kids who come and beg you for a dollar or two. I usually ignore the kids, but Rohit will give them a rupee or two. He is a very good guy, since the reason why he couldn't sleep last night was that he is distrubed to see the kids begging. And I can sense that he is genuine when he says that.
Anyways, that's all for now. We'll be heading to a Hindu temple now. I'll post my pictures later this week when I go to work.
The place where I'm staying in is decent in Canadian standard and very luxurious in Indian standard. It is a 3 stories building with 5 rooms. Each room houses a TCS employee or contractor. Me and the other coop, Rohit, is sharing one room. The location of the house is at a place called Banjara Hills. It is considered as an upper class residential location. Kind of like the Mid-Hill section in Central, Hong Kong.
Yeah, washrooms in India are upside down. You'll believe anything I tell you about India, won't ya ?
There are 3 to 5 servants for the house. They clean, do laundry, cook, and stand-around doing nothing. Only the head servant can speak broken english, indian style. Rohit serves as a good translator between me and them. Even though it is difficult to communicate with them, they are good and friendly people. More like the Philipano maids in HK, except that they are males.
The chef and the .... well, dunno what he does specifically, but mainly housekeeping in general.
The food they cook is what you expect Indians will eat. The spicy level is not that bad, but every food here is spicy. When they have meal, there will be a yogurt side dish that you eat to reduce the spiciness in your mouth. Also, all dishes are vegetarian since all of the people in my house are. I kinda enjoy the food, but no way in hell am I going to eat this everyday. I'm going to cook myself tonight. And yes, they eat with their hands, and so do I. But no, they don't have the "eat with right hand, wipe ass with left hand" distinction.
There is always a sink near dining area for you to wash your hands.
Me and Rohit went out to check out the market and some tourist spots yesterday. The city is crowded and filled with crazy drivers. The driving style is even worst than HK. Something comparable to Macow. The worst thing is that there is no pedestian sidewalk. Everyone walk on the side of the road. And if you think HK is polluted, then you've gotta see the visible black smoke on the street.
Auto Rackshaw, a 3 wheeled mini-taxi. Our main means of transport.
The people you see on the street is like what you see in CNN. Muslim women all covered with black clothes and creepy tatoos showing on their hands. People sitting out and eating with their hands on the street while inhaling the black air. Little kids who come and beg you for a dollar or two. I usually ignore the kids, but Rohit will give them a rupee or two. He is a very good guy, since the reason why he couldn't sleep last night was that he is distrubed to see the kids begging. And I can sense that he is genuine when he says that.
Anyways, that's all for now. We'll be heading to a Hindu temple now. I'll post my pictures later this week when I go to work.
