Thursday, October 28, 2004
Mumbai = Bombay
The coming long weekend, me and my buddy Rohit are going to visit Mumbai (aka Bombay). He got relatives there, so we are going to stay with his relatives. It should be a fun week.
Later.
Later.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
SriSailam Part 2, Bat Cave !
On day 2 of our SriSailam trip, we decided to take the cave tour offered at the boat port. So we got up at around 8 in the morning, ready to head out.
The boat port.
The nice quite boat port that we went to the day before was flooded with people. Why are people there ? Shower, of course !
Just like the pictures you see in books about travelling in India.
Also, they have a very interesting, or should I say primitive, type of "boat" that the local fisherman uses. More accurately, those "boat" should be called plate.
See the "plates" standing ? They use it for boating !
Lost in Sea.
Of course we didn't ride on those "boats". But during our boat ride, our propeller got stuck to the fishing nets that were laid by the fisherman. Luckily, the coast guards came to rescue.
Coast Guards to the Rescue !
Coast Guards taking off after a job well-done.
Man, seeing those coast guards reminds me of a book I used to hate, Lord of the Flies. You guys remember that book from gr. 10/11 english ? I wonder whether the coast guards got a pig on a stick on the island they are from.
After 40 mins of boat ride, we arrived at a sacred entrance to a cave. You cannot find any trace of human existances except for the 3 priests that live there. It is a virgin territory that is not contaminated by profit-driven companies. There was no store, or trail, or path, or lights, or electricity. Just pure nature. We even had to climb up to get there.
Peace, and nature.
(Priests thought:) Chinese ?
Inside the cave, there is a mini statue of a Hinduism god. The statue rose from the ground naturally. It wasn't anything artificial. But that wasn't really the interesting part for Rohit and I. Instead, it's the cave itself that's interesting.
Inside it, there is nothing but total darkness. It was humid, hot, and small. We had to bend down during most of the walk. The tour guide brought 10 people in and there was only 2 flash lights. We had to use the LCD screen from our cameras as the only source light so that we can see where we are going.
Have any of you seen "Exorcist: The Beginning" ? The new one. In the end of the movie, the father had go down into the cave to fight the devil. That is the kinda place we've been to, except it was much much darker.
Don't let the brightness of this picture fool ya. The picture is bright only because of the camera's flash light. It was much much darker inside. If you put your hand out, you won't be able to see it.
After 15 mins of walking, we heard unusual flapping sound in the air. We also felt a light breeze that hit our face from time to time. This is unusual for a small humid cave that has absolutely no ventilation. When we lift up our camera from pointing to the ground to pointing forward so that we can see whats in the air, we saw the following :
BAT !!!
Kid you not. That scared the shit outta us. It was like "Blair Witch Project" + "Exorcist" + "Dracula" + the most scariest shit you've ever seen in your life. Want to see how scared we were ?
No acting involved. You can see the pure fear within our eyes.
Of course, after the 20 seconds of initial shock, we returned to our old cool and calm selves. To see the mini-statue, we had to crawl pass a whole dozen of bats to cramp into the little space to see it. Since the space was so small, we had to do it one at a time. I headed in first. I ducked my head down so that the bats won't get my face. Hearing all the flapping sound all around you while you are crawling in virtually total darkness is one hell of an experience. Now that I think back, I realize I've more courage that I thought. But of course I spent as less time as possible seeing the statue. The only thing that was in my mind that time was "GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE !!!"
After everyone had their chances to see it, we finally headed back out to the entrance. I was never that glad to see sunlight. All of us were sweating like hell.
Anyways, so that was my close-encounter experience that I have with bats. Later.
The boat port.
The nice quite boat port that we went to the day before was flooded with people. Why are people there ? Shower, of course !
Just like the pictures you see in books about travelling in India.
Also, they have a very interesting, or should I say primitive, type of "boat" that the local fisherman uses. More accurately, those "boat" should be called plate.
See the "plates" standing ? They use it for boating !
Lost in Sea.
Of course we didn't ride on those "boats". But during our boat ride, our propeller got stuck to the fishing nets that were laid by the fisherman. Luckily, the coast guards came to rescue.
Coast Guards to the Rescue !
Coast Guards taking off after a job well-done.
Man, seeing those coast guards reminds me of a book I used to hate, Lord of the Flies. You guys remember that book from gr. 10/11 english ? I wonder whether the coast guards got a pig on a stick on the island they are from.
After 40 mins of boat ride, we arrived at a sacred entrance to a cave. You cannot find any trace of human existances except for the 3 priests that live there. It is a virgin territory that is not contaminated by profit-driven companies. There was no store, or trail, or path, or lights, or electricity. Just pure nature. We even had to climb up to get there.
Peace, and nature.
(Priests thought:) Chinese ?
Inside the cave, there is a mini statue of a Hinduism god. The statue rose from the ground naturally. It wasn't anything artificial. But that wasn't really the interesting part for Rohit and I. Instead, it's the cave itself that's interesting.
Inside it, there is nothing but total darkness. It was humid, hot, and small. We had to bend down during most of the walk. The tour guide brought 10 people in and there was only 2 flash lights. We had to use the LCD screen from our cameras as the only source light so that we can see where we are going.
Have any of you seen "Exorcist: The Beginning" ? The new one. In the end of the movie, the father had go down into the cave to fight the devil. That is the kinda place we've been to, except it was much much darker.
Don't let the brightness of this picture fool ya. The picture is bright only because of the camera's flash light. It was much much darker inside. If you put your hand out, you won't be able to see it.
After 15 mins of walking, we heard unusual flapping sound in the air. We also felt a light breeze that hit our face from time to time. This is unusual for a small humid cave that has absolutely no ventilation. When we lift up our camera from pointing to the ground to pointing forward so that we can see whats in the air, we saw the following :
BAT !!!
Kid you not. That scared the shit outta us. It was like "Blair Witch Project" + "Exorcist" + "Dracula" + the most scariest shit you've ever seen in your life. Want to see how scared we were ?
No acting involved. You can see the pure fear within our eyes.
Of course, after the 20 seconds of initial shock, we returned to our old cool and calm selves. To see the mini-statue, we had to crawl pass a whole dozen of bats to cramp into the little space to see it. Since the space was so small, we had to do it one at a time. I headed in first. I ducked my head down so that the bats won't get my face. Hearing all the flapping sound all around you while you are crawling in virtually total darkness is one hell of an experience. Now that I think back, I realize I've more courage that I thought. But of course I spent as less time as possible seeing the statue. The only thing that was in my mind that time was "GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE !!!"
After everyone had their chances to see it, we finally headed back out to the entrance. I was never that glad to see sunlight. All of us were sweating like hell.
Anyways, so that was my close-encounter experience that I have with bats. Later.
Monday, October 25, 2004
SriSailam Part 1, Nature's Beauty
Hello Ladies and Gents,
This weekend was a long weekend for us. We got friday off. A friend of a friend of a friend, Nana, who also works in the same building as us, invited us to a place called SriSailam. The SriSailam place is a small village where ppl go for spiritual retreat and relaxation. Other than Nana, there were 2 other guys who went to the trip also. All 3 of them were friends from IIM, the top business school for MBA in India. The trip is a 2-day-1-night trip.
The guys from IIM (Rohit is holding the camera).
Originally we thought the trip was not gonna be fun, because the guys might be going there for their spiritual needs (ie. praying all day). But we were wrong. Those guys are there for the nature instead.
The ride there was fun. Because the mini-van that those guys rented was comfortably ghetto. Sitting at the backseats will make you feel like you were a refugee being transported across the border. Mind you that we actually liked the experience.
See how the backseat has their backs on the side ? That's what gave it the refugee touch to the whole experience.
To get to SriSailam, we had to drive across a big river where the dam is. When our car got to the point where we could see the whole view of the dam and the scenary, my heart was screaming out like never before. The natural beauty is indescribable. That is the kinda thing that I've been living for to see. To put things into perspective for you guys, imagine all the nice scenary you see in the movie Lord of the Rings. That is the kinda stuff I'm talking about.
The bridge across the river.
The first day wasn't really that interesting to talk about except for the nature's beauty. We went down 1000 stairs to a boat port. Toke a boat trip to the dam and back. Then went to see some monkeys. Lastly, we visited a temple. So I'll let the pictures and Rohit's blog do the detailed talk. But do stay tuned for day 2 thou, cuz that's when we hit the bat cave.
Dam Rohit
Crossing the bridge.
Native woman in deep thoughts.
Hut near the boat port.
Priest who lives in those huts, or on the road.
Up to the temple.
Guardians of the temple.
This weekend was a long weekend for us. We got friday off. A friend of a friend of a friend, Nana, who also works in the same building as us, invited us to a place called SriSailam. The SriSailam place is a small village where ppl go for spiritual retreat and relaxation. Other than Nana, there were 2 other guys who went to the trip also. All 3 of them were friends from IIM, the top business school for MBA in India. The trip is a 2-day-1-night trip.
The guys from IIM (Rohit is holding the camera).
Originally we thought the trip was not gonna be fun, because the guys might be going there for their spiritual needs (ie. praying all day). But we were wrong. Those guys are there for the nature instead.
The ride there was fun. Because the mini-van that those guys rented was comfortably ghetto. Sitting at the backseats will make you feel like you were a refugee being transported across the border. Mind you that we actually liked the experience.
See how the backseat has their backs on the side ? That's what gave it the refugee touch to the whole experience.
To get to SriSailam, we had to drive across a big river where the dam is. When our car got to the point where we could see the whole view of the dam and the scenary, my heart was screaming out like never before. The natural beauty is indescribable. That is the kinda thing that I've been living for to see. To put things into perspective for you guys, imagine all the nice scenary you see in the movie Lord of the Rings. That is the kinda stuff I'm talking about.
The bridge across the river.
The first day wasn't really that interesting to talk about except for the nature's beauty. We went down 1000 stairs to a boat port. Toke a boat trip to the dam and back. Then went to see some monkeys. Lastly, we visited a temple. So I'll let the pictures and Rohit's blog do the detailed talk. But do stay tuned for day 2 thou, cuz that's when we hit the bat cave.
Dam Rohit
Crossing the bridge.
Native woman in deep thoughts.
Hut near the boat port.
Priest who lives in those huts, or on the road.
Up to the temple.
Guardians of the temple.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Stipend
My sickness is FINALLY improving. No more sniffing throughout the day. That 270 ruppees was well worth the money.
This weekend we are gonna stay in Hyderabad cuz of poor trip planning. For Ahmed and 40's (the 2 coops in Chennai), they are staying in Chennai also. Doh. (To them both:) Sorry guys, but we'll for sure do something next weekend.
So, lets move on to yet another "The Wonders of India ..." story !!
Today, I'm gonna teach you guys a new word that you Canadian folks might not be so familiar of. Stipend.
From wwww.m-w.com, we have:
One entry found for stipend.
Main Entry: sti·pend
Pronunciation: 'stI-"pend, -p&nd
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, alteration of stipendy, from Latin stipendium, from stip-, stips gift + pendere to weigh, pay
: a fixed sum of money paid periodically for services or to defray expenses
In other word, it means salary. So what's the interesting story behind the word stipend besides the fact that we only get 10K ruppees = $228 CDN for our stipend per month ? The interesting story is, we didn't even get our 10K ruppees stipend. Actually, I should put it more clearly. We didn't get our 10K ruppees on time. Rather, it was delayed for 2 weeks until something happened.
The general working culture here is like that. As long as it is not an employee's critical line of work, meaning their boss won't care, they tend to do what university students do the best, procrastinate.
We asked the HR department to pay us at the end of last month. It toke them a few days to reply. Their reply was basically, "Please take this issue to the accounting department." Ok, so we toke it to the accounting department. We emailed them. Waited a few days. No reply. We emailed again. They replied. Some guy came to our desk and toke down our info, saying he'll "follow up on it", with not a really friendly attitude. We waited another few days. At this point, it has been a week or 2 already, and our cash stash is running low. Arrrgghhh .....
Luckily, our savior appeared. The guesthouse where we are staying have a constant stream of high-up employees coming in-and-out, living for a few days or weeks. So we always need to socialize with these ppl during breakfast, or dinner. That night, it just so happens that the global head of HR is staying at our guesthouse.
On a side note, for those who don't know, TCS (the company i'm working for) is huge. It has development centres all over India. It even has development centres in Europe , US, and Canada too. That is how me and the other coop got hired. Their clients/partners are companies like Microsoft, GE, P&G, and many many others. One time we even had breakfast with the head for the electronic warefare group. (think MI2 or Enemy of the State) For those who are interested, this is their website: www.tcs.com
Our company's building at Hyderabad
Anyways, back to the story. That guy asked us how did we find the company. Because he is the VP for the company's general effectiveness (i.e. HR), so he wanted the view of us since we work at the lower level and we can contrast TCS with other US/Canadian companies that we've worked for in the past.
We, being the humble and young Canadian students who don't wanna piss him off and get our ass fired, told him that generally there is not difference, in an elablorated kinda way of coure. He seemed happy. And the atmosphere is nothing but joyful.
So he asked, "What do you find that you guys are not happy about ?"
Rohit tried to maintain the happy atmosphere by saying jokingly, "Well, we'll like to get paid."
"Hahahahahaha ...." He laughed. He thought that was a good one. 10 seconds later, we didn't say anything more. He realized that we were serious.
"So you guys didn't get paid yet?"
"We don't really mind because the money that our parents gave us can still last for a while. And generally the accounting department has been helpful. Afterall, we don't have a bank account in India, so it'll take them longer to pay us in cash."
That's Rohit's desparate attempt to say something that's politically correct and understanding. But man, that guy was ennrrraagggged !!
"NO NO. That is not how the any companies should be. Have you talked with **Accounting department's head name** yet ?"
Why the fuck would we contact him/her when we are just lowly coop who get a stipend of 10K ruppees = $228 CDN.
"Nope. But we did contact some employees in the accounting department."
"How about **Hyderabad's HR head name** ?"
"Nope. But we also contact some other employees in the HR department a while ago."
Wow. He is pissed. Afterwards, he tried, with his desperate attempt, to explain to us why the accounting department might be so slow on these things. But we know that it is all BS so that us 2 Canadian coops don't have a bad image of the company. After the dinner, he gave us his buiness card, telling us to contact him if we still haven't get paid in a few days.
The next day, the same guy from the accounting department who came to toke our info came to us and brought us the money. I dunno whether the Global HR head did something or not, but I surely do enjoyed seeing the nice and friendly smile on that accounting department dude's face. :)
This weekend we are gonna stay in Hyderabad cuz of poor trip planning. For Ahmed and 40's (the 2 coops in Chennai), they are staying in Chennai also. Doh. (To them both:) Sorry guys, but we'll for sure do something next weekend.
So, lets move on to yet another "The Wonders of India ..." story !!
Today, I'm gonna teach you guys a new word that you Canadian folks might not be so familiar of. Stipend.
From wwww.m-w.com, we have:
One entry found for stipend.
Main Entry: sti·pend
Pronunciation: 'stI-"pend, -p&nd
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, alteration of stipendy, from Latin stipendium, from stip-, stips gift + pendere to weigh, pay
: a fixed sum of money paid periodically for services or to defray expenses
In other word, it means salary. So what's the interesting story behind the word stipend besides the fact that we only get 10K ruppees = $228 CDN for our stipend per month ? The interesting story is, we didn't even get our 10K ruppees stipend. Actually, I should put it more clearly. We didn't get our 10K ruppees on time. Rather, it was delayed for 2 weeks until something happened.
The general working culture here is like that. As long as it is not an employee's critical line of work, meaning their boss won't care, they tend to do what university students do the best, procrastinate.
We asked the HR department to pay us at the end of last month. It toke them a few days to reply. Their reply was basically, "Please take this issue to the accounting department." Ok, so we toke it to the accounting department. We emailed them. Waited a few days. No reply. We emailed again. They replied. Some guy came to our desk and toke down our info, saying he'll "follow up on it", with not a really friendly attitude. We waited another few days. At this point, it has been a week or 2 already, and our cash stash is running low. Arrrgghhh .....
Luckily, our savior appeared. The guesthouse where we are staying have a constant stream of high-up employees coming in-and-out, living for a few days or weeks. So we always need to socialize with these ppl during breakfast, or dinner. That night, it just so happens that the global head of HR is staying at our guesthouse.
On a side note, for those who don't know, TCS (the company i'm working for) is huge. It has development centres all over India. It even has development centres in Europe , US, and Canada too. That is how me and the other coop got hired. Their clients/partners are companies like Microsoft, GE, P&G, and many many others. One time we even had breakfast with the head for the electronic warefare group. (think MI2 or Enemy of the State) For those who are interested, this is their website: www.tcs.com
Our company's building at Hyderabad
Anyways, back to the story. That guy asked us how did we find the company. Because he is the VP for the company's general effectiveness (i.e. HR), so he wanted the view of us since we work at the lower level and we can contrast TCS with other US/Canadian companies that we've worked for in the past.
We, being the humble and young Canadian students who don't wanna piss him off and get our ass fired, told him that generally there is not difference, in an elablorated kinda way of coure. He seemed happy. And the atmosphere is nothing but joyful.
So he asked, "What do you find that you guys are not happy about ?"
Rohit tried to maintain the happy atmosphere by saying jokingly, "Well, we'll like to get paid."
"Hahahahahaha ...." He laughed. He thought that was a good one. 10 seconds later, we didn't say anything more. He realized that we were serious.
"So you guys didn't get paid yet?"
"We don't really mind because the money that our parents gave us can still last for a while. And generally the accounting department has been helpful. Afterall, we don't have a bank account in India, so it'll take them longer to pay us in cash."
That's Rohit's desparate attempt to say something that's politically correct and understanding. But man, that guy was ennrrraagggged !!
"NO NO. That is not how the any companies should be. Have you talked with **Accounting department's head name** yet ?"
Why the fuck would we contact him/her when we are just lowly coop who get a stipend of 10K ruppees = $228 CDN.
"Nope. But we did contact some employees in the accounting department."
"How about **Hyderabad's HR head name** ?"
"Nope. But we also contact some other employees in the HR department a while ago."
Wow. He is pissed. Afterwards, he tried, with his desperate attempt, to explain to us why the accounting department might be so slow on these things. But we know that it is all BS so that us 2 Canadian coops don't have a bad image of the company. After the dinner, he gave us his buiness card, telling us to contact him if we still haven't get paid in a few days.
The next day, the same guy from the accounting department who came to toke our info came to us and brought us the money. I dunno whether the Global HR head did something or not, but I surely do enjoyed seeing the nice and friendly smile on that accounting department dude's face. :)
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Long Weekend = More Hyderabad ....
Crap. I'm still sick and it's already the 10th day already. I feel that I'm improving, but this illness is becoming an annoyance now more than a concern.
And we still don't have a plan for the long weekend yet. Double crap. Originally we are gonna go to Kerala. But that trip is gonna be pretty physically demanding, and I'm sick, so we don't wanna take our chances. So this long weekend we'll probably be probably we in Hyderabad again, just like last weekend.
Hmm ..... whats interesting in the last weekend ....... well, we went to a train station that is not operational yet ....... the doors there were loosely locked, so I opened it and went in. The guard didn't really care. That's something I learned in India. The only rule they have is there is no rule. As long as you are a foreigner, and you act confident and nice and touriscy, you can go a long way.
The train station.
Hindi, anyone ?
Me and that security dude.
Trains don't stop at this new station yet.
We are not the only wanderers of the supposingly restricted train station.
Anyways, is 9pm now, so we better take off from the office. Gonna post my pics up tomorrow. Later.
And we still don't have a plan for the long weekend yet. Double crap. Originally we are gonna go to Kerala. But that trip is gonna be pretty physically demanding, and I'm sick, so we don't wanna take our chances. So this long weekend we'll probably be probably we in Hyderabad again, just like last weekend.
Hmm ..... whats interesting in the last weekend ....... well, we went to a train station that is not operational yet ....... the doors there were loosely locked, so I opened it and went in. The guard didn't really care. That's something I learned in India. The only rule they have is there is no rule. As long as you are a foreigner, and you act confident and nice and touriscy, you can go a long way.
The train station.
Hindi, anyone ?
Me and that security dude.
Trains don't stop at this new station yet.
We are not the only wanderers of the supposingly restricted train station.
Anyways, is 9pm now, so we better take off from the office. Gonna post my pics up tomorrow. Later.
Friday, October 15, 2004
HK Movie Star #2 - East Asia Strategic Development CM
Still sick. Saw the doctor today. He gave me some anti-biotic. Hopefully I'll get better during the weekend. If not, I'll have to go for a blood test, a thing I wanna avoid.
So, the story that you all have been waiting for .......
HK Movie Star #2 - East Asia Strategic Development CM
One Sunday, me and Rohit was walking along the street, going back home after getting our haircut. We were walking along the street, probably talking about stuff. Suddenly, a guy pulled up from behind and tapped our shoulders.
"Heeellooo". He said.
We were a bit stunned cuz we didn't senses his presence when he approached. When we turned around, we saw a guy, mid to late 20s with mustache, who was carrying a pink backpack on his back.
"Hi". We responsed politely, and proceed on walking.
We are getting so used to being stopped by people by now. People who wants to sell you stuff; people who asks you for money without selling any stuff; people who shouts "HEY THERE, CHINESE GUY!". We usually just walk quickly away from these people.
But this guy was different. He was persistent. Annoyingly persistent.
"Where are you from, sir ?" The question that we've been asked 2349028402309 times.
"Canada." Rohit said. We kept walking.
"And you, sir ?"
"Hong Kong," with my usual nice-guy smile.
"Where are you heading ?"
WTF. People usually don't ask that kinda question. But I guessed he was just curious.
"Home."
"How long will you be staying in India ?"
"Well, we dunno, it depends on our travel schedule." We walked faster.
"What do you do ?"
"We work in the entertainment industry in Hong Kong." Yup, why not ?
"Where will you be going after India ?"
"We dunno yet, probably Europe."
"Can you take me with you ?"
You read it right, we heard it right. We got the same reaction as you do, WTF. Now this is getting scary. Maybe we are too good-looking ?
"Well, we don't really know where exactly and when are we going yet." Trying not to look surprised.
"It doesn't matter. I'll follow you wherever you go, whenever you go. Just bring me along with you."
The next 10 mins of the conversation was basically a repeat of the previous two sentences but put into different forms. We tried not to be rude and kept throwing him BS reasons, reasons that even a naive 10 yrs old would get. But he pushed on. He is a fighter. He is not going to go down that easily.
10 mins later, it has reached a point where we couldn't take it anymore. Our emotions has transformed from surprise, to confusion, to fustration, and eventually, to anger. We had to let it out.
"Look. We've only met you for 15 mins, so we are not going to bring you along with us to anywhere."
We thought he would be pissed. But so were we. We also thought that he would get away, but we underestimated his urge to tag along us two Canadians. He looked straight into our eyes, and said,
"No problem, sir. We can start with a small friendship. And we can develop that into a bigger friendship."
Ouuu~~~ yeah, I still shiver from that even until now. When a guy with a mustache wearing a pink backpack is saying this to you with his eyes onto yours, you get nightmares at night.
"So can you take me with you ?"
"NO." Rohit fought back directly.
"I will do anything. Just bring me along with you."
"No, I'm sorry." I said, trying to remain calm.
"Can't you do anything to help me ?"
"Nope, sorry."
The next 5 mins is another fight. This time we kept on using direct No's with a polite, but "F-off", tone. But this guy is good. He is seriously willing to do anything. Anything to follow two guys that he've only met for 20 mins to anywhere in the world doing anything.
So we gave up. There is no way in hell we could've won this. So I switched to plan-B, or should I say, plan-BS.
"Maybe there is a way we can help. Why don't you send us your resume online and we'll have our company hook you up ? But make sure your write our names on your cover letter."
"Ding ding ding. I WON !," that guy probably thought.
He quickly got out his pen and paper from his backpack to get down our names and the company's web site. I wrote www.eeg.com for website, which really should've been www.eegmusic.com. For name, I wrote Tony Lee.
"Ahh, Tony Lee. Nice meeting you sir. Sir, what is your title ?"
Hmmmmm ....... something sounds executive like and relates to my trip to India .....
"East Asia Strategic Development CM."
You want to come with us you said ? You'll have to pay. (This picture got nothing to do with the story. Just thought it is cool to show it.)
So that was it. He finally went his own way, thinking that he met an executive of a Hong Kong music company and landed on an opportunity to get the hell out of this place.
I wonder what he would think when he goes to the www.eeg.com website ....
So, the story that you all have been waiting for .......
HK Movie Star #2 - East Asia Strategic Development CM
One Sunday, me and Rohit was walking along the street, going back home after getting our haircut. We were walking along the street, probably talking about stuff. Suddenly, a guy pulled up from behind and tapped our shoulders.
"Heeellooo". He said.
We were a bit stunned cuz we didn't senses his presence when he approached. When we turned around, we saw a guy, mid to late 20s with mustache, who was carrying a pink backpack on his back.
"Hi". We responsed politely, and proceed on walking.
We are getting so used to being stopped by people by now. People who wants to sell you stuff; people who asks you for money without selling any stuff; people who shouts "HEY THERE, CHINESE GUY!". We usually just walk quickly away from these people.
But this guy was different. He was persistent. Annoyingly persistent.
"Where are you from, sir ?" The question that we've been asked 2349028402309 times.
"Canada." Rohit said. We kept walking.
"And you, sir ?"
"Hong Kong," with my usual nice-guy smile.
"Where are you heading ?"
WTF. People usually don't ask that kinda question. But I guessed he was just curious.
"Home."
"How long will you be staying in India ?"
"Well, we dunno, it depends on our travel schedule." We walked faster.
"What do you do ?"
"We work in the entertainment industry in Hong Kong." Yup, why not ?
"Where will you be going after India ?"
"We dunno yet, probably Europe."
"Can you take me with you ?"
You read it right, we heard it right. We got the same reaction as you do, WTF. Now this is getting scary. Maybe we are too good-looking ?
"Well, we don't really know where exactly and when are we going yet." Trying not to look surprised.
"It doesn't matter. I'll follow you wherever you go, whenever you go. Just bring me along with you."
The next 10 mins of the conversation was basically a repeat of the previous two sentences but put into different forms. We tried not to be rude and kept throwing him BS reasons, reasons that even a naive 10 yrs old would get. But he pushed on. He is a fighter. He is not going to go down that easily.
10 mins later, it has reached a point where we couldn't take it anymore. Our emotions has transformed from surprise, to confusion, to fustration, and eventually, to anger. We had to let it out.
"Look. We've only met you for 15 mins, so we are not going to bring you along with us to anywhere."
We thought he would be pissed. But so were we. We also thought that he would get away, but we underestimated his urge to tag along us two Canadians. He looked straight into our eyes, and said,
"No problem, sir. We can start with a small friendship. And we can develop that into a bigger friendship."
Ouuu~~~ yeah, I still shiver from that even until now. When a guy with a mustache wearing a pink backpack is saying this to you with his eyes onto yours, you get nightmares at night.
"So can you take me with you ?"
"NO." Rohit fought back directly.
"I will do anything. Just bring me along with you."
"No, I'm sorry." I said, trying to remain calm.
"Can't you do anything to help me ?"
"Nope, sorry."
The next 5 mins is another fight. This time we kept on using direct No's with a polite, but "F-off", tone. But this guy is good. He is seriously willing to do anything. Anything to follow two guys that he've only met for 20 mins to anywhere in the world doing anything.
So we gave up. There is no way in hell we could've won this. So I switched to plan-B, or should I say, plan-BS.
"Maybe there is a way we can help. Why don't you send us your resume online and we'll have our company hook you up ? But make sure your write our names on your cover letter."
"Ding ding ding. I WON !," that guy probably thought.
He quickly got out his pen and paper from his backpack to get down our names and the company's web site. I wrote www.eeg.com for website, which really should've been www.eegmusic.com. For name, I wrote Tony Lee.
"Ahh, Tony Lee. Nice meeting you sir. Sir, what is your title ?"
Hmmmmm ....... something sounds executive like and relates to my trip to India .....
"East Asia Strategic Development CM."
You want to come with us you said ? You'll have to pay. (This picture got nothing to do with the story. Just thought it is cool to show it.)
So that was it. He finally went his own way, thinking that he met an executive of a Hong Kong music company and landed on an opportunity to get the hell out of this place.
I wonder what he would think when he goes to the www.eeg.com website ....
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Bangalore VS Hyderabad
Before I go for the day, I wanna add some comments on the differences that I've noticed between Hyderabad (city where I'm in) and Bangalore (city where I've visited).
Difference #1 :
===============
Streets in Bangalore have sidewalks; Hyderabad don't.
Street with sidewalk in Bangalore
Difference #2 :
===============
Bangalore has a lot of big trees along the sidewalks; Hyderabad don't.
Sidewalks with big tree in Bangalore.
Difference #3 :
===============
Bangalore's auto (India's 3-wheeled mini taxi) has digital meter; Hyderabad don't.
No wonder they call Bangalore the high-tech IT hub.
Difference #4 :
===============
Bangalore has KFC; Hyderabad don't.
Toonie Tuesday, sir ?
Difference #5 :
===============
Bangalore has a lot of Asian people; Well ....... Hyderabad got Santa with curry.
Asian GIRLS !!!! Yeah yeah, they are ugly. But you can't ask for much when you are in India.
Difference #1 :
===============
Streets in Bangalore have sidewalks; Hyderabad don't.
Street with sidewalk in Bangalore
Difference #2 :
===============
Bangalore has a lot of big trees along the sidewalks; Hyderabad don't.
Sidewalks with big tree in Bangalore.
Difference #3 :
===============
Bangalore's auto (India's 3-wheeled mini taxi) has digital meter; Hyderabad don't.
No wonder they call Bangalore the high-tech IT hub.
Difference #4 :
===============
Bangalore has KFC; Hyderabad don't.
Toonie Tuesday, sir ?
Difference #5 :
===============
Bangalore has a lot of Asian people; Well ....... Hyderabad got Santa with curry.
Asian GIRLS !!!! Yeah yeah, they are ugly. But you can't ask for much when you are in India.
Bangalore ? ....... *yawn* ~~~
The Bangalore trip made me sick. Literally sick. We came back Monday morning after the long bus trip, I went to work for half a day, then went back home. Tuesday morning I thought I was alright, but the illness hit me again starting from the afternoon, so I went home. Wednesday, I came back to see the doctor. Yeah, our office building got a doctor that comes in every Mon, Wed, Fri mornings. But he was more interested in the reason why a Chinese dude is in Inida more than my sickness. He gave me 1 day dosage of pills. So I went back home, thinking I would recover in just one day from those pills. That leaves us to today, Thursday, and I'm still sick. Great. Think I'll go see the doc again tomorrow, and harrass him for some anti-biotic.
So, how was the Bangalore trip, you ask ? Well, it sux. Bangalore is supposed to be known for its so-call night life. We were really hyped up before the trip. But apparently, night life there only last till 11:30pm. There are one or two places that opens until 1:30pm. We went to one, and they have this "couples only" rule, which rejected our entrance. Great. Went to another place at around 12:45am. Entrance fee = 1000 rupees. No way were we gonna pay 100 Dosas (ie. an Indian food that costs 10 rupees) for 45 mins of fun. So we left. All in all, our "clubbing" experience in Bangalore can only be described by this picture :
Anyways, that was the Saturday part of our trip. Now Sunday is a different story. Why ? Because Sunday is when the Bang actually, literally, happened at Bangalore. Hmm ..... I'm thinking whether or not I should write about this stuff on my blog. Want to keep this blog clean. But if you people are interested, leave a comment and I might post it. And no, it got nothing to do with us. It was just something we saw
when we were at the park ..... err, I'll shut up now.
So, what else is there to talk about ......... well, did I mentioned I am sick ? Yeah ......
Crap, can't really focus my mind. Guess I'll just post some pics from this trip. For a detailed summary of what actually happened on the trip (ie. where we went, what we saw), you guys can check out Rohit's blog.
TCS (company which we work for) guest house (where we stayed) at Bangalore. (I kid you not, it is a fricking resort by itself)
Ahmed, the other coop from Chennai, committing suicide because of the clubbing night at Bangalore.
Outside of the crappy musuem that we didn't went into.
Fountain in the park where the Bang happened.
Street of Bangalore.
The "comfortable" (as told by our agent) bus which we did our sightseeing with.
So, how was the Bangalore trip, you ask ? Well, it sux. Bangalore is supposed to be known for its so-call night life. We were really hyped up before the trip. But apparently, night life there only last till 11:30pm. There are one or two places that opens until 1:30pm. We went to one, and they have this "couples only" rule, which rejected our entrance. Great. Went to another place at around 12:45am. Entrance fee = 1000 rupees. No way were we gonna pay 100 Dosas (ie. an Indian food that costs 10 rupees) for 45 mins of fun. So we left. All in all, our "clubbing" experience in Bangalore can only be described by this picture :
Anyways, that was the Saturday part of our trip. Now Sunday is a different story. Why ? Because Sunday is when the Bang actually, literally, happened at Bangalore. Hmm ..... I'm thinking whether or not I should write about this stuff on my blog. Want to keep this blog clean. But if you people are interested, leave a comment and I might post it. And no, it got nothing to do with us. It was just something we saw
when we were at the park ..... err, I'll shut up now.
So, what else is there to talk about ......... well, did I mentioned I am sick ? Yeah ......
Crap, can't really focus my mind. Guess I'll just post some pics from this trip. For a detailed summary of what actually happened on the trip (ie. where we went, what we saw), you guys can check out Rohit's blog.
TCS (company which we work for) guest house (where we stayed) at Bangalore. (I kid you not, it is a fricking resort by itself)
Ahmed, the other coop from Chennai, committing suicide because of the clubbing night at Bangalore.
Outside of the crappy musuem that we didn't went into.
Fountain in the park where the Bang happened.
Street of Bangalore.
The "comfortable" (as told by our agent) bus which we did our sightseeing with.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
New Look !
Finally toke some time to fix this stupid blog layout so that the pictures will fit. Used another new template. Hope you guys like it. Btw, in case you haven't notice, I've put down my mailing address on the side bar, so you know what to do. And no, don't mail me curry. :P
Toke too much time on changing the layout. Gonna talk about the HK Movie Star #2 next time. Probably not tomorrow, cuz tomorrow is our Bangalore trip.
For those who care and wanna track us, we'll be taking a coach bus on Friday night at 8:30pm and arrive in Bangalore in 10 to 12 hrs. So we'll be sleeping in the bus. Sat. night will be hotel. Then we'll get on a bus on Sun. night and get back to Hyderabad in time for work. Both mine and Rohit's cell phone will work across the state, so call us whenever.
Anyways, that's all for now. Gotta look up on some more info for Bangalore.
Hyderabad (Where I am) is at the centre. Bangalore (Where I'm going) is to the south.
Toke too much time on changing the layout. Gonna talk about the HK Movie Star #2 next time. Probably not tomorrow, cuz tomorrow is our Bangalore trip.
For those who care and wanna track us, we'll be taking a coach bus on Friday night at 8:30pm and arrive in Bangalore in 10 to 12 hrs. So we'll be sleeping in the bus. Sat. night will be hotel. Then we'll get on a bus on Sun. night and get back to Hyderabad in time for work. Both mine and Rohit's cell phone will work across the state, so call us whenever.
Anyways, that's all for now. Gotta look up on some more info for Bangalore.
Hyderabad (Where I am) is at the centre. Bangalore (Where I'm going) is to the south.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Photography in India
Hey, just want to post some nice pics we've taken that I really like. For those who like taking pictures, India is the place to be. The clothings that people wear are very colour, and the scenary has that ancient/cultural "touch" to it. So I'll shut up now and let you enjoy them.
Colours.
Mecca Sunset.
Child around colours.
Cows in the village.
House.
Street vendor moving.
Final Fantasy RL
On top of the ruins.
Colours.
Mecca Sunset.
Child around colours.
Cows in the village.
House.
Street vendor moving.
Final Fantasy RL
On top of the ruins.
To Bangalore !
We are going to head to Bangalore this weekend. It has been a big hassle to get tickets to Bangalore. Originally, we planned to take a train trip. When we got to the place that sell train tickets that is located at a really ghetto building, we found the train ride is quite expensive. A 2-way A/C 2nd class ticket costs around 2400 rupees, which is $66 Canadian. The fact that we earn only 10K rupees a month made us abandoned this option. Instead, we got bus ticket that costs 1700 rupees. (Yeah, 700 rupees = $20 Cdn is a huge difference when you are in India, because 700 rupees = 70 Dosas = 3 X 23 meals = living for 23 days in India) We heard that the bus is not bad at all. They are coach buses.
The ghetto train tickets reservation office.
The secretary lady in our group helped us alot on getting the tickets and even tried to get us accomondation. But we want to stay at a hotel thou. We'll see how it goes.
The ghetto train tickets reservation office.
The secretary lady in our group helped us alot on getting the tickets and even tried to get us accomondation. But we want to stay at a hotel thou. We'll see how it goes.
