Romit Mehta


XBOX ONE

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I am not a gamer, but I have an Xbox 360. I got it when Kinect was introduced and when they shifted the focus to entertainment. I am a happy customer, paying for Xbox LIVE Gold, and cannot wait to get the XBOX ONE.

[youtube www.youtube.com/watch

Update: Found this amazing Kinect video at Wired. Watch it all the way. It is awesome.

[youtube www.youtube.com/watch

Moving back to India? Some tips, tricks, suggestions and gotchas

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Now that we have decided to move back, I have been thinking hard, really hard about what could have been done differently, what could have changed our experience, and in general, how I can help anybody else in our place.

So here are some tips, tricks, suggestions and gotchas. If you are reading this and have any additional points to add, please let me know and I will gladly update the list.

These are just some of the thoughts that I could collect. I may keep adding to this  list over the next few weeks.

I realize that this may be something every person who returns to India may write, but I didn’t want that to stop my contribution. Hope this helps :-)

Lack of attention to detail, exhibit 223

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I wrote something earlier about how I felt frustrated with the lack of attention to detail with most Indian service providers (and software developers).

Our elevator recently got new wooden/laminate flooring. All good, except it seems like the goal was to “cover most of the floor” and not “do the flooring”. See how they have left about an inch off the edges? It’s not like they are going to put some sort of cover there. The flooring has been like this for 3 days now.

Sigh.

[caption id=“attachment_3243” align=“aligncenter” width=“300”]New flooring in elevator “Almost complete”[/caption]

Data Explorer for Excel: An experiment with Sachin Tendulkar

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Here is my attempt at using Data Explorer in Excel. I used it to extract Sachin Tendulkar’s runs by ground/location from ESPNCricinfo’s excellent Statsguru feature.

It was such a breeze to bring up the stats, get the URL, import it into Excel via Data Explorer and get running right away.

Then came the complications - there are some grounds like The Oval which are not really cities or locations. Also, there are some places like Surrey that default to US cities with the same name.

With some help from Dan English (@denglishbi) I was able to clean it up by concatenating the opposition name to the ground to at least get the country right.

The next issue was that since I was using the opposition name to derive the country, and since ESPNCricinfo does not distinguish between home and away, or include that as a column, all the matches showed up as “v “. So I had to run two queries on Statsguru: one for home where I then hard-coded “, India” and another for away where I added “, " and .

Then I used “append” in Data Explorer to merge the two data sets and then threw in a Power View Map on top of that data.

Sorry, the sexier part of this experiment, the Power View report is not visible on Excel Web App, so you will have to download it. :-(

Overall, I came away quite excited and pleased with Data Explorer and how easy it is for business users to build compelling analytics. Find more info at the Data Explorer for Excel blog.

[office src=“https://skydrive.live.com/embed?cid=BABF6748D49265DB&resid=BABF6748D49265DB%2115232&authkey=ALVYecHwMZygZe0&em=2&wdAllowInteractivity=False&wdHideGridlines=True&wdDownloadButton=True” width=“452” height=“346”]

Telling?

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We are on a small vacation. At this resort, one of the service staff asked my son where he is from. Without batting an eyelid, he said “America”.

I was a bit stunned, actually. We have not told our kids about our decision to move back, so it is not like he had a hint at all.

This does reinforce our hunch that the kids are not settled here at all, and are reacting negatively in their own ways (being more cranky, being different in behavior than they were, etc.).

Again, just wow at what happened.

It is time to move back

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Yes, after 5+ months of being in India, we have decided (after some weeks of discussion) that we are going to move back to the US. It was, for obvious reasons, not an easy call to make.

The decision was made because we got the letter from our kids' current school about registering for the next year, and since we were unhappy with how things were going here, we had to start seriously considering the options.

Some of the options we considered were moving to Bombay where our entire network is, staying put for a few years, or moving back. And we thought, all things considered, that moving back would in fact be the best option. Nobody has seen the future, but as far as we could see, it seemed like for all of us, it would work out well.

We have learned a lot here in the past several months. We have enjoyed many of the things we came to enjoy, like being in the same time zone as our parents, being closer to home, the convenience of having domestic help, getting things done by someone else (car wash, car drivers, etc.) and such. We have also, of course, been frustrated a lot. I have written about some of those examples in this blog earlier. The wife has even more examples of things not working out well for her.

And of course, the kids. They really miss their friends there. They are unable to connect with their classmates here like they had connected with their friends there (naturally, it takes time). There is not a single day that goes without them remembering their friends and something they did with them "back in Santa Clara". They don't protest the life here directly, they are too young to express it. They have changed for the worse instead, in terms of their behavior. They are more cranky, they are more dependent on us for the smallest of things, they have regressed a lot.

No idea about the timing when we move back, but it has to be before the school ends there so that we can at least enroll the kids for the next year. I have to think about my job too. Will keep that topic off the record for a variety of reasons.

The venture/adventure was worth it. Anyone who is planning to move, I strongly recommend actually doing it and experiencing it themselves. The adaptability and the comfort level will naturally be different for different people, so it is best to do it yourself. And if it does not work out, IMO it is definitely ok to cut your losses (so to speak), and wrap it up.

Which is what we are doing.

My ideal podcast app/service

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Much has been discussed among Windows Phone (and Windows 8/RT) circles about lack of podcast features in the phone and lack of a native app on big Windows.

I am a big podcast listener. Not huge, but I do listen to a few podcasts regularly. In fact, so regularly, that I have formed a nice list of things I would want in an ideal podcast app/service. The reason I put app/service is because we are now no longer in a single device world.

Some bonus territory items: Things I don't care about but I have seen in some apps: Too much to ask? Is there any podcast app/service that does this already? I think Downcast on iOS comes very close in terms of functionality but they are only on iOS so far, but have expressed that they may look at WP with no real commitment provided. The iOS Podcasts app does not seem to delete episodes after they are finished which is a bummer (either a bug or a feature, but either way, a bummer for me).

None of the Windows Phone 3rd party apps do auto-download yet. There are some in the process of getting released with promised functionality but none generally available yet.

The native Windows Phone feature does not have a manual check for new episodes, and there is no clear understanding when exactly it checks for new episodes. Besides, there is no corresponding app on Windows 8, and of course, there is no playback speed adjustment.

Let me know if you find any compatible apps :-)

Unprofessionalism

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While I have been less than impressed with how service providers behave here in India, what happened this morning as I got to my work really, really annoyed me and made my flip my table.

I have long suspected that my desk was being used by someone else when I was away. Of course, I haven’t been able to prove it, or convince the facilities folks about it. Nevertheless, what I saw this morning was enough to prove it.

I was unpleasantly surprised to see food marks all over my desk this morning. As if someone ate their food (sloppily, too) at my desk and left without cleaning up. It was absolutely disgusting to see those food marks all over the desk.

I barely found space to put my computer down and take some pictures to send to facilities and have them clean it up.

My irritation is as much with someone using my desk and associated problems like my chair being constantly switched, but the absolute unprofessionalism that one of my co-workers showed by not cleaning up after eating. It’s not like my cubicle seems abandoned - there are a bunch of cables lying around and of course, a giant monitor and my freaking name plate!

If my co-workers behave this way, what am I to expect from “the common man”? These are educated people working for a multinational company and if they care so little about such things, the situation is quite dire in general.

I know this may seem like an overreaction if you read it in vacuum, but the fact is I have been seeing similar unprofessional behavior all over the place across several people interactions I have had since I moved back.

At this point, it has been about 30 minutes, and nobody has responded from facilities. :-/

Some Nokia Lumia Cinemagraph Samples

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Some Cinemagraphs I created in the past week or so, and shared at Nokia Memories website.

[caption id=“attachment_3041” align=“aligncenter” width=“800”]Cinemagraph - Spinning top Cinemagraph - Spinning top[/caption]

See this on Nokia Cinemagraph sharing site.

 

[caption id=“attachment_3037” align=“alignnone” width=“448”]Cinemagraph - India Republic Day Cinemagraph - India Republic Day[/caption]

See this on Nokia’s Cinemagraph sharing site.

[caption id=“attachment_3039” align=“aligncenter” width=“800”]Cinemagraph - Swimming pool Cinemagraph - Swimming pool[/caption]

See this on Nokia’s Cinemagraph sharing site.

Taken for granted

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He had an ability to be awkward in family settings. He had “dad jokes” left and right. He was a philosopher. He was a Gandhian.

Despite all the quirks, he was a pillar for his wife. He was there whenever she needed him. He was there when the kids needed to be brought up and she was busy with her job. After all being an OB-GYN with a truckload of principles is not easy - you could get calls in the middle of the night for an impending delivery, or a surgery that must be done when it must be, etc.

He was there to pick up any of the many visitors coming to visit. He was there to drop off anyone at any time of the day or night, to any part of town. Despite his age.

He was the one who taught me defensive driving. He was the one who taught me how to drive fearlessly in the US. He was the one who made me aware of so many legal issues that plague a normal, law-abiding citizen in the US, and how to be wary of it and how to plan to handle it.

He was the one who taped curious news items (during those days where tapes were cool). He was the one who could always bring up a reference to some news or politics that related to the topic of conversation. He was the one who mined the local newspaper for tidbits to discuss at the breakfast table.

For all that he may have had to endure from extended family, he was probably one of the most taken-for-granted members of the family.

And now he is no more. Passed away in his sleep, just like he would probably plan it for himself. No pain, no trouble for family members to rush him to the hospital. No extended care. As usual, picked up his wife in the night from her job, went to bed reading a book like he always does, and (hopefully) painlessly moved on to a better place.

R.I.P. Masa. I will miss you.

The worst feeling

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Been sick for 2+ days now. The only position that is comfortable is lying down in bed.

Can’t think of worse feelings, physically at least.

My email to Airtel

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Here is what I just finished writing to Airtel:

 

I have two issues to report, one is major and one is minor. I will start with the minor:

A few days ago I tweeted to Airtel_Presence that I need the usage SMS stopped. This had been stopped earlier but for some strange reason it restarted. They said someone will get back to me. Yesterday someone called me and they confirmed that it has been stopped.

No, it hasn’t. This morning, I still got the SMS. How difficult is it to stop one SMS message? I shouldn’t have to call 5 times to get this one thing taken care of!

Now, the major issue. I have a smartphone, and I have mobile internet. So, I was surprised that yesterday I got an SMS that my phone calling will be suspended because I have gone over my credit limit. I was shocked, so I looked at my bill online and I saw the total but I didn’t see how it added up to that number. So I called 121.

I was explained that I had Rs. 700 worth of internet usage above my allotted capacity. I was surprised because I got no indication that I went over, during the billing cycle. (Let’s ignore the fact that this was nowhere on the billing details online.)

So I tried to reason with the customer care person that this should be waived. She kept reciting the rules, and I kept harping on the fact that I had no indication that I had gone over my limit. I requested to be transferred to the manager.

The manager went through the same nonsensical procedure of reciting the rules to me. I begged her finally, to waive and she created some sort of a case which would investigate the issue and provide the waiver (or not). Meanwhile, I told her about the suspension and she said that my line was not suspended at the time, and that she has put a note that until the case is resolved, it won’t be.

False. This morning when I tried to use my phone, I got the message that outgoing services had been suspended. I called 121 again. The first person I reached started with the same recitation of the rules and I had to tell her I understand all that, and while my case is being investigated, I just want my hold to be removed. She said she could not do it, and that she had put a call back request with her manager, who would call me back in a few minutes (even though, as she claimed, the SLA is 4 hours).

I waited for 30 minutes, and no call back. So I called 121 again, because I need my phone for my work! Reached customer care and once again I was made to go through the rules and I kept telling her that my call is not about my bill but about removing the hold, which according to the manager yesterday, should not even have happened.

She tried contacting her manager and said that she can only put a call back request and that the manager would call back in 4 hours. I told her it is unacceptable that the manager will call back in 4 hours. I said I will stay on hold until the manager is available. She waited for a few minutes and came back and said she will have to put the call back request. I stayed firm and said no way I am getting off the call without talking to the manager.

Finally, the manager came on the phone. She went through the exact same stuff that each and every person had gone through with me since yesterday. I had to tell her that this is not about the bill itself, because it is under review. This is about me using my phone immediately, and I need her to override.

Guess what? She disconnected the phone on me. Going against perhaps the first customer service rule, she hung up the phone on me. I was speechless.

If signing up for new service and porting number were not such a hassle, I would have left your service long, long ago. I am sorry to say, you are probably the worst company I have dealt with, ever.

I strongly suggest you call me back at the number in the subject line, and let me know the status of my issues. If not, my only option would be to go to consumer court.

Lumia 920 magic

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Some pics from last night. I took screenshot of the viewfinder to show what the naked eye can see. See the actual image that the phone camera took.

Magical.









The City

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As you land, there is a good chance the pilot will announce that it is hazy and warm.

The expected weather around the year is warm, hot or extremely hot. Throw in heavy rains at some point in the year.

Heavy rains are expected to stop the heavily used suburban trains due to flooding at least once a year.

Heavy rains also result in a few “rain days off” during the year.

The city is probably known for its tolerance as much as its communal riots.

It is probably also known more for the riots than the bomb blasts that preceded the riots.

The city has what used to be one of the largest slums in the world, and at the same time, it has restaurants with $500 bottles of wine that customers actually buy and consume.

It is one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the world. Rooms are small, apartments are small, and independent houses are almost non-existent.

And yet, whenever I am here, and especially now as I visit it from Bangalore, I feel at home. In my city.

Bombay.

No other city comes close.

Fish out of water?

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After about 3 months of being in India, and about a month-and-a-half of being in our “own place”, that’s the thought that came to mind on the drive to the office this morning. I am uncomfortable. The wife is uncomfortable. The kids are not directly uncomfortable but they have changed and are probably showing their disconnect by their changing (for the worse) behavior.

Fish out of water? Not quite, but fairly close. I was in the US for 16 years, and my wife for 12. The kids have only seen the US life and lifestyle. Neither my wife nor I have set up a family in India. I left India when I was still kinda under the security blanket of my parents.

It is not the traffic. It is not the lack of true, good friends. It is not the lack of discipline. It is not the lack of ownership. It is not the fact that despite being close to most of my team here in India, most of the management is still in the US so I am always “behind” on email because I have to react to management emails.

I think, for me, it is a little bit of everything above, and maybe some more. I feel uncomfortable. I don’t feel “at home” when I come home.

Can’t tell if this is something that I can get over, or not. At this point odds are very small that I can get over. Especially considering that everyone else in the family is going through the same, and maybe in the wife’s case, even worse state of being disconnected.

The road was expected to be bumpy, but as it turns out, the bumps may be too many for us.

Attention to detail and ownership. Or lack thereof.

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So, I have now spent two months in India and about a month in my own place. Across several products and especially services, I have noticed two trends which really bother me. Sadly, both of these are deeply imbibed in the culture and I don’t see how the habit will break.

First is the lack of attention to detail in 99% of the work that gets done. I am not only referring to things like building an apartment complex, or painting the walls, but I had also seen it earlier in terms of software deliverables in the workplace. There is a strong tendency to “get it done” but absolutely no regard to getting it done right. As a result I see paint splattered around the edges, some last-minute electrical wire roundabouts making it look ugly, incomplete code, badly washed cars, etc.

Some ideas I have about how and why this may be happening: first, the people who work on these things are not completely invested into the final output. They are paid for their work and that is in no way tied to the success of the final product. More often than not, the money they get is more important than the customer satisfaction scores (if ever there were such a thing that gets measured). Going back to an earlier point, the incentive for the workers in the trenches is just to complete the task at hand and move on to the next.

The second pattern I dislike, and do so even more than the first, is the lack of ownership. The two are tied closely, of course, but still needs to be called out separately because I have reacted a few times and have realized it is only for my blood to boil. For example, I have been using a service which allows you to book a car driver for a certain number of hours for a fee. I have had several drivers come late and as a result I have had to miss or cancel some meetings. I have tried to reason with the drivers that it is bad that they are 45 minutes to an hour late. Almost invariably, the response is a shrug of the shoulder, and some mumbled explanation about traffic. Everyone knows the traffic is bad in Bangalore, so if they really cared to be on time, they’d account for it. Most of these guys have a two-wheeler, so it’s not like they really get stuck.

To take matters to the next level, when our direct-to-home satellite installer came 6 hours (yes!) late for his appointment, I actually cut some money out of the payment I made to the retailer. He tried to reason with me that the cut would come out of his pocket and I tried to tell him he should pass that penalty off to the installer. His response left me speechless: “they won’t ever change”. This is after 30 minutes of arguing with me that the small percentage that I held back, was actually a big deal to him.

Both of these aspects of service providers as well as product teams is disheartening. I can understand missing some things because we are human, but this habit of being satisfied with “good enough” is a worry. A big worry.

My Windows 8 Home Screen(s)

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Enjoy!

[slideshow]

[gallery]

My experience at the container storage location

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I went to the container location yesterday to get our good passed through customs. I thought, for kicks, why not document the experience so I can look back in the future. I tweeted during the process from my other twitter account @MehtaRomit (where it is more personal tweets vs @TheRomit which is more tech news-related tweets). Here’s the storify story:

  1. mehtaromit
    Arrived 10 minutes ago to container location. Need to "inspect" and explain what we have, to customs, apparently.
    Tue, Oct 16 2012 22:29:51
  2. mehtaromit
    Entire container contents will apparently be moved to Concor's containers. Given how tightly it was packed the first time, I am worried.
    Tue, Oct 16 2012 22:30:41
  3. mehtaromit
    Taken to the container. Waiting for someone to open it.
    Tue, Oct 16 2012 23:26:09
  4. SathyaBhat
    @mehtaromit your tweets give a new dimension to the term "unboxing"
    Tue, Oct 16 2012 23:28:57
  5. mehtaromit
    Transfer started.
    Tue, Oct 16 2012 23:34:57
  6. mehtaromit
    @SathyaBhat in some ways it is re-boxing :-) [twitpic.com/b4vtkd](http://twitpic.com/b4vtkd)
    Tue, Oct 16 2012 23:36:19
  7. mehtaromit
    Negotiation topics off on the side. (also, my windows 8 PC!!) [twitpic.com/b4vugx](http://twitpic.com/b4vugx)
    Tue, Oct 16 2012 23:41:17
  8. mehtaromit
    Almost done. [twitpic.com/b4vx46](http://twitpic.com/b4vx46)
    Tue, Oct 16 2012 23:54:50
  9. mehtaromit
    Stuff transferred. Now waiting for some hocus pocus with the clearing agent's guy and the officer. "just wait here for 5 minutes". :-)
    Wed, Oct 17 2012 00:10:00
  10. That was quick!
  11. mehtaromit
    Still having to wait.
    Wed, Oct 17 2012 00:17:17
  12. mehtaromit
    Waiting for superintendent signature, apparently. Still waiting, moved to the waiting area now.
    Wed, Oct 17 2012 00:50:59
  13. mehtaromit
    *still* waiting. Sigh.
    Wed, Oct 17 2012 01:09:07
  14. Meanwhile, smartphone battery was dying :-(
  15. mehtaromit
    Done!
    Wed, Oct 17 2012 01:25:03
  16. Over an hour of bureaucracy :-(

Wow, how misguided and ignorant can someone be?

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(I must admit, I took this MG Siegler set of posts a little bit too seriously. I had sworn off that guy, but since his nonsense was being discussed by others I follow on twitter, I had to peek.)

First issue I have is why is he concerned that Microsoft actually updated the OS after RTM and before GA? It is a great thing, as I said on twitter. Not sure why it is being spun as a negative.

Second, after Ed Bott brings it up and appropriately schools him on how Windows works within the OEM ecosystem, MG goes out and shoots himself in the foot by arguing (like a kid, nonetheless) that OS X was only updated after it became generally available to the public. Well, that is bad, isn’t it? That would mean Apple let a buggy OS out to the masses and only fixed issues a month or so later.

Oh, and that nonsense about calling Ed an “Apple malware blogger”? Sigh. More childishness.

As my friend Amir pointed out on twitter, Highlight is not going to be considered magical anytime soon and is nowhere near the Square atmosphere :-)

Could this household be done with the iPad?

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As you may or may not know, we just relocated from the US to Bangalore. While we wait for our stuff to come (shipped by sea), we are living a somewhat nomadic life. The latest temporary residence happens to be a decent hotel, but before that we spent a few days in a guest house and before that, with my uncle and aunt.

For the past week or so, for one reason or the other, both our iPads have not come out of the suitcase. The kids have started going to school so they don’t need entertainment during the day, there was no wifi at the guest house earlier, and there is good wifi here in the hotel but we have a PC that we use a lot and for quick email triage and Facebook/Twitter/ADN, I end up using my phone more than anything else.

As a result, not only have the iPad not been used, more importantly, they have not been missed. We have not once felt like we would rather use the iPad. The kids used to play random games (dress up Barbie or restaurant manager are current favorites) but they have the TV to entertain them after the come from school. For the past several months I have noticed that my use of the iPad has strictly been Twitter, Facebook and the browser. Between the phone and the laptop, I haven’t needed to get the iPad for any of those uses.

This could very well be because we are not settled into “our house” yet. In other words, if the iPad were there on the coffee table, we would of course pick it up than open the laptop. However, I am seriously thinking, if instead of a laptop, I had a Windows RT “device”, I would be absolutely ok and in fact would prefer it. That would take care of the thin-and-light thing that is lying around on the coffee table, and also fits well as a “better computer” than the iPad when hooked to the dock at the desk. So that casual Excel or Word files that I may need to edit on-the-go, can actually be done without fumbling with pinching and zooming to no end.

The kids have enough “entertainment” options outside of the iPad, and even today, there are plenty of games and game-like apps in the Windows Store to keep them busy (and educated at the same time) so they won’t miss the iPad.

There you have it. I am ready to get a Surface RT to replace my iPad 2. At least one of the two that I own.

Cheap labor, and service-oriented culture

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It is hard not to observe how much help you get (like it or not) when you have money in India. I am not just referring to servants and cooks and drivers. It is everywhere. I recently experienced some of it:

As it turns out, my company has a tie up with HSBC Bank for savings accounts (equivalent of “checking account” in the US). They have two points of contact dedicated to my company. I sent an email to one of them, asking him to send me the details of the types of accounts they offer and the terms for each of those so that I can apply. What was the reaction? He calls me from his mobile phone and is in the office with the application forms that afternoon! Not only that, he actually filled out the form for me! After putting all the relevant details in the cumbersome-to-fill form, he pointed me to where I should sign and that’s it.

Later I found out that instead of a joint application, I needed to do a sole application. Guess what? He came to my uncle’s house (where we are currently, temporarily put up) to get the form filled out. Oh, one of the things does not have enough photocopies? He took the stuff, went on his motorbike and made copies himself!

It is not just the fact that they want the business. With waiters, I have seen that they not only serve you every single time you need to be served (like for second helping and such), but when it comes to drinks, they actually put the ice, the drink and the mixer in front of you!

I have a habit of picking up my plate and putting it in the sink (if not actually rinsing it too) after I am done with lunch/dinner. The servants here feel awkward when I do that and keep reminding me that I don’t need to do that. Overwhelming.

I am afraid this hierarchical nature of society (waiters have to listen to patrons, servants have to “obey” the boss, etc.) can give a sense of entitlement to people and that would be very, very bad. For example, I saw at Bangalore airport that a guy was shouting extremely loudly at one of the porters. I am not sure what was the issue because I was too far, but I imagine the porter may have not loaded all the bags on the cart properly or some such thing.

We hope that we don’t become like that guy, and given that as more people get educated the less likely they are to do servant-type jobs, it is inevitable that one day we would have to do much of the stuff ourselves regardless. Better to prepare for that and live mostly like how we lived in the US, than Indian-ize in that respect.

One week in

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Tomorrow morning marks the end of our first week here in Bangalore. To say the least, this week seems more like a year. Perhaps because I don’t have to go to the office, or because we have simply been doing a ton of stuff, but it does seem like a long, long time ago that we landed here. A random set of notes from our first week:

Bangalore is a much nicer city, weather-wise, compared to Bombay. It has remained overcast (bummer) but because of that, and intermittent drizzles, the temperature has stayed in the upper-60s in the cooler times of the day and lower-80s in the warmer times of the day. Besides, pollution is way lower than Bombay, and as a result, knock on wood, the kids have not fallen sick in the first week after coming to India.

However, Bangalore has killed us with the mosquitoes. It is not like there are too many, not where we are currently staying, but that one stupid mosquito in the room is enough to bite us up and down the exposed body. The kids especially have been eaten up very badly. They have been good sports about it and after reminding them over and over, they have stopped scratching too much when they do get bit. We have got better mosquito repellants to try out, and we are applying various creams on their body. We may end up getting the tennis racquet-shaped mosquito-killer (just wave in the air and zap!).

We arrived over the weekend, so we ended up driving around town to get acquainted with the geography/landmarks and since it was the weekend, the traffic was not terrible. But since then, driving across town in peak traffic has introduced us to “crazy Bangalore traffic”. It is not just the volume of vehicles on the roads, it is also the gross indiscipline among the drivers (including ours, of course) which causes the nightmares.

First order of business was locking down the school. We had looked up and started a conversation with one of the many international schools in Bangalore so we decided to visit them first. We liked the school and instantly completed the kids' “interaction”. This was essentially an interview with one of the teachers to ensure the kids meet the standards they portrayed in the application form. Both the kids passed that interaction with flying colors. The next step was to talk with the kindergarten coordinator but she was busy so we could not close the deal that day itself.

Most of the international schools are located in the same area, and that is not close to any residential complexes. “Close” being a few minutes drive. As a result we had to start looking for residences where the kids would have to travel about 30 minutes in the school bus. Not ideal, but that seemed like it was going to be the new normal.

In the past few days we have seen several places in the Koramangala area, Sarjapur Road area and Whitefield. We like one place in Whitefield and another in Koramangala. There is a backup third option in Sarjapur Road. The Whitefield place is fantastic because it is in a tall tower at the top, and the Koramangala place is great because it is minutes away from stores/restaurants/etc. It is not going to be an easy decision to choose between the two. We have a lot of thinking to do.

We have started getting acquainted with some of the major roads, some of the major intersections and landmarks but we are of course not in a position to navigate ourselves from scratch. I believe as we drive more we will get more and more familiar.

Another thought that struck me last night: we have never, ever bought “white goods” (as they call those here), i.e., appliances. Refrigerator, washing machine, dryer. In my 16 years in the US, we moved 4-5 times and all the houses had basic appliances in place when we moved. So we have that decision to make as well, and since there is such a huge disposable income here in India, the choice is amazingly huge. We have to start looking and narrowing down on some models so that we can then shop around for that model.

I have one more week off and then I start work. Hope to lock down the housing situation before then, and especially be ready to move in by mid-October, when our stuff comes. (Meanwhile, we did meet with the coordinator at school and have paid our fees, the kids start on October 1!)

Friends will be friends

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Went for a barbecue at a friend’s house today. It was a routine get together with a bunch of close friends, except as we were leaving we realized that it was probably the last time we would be hanging out together as a group. At least for a long, long time.

Wow. Can say it is feeling real now. It will of course to hit us till we get there, but these meetings and hang outs are what will be sorely missed.

We are hoping to find some families in similar boats as ours in India, so we can form similar ties with them. Fingers crossed.

Keys handed over

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We did a walk through with our agent and handed over the keys. The house we stayed in for the past 4.5 years, is now going to be “used” by somebody else. :'-(

Meanwhile our tickets are done!

Moving company is here

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Today at 9.15am, the packers came by. And here we go! Two-day packing exercise.