I was very lucky and happy that I could do some research in San Francisco, and arrived on Novemer 13 for a 5 weeks stay. I found a place in a house near Alamo square where three people live, Raven, Amber and Andrew. When I reached the place in the evening after a 13 hours flight (starting at 7 am in Berlin), I was wonderfully welcomed by a bunch of people chatting in the kitchen and preparing about 30 crabs which Andrew had caught in the morning in the sea! It tasted so good accompanied by a good glass of white wine.
The next day, I went to the institute at UCSF (University of California - San Francisco) and found a new, shining building with a great laboratory space organization and (the most important) with a bunch of wonderful people, who should be my colleagues for the next coming weeks. There were some differences to the Indian lab, for example that people had lunch alone or in small groups (no big common canteen), that there were surprise visits by the lab security personnel, and that it was quiet (at least the most of the time). Because I was in San Francisco for work and not only for fun, I have spend the most of the time in the lab, but due to the colleagues, it was a very pleasant and productive period. And we also had some activities outside the la, but this will follow further below.
The city is beautiful with its hilly up an downs, old small houses, buses which run electrically, not too much traffic, nice cafes, parks, high amount of dogs (but no street dogs as in Bangalore). If you climb up one of the small hills in a park, you can get a beautiful view, and fortunately, there were very few foggy days (fog is more common in the summer time due to the temperature difference between see and land). To sum up my impressions, San Francisco and its people had many things in common with Berlin, except the hills, the sea and the friendlier people!
Although I worked during the week days, I tried to explore the city in the evenings and during the weekends. Since pictures can say more than I can write, here the link to some captures taken in San Francisco...
Nevertheless, I will also leave some words about my impressions in the following:
San Francisco has many different parts, which can change their appearance drastically from one street to another. One example is the region around Mission street, which reminds me the Oranienstrasse and Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg in Berlin. Here, you will see many homeless and strange people, many small Bars, liquor stores and mini grocery stores. And just one street away is Valencia street which is cleaner, hipper with lots of galleries, unconventional designer shops , fancy cafés and restaurants. But if you leave this street, it suddenly changes to a more quiet place with mainly homes and nothing else.
Another nice street is the Haight street with its many music bars, here was the home of many artists of the 68' movement like Jimi Hendrix and you can still feel the spirit of the Hippies. At the end of Haight, the golden gate park starts, a beautiful big city park with some nice museums (Science museum, De Young museum, Japanese tea garden). A great place to have a relaxing walk. But attention, the golden gate park is NOT next to the golden gate bridge.
On a clear sunday morning I walked from the park to the bridge which is about 3.5 miles (6 km), and it was worth it! around the bridge is a big forest (Presidio of San Francisco) and it has nice paths through the nature, and then you get to the coastline and can see the sea, the bay and the bridge. Magnificent! Walking along the rocky coast, one passes several old bunkers, which were built in the beginning of the 20th century. From the bridge towards the more central parts of the city comes the field of the old airbase (Crissie field), which is now renatured and playground of many dogs and their holders. Further on lays the fort mason, now used as exposition halls.
The area around Castro street is floating in the spirits of the gay community (which compares to the Berlin Motzstrasse and Nollendorfplatz), the streets are decorated with rainbow colored flags, many shops show underwear (especially slips) with nice colors and design in their windows, many are laughing and hanging out in cafes, just a peaceful and nice place (ok, I walked there on a sunny Saturday afternoon)!
If you go from there towards west, you will reach Twin Peaks, two of the highest spots in the city. The effort to get up there is worth it because the view over the city is breathtaking.
The north-eastern part of Market street together with the area around Union square is the main shopping area with many high class warehouses, boutiques like Prada, Saks Fifth Ave, Gucci etc., top art galleries and 4-5 star hotels. There was also the only place where I saw a huge Christmas tree.
North of this area starts the San Francisco China town, which is just fun to walk through. It is the largest outside Asia and the oldest one in north America ( Info). You can find there authentic Chinese food (I recommend the noodles of Chef Jia's), shops with Asian vegetables, and butcheries which differ quite a bit from the american ones.
Another aspect which, I think, Berlin and San Francisco share is there large choice of bars (with German beer) and night life activities. Especially, I appreciated the great performances of unconventional electronic music DJ's, which I could fortunately experience due to the help of two colleagues who shared with me the same music-taste.
To learn more about my trips outside San Francisco, please read the blog entry "trips around SF".
Friday, December 23, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Festivals
In this chapter I will talk about the different religious festivals that I managed to visit during my stay in India. Just a remark, the Hindu calender refers to the moon and not to the sun, that's why the exact dates of festivals change every year.
October 2011 started with the Durga Puja, which lasts for ten days and is a very important festival in Bengal. The final four days are the most interesting, because during this time it is thought that the mother goddess descends to earth and returns at the tenth day.
Unfortunately, I did not have the time to visit Kolkatta during that period, because I have heard that the city transforms during these last four days totally, and that it is a great event when the statues of the Goddess are given to the river. Anyhow, fortunately there is a big community of Bengali in Bangalore who organized a special venue for the Durga Puja at the Palace grounds. I went there together with some lab mates on the 8th day of the puja.
By chance, we first entered a place of the Birhan Durga Puja, where the shrine was made of a row of five different gods, all in quite light colors. In the center was the Mother Goddess, killing a bad demon. We entered the line of people to pass by the Goddess: first, there was a priest and an assistant who distributed some flower blossoms, and people could leave some money in a small bowl. Then we marched along the god statues and several gifts were laid out to them (some coconut and flowers), at the end of the line were another two priests, one puts a red dot on your forehead, the other gives a small sweet ball (laddu, very tasty). The distribution of sweets or food after the visit of a temple is common in India, people told me that some temples are very famous for their sweets, which are not available elsewhere!
After this start, we went to the next area where the Bengali Durga Puja was. Entering the hall, I understood that my colleagues went for only one thing - the food! There was a nice idol and shrine set up in the main hall, which I managed to see more detailed the following day, but the most space was taken by vendors of different things (clothes, gifts, spices or furniture) and food stalls. The food court was the most busy one, and the dishes looked all very tasteful. Especially we tried the typical Bengali dishes like some fish and prawns. It was interesting to see, how this religious festival turns to a occasion for people to go out and meet people. When we left the ground at 9pm, the influx of people increased enormously and I was told that the place is open until 1.30 am (i.e. the Bangalore law makes an exception for those pujas).
The following day a friend from NCBS suggested me to accompany her to the Navratri (means nine nights) festival which also took place at the palace grounds. This festival has its origins in Gujarat and Rajastan (north-eastern India) and is another puja to honor the mother goddess Shakti. A special feature during this festival is the performance of two traditional dances, the garba, a circular dance, and the dandia-ras, a stick dance. Actually, we went to a kind of dance competitions where many participants wore beautiful colorful dresses and competed in dancing skill and duration: one session for the kids (5-14 years) lasted for about 40 min with increasing music speed in the last 10 min. Besides that, there was a big live band, and everyone could dance in between the competitions (kids, adults, in both dances). It was a great fun to dance some rounds of garba, and to see so many nice dressed people of all generations. We left at 12.30 am, but I was told that the dance would go on until 4 am!
Diwali 2011 was on October 26, and it is THE Indian festival (according to my Indian colleagues). This festival of light is celebrated all over India, it is even the beginning of the new year in Gujarat. The central part of this festival is to burn crackers and firework, which means that you fell like in a war zone starting from two days before and after Diwali which means that you can hear some bomb blasts all the time from somewhere and that you should watch out for sparking crackers when you are walking on the street (especially when it turns night). The day itself, the people gather wiht friends or their families wearing new clothes (normally Sarees or Kurthas), have some food together and burn crackers like crazy (the days before were just a warm up). At my place, the Mandara hostel, the people of NCBS organized a party, where we first played some social games (also common on diwali), had food, nice fireworks and music to dance! the place was nicely decorated with colorful ornaments on the floor and a table for the god Shiva with flowers, candles and fruits. Then we had some Indian food and sweets, and went out for the fireworks (it was a lot). The best was the music after the fireworks, and we danced for a couple of hours to bollywood music. that was a new experience for me, and I liked a lot the mix of indian dance moves and jazz steps. Men and women were eagaly danciong, but not too much together, more in circles. It was pure fun, and I hope to find more such occasions in future. It is a pitty that dancing is normally not allowed in bars and clubs in Bangalore.
October 2011 started with the Durga Puja, which lasts for ten days and is a very important festival in Bengal. The final four days are the most interesting, because during this time it is thought that the mother goddess descends to earth and returns at the tenth day.
Unfortunately, I did not have the time to visit Kolkatta during that period, because I have heard that the city transforms during these last four days totally, and that it is a great event when the statues of the Goddess are given to the river. Anyhow, fortunately there is a big community of Bengali in Bangalore who organized a special venue for the Durga Puja at the Palace grounds. I went there together with some lab mates on the 8th day of the puja.
By chance, we first entered a place of the Birhan Durga Puja, where the shrine was made of a row of five different gods, all in quite light colors. In the center was the Mother Goddess, killing a bad demon. We entered the line of people to pass by the Goddess: first, there was a priest and an assistant who distributed some flower blossoms, and people could leave some money in a small bowl. Then we marched along the god statues and several gifts were laid out to them (some coconut and flowers), at the end of the line were another two priests, one puts a red dot on your forehead, the other gives a small sweet ball (laddu, very tasty). The distribution of sweets or food after the visit of a temple is common in India, people told me that some temples are very famous for their sweets, which are not available elsewhere!
After this start, we went to the next area where the Bengali Durga Puja was. Entering the hall, I understood that my colleagues went for only one thing - the food! There was a nice idol and shrine set up in the main hall, which I managed to see more detailed the following day, but the most space was taken by vendors of different things (clothes, gifts, spices or furniture) and food stalls. The food court was the most busy one, and the dishes looked all very tasteful. Especially we tried the typical Bengali dishes like some fish and prawns. It was interesting to see, how this religious festival turns to a occasion for people to go out and meet people. When we left the ground at 9pm, the influx of people increased enormously and I was told that the place is open until 1.30 am (i.e. the Bangalore law makes an exception for those pujas).
The following day a friend from NCBS suggested me to accompany her to the Navratri (means nine nights) festival which also took place at the palace grounds. This festival has its origins in Gujarat and Rajastan (north-eastern India) and is another puja to honor the mother goddess Shakti. A special feature during this festival is the performance of two traditional dances, the garba, a circular dance, and the dandia-ras, a stick dance. Actually, we went to a kind of dance competitions where many participants wore beautiful colorful dresses and competed in dancing skill and duration: one session for the kids (5-14 years) lasted for about 40 min with increasing music speed in the last 10 min. Besides that, there was a big live band, and everyone could dance in between the competitions (kids, adults, in both dances). It was a great fun to dance some rounds of garba, and to see so many nice dressed people of all generations. We left at 12.30 am, but I was told that the dance would go on until 4 am!
Diwali 2011 was on October 26, and it is THE Indian festival (according to my Indian colleagues). This festival of light is celebrated all over India, it is even the beginning of the new year in Gujarat. The central part of this festival is to burn crackers and firework, which means that you fell like in a war zone starting from two days before and after Diwali which means that you can hear some bomb blasts all the time from somewhere and that you should watch out for sparking crackers when you are walking on the street (especially when it turns night). The day itself, the people gather wiht friends or their families wearing new clothes (normally Sarees or Kurthas), have some food together and burn crackers like crazy (the days before were just a warm up). At my place, the Mandara hostel, the people of NCBS organized a party, where we first played some social games (also common on diwali), had food, nice fireworks and music to dance! the place was nicely decorated with colorful ornaments on the floor and a table for the god Shiva with flowers, candles and fruits. Then we had some Indian food and sweets, and went out for the fireworks (it was a lot). The best was the music after the fireworks, and we danced for a couple of hours to bollywood music. that was a new experience for me, and I liked a lot the mix of indian dance moves and jazz steps. Men and women were eagaly danciong, but not too much together, more in circles. It was pure fun, and I hope to find more such occasions in future. It is a pitty that dancing is normally not allowed in bars and clubs in Bangalore.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Trio Trip to North India
Dear all, thanks to some heavy rain which restrains me at the institute until the shuttle bus can drive me dry and save home, I have some time t write finally an English short report of my one week trip to the north of India in the first week of August.
Joka, a visitor student from Munich, Jasna, a friend of her coming from Stuttgart, and me, we started the trip in Delhi, and continued after two days to Agra, and discovered then the Rajastan cities Jaipur, Bikaner and Jodhpur.
Day 1 and 2 (Delhi): The first day in Delhi, we were welcomed by very hot weather. Nevertheless, we started to discover the city per pedes, and went first to the observatory Janta Mantar. This complex of different buildings to measure declination, azimuth angles or the position of celestial objects was erected in 1724 by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur.
After that, we decided to take a car to visit some interesting sites of the city without being exposed to the sun all the time. We saw the India Gate (Indian version of a triomphal arc), the Lotus Temple (unfortunately closed on Monday), Al Mutuqb (the oldes site of a mosque in Delhi) and the Red-Fort.
The second day, we visited New Delhi, the modern center with the impressive government buildings and the National Gallery of Modern Art, which allowed me to learn a lot about Indian modern Artists. After that, I left the ladies alone and discovered the city on a larger scale using the brand new metro! Many parts of the city infrastructure were recently renewed due to the Commonwealth games 2010. To have a nice contrast to that, I visited also the old part of Delhi, with its buzzing bazaar around the mosque Jama Masjid.
Day 3 (Agra): After a pleasant 4h train trip, we arrived in Agra and went straight to the Taj Mahal. In contrast to my fears to find a crowded place, there was no waiting line at the ticket counter, ad only a few tourists (mainly Indians) populated the gardens of the Taj Mahal. The building is really beautiful and is worth the travel. In addition to that create the trees and plants in the garden a nice space to wander around and to enjoy this site. After a few hours and a tasty lunch in the old bazaar besides the Taj. Then, we took a cycle-riksha to get to the Red Fort, which is about 2km away. This huge fort contains some beautiful architectural highlights, especially the Harem's complex is very nice with its fountains and marble mosaic. At the end of the day, we had a short shopping in town and went to the train station. We met two very kind french travellers, and had together with them dinner in a nearby restaurant. The night train was sleeper class, i.e. the cheapest ticket, but it was surprisingly comfortable and not at all crowded, so that we could sleep quite well.
Day 4 (Jodhpur): We arrived in Jodhpur in the early morning and refreshed us in the restrooms in the train station. After a tasty breakfast, we headed into the city. Our first stop was the market place, where we entered a shawl shop with a superb salesman, who showed you a big variety of wonderful shawls of various qualities. Finally, we left the shop with 10 shawls! After this morning shopping, we took an auto riksha to get to the huge fort which surmounts the city. It is long time ago that I have seen such a nice and impressive complex, the audio guide was very well done, and as an additional "ingredient" there were musicians and guards in traditional costumes who created a special atmosphere. A few hours later, we were down in the city again and had lunch in an elegant restaurant, wandered through the market and visited another tissue shop (fortunately, they had only large sheets, nothing for us). At the end of this eventful day, we mounted on the train to Bikaner, where we were picked up at 2 am.
Day 5 (Bikaner): Bikaner, a city at the border of the Thar desert, was our starting place for a camel safari. Unfortunately, Joka was not feeling well, so that Jasna and me first went into the old part of the city, where we discovered narrow streets with spice, shawl and other traders. In the afternoon, we (this time with Joka) headed off to the camel safari organized by Vijay. Surprisingly, the desert was green, because it had rained a few days ago. The ride on the camel was really fun, with this up and down on top of this high animal. At home again, Joka and me were not feeling fine, so that we slept early.
Day 6 and 7 (Jaipur): Early in the morning (5am), we were driven to the train station by our lovely host Vijay, and took the train to our last stop of our trip, Jaipur. It was a trip through flat, dry land, sellers of coffee, tea, biscuit and small stuff offered their goods during the trip, and everyone was just hoping that the 6 hours travel time would rapidly go over...Arrived in Jaipur, we had lunch in our hostel, in our spacious room, and then visited the old center, called the pink city. Here we saw the Harem building Hava Mahal, which was nice, but not as impressive after our experience in Jodhpur. We could not visit the other sites like the palace, because it was already 5pm. But that was ok, because we discovered the small alleys and galleries of the bazaar area.
The next day, we visited the Janta Mantar, which was even bigger than the Delhi one, and had more instruments. Then we visited a jeweler shop, and found some nice ear rings, bracelets (ok, the ladies found it). time was running short, but with the auto riksha, we arrived at the hostel at time to catch the cab to the airport. In the airplane, I was thinking that a very nice week with many impressions goes over, but there will be more such trips, that's for sure...
Joka, a visitor student from Munich, Jasna, a friend of her coming from Stuttgart, and me, we started the trip in Delhi, and continued after two days to Agra, and discovered then the Rajastan cities Jaipur, Bikaner and Jodhpur.
Day 1 and 2 (Delhi): The first day in Delhi, we were welcomed by very hot weather. Nevertheless, we started to discover the city per pedes, and went first to the observatory Janta Mantar. This complex of different buildings to measure declination, azimuth angles or the position of celestial objects was erected in 1724 by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur.
After that, we decided to take a car to visit some interesting sites of the city without being exposed to the sun all the time. We saw the India Gate (Indian version of a triomphal arc), the Lotus Temple (unfortunately closed on Monday), Al Mutuqb (the oldes site of a mosque in Delhi) and the Red-Fort.
The second day, we visited New Delhi, the modern center with the impressive government buildings and the National Gallery of Modern Art, which allowed me to learn a lot about Indian modern Artists. After that, I left the ladies alone and discovered the city on a larger scale using the brand new metro! Many parts of the city infrastructure were recently renewed due to the Commonwealth games 2010. To have a nice contrast to that, I visited also the old part of Delhi, with its buzzing bazaar around the mosque Jama Masjid.
Day 3 (Agra): After a pleasant 4h train trip, we arrived in Agra and went straight to the Taj Mahal. In contrast to my fears to find a crowded place, there was no waiting line at the ticket counter, ad only a few tourists (mainly Indians) populated the gardens of the Taj Mahal. The building is really beautiful and is worth the travel. In addition to that create the trees and plants in the garden a nice space to wander around and to enjoy this site. After a few hours and a tasty lunch in the old bazaar besides the Taj. Then, we took a cycle-riksha to get to the Red Fort, which is about 2km away. This huge fort contains some beautiful architectural highlights, especially the Harem's complex is very nice with its fountains and marble mosaic. At the end of the day, we had a short shopping in town and went to the train station. We met two very kind french travellers, and had together with them dinner in a nearby restaurant. The night train was sleeper class, i.e. the cheapest ticket, but it was surprisingly comfortable and not at all crowded, so that we could sleep quite well.
Day 4 (Jodhpur): We arrived in Jodhpur in the early morning and refreshed us in the restrooms in the train station. After a tasty breakfast, we headed into the city. Our first stop was the market place, where we entered a shawl shop with a superb salesman, who showed you a big variety of wonderful shawls of various qualities. Finally, we left the shop with 10 shawls! After this morning shopping, we took an auto riksha to get to the huge fort which surmounts the city. It is long time ago that I have seen such a nice and impressive complex, the audio guide was very well done, and as an additional "ingredient" there were musicians and guards in traditional costumes who created a special atmosphere. A few hours later, we were down in the city again and had lunch in an elegant restaurant, wandered through the market and visited another tissue shop (fortunately, they had only large sheets, nothing for us). At the end of this eventful day, we mounted on the train to Bikaner, where we were picked up at 2 am.
Day 5 (Bikaner): Bikaner, a city at the border of the Thar desert, was our starting place for a camel safari. Unfortunately, Joka was not feeling well, so that Jasna and me first went into the old part of the city, where we discovered narrow streets with spice, shawl and other traders. In the afternoon, we (this time with Joka) headed off to the camel safari organized by Vijay. Surprisingly, the desert was green, because it had rained a few days ago. The ride on the camel was really fun, with this up and down on top of this high animal. At home again, Joka and me were not feeling fine, so that we slept early.
Day 6 and 7 (Jaipur): Early in the morning (5am), we were driven to the train station by our lovely host Vijay, and took the train to our last stop of our trip, Jaipur. It was a trip through flat, dry land, sellers of coffee, tea, biscuit and small stuff offered their goods during the trip, and everyone was just hoping that the 6 hours travel time would rapidly go over...Arrived in Jaipur, we had lunch in our hostel, in our spacious room, and then visited the old center, called the pink city. Here we saw the Harem building Hava Mahal, which was nice, but not as impressive after our experience in Jodhpur. We could not visit the other sites like the palace, because it was already 5pm. But that was ok, because we discovered the small alleys and galleries of the bazaar area.
The next day, we visited the Janta Mantar, which was even bigger than the Delhi one, and had more instruments. Then we visited a jeweler shop, and found some nice ear rings, bracelets (ok, the ladies found it). time was running short, but with the auto riksha, we arrived at the hostel at time to catch the cab to the airport. In the airplane, I was thinking that a very nice week with many impressions goes over, but there will be more such trips, that's for sure...
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Pondicherry
Another Sunday trip is the visit of
Pondicherry (now Puducherry), the former French trading base in India. This time, I
was together with Ulrike, Joka and Sounina. We started on saturday
night with a bus from Majestic bus station. This private bus company
had quite comfortable AC buses, but sleep was not possible before the
end of the hindi movies, which were played in an astonishing
loudness. Actually no surprise, because everything on Indian roads is loud, but it was the first time for me to be in such a
movie bus. Fortunately, the film stopped around midnight, but real sleep
was still not possible during the whole night, because terribly bad streets in combination with the suspensions of the bus were the reason that we bumped around all the time.
After about 8,5 hours of shaky bus
drive, we arrived happy but tired Pondicherry, and started to walk
towards the white city, i.e. the former French area. The surrounding
parts of Pondicherry (black city) are much larger than the white
city, but do not contain anything interesting to see (at least if you trust the travel guide). Our first
stop point was the breakfast at a french-style cafe called “Hot
Breads”. We found it easily after 20 min walk (the white city is
tiny, about 1,2 x 1 km^2). The appearance and smell of the
croissants, breads and pastries made me remembering french
boulangeries. We took a variety of pieces and shared them all. The
taste was surprisingly good and the expresso was excellent!
here some pictures (click on the slideshow to get to the photo album)
Filled with energy, we went to the sea
promenade and had a nice walk seeing the morning sun rising over the
sea (Pondicherry is at the east coast). Very relaxing to hear the
waves breaking on the rocky coast line. Later, we wandered through the city and
enjoyed some calm streets with french colonial buildings, all very well in shape. It was funny to see restaurant signs like "Cafe Paris - Indian, Chinese, Vietnamnese cuisine", but we also saw decent restaurants with a real European or french touch. Around 11 am, the city became more alive, and streets started to fill up. We wandered through a big market place. When we entered the fish selling hall, we were quickly shocked by the smell of all the cut fishes, squids and sea fruits which were offered by about 100 vendors without any cooling. We preferred then the fruit and vegetable stands and did not even think to go into the meat hall...
In the noontime, we took a taxi and drove to the nearby city Auroville, which is sought to represent a new level of community living:
With this extra load, we sat at the beach and just enjoyed the last hours of our stay. It is true that Pondicherry is not very big and has not that many sites to see, but it is a nice contrast to the typical Indian cities with their busy, dusty streets, and no places to stretch out. AND Pondicherry is the city with the nicest Police-uniforms!
"Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity." (from their website)
It was very interesting to see their main hall, the Matrimandir, which looks like a golden globe and which is constructed in such a way that one person can speak to 3000 people without any amplification. To be in the surrounding gardens created a feeling of peace and harmony, and the city might be the place with the highest density of foreigners in India. But to be honest, the community with its >2000 citizens is still far away from its capacity of 50000 citizens. After that little trip, we got back to the white city and visited a very nice church. The basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was particular in its styling with its flashy, bloody heart above the entrance and the colorful glass windows, which came from Strasbourg and Grenoble (anno 1908). Interestingly, next to the church started the Muslim district with colorful, well maintained houses and very clean streets. The rest of the day, we did a bit of shopping in some high quality warehouses and enjoyed another coffee in "Hot Breads". After a tasty dinner, we decided to get back to the sea and to finish the day in drinking a glass of wine and watching the full moon. On the way to the promenade, we discovered an art gallery, and I found and bought a very nice painting..
Friday, August 19, 2011
Nord-Indien Reise I: Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Bikaner, Jodhpur
Here a quite detailed description of my trip to north India in the first week of august. I am sorry about the inconvenience, but it is in German. I was travelling with Germans and hence fell back to my mother tongue while writing this diary. I will try to post a short English version, too.
In der ersten Augustwoche (1.-7.8.) habe ich eine Reise in den Norden Indiens gemacht zusammen mit einer Joka, einer Studentin aus München, die am NCBS ein PRaktikum macht, und Jasna, Ihrer Freundin, die von Stuttgart nach Delhi geflogen kam. Von Bangalore ging es mit dem Flugzeug nach Delhi, dann die darauffolgenden Tage mit dem Zug nach Agra, Jaipur, Bikaner und Jodhpur (die letzten drei Stationen liegen alle in Rajastan). Am Sonntag ging es mit dem Flieger zurück in den Süden nach Bangalore. Fotos sind
north_India_trip_2011
">hier
Im folgenden kommt ein ausführlicherer Reisebericht (Englische Version ist in Arbeit)...
Tag1, Delhi: Nach kurzem Schlaf geht es um 4h vom NCBS im Sauseschritt zum Flughafen (der Fahrer nutzt die naechtliche Lehre der Strasse), und von dort in 2,5 Stunden nach Delhi. Schon am Flughafen bin ich überrascht von der Sauberkeit, was sich bei der Fahr zum Hotel fortsetzt. Die Strassen sind von Bäumen gesäumt, der Asphalt ist neu und der Verkehr läuft recht geregelt. Wie ich später erst erschloss, ist vielles von dem den Commenweath Spielen zu verdanken, die 2010 in Delhi stattfanden.
Das Hotel in der Nähe der New Delhi Railway Station ist wie eine Perle im Schlamm, da die Strassen drumherum doch recht hreuntergekommen sind. Das Zimmer mit vier Betten ist tip top und das Lokal im obersten Stockwerk verfügt über eine recht schmackhafte Küche.
Der erste Ausflug wird mit der Metro bestritten, die modern, klimatisiert und gut organisiert ist. Beim Ein und Aussteigen wird zwar kräftig geschoben und gedrückt, aber es gibt immerhin eine Gasse füdi Aussteigenden, und erst wenn raus sind, fangen die anderen an, einzusteigen. Ergo ist das Verhalten schonmal besser als das von Parisern.
Es geht zum alen Observatorium, das aus einem Komplex roter Gebäude-Instrumente besteht, die zur Messung von Höhe, Deklination und Entfernung von himlischen Objekten dienen. Sehr imposant, elegant und erhaben,
Danach suchen wir ein Tourismusbüro auf und lassen uns zu einer Auto-Tour überzeugen. In Anbetracht der stechenden Sonne und der Knapheit unserer Zeit eine recht weise Entscheidung. Wir fahren zum India Gate (indische Version des Triumphbogens), den Lotus Tempel (der Montags zu hat), Al Mutuqb (älteste Moschee-Ruine) und das Red-Fort.
Der Besuch Al Mutuqbäs hat schon die ganze Autofahrt wieder gut gemacht. Das Minarett dominierte die ganze Umgebung und strahle mit vielen eingravierten Koranversen. Die anderen Gebäue waren teils stark zerfallen, zeugten immer noch von der Baukunst des Sultan Akbar.
Die Fahrt ging nicht immer geradewegs zum Ziel, da der noch sehr junge Fahrer wohl zum ersten Mal im Einsatz war. Aber er war ein netter Kerl und nach ca sechs Stunden und dem Besuch eines Parks, der wohl nur von Pärchen aufgesucht wird (der Fahrer dachte wohl, uns was Gutes zu tun), kamen wir im Hotel wieder an. Aufgrund unserer Müdigkeit gingen wir gleich im Hotelrestaurant essen und waren wiedermals sehr angetan. Der Service war gut und das Essen äusserst schmackhaft, wobei der Preis korrekt blieb (super moughli Daal). Da ich noch nicht so müde war, spazierte ich noch ein wenig und entdeckte eine von Hotels gesäumte Strasse, erhellt von deren Leuchtreklamen. Ein Barbier hat sein Geschäft direkt auf der Strasse...ein ganz anderes Delhi.
Tag2 Delhi: Nach leckerem europäisch-indischem Frühstück geht es mit der Metro ins Regierungsviertel, das nach der Verlegung der Hauptstadt von Calcutta nach Delhi um 1920/30 von den Engländern konzipiert wurde. Die Prachtbauten in ihrem gemischten Stil aus britischem und indischem Palast waren überaus groß und erdrückten den Einzelnen. Das Ensemble und die Ausmaße erinnerten auch an kommunistische Architektur. Ich weiss nicht, wie ich es auffassen soll, als Zeichen eines großen Landes oder als Hort einer Schier unendlichen Masse an Bürokraten?
Es gibt eine klare Axe von Triumphbogen (India Gate) zum Präsidentenpalast (Nummer 1). Letzterer liegt auch am höchsten von allen Gebäuden. Die grosse Strasse ist weitläufig gesäumt von Wasserbecken und großen Bäumen.
Am India Gate befindet sich auch das Nationalmuseum für Moderne Kunst, und wir verbrachten dort gut 2,5 h, die sehr aufschlussreich für mich waren, der nichts von moderner Indischer Kunst wusste. Es gibt wohl doch seit dem späten 19. Jhdt diverse Künstlergruppen, die sowohl von indischer traditioneller Kunst und britisch/europäischer Malerei geprägt waren, was siich in einer Vielzahl bewegender Bilder widerspiegelt.
Nach dem Mittagessen trennte ich mich von Joka, die Jasna vom Flughafen abholen wollte, und fuhr mir der Metro übererdig gen Westen. Delhi ist eine sehr flache Stadt. Nur wenig erweckte mein Interesse, wie eine riesige Götterstatue und ein grosser Tempel, der allen Hinduisten offen steht (auch Budhisten). Im Garten gab es Spielplätze und Brunnen zur Entspannung. Ansonsten gabe es nur noch heruntergekommene Fassaden von 2-4 stöckigen Häusern zu sehen...
Um eine Abwechslung davon zu haben, fuhr ich danach in das alte Delhi und machte mich über den Chowdi Bazar richtung Jama Masjid. Welch eine Freude zwischen den schwer beladenen Fahrrad-Rickschas, Motorickschas und Motorrädern an Geschäften vobeizuwandern, die alles von Schleifscheiben bis zu hochfeinen Hochzeitskarten anbieten. Um die Moschee herum gab es grosse Auto-ersatzteil Händler, Ziegen und Kleinwarenhändler. Die Süssigkeiten und Kababgrills dufteten um die Wette (es war der Abend des zweiten Ramadan-Tages). Über all dem Trubel thronte die Moschee, wohl die grösste Delhis. Wenn ich mich nicht irre, war es das erste Mal, dass ich eine Moschee betrat, barfuss trat ich in den Hof, wusch meine Füsse im zentral gelegenen Becken und schritt durch die überdachte Säulenhalle, wo gebetet wurde. Es war eine sehr angenehm ruhige Atmosphäre und der Stress der Welt draussen war vergessen. Beim Rausgehen über die Haupttreppe sah ich die Sonne hinter der Moschee untergehen...ein schöner Abschluss meiner Tour. Im Hotel traf ich wieder Jasna und Joka zum Abendessen, danach konnte ich die beiden auch zu einem Spaziergang durch die Hotelstrasse bewegen. Für den nächsten Morgen stellten wir den Weccker auf 5h und legte uns schlafen.
Tag3, Agra: Der Frühzug nach Agra war pünktlich und die 2nd AC class, die wir gebucht hatten, beinhaltete einen ausgesprochen guten Service mit Wasser, Tee, Fruehstueck und Zeitung. Die drei Stunden Fahrt vergingen wie im Flug. In Agra angekommen fuhren wir mit einem „offiziellem“ Taxi zum Taj Mahal. Zu unserer Freude gab es keine Schlange am Schalter und der gesamte Komplex war angenem leer, so dass die Gebäude in aller Ruhe von uns genossen werden konnten. Einziger Haken war die Sonne, die anfangs uns sehr zu schaffen machte, obwohl wir auch Regenschirme einsetzten. Aber genau zum richtigen Zeitpunkt bedeckte sich der Himmel, sodass wir unbeschwert barfuss vor dem Taj umherlaufen konnten und bei sehr guten Lichtverhältnissen Fotos machen konnten.
Das Gebäude ist wahrlich eine Perle auf Erden und es ist schwer, meine Eindrücke in Worte zu fassen (aber dafür gibt es ja Fotos).
Nach guten drei Stunden machten wir in der angrenzenden Altstadt auf einer Terasse Mittagspause und tranken einen ausgesprochen fantastischen Mango Lassi! Leider war die Altstadt völlig heruntergekommen.
So gestärkt ging es per Fahrrad Rickscha zum nahegelegenen Red Fort, das über 200 Jahre lang Herrschaftssitz war. Der Pfauenthron befand sich dort und ein Harem von bis zu 2000 Frauen (wenn die Gerüchte stmmen). Der Blick auf das Taj Mahal mit dem sich anschmiegendem Fluss war auch schön.
Da wir noch ein paar Stunden Zeit bis zum Nachtzug hatten, gingen wir auf das Angebot unseres schrägem Rickschafahrers ein und liessen uns zu zwei Klamottengeschäften fahren. Jasna benötigte eh Klamotten, da Ihr Koffer beim Zwischenstop im Oman abhanden gekommen war. SO hatten wir Spass und fanden schäne Sachen (ich eine rote Ali Baba Hose) und der Rickschafahrer bekam eine Provision und verbilligte uns die Fahrt.
Am Bahnhof war es dreckig und recht warm. Nicht weit weg entdeckte ich ein Hotel mit A/C Restaurant und wir gingen dorthin essen. Zwei Franzosen (Julien und Julie), die auch am Bahnhof warteten, sprach ich davor noch an, damit sie uns begleiten. Es war interessant mit den beiden unsere Eindrücke zu teilen und ich hoffe, dass sie die letzten Tage Ihrer Fahrt noch gut verbracht haben. Über den „Service“ im Hotel sag ich liber nichts.
Um 20h40 war es dann soweit, wir fuhren in der sleeper class (billigste Klasse) Richtung Jodhpur. Der Zug war gut belegt, aber nicht überbelegt (das gibt es wol nur noch teils in Regionalzügen). Etlich an der Decke befestigten Ventilatoren und die nicht vorhandenen Fenster sorgten für eine gute Lüftung während der gnzen Fahrt. Erinnerte mich sehr an die Nachtzugfahrten zwischen Berlin und Paris, nur dass in Indien ständig Tee und Snack- Verkäufer vorbeikamen.
Tag4, Jodhpur: Obwohl ich nur im Sitzen schummerte, war ich gut ausgeruht als wir morgens gegen 6h im Bahnhof von Jodhpur ankamen. Der Morgengraun gab eine gute Kulisse für das Bahnhofsgelände. Nach dem Frischmachen im Warteraum gingen wir in das Restaurant Midtown nahe des Bahnhofs, das im Reiseführer aufgeführt war, und hatten ein leckeres Frühstück mit Idly und Dosa. So erfrischt ging es Richtung Fort, das sich majestätisch über der Stast erhebte. Dabei kamen wir an einen Marktplatz mit Uhrturm, wo wir einen Tuchladen sahen, der uns ansprach. Da es noch früh war gingen wir herein und bereuten es nicht. Der Tuchhändler war 30 Jahre jung und hatte nach seinem MBA vor wenigen Jahren den Laden von seinem Großvater übernommen. Schon nach wenigen Minuten hatte er uns gebannt in die schier endlose Welt der Tücher, vor allem sein gutes Händchen bei der Wahl der Farben oder Muster entzückte uns. Er erklärte die Unterschiede in Qualität und Stoffarten (Paschmini, Seide, gemischt). Nach ein paar Tee und einer Qual der Wahl hatten wir 10 Tücher (Jasna und Darius je 4 und Joka 2) für 6500 INR (110 EUR) gekauft und fühlten uns gut.
Dann endlich ging es zum Fort den Berg hinauf. Das Fort war riesig , imposant und doch fein gearbeitet. Der Audioguide war gelungen und Musiker und Kostümierte sorgten für die richtige Atmosphäre. Von der Burg aus konnte man auch verstehen, warum Jodhpur auch blaue Stadt genannt wird. Wir verbrachten gute 3 Stunden und hatten eine Menge schöner Dinge gesehen. Dann waren wir in der Altstadt in einem sehr schönen Restaurant essen und kehrten auf den Markt zurück, der nun sehr viel wuseliger war und aggressivere Händler hatte. Wir trafen nun einen weiteren Tuchhändler, der uns später noch zwei Mal an anderer Stelle über den Weg lief. Schliesslich führte er uns noch durch einige kleine alte Gassen und brachte uns in einen Tuch-Großhändler, der angeblich auch mit westlichen Designern zusammenarbeitet (aber wohl für große Tücher). Nach diesem ereignisreichen Tag ging es wieder zum Bahnhof und glücklicherweise hatten wir Tickets für den AC-Wagen, um in aller Ruhe gen Bikaner zu fahren.
Tag 5, Bikaner: Um 2h morgens kamen wir in Bikaner an, und wir waren sehr froh, dass wir auch diesmal vom Hostel (Vijy's Guesthouse) abgeholt wurden. Das Zimmer war geraeumig und liess sich trotzdem bald von der Klimaanlage kuehlen. Nachdem wir alle geduscht hatten, legten wir uns schlafen. Ich wachte gut erholt um 6h30 auf, aber Jasna und Joka waren wohl sehr froh, endlich wieder in Betten zu schlafen und wachten erst gegen 10:30 Uhr auf! Die Wartezeit verbrachte ich mit einem Spaziergang und einem netten Gespraech mit Vijay im Garten bei einer Tasse Tee. Er ist ein sehr netter zivilisierter Herr, der 1982 damit angefangen hatte, Kamelsfaris zu organisieren.
Beim Fruehstueck wurde schnell klar, dass es Joka erwischt hatte und sie im Bett bleiben sollte. So gingen nur Jasna und ich nach Bikaner, um die Altstadt zu erkunden. Die Altstadt war teils sehr gut erhalten, teils nicht. Bald hatten wir Bekanntschaft gemacht mit zwei jungen fastenden Muslimen, die uns die altstadt zeigten und uns zu einem herrlichen Gewuerzhaendler fuehrten. Danach gingen wir noch ein bisschen weiter, wobei wir einen sehr alten Jain-Tempel (1537) fanden. Der Tempel war sehr schoen gearbeitet mit vielen Keramikfiguren und vom Dach gab es eine tolle Sicht. Dann ging es zurueck mit einer aehnlich verrueckten Rickscha wie bei der hinfahrt.
Joka ging es besser, so dass wir gemeinsam zur Kamelsafari konnten. Nach 30 Minuten Jeepfahrt bogen wir in ein kleines Dorf, wo uns schon drei Kamele erwarteten. Es war ein sehr ungewoehnliches Gefuehl, auf solche Hoehen gehoben zu werden (ca 3m). Der Gang der Kamele wiegte uns vor und zurueck, was leider das Fotografieren nicht vereinfachte.
Die Wueste war erstaunlich gruen, was sicher der noch anhaltenen Regenzeit geschuldet war. Dies erzeugte eine gewisse Abwechslung, auch Duenen sahen wir oder gruene Erdnusplantagen! Hin und wieder erhaschten wir eine Gazelle, ein Kamel, ein Drormeda und sogar einen Pfau. Zum Abschluss gab es noch Tee in der Wueste, aber den Sonnenuntergang konnten wir nicht sehen, da es zu wolkig war. Bei Vijay angekommen, fing es bei mir mit Ueblkeit und Fiber an. So legte ich mich früh schlafen, um munter zu sein für die Fahrt nach Jaipur (Zug ging um 5h morgens!).
Tag 6, Jaipur: Der Schlaf hat mir gut getan und die Übelkeit war verflogen. Nach dem Packen, mussten wir Vijay wecken, um unsere Rechnung zu zahlen. Wir hatten ihn vorige Nacht nicht mehr gesehen, und so blieb uns nichts anderes übrig als ihn um 4h30 aus dem Bett zu klingeln. Als er aus seinem Schlafzimmer kam, sagte er aber nur „no problem“ und furh uns sogar noch zum Bahnhof. Ein wirklich herzensguter Gastwirt. Dann begann unsere gefühlt längste Zugfahrt los, die uns in die Pink City Jaipur führen sollte. Eigentlich „nur“ sechs Stunden lang, schien uns die Fahrt machbar, aber da es Tag war und in einem Großraumwagen saß, verging die Zeit sehr langsam und keinen Schlaf habe ich gefunden, der mir hätte die Zeit verkürzen können. Die Landschaft war recht karg, teils Wüste oder nur spärlich mit Bäumen besät. Hin und wieder dann ein Dorf mit beigefarbenen Häusern. Später sah man Berge am Horizont und die grösste Abwechslung bot ein grosser See, der wohl auch zur Salzgewinnung genutzt wurde.
Gegen Mittag kamen wir dann endlich in Jodhpur an und wurden vom bestellten Rickscha Fahrer ins Hostel gebracht. Gleich wurde uns klar, daß wir in einer grösseren Stadt waren, da Händler, Rickscha Fahrer und Bettler sehr viel aggresiver um unsere Aufmerksamkeit buhlten. Aber wir waren es schon gewohnt, in solchen Fällen die Ohren auf „durchzug“ zu stellen.
Das Hotel war ca 2 km vom alten Stadtkern entfernt, lag also in einer recht ruhigen Gegend und war sehr hübsch. Es wurde wieder von einer Familie betrieben, was hiess, dass das Essen von der Mutter gekocht wurde, lecker. Da wir von der Zugfahrt geschafft waren, und sich Joka noch nicht sehr gut fühlte, assen wir gleich dort zu Mittag und machten uns erst nachmittags zur Stadt auf. Dabei hatten wir eine aufregende Fahrt in der wohl langsamsten Auto Rickscha Indiens! Ich glaube, dass wir während der Fahrt ganze drei Fahrräder überholt haben, ansonsten aber ein großes Hindernis für die anderen darstellten. Trotzdem meckerte unser Fahrer mit grauem langem Bart gerne über die anderen...am Ende haben wir ihm höflichst sein Angebot ausgeschagen, uns auch noch zu anderen Sehenswürdigkeiten zu fahren. Wir gingen zuerst ins Hawa Mahal, ein Haremsgebäude, das für seine prächtige Fassade bekannt ist. Das Innere konnte uns aber nicht begeistern, da unsere Eindrücke aus Jaipur noch zu frisch waren. Danach wollten wir noch zum Palast, mussten aber feststellen, dass die Sehenswürdigkeiten alle um 17h30 schliessen so daß wir uns entschlossen, stattdessen durch die Basaare zu wandeln.
Das besondere an Jaipur, der pink city, ist, dass die Altstadt als ganzes vom Maharadscha Jai Singh im 18. Jhdt nach den Regeln des Vaastu Shastras, einem alten Hindu Architektur Kodex, konzipiert und angelegt wurde. Daher besticht dieser Stadtteil durch seine rechtwinklig angelegten Strassen und den teils noch bestehenden Sektoren für jedes Gewerbe. Leider waren die Gebäude in recht jämerlichem Zustand, und das obwohl die Stadt im Jahr 2000 zum Besuch von Bill Clinton generalrenoviert wurde. Eine Sache, die mir generell aufgefallen ist, dass der Sinn für ein gepflegtes Stadtbild sehr schwach ausgeprägt ist. Wir gingen also begeistert durch die Gassen voll mit Stoffhändlern, Schuhmachern, Zierrat, Schmuck...kauften aber wenig (eine Tasche und Tee). Dann erkundeten wir auf dem Rückweg zum Hostel die jüngere Seite Jaipurs, der Wirtschaftsmetropole Rajastan's: McDonalds, grosse prächtige Juweliergeschäfte und ein Audi-Center (ich weiss nicht, wo die tiefergelegten Autos fahren sollen).
Tag 7, Jaipur: Am morgen gingen wir früh wieder in die Altstadt, um das Jantar Mantar, das weltweit grösste aus Stein gebaute Observatorium, zu besichtigen. Die Geräte zur Messung von Sonnenstand, und der Position von verschiedenen Himmelskörpern waren sehr beeindruckend in Ihrer Grösse, obwohl Joka und mir die etwas kleinere Variante in Delhi mehr zusagte (der rote Stein war einfach schöner). Trotzdem war es schon beeindruckend eine 27 m hohe Sonnenuhr zu sehen, die die Zeit mit 2 Sekunden Genauigkeit bestimmen lässt. Schön war auch das Feld von zwölf gleichartigen Geräten, die so ausgerichtet sind, dass ein jedes die Position eines Sternzeichens zu bestimmen erlaubt.
Zum Abschluss gingen wir zu einem Schmuckhändler in der Altstadt, den ich am Vortag kennen gelernt hatte. Sie hatten sehr schönen Silberschmuck und eine gute Auswahl an Ohrringen mit Edelsteinen, wovon die Damen auch 4 Paar kauften. Dann wurde es auch shcon höchste Zeit, mit der Rickschah zurück zu fahren, die Rucksäcke zu packen und zum Flughafen zu fahren. Dort holte ich noch in letzter Minute ein paar lokale Süsigkeiten für mein Labor und stieg dann ins Flugzeug zurück in einen ganz anderen Teil Indiens. Als wir abends ankamen, war es mindestens 10°C kälter und regnerisch. Das war also das Ende einer sehr schönen und erlebnsreichen Fahrt in den Norden Indiens. Fortsetzung folgt bestimmt...
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Trip to Hampi
Two weeks after the trip to Mysore, the next trip went to Hampi. This is the ancient capital of the hindu empire Vijayanagara that existed in the 14th to 16th century. After that time, the city was forgotten in the forests and never became important again. It is hence littered with ruins of temples, palaces and houses (like antique roman or greek vilages). In 1986, Hampi became an UNESCO world heritage site. For more detailed information check out the hampi-website
But now to our trip, we started this time from the Majestic bus station in Bangalore, which is the main starting point for bus travels. I never saw such a big number of buses who from left to right, from right to left or just across the streets. And the rest of the free space was populated by people either waiting for their bus on one of the snack shops or rushing around. While we were looking for our bus, everybody who we asked, directed us to another place. Fortunately, the bus stand written on the ticket was the right one, and the bus came finally. The night drive was quite ok, although the bus had seen its better days at least 20 years ago! We were the only ones who drove up to Hampi, the rest of the passengers left us in Hospet, and the bus driver explained us a bit about Hampi before we arrived. At 9am at the final bus stop we had a hard time to get out of the bus, because we had to tell the 20 auto drivers that we were not interested in their service, and that we did not need nay maps or post cards...I think another reason for their persistence was that I was accompanied by four women!
Finally they let us out and we found one guy who could show us a place to have breakfast and, more important, a bicycle rental. Strengthened, we started our tour with our bicycles, and already after 5 min we saw the first interesting site, which was an underground temple and the Krishna temple (one of the main temples). It would be too exhaustive to write about every single site we saw, so the best is, to let the pictures tell the story...
In addition to the amazing ruins and temples, we were astonished by the nature with the rocks, which looked like stapled, the palm trees and the variety of animals. The weather was perfect for a bicycle ride and it only rained for a short while after lunch. At the river, we had to take the "ferry", because the bridge was destroyed a few years ago during a heavy monsoon. It was interesting to see how they managed to put that many motorbikes, people and our bicycles on such a small boat. The way back to the village was a little adventure, because we decided to take a shortcut. This way brought us away from the street including carrying the bikes over steps, and conducted us alongside the river, passing by nice water washed rocks, and lonely temples. And after some while, when our Indian friend became already nervous, we turned around a corner and stood at the temple at the beginning of the main street of Hampi. We had to shoot a last group photo with Indians (especially the girls were asked numerous times for a photo during the whole tour), gave back our bikes and started SHOPPING! One hour later, we all had some clothes or souvenirs in our bags, and went for dinner in one of the small restaurants. The way back to Bangalore was smooth and at the main bus station Majestics, we fortunately got at 5am without waiting a bus which drove us directly back home and to the institute, respectively. After a refreshing jogging round, I could start the new day with loads of energy and plenty of impressions from Hampi.
But now to our trip, we started this time from the Majestic bus station in Bangalore, which is the main starting point for bus travels. I never saw such a big number of buses who from left to right, from right to left or just across the streets. And the rest of the free space was populated by people either waiting for their bus on one of the snack shops or rushing around. While we were looking for our bus, everybody who we asked, directed us to another place. Fortunately, the bus stand written on the ticket was the right one, and the bus came finally. The night drive was quite ok, although the bus had seen its better days at least 20 years ago! We were the only ones who drove up to Hampi, the rest of the passengers left us in Hospet, and the bus driver explained us a bit about Hampi before we arrived. At 9am at the final bus stop we had a hard time to get out of the bus, because we had to tell the 20 auto drivers that we were not interested in their service, and that we did not need nay maps or post cards...I think another reason for their persistence was that I was accompanied by four women!
Finally they let us out and we found one guy who could show us a place to have breakfast and, more important, a bicycle rental. Strengthened, we started our tour with our bicycles, and already after 5 min we saw the first interesting site, which was an underground temple and the Krishna temple (one of the main temples). It would be too exhaustive to write about every single site we saw, so the best is, to let the pictures tell the story...
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| trip ro Hampi |
In addition to the amazing ruins and temples, we were astonished by the nature with the rocks, which looked like stapled, the palm trees and the variety of animals. The weather was perfect for a bicycle ride and it only rained for a short while after lunch. At the river, we had to take the "ferry", because the bridge was destroyed a few years ago during a heavy monsoon. It was interesting to see how they managed to put that many motorbikes, people and our bicycles on such a small boat. The way back to the village was a little adventure, because we decided to take a shortcut. This way brought us away from the street including carrying the bikes over steps, and conducted us alongside the river, passing by nice water washed rocks, and lonely temples. And after some while, when our Indian friend became already nervous, we turned around a corner and stood at the temple at the beginning of the main street of Hampi. We had to shoot a last group photo with Indians (especially the girls were asked numerous times for a photo during the whole tour), gave back our bikes and started SHOPPING! One hour later, we all had some clothes or souvenirs in our bags, and went for dinner in one of the small restaurants. The way back to Bangalore was smooth and at the main bus station Majestics, we fortunately got at 5am without waiting a bus which drove us directly back home and to the institute, respectively. After a refreshing jogging round, I could start the new day with loads of energy and plenty of impressions from Hampi.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Trip to Mysore
On Sunday, June 12 2011, I did a trip to Mysore together with a group of Indian College students and some other non-Indian colleagues from NCBS. After the photos, some text will follow below...
The trip started on Sunday morning at 5.00 am at the NCBS. We (Ulrike, Yoka, Ben, Michel and me, i.e. the white ones) were picked from bus which was chartered for the tour. We continued to the hostel of the college student girls, who organized this trip to celebrate their successful end of their scholar year. Then the trip from Bangalore to Mysore started. It was nice to see the sun rising, how the landscape changed once we have got out of the town, and to listen to all the songs that the girls sang the whole three hours drive (150 km)! I think it was mainly bolly-wood songs. After a tasty Dosa in a restaurant at the highway, we started our cultural program with the visit of Sultan Tipu's Mausoleum. It is a nice example of islamic architecture, with its typical garden surrounding the main building.
Then, we passed by Saint Philomena Cathedral, which was constructed in 1956. Later, I learned to my surprise that its was designed by a French reverend who was inspired by the Cologne dome. Since it was a Sunday, the place was quite busy, but I did not feel that impressed as I am in European churches, maybe because it was such a young church. At the corner in front of the cathedral was a shop with Indian handcrafts, i.e. wooden carvings and nice fabrics, and I got there a nice little elephant of sandal-wood. He smells fine.
Next stop was the Mysore Palace, what an impressive and beautiful building. After the wooden palace burned down at the end of the 19th century, it was rebuild in stone. This construction took about 15 years, but included electrical light, and lifts, beautiful wall paintings, stone and wooden carvings, and everywhere glazed tiles in flower styles (like it is typical for Islamic art). This visit was worth the entrance fee of 200 INR for foreigners (40 INR for Indian citizens), and besides the palace, there were a few temples, a nice garden, and Elephants! We white people had a quite special experience at the end of the palace visit. We were just strolling through the garden for a last time, and reached an area where no visitors walked around. But we thought nothing special about it, because it had rained just before. Then, a guardian approached us, telling that we should go back because it is the private area of the Maharadja (Yes, the royal family is still living in a part of the palace). After he had asked us, from where we are, he changed his mind and led us to the royal Elephant compound...and we could even climb on the Elephants for a photo shooting! Sure, after that, each of us had to pay 200 INR to the guardian and to the elephant keeper. But that was ok, because the feeling to sit directly on the elephants neck without any seat, to feel the thick skin with the bristly hair, and this special view from 2.5m above the ground, were worth it!
After a short lunch break, we drove with the bus outside Mysore to get on top of one of the surrounding hills, the location of a huge temple complex. It was a really high tower with nice gods on the outside defending and protecting the god inside the temple, but my attraction was kept by the small apes which populated the whole area. Second best thing was the view over the plains and over Mysore.
After hardly one hour at that place we again went on with the bus to reach Brindavan Gardens, our last destination around Mysore (it was already 6pm). This garden lays at a huge dam and a part of the backed-up water is used to aliment a number of fountains. This place was a real weekend travelers magnet, and although the day was almost over, the park was full of families, couples, single persons. The way from the parking slot of the bus to the park was seamed with small food stands, and I tasted a red deep-fried fish, which could be eaten entirely, a good spiced masala tea and some chat (a mix of puff rice, diced onions, tomatoes, carrotsand some spicy sauce).
With all these impressions of the day, we went back to Bangalore, and this time, the group was much calmer than at the morning. we arrived at NCBS at 1am, and I was in bed around 2.30 am. Not much sleep before the beginning of the "working week", but who cares!
 |
| Trip to Mysore |
The trip started on Sunday morning at 5.00 am at the NCBS. We (Ulrike, Yoka, Ben, Michel and me, i.e. the white ones) were picked from bus which was chartered for the tour. We continued to the hostel of the college student girls, who organized this trip to celebrate their successful end of their scholar year. Then the trip from Bangalore to Mysore started. It was nice to see the sun rising, how the landscape changed once we have got out of the town, and to listen to all the songs that the girls sang the whole three hours drive (150 km)! I think it was mainly bolly-wood songs. After a tasty Dosa in a restaurant at the highway, we started our cultural program with the visit of Sultan Tipu's Mausoleum. It is a nice example of islamic architecture, with its typical garden surrounding the main building.
Then, we passed by Saint Philomena Cathedral, which was constructed in 1956. Later, I learned to my surprise that its was designed by a French reverend who was inspired by the Cologne dome. Since it was a Sunday, the place was quite busy, but I did not feel that impressed as I am in European churches, maybe because it was such a young church. At the corner in front of the cathedral was a shop with Indian handcrafts, i.e. wooden carvings and nice fabrics, and I got there a nice little elephant of sandal-wood. He smells fine.
Next stop was the Mysore Palace, what an impressive and beautiful building. After the wooden palace burned down at the end of the 19th century, it was rebuild in stone. This construction took about 15 years, but included electrical light, and lifts, beautiful wall paintings, stone and wooden carvings, and everywhere glazed tiles in flower styles (like it is typical for Islamic art). This visit was worth the entrance fee of 200 INR for foreigners (40 INR for Indian citizens), and besides the palace, there were a few temples, a nice garden, and Elephants! We white people had a quite special experience at the end of the palace visit. We were just strolling through the garden for a last time, and reached an area where no visitors walked around. But we thought nothing special about it, because it had rained just before. Then, a guardian approached us, telling that we should go back because it is the private area of the Maharadja (Yes, the royal family is still living in a part of the palace). After he had asked us, from where we are, he changed his mind and led us to the royal Elephant compound...and we could even climb on the Elephants for a photo shooting! Sure, after that, each of us had to pay 200 INR to the guardian and to the elephant keeper. But that was ok, because the feeling to sit directly on the elephants neck without any seat, to feel the thick skin with the bristly hair, and this special view from 2.5m above the ground, were worth it!
After a short lunch break, we drove with the bus outside Mysore to get on top of one of the surrounding hills, the location of a huge temple complex. It was a really high tower with nice gods on the outside defending and protecting the god inside the temple, but my attraction was kept by the small apes which populated the whole area. Second best thing was the view over the plains and over Mysore.
After hardly one hour at that place we again went on with the bus to reach Brindavan Gardens, our last destination around Mysore (it was already 6pm). This garden lays at a huge dam and a part of the backed-up water is used to aliment a number of fountains. This place was a real weekend travelers magnet, and although the day was almost over, the park was full of families, couples, single persons. The way from the parking slot of the bus to the park was seamed with small food stands, and I tasted a red deep-fried fish, which could be eaten entirely, a good spiced masala tea and some chat (a mix of puff rice, diced onions, tomatoes, carrotsand some spicy sauce).
With all these impressions of the day, we went back to Bangalore, and this time, the group was much calmer than at the morning. we arrived at NCBS at 1am, and I was in bed around 2.30 am. Not much sleep before the beginning of the "working week", but who cares!
Friday, June 3, 2011
NCBS selections
Sorry for the late post, but my days get more and more packed with activities...
May 20-23, the NCBS ran interviews to select new PhD candidates for the upcoming academic year, and I was involved as a volunteer to accompany and to help the candidates. That gave me a good opportunity to learn more about the NCBS (get into touch with the other volunteers and the professors) and about the different places in India from which the candidates came.
The candidates selected for the interviews (120 out of 6000 applications!) were split to 5 panels, each panel consisted of three professors. In this first oral selection round, each candidate had an interview of 20 min (in total interviews took about 1.5 days). 44 from 120 were selected for the second and final interview round, in which the interview lasted for 50 min in front of a new panel of three professors (another 1.5 days). The interviews ended on a friday afternoon, and the candidates could check on saturday morning, who was one of the lucky to be selected. Finally, ten candidates made it (i.e. a selection rate of 10/6000 = 0.0017 = 0.17% !).
During the whole procedure, the participants had a great catering for lunch and coffe/tea breaks, and on saturday noon all candidates of the 2nd round were invited to a lunch together with the faculty. During this saturday lunch, I discussed with some of the professors about the interviews and the selection procedure. In the 1st round interviews, candidates were asked general questions about biology, mathematics/logics, physics. But the the professors did not care about precise values or explanations learned by heart. They were interested in the candidates capabilities to explore an indea, to reason and to argue. The second round of interviews was more concentrated to the research proposal that the candidates had written in their application. Again, the questions were not about knowing established things, but about how the candidate wants to explore and realize his project. What could they imagine to do, how to encounter problems, how to proceed if the research aim is accomplished?
Regarding the big number of candidates and the little number of accepted people, I asked whether the selection is difficult or not. Interestingly, the professors told me that it is not too difficult to identify the special/ interesting candidates they are looking for. There is also no strict limitation, how many candidates can be accepted. In the previous selection, finally 20 people were selected.
I think, I understand better now, what kind of place the NCBS is. I like their philosophy not to select candidates for a specific project, but for the NCBS (the candidates visit at least three labs before deciding what to do). The people here all went through such a selection process, which explains the high number of excellent, interesting and free minded fellows. And corresponding to the comments of many candidates and professors, there are not many other Indian institutes with this concept.
The candidates came from all over India, some of them had a train trip of two days (trains are not very fast in India, even a fast train has an average speed of 70 km/h), and some were accompanied by their parents which had to wait all the time in the main hall. To distract and to calm the candidates before the interviews, I chatted with them. Like this, I could get impressions of several places in India, which sites I have to visit, what kind of food they have etc. Some even thought about a PhD in Germany and asked me about the live there. From the selected ones, I had the pleasure to talk to two of them during the procedure, but I hope that the others which were not selected will find good places for their PhD, too.
May 20-23, the NCBS ran interviews to select new PhD candidates for the upcoming academic year, and I was involved as a volunteer to accompany and to help the candidates. That gave me a good opportunity to learn more about the NCBS (get into touch with the other volunteers and the professors) and about the different places in India from which the candidates came.
The candidates selected for the interviews (120 out of 6000 applications!) were split to 5 panels, each panel consisted of three professors. In this first oral selection round, each candidate had an interview of 20 min (in total interviews took about 1.5 days). 44 from 120 were selected for the second and final interview round, in which the interview lasted for 50 min in front of a new panel of three professors (another 1.5 days). The interviews ended on a friday afternoon, and the candidates could check on saturday morning, who was one of the lucky to be selected. Finally, ten candidates made it (i.e. a selection rate of 10/6000 = 0.0017 = 0.17% !).
During the whole procedure, the participants had a great catering for lunch and coffe/tea breaks, and on saturday noon all candidates of the 2nd round were invited to a lunch together with the faculty. During this saturday lunch, I discussed with some of the professors about the interviews and the selection procedure. In the 1st round interviews, candidates were asked general questions about biology, mathematics/logics, physics. But the the professors did not care about precise values or explanations learned by heart. They were interested in the candidates capabilities to explore an indea, to reason and to argue. The second round of interviews was more concentrated to the research proposal that the candidates had written in their application. Again, the questions were not about knowing established things, but about how the candidate wants to explore and realize his project. What could they imagine to do, how to encounter problems, how to proceed if the research aim is accomplished?
Regarding the big number of candidates and the little number of accepted people, I asked whether the selection is difficult or not. Interestingly, the professors told me that it is not too difficult to identify the special/ interesting candidates they are looking for. There is also no strict limitation, how many candidates can be accepted. In the previous selection, finally 20 people were selected.
I think, I understand better now, what kind of place the NCBS is. I like their philosophy not to select candidates for a specific project, but for the NCBS (the candidates visit at least three labs before deciding what to do). The people here all went through such a selection process, which explains the high number of excellent, interesting and free minded fellows. And corresponding to the comments of many candidates and professors, there are not many other Indian institutes with this concept.
The candidates came from all over India, some of them had a train trip of two days (trains are not very fast in India, even a fast train has an average speed of 70 km/h), and some were accompanied by their parents which had to wait all the time in the main hall. To distract and to calm the candidates before the interviews, I chatted with them. Like this, I could get impressions of several places in India, which sites I have to visit, what kind of food they have etc. Some even thought about a PhD in Germany and asked me about the live there. From the selected ones, I had the pleasure to talk to two of them during the procedure, but I hope that the others which were not selected will find good places for their PhD, too.
Monday, May 23, 2011
B by Bicycle - what I did this weekend
Hah, I finally did it, I purchased Friday, May 20th 2011, a nice bicycle with 21 gears, aluminium frame and slender tires for about 10000 INR (about 150 EUR). Now, I can go to the city centre independently from the shuttle or public buses. The ride to the Indian Institute of Sciences takes about 20 min, and the old part of the city is about 30+ min away. I just realized this weekend, how large Bangalore is, when I met a polish friend near Forum Mall in the south of Bangalore (25 km from NCBS). The ride was ok, the traffic is a bit chaotic, but one can handle it well, because the speed is low (mean velocity 30 km/h). Sometimes the streets are so packed that even with a bike you have to wait.
When I entered the old city centre, I was positively surprised by the beauty of the Cubbon park, the red Karnataka high court building, the Raj Bhavan (residence of the gouvernor of Karnataka) or the Vikasa Soudha (seat of the state legislature of Karnataka). Going further to the south, I passed by the Lal Bagh botanical garden, and entered finally the Forum Mall, which is like the European or American temple of commerce. At the other side of the mall, I just saw a big building of the Robert Bosch GmbH. Fortunately we (my Polish friend Szymon and his French colleague Jihane) did not stay in the mall, but went to a north-west Indian restaurant with very good food.The way back was easier to ride, because the streets were nearly empty at 10.30 pm, and I finished the evening with a late night round of 28 (a card game) with some friends at the Mandara hostel.
On saturday, I was again in the city center to go to the Jaaga (see the particular post), and later, I headed back to the hostel to join a party of my lab-mates. It was great to see and hear them singing bollywood songs, to dance and to drink with them. On Sunday, we had a great dinner of Benghal food prepared by a colleague at the Mandara hostel. It was interesting to see, how the Daal, the fried fish or the Curry are prepared, and I hope that I will manage to learn some of this cooking. This time, I just prepared some Kaiserschmarren as a desert, and we ate it together with some Mango jam which came from another colleague. This combination was just delicious.
When I entered the old city centre, I was positively surprised by the beauty of the Cubbon park, the red Karnataka high court building, the Raj Bhavan (residence of the gouvernor of Karnataka) or the Vikasa Soudha (seat of the state legislature of Karnataka). Going further to the south, I passed by the Lal Bagh botanical garden, and entered finally the Forum Mall, which is like the European or American temple of commerce. At the other side of the mall, I just saw a big building of the Robert Bosch GmbH. Fortunately we (my Polish friend Szymon and his French colleague Jihane) did not stay in the mall, but went to a north-west Indian restaurant with very good food.The way back was easier to ride, because the streets were nearly empty at 10.30 pm, and I finished the evening with a late night round of 28 (a card game) with some friends at the Mandara hostel.
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| forum mall |
Jaaga
J...is a beautiful place in central Bangalore, which I visited thanks to my boss Jitu. He thought that I would like it, and that I would meet there interesting people. He was totally right.
Jaaga means "space" in Kannada (the local language), and it is a creative community giving artists from all over the world the opportunity to stay for some months in Bangalore and to work with local artists. It exists since 2009 and is unique here. I attended a vernissage of an exhibition called "Sound and Lights" showing sound and light installations of artists from Italy, UK, Germany, Japan and India, and it was a very pleasant evening where saw a lot of young Indians and a good amount of foreigners. Sipping on a glass of coke with Old Monk (the local rum), I chatted with an indian architect and the guy who did the sound installation, and they both told me that the Jaaga is unique, but that there are also other nice galleries in town (something that I will explore in the future). Later on came also Jitu, and we had a great discussion about the relation between arts and science. I am so glad that I fortunately found a boss, who likes art, is open minded and supports my interests to explore Bangalore and Indian culture.
For all of you who want to read more about Jaaga and its actions, here the link to their web site: www.jaaga.in
and here a more detailed description of the exhibition: Jaaga Sound & Lights
Jaaga means "space" in Kannada (the local language), and it is a creative community giving artists from all over the world the opportunity to stay for some months in Bangalore and to work with local artists. It exists since 2009 and is unique here. I attended a vernissage of an exhibition called "Sound and Lights" showing sound and light installations of artists from Italy, UK, Germany, Japan and India, and it was a very pleasant evening where saw a lot of young Indians and a good amount of foreigners. Sipping on a glass of coke with Old Monk (the local rum), I chatted with an indian architect and the guy who did the sound installation, and they both told me that the Jaaga is unique, but that there are also other nice galleries in town (something that I will explore in the future). Later on came also Jitu, and we had a great discussion about the relation between arts and science. I am so glad that I fortunately found a boss, who likes art, is open minded and supports my interests to explore Bangalore and Indian culture.
For all of you who want to read more about Jaaga and its actions, here the link to their web site: www.jaaga.in
and here a more detailed description of the exhibition: Jaaga Sound & Lights
Jitu (left) discussing with the Sufi singer (right) and his musician
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| Murale - an interactive wall with flowers that react to movements or sounds |
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| the floors of the Jaaga were staggered |
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| a canvas on top of the building tilting in the wind |
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Exploring more of Bangalore and of Indian Philosophy
After more than one week in Bangalore, I feel more and more comfortable with the city, the people and their habits. How I realized it? I started buying stuff without big hesitation, whether it is the 2.1 loudspeakers for my computer, the vegetables and fruits on a market or alcoholic beverages in the liquor shops. I was a lot wandering along the streets of central Bangalore this weekend, and I am so graceful that I can do this without being the focus of everyone else. I don't know, if this is due to the higher number of expats in respect to other parts of India and/or that I do not look too much as a west-european foreigner. Anyway, I had my fun seeing the sankey tank, a big lake with a nice park and a big free air public swimming pool, walking through busy roads decorated with colourful lights, temples and the saris shining like rainbows.
sankey tank (both pics)
entrance to a temple
On Saturday evening, I had the chance to attend a talk by Swami Veereshananda Saraswati
at the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc) aboutShri Shankaracharya, an Indian philosopher. When I arrived, I was first surprised, because the speaker was a kind of religious looking man and of course a guru. When I was presented to him, he mentioned to me that he has a school near Paris, that he was in several other European countries, and that he headed in 2004 the world parliament of religions in Barcelona (I did not know that such a thing exists).
His talk was very interesting to me, because he explained that science, religion and philosophy were not separated things in the Indian culture, which is a big difference to the situation in western (European) culture of the past 1000 years. He further explained/ argued that this specificity of Indian culture should be more considered these days, i.e. that Indian scientists and philosophers should be more critical about the western way to think or to solve problems. One of his main statements was that every science has its origin in India. Additionally, he made the nice statement that after the "material" evolution of man, the next step is the spiritual evolution.
I was happy that I went to this talk, even though I found it strange hearing someone talking so proud and uncritical about the Indian roots of so many things, but it gave me a good starting point to go further into Indian philosophy.
Swami Veereshananda Saraswati
before the talk, the speaker thanks a holy spirit
Saturday, May 14, 2011
The first week is over...
Since more than one week I am in Bangalore, and I will give you a small summary of the things that I did since sunday.
Monday was the day of waiting, because I went to the Foreigner Registration Regional Office (FRRO) to tell them that I am in Bangalore, that I will stay here for some while, that I will be paid a salary by the NCBS, that I have a living place, and that the NCBS will pay my transfer back to Germany in case that I do something bad or that I die (for sure, it was more respectfully formulated). I am sure that it is the same in all countries, you have to wait a looooong time in such administrative offices, and you hardly understand what the personal is finally doing. But I was quit e happy that all the documents were in good shape, and that I obtained the desired document at the end of the same day. During the waiting time, I made the observation that many Iranian people were there, besides some students from Thailand, workers from African states or Expats from european countries.
In the following days, I finished the last pending tasks to really be installed, i.e. I got an indian SIM card for my mobile phone, and opened a bank account at the bank present in NCBS. Coming to the fun part, I got introduced into the lab work, how to use the microscopes, information about the cell culture, the managment of the lab, and so on. I had some nice and productive discussions together with my boss Jitu, and his PhD candidate Subhasri about the experiments to do. The way of discussion was very similar to those I was used to in Paris...maybe with less bla, bla.
The atmosphere in the research group is very pleasent, we had several times lunch together, which gives a good opportunity to talk about typical Indian things, such as food or cultural sites. On friday, we even went for a birthday lunch to a Chinese resteaurant. We had a great time, chattet a lot, and on the way back, I realized that I do not feel at all a big cultural difference in the way of conversation. This surprised me somehow. I did not imagine that it will be that easy. Maybe, it is due to the fact that I am only talking with people from a research institute which is frequently visited by foreigners. I will have to start to go out on my own, to find the contact to people outside the institute. A task for the next weeks...
Monday was the day of waiting, because I went to the Foreigner Registration Regional Office (FRRO) to tell them that I am in Bangalore, that I will stay here for some while, that I will be paid a salary by the NCBS, that I have a living place, and that the NCBS will pay my transfer back to Germany in case that I do something bad or that I die (for sure, it was more respectfully formulated). I am sure that it is the same in all countries, you have to wait a looooong time in such administrative offices, and you hardly understand what the personal is finally doing. But I was quit e happy that all the documents were in good shape, and that I obtained the desired document at the end of the same day. During the waiting time, I made the observation that many Iranian people were there, besides some students from Thailand, workers from African states or Expats from european countries.
In the following days, I finished the last pending tasks to really be installed, i.e. I got an indian SIM card for my mobile phone, and opened a bank account at the bank present in NCBS. Coming to the fun part, I got introduced into the lab work, how to use the microscopes, information about the cell culture, the managment of the lab, and so on. I had some nice and productive discussions together with my boss Jitu, and his PhD candidate Subhasri about the experiments to do. The way of discussion was very similar to those I was used to in Paris...maybe with less bla, bla.
The atmosphere in the research group is very pleasent, we had several times lunch together, which gives a good opportunity to talk about typical Indian things, such as food or cultural sites. On friday, we even went for a birthday lunch to a Chinese resteaurant. We had a great time, chattet a lot, and on the way back, I realized that I do not feel at all a big cultural difference in the way of conversation. This surprised me somehow. I did not imagine that it will be that easy. Maybe, it is due to the fact that I am only talking with people from a research institute which is frequently visited by foreigners. I will have to start to go out on my own, to find the contact to people outside the institute. A task for the next weeks...
Monday, May 9, 2011
Sunday-Market day
On sunday morning, I followed some new friends to a market place in the old part of the city. The plan was, to buy the ingredients of some Chinese dishes that Na Li wanted to prepare this evening. It was a 40 min bus ride to get there, but it was worth it. I love market places, and this one reminded me on a bazaar. The choice of vegetables, herbs and spices was very rich, in another section of the building was the meet, and outside the fishes and seafood. Sure, the hygienic standards were far lower than the european ones, but I loved the atmosphere. After we have bought the necessary things, I stayed in the area to explore the city.
I went to the MG road (Mahatma Gandhi road) which is one of the main Bangalore shopping roads. Here, you can find a good amount of international important clothing brands, european style cafés, but also more european like prizes. Not necessarily that what I need, but good to know some place, where you can get a decent espresso!
the market hall
Na Li and Mehrat chosing some vegetables
St Mary's church
Italian style pleasure
around MG road
memorial for soldiers in world war I
In the evening we had a great fun in preparing and cooking for hours dumplings and enoying the porc dish, all managed and wonderfully prepared by Na Li. But before writing too much, I just show the images from my daytime discoveries.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Getting settled
After those first days I start getting settled in my hood, i.e. the area around the NCBS and the Mandar aHostel, my actual residence. I moved into a small room with a bed, chair, table, wardrobe, toilette and shower...a typical PhD candidate's room. The building has a common big kitchen, a nice terrasse and a big common room with TV and table tennis. It makes me remembering my first years in Paris, when I was in the Maison de l'Italie ;-)
But the neighborhood differs drastically from that in Paris, what a surprise. There are a handful of streets with many small shops, and I managed to buy the necessary things. I was positively surprised that I did not have to bargain, prices where already written on the goods, and they did seem reasonable. Maybe this is due to the fact that the area is not touristic at all.
At the NCBS, paperwork is getting further, even though I still have to wait for my "club card" (NCBS Id). It is planned to go to the foreign residents register office (FRRO) on monday. Today afternoon was a concert in the institute, and I got the great chance to enjoy the music of MWA, machas with attitude, a local Hip Hop group. This was the last thing that I expected as my first experience with Indian music! http://youtu.be/q8hKVb1nvkE
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Some impressions of my corner
The NCBS main building
a temple near Mandala hostel
street corner near Mandala
Getting Started
My dear friends,
this is now my firs post of my experiencens of my stay in India, more precise, in Bangalore at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS). It is right, I finally did move to India, and I plan to stay here for the next two years to do some solid research, but also to explore a bit of this huge and magnifique asian country. To share with you a part of those experiences, I will try to write frequently some lines into this blog...
After my arrival at 0.40 am on may 4 2011 at the Bangalore Int. Airport, I was picked up by a polite driver and brought to the guest house of NCBS. It was a quite warm night with thick humid air, and I could not fell asleep easily but the next morning was beautiful and I got up after 4 hours of sleep to have breakfast at the canteen. Aparently I was too early, even though I was already 8.40 am, because I was quite alone in the diner hall. And also in the lab, only two persons were already there. But a short while later, my new boss arrived and I could start struggling with Indian paper work. It was quite ok, much less chaotic than french bureaucracy (at least until now). I got my new room in the Mandara hostel, where the PhD candidates live, and my apointment to the medical doctor for the next day.
In the evening I went to Mandara hostel quite early to have the time to walk around and to buy some stuff. I enjoyed so much to walk on the smaller, a bit dusty streets with loads of small shops selling mobile phones, clothes, spices or fruits. There is even a little park and beautiful old trees go along with the streets. Even though my room is small and spartanic, I do not regret having moved here for the first time. Just to confirm this positive feeling, I met in the night a couple of neighbours sitting on the terasse and having vivid conversations... but I have to sleep now, tomorrow will be my medical exam. good night.
this is now my firs post of my experiencens of my stay in India, more precise, in Bangalore at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS). It is right, I finally did move to India, and I plan to stay here for the next two years to do some solid research, but also to explore a bit of this huge and magnifique asian country. To share with you a part of those experiences, I will try to write frequently some lines into this blog...
After my arrival at 0.40 am on may 4 2011 at the Bangalore Int. Airport, I was picked up by a polite driver and brought to the guest house of NCBS. It was a quite warm night with thick humid air, and I could not fell asleep easily but the next morning was beautiful and I got up after 4 hours of sleep to have breakfast at the canteen. Aparently I was too early, even though I was already 8.40 am, because I was quite alone in the diner hall. And also in the lab, only two persons were already there. But a short while later, my new boss arrived and I could start struggling with Indian paper work. It was quite ok, much less chaotic than french bureaucracy (at least until now). I got my new room in the Mandara hostel, where the PhD candidates live, and my apointment to the medical doctor for the next day.
In the evening I went to Mandara hostel quite early to have the time to walk around and to buy some stuff. I enjoyed so much to walk on the smaller, a bit dusty streets with loads of small shops selling mobile phones, clothes, spices or fruits. There is even a little park and beautiful old trees go along with the streets. Even though my room is small and spartanic, I do not regret having moved here for the first time. Just to confirm this positive feeling, I met in the night a couple of neighbours sitting on the terasse and having vivid conversations... but I have to sleep now, tomorrow will be my medical exam. good night.
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