Unfurnished to furnished in 10 seconds

If this was MTV Cribs, I'd say: "This is where all the magic happens", with a big wicked grin on my face.

In this case magic would have to be the minimalist, sticking to the essentials, barebones, finding the core, clutter-free, grassroots, non-accessorized kind.

I had a 160x200cm mattress made by an Indian company Snoozer. I don't have a tape measure so I've no idea what size I really got. I really hope it'll fit the bed because it's dead comfy.

The A/C in the bedroom blows the master fuse when turned on, so there are some teething issues, but me happy nevertheless.

Home empty home

I'm in the house waiting for a mattress delivery. That's the 1st piece of furniture to come and probably also the only one for almost a month.

The whole house is echoing the phone keypad beeps as I type this entry. The quietness is deafening compared to the noisiness of the Sarjapur Rd place.

Stuck in the middle with you

Friday night at 9:30 and coming back to the temp housing at 7 km/h. While in Finland peak traffic hour is between 4 and 6pm, in Bangalore you're pretty OK until 7pm. After that you're screwed until late at night.

But not this badly. I wonder what is going on with all these people having to spend their Friday night on this forsaken piece of tarmac? Driver is making jokes about us both sleeping in the car, but soon I'll continue on foot to get my fix of family skype chatter.

No beer tonight

I'm a good restaurant for a change to have dinner so a cold bottle or two of Corona or Kingfisher would've been nice.

However there is an election on Sunday so the ruling party apparently wants to make 100% people remember who they have to vote and has banned all alcohol sales for the entire weekend.

What a joke, really, but didn't seem to be negotiable with the usual incentive even though I don't even have a vote.

Target practice

Every outdoor driving range I've been to has a machine driven around the grounds to collect the balls. In India labour is so cheap that buying such a machine apparently doesn't make a good business case.

The alternative is to hire men with buckets and for safety equip them with umbrellas. It must be over 40C where they're standing so I hope they also get water now and again.

It was pretty obvious that some of the Koreans practicing there were aiming at the ball collectors. I will admit to having tried to hit the collector machine once or twice for fun, but actually hitting one of these guys would just be so wrong.

Good morning Bangalore

First morning as a resident sounds like the previous ones; once the stray dogs stop howling the car horns take over. Despite traffic being light on a Saturday morning the noise is incredible.

I can't wait to move into our rental house, hopefully some time next week.

On a completely different note, I haven't been too happy with the layout of the Shozu Blogger posts. Hope these settings produce results that are easier on the eyes...

Registration

Once you arrive to be an Indian resident, you need to register in the commissioners office. Didn't take pictures inside, but it's a scene from Terry Guilliams Brazil.

Outside in the heat there's priority queue, with the people coming alone in the bottom rung and the others very unofficially ranked by the merits of their handler.

Some animals truly are more equal than others as I was in and out of there in no time...

Tranquility bay

A cozy corner for 2 in Leela Palace Hotel, Bangalore. Sitting by the window overlooking the fantastic garden it's easy to forget the noisy and dirty Airport Rd neighborhood the hotel is in.

The flipside of all this luxury is evident in the pricing. Expect to pay more than 10x the going city level for meals, laundry, etc.

Record in the making

A huge crowd has gathered around a TV set in the office park lobby to witness Sachin Tendulkar become the 1st player to hit 200... runs in one-day international cricket.

I must confess I know absolutely nothing of the sport, but it must've been a special achievement as the whole office felt electric.

Geek goose bumps.

Time to not fly through Delhi

India is a hot place most of the time, but winter in the north can get bitterly cold.
In Delhi the cold January weather translates to a thick layer of fog that seems to effectively block all air travel. This doesn't seem to be reflected in any airline schedules, tho.
In the future I'll make sure I'm connecting elsewhere come new year.

Spicy flower

I've been scratching my already bald about how on earth can I update the blog with my mobile. I only now decided to try Shozu. Test dummy picture is a fiery flower arrangement from Park Hotel, Bangalore.