My job at Bühler (India) Pvt Ltd

On working days I am picked up by a company minibus which brings employees to the Bühler facilities in Attibele. For those who are interested in transportation: the minibus is an Indian make "Force Motors Traveller" which is nothing else than a old Mercedes Benz Tempo Traveller still produced under license in India. The condition of this vehicle is ok; but even banal safety measurements such as seat-belts are looked for in vain.

Attibele is an industrial outskirt of Bangalore which lies only 16 km (air-line distance) away from the Guesthouse. One could think that these 16 km shouldn't be much of a problem. They are, I can assure you! If we are lucky the journey won't take more than 45 minutes; often traffic is so bad that our driver - whom I admire for his driving skills and his fearlessness... - needs to make a detour or we will get stuck in traffic jams which can easily double the traveling time. At first I liked the journey a lot: it is very adventurous, you get a good overview and it enables you to watch the various goings-on in the town. After two weeks of bumpy and sometimes scaring rides, I would definitely prefer having a shorter journey, though.

I have given you a short description of my job profile in the welcome post. Most of the time I am working together with an Indian food scientist in the brand new lab. Generally spoken, the lab is equipped with very good analytical instruments which were recently acquired; some small commodities are still missing though. If you would like some more information about my job, please contact me personally.

To make things short: there are challenges ahead of me and working in India can be tricky. The flair for precision and perfection which Swiss people normally have can be an obstacle from time to time. But this comes as no surprise!

Some impressions of my neighbourhood

After some text dominated posts it is definitely time to show you pictures. Please find a small selection of photos I took in the neighbourhood of the guesthouse. I am glad that there is some real Indian atmosphere within walking distance. Staying all the time in the super-clean and safe district would get boring in no time!

Ayodhya debate

On Thursday, September 30 life throughout India did for once completely stop: Deserted roads, shops closed, only a handful of people on the streets, window shutters locked… and police patrols in every road junction.

The reason for these India-atypical circumstances was the following: A very important verdict of the so-called "Ayodhya debate" was declared. Sounds very harmless, no? It is definitely not! Even Swiss newspapers were covering this story.

Ayodhya is an old city in northern India. The whole debate concerns a mosque, which is said to have been built on the foundations of a Hindu temple; this temple was believed to be the birthplace of Rama, a very important Hindu god. Hindu nationalists destroyed the mosque in 1992; an enormous riot all over the country and lots of deaths were the consequence. For more information on this complex matter, please refer to Wikipedia: Ayodhya or Ayodhya debate.

Political issues in India take even more time as in Switzerland! Finally, after many postponements, the verdict was heard on September 30: It was announced that the Hindu temple was indeed the birthplace of Ram. At the same time it was decided to divide the disputed land into three separate pieces: one each for Hindus, Muslims and the Nirmohi Akhara (a Hindu religious denomination).

Obviously, the disturbances of 1992 shocked India to the core. As no one knew what would happen after yesterday's verdict, the highest security measurements were taken. Most companies closed on Thursday and sometimes even on Friday and people were advised to stay in their homes. Bühler was one of the only companies that didn't close! As a consequence I experienced a very special journey between the guesthouse and the office: I saw lots of pavement instead of streets full of vehicles and it took us about half of the time to reach the destination.

Fortunately there were only small disturbances all over India. In most places the reactions were moderate compared to 1992. It seems that most people are thinking positive by now and hope that the situation will stay calm.

The Guesthouse in words & pixels

As promised I will shortly present you the house I will be living in for the coming months. It is situated in quite a snobbish neighbourhood: The whole quarter is fenced and entering the area is only possible through a special security gate, even at night security man will patrol around; the quarter is silent and the houses are big and luxurious; every household has at least one servant which does all the cleaning, washing, tidying up, watching for the children, etc. This does not really suit my lifestyle but having seen how people use to live in other places of this town, I would not be willing to change homes! Slowly I am getting used that the maid Sridevi looks after my clothes and washes the dishes. But I will never understand why she is obliged to clean the whole house every day and tidy up all the rooms - I actually don't feel to be dirty and untidy! But at least Sridevi has a job, which is not self-evident at all. Unfortunately she only earns about 1000 to 7000 Indian Rupees (this probably sounds like a lot of money - unfortunately this corresponds to some 20 to 150 CHF!!!).

The address of the house is as follows: Eastwood apartments nr. 44B, Harlur Road, Sarjapur, Bangalore 560054, India.

I am glad that I am not the only one living in the Guesthouse at the moment then - to be frank - the Bühler Guesthouse is far to big. My friend's name is Palash; he is an Indian, normally working in the sales department, Bühler Delhi. We go to places together, go out for dinner or cook dinner ourselves. He is a good cook and introduces me into Indian cuisine from time to time.

The following pictures give you some impressions of the premises.

my bedroom

the massive kitchen

my bathroom

a part of the living room

You will certainly be astonished by how nice these rooms are looking. They are indeed and it's nice to live in this house! But these photos basically don't tell the whole story: The quality of the masonry, interior, windows, doors, sanitary facilities, furniture, kitchen equipment and and and is very low compared to what we are acquainted with. To give you a few examples: We are without hot water for some days now although the solar panel on the roof was quite recently installed. The day before yesterday my room was suddenly without electricity... The latter is a big problem in general: We experience several power losses a day and the voltage is fluctuating a lot. So far I am thankful that the house is equipped with a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) device. 

It is obvious that good craftsmen are extremely rare or non existent in India. Hopefully this initiative will pave the way for a change to the better!

Journey ZRH-FRA-BLR

Actually, my journey to India began some days before the take-off: it was time for the journey through the cupboard and drawers. As Lufthansa only allows some 20 kg of luggage on flights to Asia, good planning was essential. By putting all my heavy things into the hand luggage (which normally is not weighed) I finally managed to get the all the material in my bags without hurting the baggage restrictions. Although 20 kg aren't that heavy I was glad that my father accompanied me to the airport and helped hauling the luggage...

It was a big surprise to see my brother Martin at the airport; it was a special farewell I am not used to... But please see for yourself!

My girlfriend Fabienne left Zurich for a business trip to Nice at the same day and same time. This fortunate coincidence allowed us to spend the last minutes together and to say goodbye.

After a short hop to Frankfurt, I continued my journey to Bangalore in a Boeing B 747-400.

The plane was fully booked and as a consequence the available space was very scarce. This gave me a first idea of what to expect in Indian means of transport. But after having travelled in rickshaws and different buses in the last few days, I can assure you that leg space in the Lufthansa Jumbo is little better if at all. Anyway, my legs were thankful when I finally arrived in Bangalore.

A person from the Bühler HR division picked me up and after a hair-raising taxi drive I arrived at the Bühler Guesthouse at 3 o'clock in the morning. After a very short night I took up my employment in the Bühler R&D department. I will tell you more about the Guesthouse and my workplace in some future posts. 

Hi and welcome to my blog

Some days back I arrived in Bangalore, India in the middle of the night. The city of Bengaluru - as it is called in the local language Kannada - is the capital of the South Indian state Karnataka. With an estimated population of some 6 million people the town ranks among the Top 40 largest cities around the world. And as far as I can judge it the city is not only big in theory... For some more information about the town, please refer to Wikipedia.

The purpose of my stay in India is quite simple: Having finished my Bachelor studies at ETH Zürich this summer, I am trying to get some practical experience and for this reason I decided to complete an internship at Bühler AG. Bühler has its own affiliate in India since 1992. At the very moment Bühler is establishing an analytics laboratory where I am working. After having absolved some introductive weeks at the Bühler headquarters in Uzwil, I moved to Bangalore. And that is where my blog starts!

I will try to give you some insight into my life and my adventures in India. The blog makes no claim to completeness! I will rather try to highlight the most important, entertaining and breathtaking experiences. As some of you may know I am into photography; as a consequence I am planning to add quite a lot of pictures and to cut down on words.

While staying in Bangalore I would actually like to improve my English. As long as I don't start adapting to the "Indian English" pronunciation with all its peculiarities, this will hopefully be possible. Nonetheless, getting some routine in writing will do me good and for this reason I have decided to write this blog in English.

I hope you will enjoy your stay on this page. Feel free to come back!