Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Dear readers, I would like to take the possibility to wish you a nice festive season!

People often asked me about Indian Christmas habits and atmosphere. I have to disappoint you: there is simply not much to write about except for some knickknack in the supermarkets, Christmas tunes on the radio and special adverts in TV. Furthermore Bangalore's climate or the fact that December 24 is an official working day don't intensify my Christmas mood either. Anyway, I found a funny movie which relates Hindi music to Christmas. In case you've never heard a classical Hindi or Bollywood song: the below Hindi Jingle Bells version imitates the local blockbuster songs very well!

At the same time I thank you for your constant interest in my posts; I am proud to having registered more than 1200 visits on my blog so far. There is still capacity for an increase in reader's comments, though ;-). Don't expect too many news in the coming weeks: my days in India are soon to be counted and I am slowly starting to think about my return at the end of January. Time is running so fast these days!

In less than two days, however, I am off to North India for a visit of the so called "Golden Triangle" consisting of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. I will be back with a report in the New Year. Stay tuned!

Best wishes.

K R Market (City Market), Bangalore

After having stayed in Bangalore for three months and having visited most of the city's major sights, I didn't expect that there is much left to see. How wrong I was! Today I visited the K R Market (also known as City Market) which was a pure festival of colours. The gigantic market is divided into an open-air area and a big hall. Its countless market stands, pretty flowers and other appealing goods, shouting merchants, people who carry goods on their head or shoulders, smiling children but also plenty of dirt, garbage everywhere, bad smells, homeless people sleeping in corners, beggars and many other aspects truly make up for a genuine - but exhausting - Indian experience.

Please feel free to have a look at some of my pictures in my gallery.

India's "axis of evil"

A part of the market hall's ground floor, the florist's centre

Delicious lime fruits, unfortunately presented directly on the dirty street as many of the goods

Talking about streets and dirt...

A compilation of funny things

I would never dare to claim my English to be flawless. Judging by some signposts on shops, buildings or advertisements my orthography is quite ok, though. Let's have a look at some examples:

Writing terms the exact way they are pronounced is a common practice in India. Why should one care about spelling? 

It took me some time until I realized what "flore" means. Fortunately Bühler's milling business unit knows how to write it correctly. 

Another example of Indian spelling. Even funnier is the fact that "mutton" on restaurant-menus is in fact goat.

But there are also other funny objects around Bangalore:

A tree in Cubbon Park: For once nature has won over human interests!

Have you ever seen a yellowish Mozzarella cheese like that? I can assure you, the color is not the only parameter which sets this cheese far apart from genuine Mozzarella...

Holiday in South India, November 27 to December 5

I have the honor to introduce a guest author: my brother Martin was kind enough to write an extensive report of our recent holiday in South India. A very big thank you to Martin for coming to see me in India, spending some great time together and for writing down our experiences! Under this link you'll find a selection of our photographs.

It was at 3 o'clock in the morning when I met Philipp in a Mumbai hotel room. He had managed to get a week-long holiday, allowing us to travel through the southern part of India. By a lucky coincidence, our father was in Mumbai too for a weekend which allowed us to visit the metropolis in a threesome.

Having spent a few preceding days in the North Indian cities of Delhi and Agra, I have been warned several times by Indians that traffic and pollution in Mumbai are 'just crazy' - even compared to India's capital city. With these words in mind, we started our sightseeing in this immense 20 million inhabitants metropolis. Though the streets are crowded, traffic was not as bad as expected. Surrounding southern Mumbai, the Arabian Sea gives the city a nice backdrop and some quieter places like the famous Chowpatty Beach. Mumbais main sights date back to the colonial area and include the Gateway of India - a basalt arch facing the harbour - as well as the enormous Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station (formerly Victoria Terminus).

Peter and Philipp in front of the famous Taj Mahal hotel, Mumbai

The Victoria Terminus, Mumbai

New skyscrapers - lots of which are still under construction - make for a bizzare contrast to the fish market at Sassoon Docks or the Dhobi Ghat, an outdoor laundry, washing all kinds of linen and clothes, mainly by man-power. After a one hour ride from Mumbai harbour in a boat-like construction made entirely of thick wooden planks, we reached Elephanta Island a few miles offshore, well known for its cave-temples cut into the rock. One of the less pleasant things about Mumbai are its huge slum areas as well as the thousands of homeless people and beggars, highlighting the incredible difference between poor and rich in India.

Martin on Elephanta Island

On an overcrowded night train - its coaches reminding us of cars used for cattle transport in Europe - we left Mumbai heading south, reaching our next destination Goa some twelve hours later. As high the pace of live was in Mumbai, as low it is in Goa; local tourist brochures recommending to put of and stow any watches. Perfect beaches (almost empty at this time of the year), blue sky and peak temperatures around 35 °C offered some relaxation after the days passed in the city. Whereas most of the staff in hotels and tourist sights in the rest of India seems to be less than friendly and hardly motivated, Goans showed to have better manners: we lived in simple but well maintained lodges surrounded by lots of palms and close to the beach. Staff was very friendly and welcoming, food in Goa was exceptional. To see a bit more of Goa than just the local town and beaches close to our hotel, we opted for hiring bicycles. After riding them for a few meters we had to re-adjust our plans for the day, as the maintenance of these bikes did not seem to be that intensive. Saddles were much too low and not adjustable, one chain kept falling out of its gear and braking action was almost inexistent. Indian bicycles are obviously not made to ride distances of more than a few kilometers. Even though we passed an excellent day and saw interesting things as the local fishermen spreading their fish on streets to dry them.

Drying fish on the road

Sunset at the Goan beach in Benaulim

After another journey on a night train (this time more confortable) our program was again dominated by cultural sights. After a thrilling ride in completely overcrowded buses with some people even travelling on the roof, we reached Somnathpur, a small town consisting of some small sheds and houses linked by unpaved roads. Besides the shabby town, offering an insight view into the 'other', less spectacular India, a splendid Hindu temple was constructed here in 1286. All walls are richly decorated, illustrating different scenes and figures ranging from Hindu lords to elephants carved into the stone.

Details of the Hindu temple in Somnathpur

The famous Maharaja Palace in Mysore, strolls in the same city as well as a walk up to Chamundi Hill concluded our trip. Nevertheless, the bus ride back to Bangalore was again some kind of an adventure: the brand new bus on this route was fitted with a powerful engine, allowing the driver to overtake other vehicles in quite a risky manner. We were both somehow surprised to reach Bangalore without having smashed some other car or motorbike to pieces.

Mysore market

A giant bull statue - a place of worshipping - on the way to Chamundi hill

So, what are the main impressions of a tourist after staying in India for some 15 days? Besides exceptional buildings and cultural sights, some regions as Goa attract people with their beautiful countryside. Immense social differences as well as the enormous pollution (Indians throw their rubbish just to the ground) are a downside of this country. Furthermore, the behaviour of some people towards foreigners is quite special: lots of taxi drivers, street vendors or tourist guides try to cheat you, others try to get you into certain shops or restaurants to get a provision from the respective owner. Therefore you may have some difficulty in recognizing those people who really want to help you.

As I am leaving Philipp and Bangalore towards Switzerland, I can summarize, that we spent excellent and impressing holidays we won't forget. A last hint: if you plan a trip to India, do not miss to read "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga, discussed by Philipp in an earlier thread of this blog; besides guide books it is a perfect preparation for a visit to this country.

Building sites

It is always interesting to see Indian building sites and to compare them to Swiss standards. The differences couldn't be bigger!

It starts with the number of employed laborers: for a huge building like the newly built Bühler application lab at least 100 to 200 workers were involved every day. The grade of mechanization is generally very low; whenever something can be done by hand, it will be done by hand. Machines like excavators or cranes seem to be more expensive than employing some more workforce. People dig big holes or foundation trenches by hand, women haul building material into the 5th floor on their head or back, trestles - which normally are wooden constructions - are built in highly dangerous maneuvers etc.

A cleaning equip, which tries to get master of produced waste and dust, is always part of a building site. At this point the Indian broom has to be mentioned. I have never seen such an unpractical tool: it basically consists of the front part of a broom we are all used to. Now imagine all these poor women bending down to whip the floor...

Unfortunately the dust is normally rather moved to some other place instead of removing it. Thus, you can be sure that some hours later the wind will do its work and the same dust will cover the whole place again.

Even for building a normal house, at least a whole family is employed. Next to the Guesthouse a house is built and the builder family is living directly at the building site in a small and improvised hut. They don't have access to neither sanitary facilities nor drinking water. Witnessing these huge economical differences make me thoughtful and I would have never expected that wealthy and poor people live so near together.

Paint-jobs are another aspect of building worth mentioning: I have the feeling that the quantity of paint is the essential factor and wins over quality. Instead of a proper surface-treatment before painting, the laborers just try to fill all the cracks and gaps with paint; they don't even hesitate to paint wet walls. Covering surfaces, which should not be painted, is not done either; instead people will try to remove excess paint and splatters with strong solvents. You can imagine the result yourself!

The following pictures cannot show the whole story:

The house which is built next to the Guesthouse

Laborers must be tough guys to trust these a wooden construction. At least you can read the predominant wind direction from this trestle ;-).

Happy Birthday Buhler 2

In the meanwhile I got hold off some official photos which were taken on the festive event on October 27. A small selection can be found here.

Chairman Urs Bühler, Group Manager Stefan Scheiber and CEO Calvin Grieder are visiting the analytical lab -what a honour :-).

Happy Birthday Buhler

"From the local iron foundry to the global corporation: the unifying thread of success

When Adolf Bühler set up an iron foundry in Uzwil in 1860 with two employees, he is unlikely to have imagined in his wildest dreams that his venture would ultimately produce a global corporation with 7500 employees in more than 140 countries who generate annual revenue of about 1.8 billion Swiss francs. But looking back on the numerous development steps over the past 150 years, it is fairly easy to identify a unifying thread running through the entire history of Buhler." (excerpt from www.buhlergroup.com)

Besides a huge festive event in Uzwil on February 12, the anniversary is celebrated in all offices around the world. More than three weeks back it was Bühler Bangalore's turn: A newly built application lab was inaugurated and South Indian customers were invited for a gala dinner. The event was attended by a high-ranking delegation consisting of Chairman Urs Bühler, CEO Calvin Grieder and Group Manager Stefan Scheiber.

the newly built Bühler Bangalore application lab

Our new analytical lab was part of the on-site inspections too and hence I had the pleasure to shortly talk to Bühler's top management and to several customers. As some of the guests wanted to see the lab after diner, my colleague Vadivelan and I stayed at the party while most of the other employees were not allowed to attend the festivities. We enjoyed an excellent meal, good drinks and nice traditional dance shows; late-night we were driven home in a cab. It was a nice and entertaining evening, only clouded by heavy rain which turned the terrain of the factory premises into mud and destroyed some displays.

Indian food

I have often been asked how Indian food is like. The answer is a short one: delicious! Sure, there are things which are not advisable for European stomaches and there is also food (such as cheese, dark bread or chocolate) I definitely miss. But Indian food culture is extremely rich and has a huge variety which makes up for all.

It would be far too ambitious to give you an overview of Indian cuisine (which I don't have neither) or to tell you about all the different sorts of restaurants. This would go beyond the scope of this blog. Instead, let's have a look at a simple meal which is served in a cheap restaurant: it normally consists of rice, Indian bread (called chapathi or roti), at least two different sauces, a soupy lentil preparation (dhal), milk or yogurt based sauce, some coconut chutney and a sweet. Such meals are often served on a banana leaf and are consumed with fingers and luckily also with a spoon. And the best thing of it: the whole meal will cost around 2 or 3 Swiss Francs. 

Meals at the Bühler canteen - which are complimentary - are simple but delicious and I always enjoy the short lunch breaks. Instead of a banana leaf, big stainless steel tablets are used and the atmosphere can naturally not be compared to restaurants. One of the only points I have not yet accustomed to is the South Indian breakfast which is served in the canteen. It consists for example of (too spicy) rice or semolina mashes, steamed rice cakes (iddlies), fried rice pan cakes with spicy potatoes (dosas), soups with lots of chilli, a sweet coffee etc. That is the reason why I normally take some European style breakfast at home and cut back on breakfast in the office.

So far I was very lucky not to face any severe stomach problems. Apart from a burning stomach after spicy (but  tasty) dishes I am just fine and my digestive system copes well with the situation; I hope this will go on like that. Drinking tap water or using it for brushing the teeth is strictly taboo but fortunately there is a device installed in the guesthouse which incorporates a water filter and UV treatment.

As stated above there are some sorts of food which I miss, e.g. a good piece of meat from time to time. The latter is hard to find or extremely expensive and having seen butcher shops around the town I can understand that meat quality is very poor and that most Indian dishes are vegetarian (abbreviated as "veg") :-).

You don't have to be a food scientist to judge the microbial quality of the meat which was shelved at about 30 °C...

And you don't have to be a animal rights activist or member of "Vier Pfoten" to despise this sort of animal housing. These small cages can be found everywhere in the town and unfortunately mostly held double the quantity of poultry.

When I am fed up with Indian dishes or need some change from rice, there are fortunately a handful of alternatives: cooking own dishes at the guesthouse, fast food at places such as KFC or McDonald's, Arabian restaurants serving so called Kababs, well known pizzerias such as Domino's etc.

Eastwood apartments

So far I have only talked about the district where I am living in and you have not seen any pictures. I would like to make up for that at this point.

view from my balcony

guesthouse, outside view

Eastwood "main road"

The district is called "Eastwood apartments"; its layout is very simple and you simply cannot get lost in there because the whole place is tiny. This has one drawback: Whenever I go out for jogging, I am bored after some 15 minutes and stop it. Unfortunately jogging alongside the main road is far too dangerous (things commonly referred to as sidewalk simply don't exist) and the traffic, dust and exhausts definitely steal the joy.

At this point I add two more pictures of the guesthouse itself:

 guesthouse, inside view

Hibiscus in the garden

Weekend trip to Srirangapatnam and Mysore

As mentioned in a previous post, I made a two-day trip to western Karnataka. It was the first time for me riding on trains. My first destination was Srirangapatnam: this village is an important Hindu pilgrimage and called after its tenth-century Sriranganathaswamy Vishnu temple. It is also famous for Haider Ali and son Tipu Sultan who desired to rid India of the hated British invaders. As the touristic sights in Srirangapatnam are quite spread, I accepted a rickshaw-driver's offer to show me around the town. He called himself "guide"; apart from some fragments in English he couldn't explain anything though. Still it was certainly not the worst option to get from on sight to the next.

After a refreshment consisting of ice cream and coconut milk I boarded a bus to get to nearby Mysore, one of the most important and appealing stops in Karnataka. It is well known for sandalwood, for strolling around, seeing the markets and especially for the famous Maharaja's Palace. The latter is magnificently illuminated on Sunday nights by some 100'000 light bulbs - what a spectacle! Before leaving Mysore by train on Monday afternoon I also drove to Chamundi Hill. This hill station features an impressive temple which is a well known center of pilgrimage. It was very interesting to observe the pilgrims worshipping and performing rites such as the smashing of coconuts. Seeing thousands of pilgrims, I just imagined how our churches would look like if they were so well frequented.

Before presenting you the photographs I would like to give you a summary with the most important findings of my trip:

Indian railway system: I would have never imagined that a railway "system" could be so complex. There are eight different classes as well as unreserved and reserved tickets. In my case the assistant at the counter recommended reserving a seat in the simple and dirt cheap "sleeper class". On Sunday in the train, I had to learn that "reserved" doesn't exactly has the same meaning as in Europe: Lots of people with unreserved tickets were sitting in the coach and finally I shared my sleeping berth of 0.5 x 2 m - which would have been mine only - with five Indians. The comparison with cattle-transportation in Switzerland is not over-exaggerated... Arriving at the destination and getting out of the coach was a great release. And please: Don't complain about delays of SBB trains anymore! The reservation of trains is also a difficult matter: It took me around one hour to do the reservation for a train from Mumbai to Goa which I plan to take with my brother at the end of the month. And this was only possible because two Spanish girls I got to know offered me their token (similar to Swiss post office system); otherwise it would have taken at least two hours.

Not only the trains are totally overcrowded: In a restaurant, which is well frequented by Mysore locals, it took me about 45 min to get a seat!

Another comment about the touristic facilities: hotels for 400 Indian Rupees (about 9 CHF) are on the borderline concerning hygienic standards. For one night this was ok but for a longer stay I will pay some Rupees more in future.

After two days of traveling on my own I definitely know how to do Indian small talk: A lot of Indian, mostly youngsters, asked for my name, nationality, job, place where I stay etc. Some even asked me to pose on a photograph together with them. This can be funny in the beginning and it is a good possibility to get to know people. After being interrogated about twenty times it definitely gets on the nerves though.

Some of my favorite photographs are shown below. Hopefully these will incite you to have a look at the more comprehensive selection including captions under this link. Enjoy the pictures!

Further impressions of Bangalore

Having enjoyed the last extended weekend only 2 weeks ago, I was astonished that we will again be off on Monday. And if I tell you that on next Friday we won't work either, you will certainly get even more jealous... The amount of Indian festivals and holidays is indeed impressive; but I cannot complain! As a consequence I get a lot of time to travel and visit places. But before leaving for a two day trip to western Karnataka, I should finish pending issues first and update you - for example with some pictures of Bangalore's city center.

The expression city center is very hard to define in this town as it has not grown harmonically compared to most European towns. Most of the people would cite Mahatma Gandhi road (MG road for short) as the center. There are tons of shopping malls, street vendors and good restaurants. The heavy traffic and the ugly overfly-highway unfortunately render this road not especially charming.

the crowded MG road

a side street of MG road; the number of parked motor cycles gives a slight idea of what to expect on the roads

Compared to other cities, tourist attractions and sights are relatively scarce in Bangalore. If looking hard enough, one can find some impressive temples, parks or buildings though:

the Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore's State Secretariat... 

... or another bombastic, Indian design building

The nearby Cubbon Park doesn't exactly match the previously presented Lalbagh Botanical Garden but it still represents a nice opportunity to retreat from the city. Unfortunately its maintenance is not good enough or people just don't respect the park and nature:

littering is a big problem in India; Cubbon park is unfortunately not spared from it either

House inauguration party

It is a while back when my housemate Palash and I attended a so called house inauguration party. A young lady - Sahanna - who works at Bühler and uses the same minibus has invited us. Her family's new house was just finished and for such occasions it is normal to do worshipping, give a party and invite a lot of people. A traditional South Indian lunch was served, we were showed around the house and we talked to some guests.

the newly built house, decorated with flowers and chains of lights 

a female guest in traditional sari

Sahanna, who invited us, posing together with Palash

The garage was converted to the caterer's kitchen; I'm still glad that my stomach didn't get upset after this meal as the hygienic standards obviously weren't high.

Dusshera festival

Dusshera - also known as Vijayadashami - is a 10 day ceremony of fast, rituals or celebrations to honor the victory of good over evil such as the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana. In Western calendar it falls in September or October and for this reason I had the pleasure to witness the celebrations.

Throughout the country, the festivities and rituals of Dusshera differ to a great extent. In Karnataka, where I am staying, the ninth day of Dusshera is the most important one: it is celebrated by worshipping of implements used in daily life. This includes tools and objects one uses in daily life such as cars, buses, trucks, computers, books, copier or even a paper binder. These items are decorated with flowers and worshipped. Furthermore households and objects must be cleaned for this day; for this reason we cleaned our lab on Friday morning! The doors of houses, offices or even of the Bühler shop floor were decorated with big banana-tree leaves which symbolize purity.

Unfortunately it is not allowed to take pictures in the Bühler factory premises. I can only offer you some impressions of the village Virajpet:

Judged by these pictures, Dusshera must be equal important for Indian flower sellers as the mother's day for Swiss florists. Flowers are mostly sold as garlands which are used to decorate pretty much every object.

I really wonder how the driver of this bus managed to get a view on the road through all the garlands and banana-leaves. The white signs on the carriage, windows and wheels are religious symbols painted by a priest.