After living in the US for several years, I got used to the abundance of food products available and easy access to almost all the cuisines in the world. Now, living in Bangalore/India has its impact on the foods we get to eat. Being a cooking enthusiast, I am learning where to find the right stuff in Bangalore to make the foods I am used to.
It took me a few months of visiting several food stores to figure some of the basics. I hope to cover my experiences and hopefully provide a guide to other readers about how and where to find the things you will need for various cuisines.
I will try to break it down by sections as much as possible.
Finding baking products in Bangalore
1. Baking powder - easily available in any small self-service grocery store. Comes in marked boxes. Dry Yeast & gelatin are also easy to find in most big stores.
2. Baking soda - Not too obvious. Although available in most grocery stores - they are in clear plastic packs (very close to salt and sugar) and its usually marked just "soda". Best is to for Soda or cooking Soda, and the grocer will be able to locate it for you.
3. Pam spray and the likes - Spray oil is not quite here in India yet. Best is buy a Misto or other spray devices. Or stick with the good old way of oil and sprinkling flour.
4. Flour - This is a very challenging area and I have not yet figured this one out . Refined flour is called "Maida". Maida is very very easy to find in almost any food store. But, I have not even come close to finding different types of flour. I have not seen any bread flour, self-rising flour, unbleached flour etc. If you are a homemade bread person - then you are in for some level of disappointment. In fact the same holds true for store bought bread. Very few choices and barely any fresh baked rolls. Most of what is available it is sliced bread. I have seen some decent Baguettes and french bread in big fancy stores like SPAR. I have not found any Rye, sourdough, italian bread etc.
5. Chocolate chips - You get the general Hersheys chocolate chips. I have not seen anything other than the basic milk chocolate ones. No unsweetened, no caramel chips, no dark chocolate :-( You get a decent variety of European cooking chocolates and cocoa powder.
6. Filling - I find a few cans of strawberry filling, may be an occasional peach or mango. Cranberries are almost unheard of. In general - findind berries in any form is a bit tough.
7. Herbs - I have not yet found good variety of fresh herbs. In the fresh category - you can find cilantro, curry leaves, mint and maybe some chives (rarely). Other than this, rest has to be dried herbs. Dried herbs are available in most big stores like Foodworld, Spar etc.
That is all I have for now on the baking needs aisle. Will write more on finding the groceries you need in the City of Bangalore!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Why Indians speak the way they do...
Here are the usual observations of English language mistakes made in India/Bangalore. I am no expert here and used to make many of these mistakes. I have tried change most of them.
1. Sentences seem to always start with a "You know". Eg. " You know - I was walking outside .." And sometimes sentences end with a "you know" as well. Somehow, something doesn't fit right when you listen to it.
2. Sentences always have a lot of "know/No"s in it. Eg. "That is a really nice car - know/No? " - which in plain English translates to " Isn't that a really nice car?". I get thoroughly confused with the "know/no" word being used in the place of proper question word (who, where, when, why, what, how etc) I call it a "know / No" - because.. sometimes its the short of "you know" and sometimes its the word "no" - Because most Indian languages use the "no" word to indicate a question. If you know Tamil - a lot of people say " Nalla irukku - illa? " So the "know/no" is a literal translation problem.
3. Get the "V" and "W" mixed up all the time. Its "WeggieTaybles" and "Wegetarian". And, its "Vife", "Vater","Vhen", "Vhat" and "Vhere"
4. The letter "a" is pronounced like a "y". Yair (for air).
5. This one kills me - Iron - pronounced as I-Run. Classic Bangalore.
6. Dubbell Road - Any road that has a median! (yeah its rare to find a double road)
7. Take a right/left at Dead end - Dead end in Bangalore means a T - junction :-)
8. The words "Only" and "also" being overused and with no relevance to the sentence. Eg: "You came from the store only?". "You are coming to the store also". Also is used in the place of "too" most of the time. The word "Only" doesn't makes sense in the sentences. I am yet to figure the logic behind the use of the word. And the word "only" is pronounced as "Wonlee".
9. The sing song tone of course. Questions are always a super sing-songed sentences with no question word. You have to hear this to understand it. "You going to the store?".
10. Storm is pronounced as "StRom" - this is a super common mistake.
Will add more to this list soon.
1. Sentences seem to always start with a "You know". Eg. " You know - I was walking outside .." And sometimes sentences end with a "you know" as well. Somehow, something doesn't fit right when you listen to it.
2. Sentences always have a lot of "know/No"s in it. Eg. "That is a really nice car - know/No? " - which in plain English translates to " Isn't that a really nice car?". I get thoroughly confused with the "know/no" word being used in the place of proper question word (who, where, when, why, what, how etc) I call it a "know / No" - because.. sometimes its the short of "you know" and sometimes its the word "no" - Because most Indian languages use the "no" word to indicate a question. If you know Tamil - a lot of people say " Nalla irukku - illa? " So the "know/no" is a literal translation problem.
3. Get the "V" and "W" mixed up all the time. Its "WeggieTaybles" and "Wegetarian". And, its "Vife", "Vater","Vhen", "Vhat" and "Vhere"
4. The letter "a" is pronounced like a "y". Yair (for air).
5. This one kills me - Iron - pronounced as I-Run. Classic Bangalore.
6. Dubbell Road - Any road that has a median! (yeah its rare to find a double road)
7. Take a right/left at Dead end - Dead end in Bangalore means a T - junction :-)
8. The words "Only" and "also" being overused and with no relevance to the sentence. Eg: "You came from the store only?". "You are coming to the store also". Also is used in the place of "too" most of the time. The word "Only" doesn't makes sense in the sentences. I am yet to figure the logic behind the use of the word. And the word "only" is pronounced as "Wonlee".
9. The sing song tone of course. Questions are always a super sing-songed sentences with no question word. You have to hear this to understand it. "You going to the store?".
10. Storm is pronounced as "StRom" - this is a super common mistake.
Will add more to this list soon.
House to Home
Its been a very long time since I have found time slots than 10 mins to do anything. Other than the 8 hrs of much needed sleep ( which I do not intend to use that to write my blog - I am far from being that blogaddict yet) , I barely get time to even read the newspaper.
Anyways, the past 2 months have been focused on getting our apartment remodeled to suit our lifestyle, taste and comforts. We have learn a lot about working on making a house our home. Apartment living is sort of new to us. We have taken a little time to come to terms with not having an eternal dump ground called the garage :-). So we are sort of super organized and have a strict policy of "if it doesn't fit in a proper place, it goes out of the house". The downsizing and planning during packing up at Denver has paid off. We are almost there with the house becoming a home.. and we have finally dry bathrooms and shower stalls.
Our experience in Bangalore in terms of finding stuff for the home - like washbasins, kitchens, bathroom stuff, tiles etc.. was overall decent. The choices are wide. But, the only catch is, if you do not know the right places or the right people, you can either miss the choices or get ripped off. For example, if you want some good light fixtures, you can go the local stores and find decent stuff, or you can go to a street in the middle of the city and they have tons of stores. But, you have to bargain and spend half a day to get what you want. The customization of stuff is also very good in India. They can pretty much put together anything you want in any style, shape, color and even price range. If you are clear about your budget, its easy to find the choices. Of also, you can show a catalog of pottery barn - the local carpenter can make you a great looking replica :-)
Home remodeling was a fun and frustrating experience. After a few weeks into it and when it came to the last details, cleaning up and finishing - thats when the frustration starts. What we are used to as "good quality" and "good finish" in the US, is way off from the understanding of the guys who do the job. There is nothing called "standards" here. It took us a bit of time to realize that, its not really bad quality of the job, its the guys who do the work. They have no clue as to what we mean by quality and finish. They have never seen, lived, built anything of high quality. A lot of little things here in India are handmade and lack the tools machinery we are used to in the US. Even if you hire the so-called Interior designers - the guys who actually drives the nail or paints the wall - is someone not to familiar with high-end quality.
This difference in the financial and lifestyle slabs between us and the guy who works, is so apparent when you see him work on the finishing of a product. Its sometimes funny - the guys cannot even comprehend why we would choose to do certain things the way we do. The pace at which we expect things to get done is also a whole different issue. They just don't understand why we would want our home ready in a month. They just don't get our paranoia with time and completion of work. Seriously, they really think we are in some kind of rush in life for no reason. This is partly because, their lives seem to be so hopeless and monotonous. They don't expect any changes or improvements. They barely have any goals in their lives. They live one-day at a time and get drunk on sundays. So, never schedule anything with any handyman for a monday morning.. they never turn up. And worse, they will be happy to give you a super lame reason for not showing up. Best way to deal with this, always - I mean it.. always expect things to get delayed. Always!
A few rules when you try to get a home setup in India/Bangalore
1. Find a good driver/friend who knows the streets of Bangalore
2. Find a contractor to do your remodeling through someone you know and has some leverage on the person.
3. Never ever expect things to fall in your schedule. Give enough room for delays.
4. Set you expectations quite high with the contractor and expect to get atleast 75% or less in reality.
5. Take your time to research products, talk to neighbors. There are several small problems that only a person who has lived in Bangalore long enough can explain.
6. Don't adopt "anything can be done" policy .. no somethings are simply not possible - even if they show it in a catalog. Classic example - Asian paints' new texture line of paints. They hv a cool catalog, a crew that claims to know how to do it. But, trust me, set your expectations low or get your hands dirty and do it yourself.
7. Do-it-yourself is NOT easy. there is no home depot - or even if you find a small time home store, you will never find someone to explain how it works. Concrete walls are a pain in the butt.
8. Direct every single detail. Never ever ignore explaining the obvious - remember - nothing is obvious to these people. you simply have to explain - and as frustrating as it can be - be ready to hear the explanations at the stores. For eg - we wasted 10 mins listening to a guy in an electronic store explaining how a universal remote works... we realised what he was trying to explaing only in the 10th minute...sales people are extremely nervous, confusing and lack any sense of rational thinking.
People here either assume you know what you want - like taking the order for your lunch without handing you a menu! Or the other extreme of people assuming you know nothing (inspite of you flauting your foreign clothes and accent) they will try to explain how to push the power button on your remote and how magically the TV turns on and shows awesomely pixelated soccer games! HDtv - Please - hurry to India!
Anyways, the past 2 months have been focused on getting our apartment remodeled to suit our lifestyle, taste and comforts. We have learn a lot about working on making a house our home. Apartment living is sort of new to us. We have taken a little time to come to terms with not having an eternal dump ground called the garage :-). So we are sort of super organized and have a strict policy of "if it doesn't fit in a proper place, it goes out of the house". The downsizing and planning during packing up at Denver has paid off. We are almost there with the house becoming a home.. and we have finally dry bathrooms and shower stalls.
Our experience in Bangalore in terms of finding stuff for the home - like washbasins, kitchens, bathroom stuff, tiles etc.. was overall decent. The choices are wide. But, the only catch is, if you do not know the right places or the right people, you can either miss the choices or get ripped off. For example, if you want some good light fixtures, you can go the local stores and find decent stuff, or you can go to a street in the middle of the city and they have tons of stores. But, you have to bargain and spend half a day to get what you want. The customization of stuff is also very good in India. They can pretty much put together anything you want in any style, shape, color and even price range. If you are clear about your budget, its easy to find the choices. Of also, you can show a catalog of pottery barn - the local carpenter can make you a great looking replica :-)
Home remodeling was a fun and frustrating experience. After a few weeks into it and when it came to the last details, cleaning up and finishing - thats when the frustration starts. What we are used to as "good quality" and "good finish" in the US, is way off from the understanding of the guys who do the job. There is nothing called "standards" here. It took us a bit of time to realize that, its not really bad quality of the job, its the guys who do the work. They have no clue as to what we mean by quality and finish. They have never seen, lived, built anything of high quality. A lot of little things here in India are handmade and lack the tools machinery we are used to in the US. Even if you hire the so-called Interior designers - the guys who actually drives the nail or paints the wall - is someone not to familiar with high-end quality.
This difference in the financial and lifestyle slabs between us and the guy who works, is so apparent when you see him work on the finishing of a product. Its sometimes funny - the guys cannot even comprehend why we would choose to do certain things the way we do. The pace at which we expect things to get done is also a whole different issue. They just don't understand why we would want our home ready in a month. They just don't get our paranoia with time and completion of work. Seriously, they really think we are in some kind of rush in life for no reason. This is partly because, their lives seem to be so hopeless and monotonous. They don't expect any changes or improvements. They barely have any goals in their lives. They live one-day at a time and get drunk on sundays. So, never schedule anything with any handyman for a monday morning.. they never turn up. And worse, they will be happy to give you a super lame reason for not showing up. Best way to deal with this, always - I mean it.. always expect things to get delayed. Always!
A few rules when you try to get a home setup in India/Bangalore
1. Find a good driver/friend who knows the streets of Bangalore
2. Find a contractor to do your remodeling through someone you know and has some leverage on the person.
3. Never ever expect things to fall in your schedule. Give enough room for delays.
4. Set you expectations quite high with the contractor and expect to get atleast 75% or less in reality.
5. Take your time to research products, talk to neighbors. There are several small problems that only a person who has lived in Bangalore long enough can explain.
6. Don't adopt "anything can be done" policy .. no somethings are simply not possible - even if they show it in a catalog. Classic example - Asian paints' new texture line of paints. They hv a cool catalog, a crew that claims to know how to do it. But, trust me, set your expectations low or get your hands dirty and do it yourself.
7. Do-it-yourself is NOT easy. there is no home depot - or even if you find a small time home store, you will never find someone to explain how it works. Concrete walls are a pain in the butt.
8. Direct every single detail. Never ever ignore explaining the obvious - remember - nothing is obvious to these people. you simply have to explain - and as frustrating as it can be - be ready to hear the explanations at the stores. For eg - we wasted 10 mins listening to a guy in an electronic store explaining how a universal remote works... we realised what he was trying to explaing only in the 10th minute...sales people are extremely nervous, confusing and lack any sense of rational thinking.
People here either assume you know what you want - like taking the order for your lunch without handing you a menu! Or the other extreme of people assuming you know nothing (inspite of you flauting your foreign clothes and accent) they will try to explain how to push the power button on your remote and how magically the TV turns on and shows awesomely pixelated soccer games! HDtv - Please - hurry to India!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Getting connected in Bangalore.
At the center (centre - still getting used to the Brit spellings) of the settling down process in Bangalore - lies the all important part of connectivity. By which, I mean - Telephone, Broadband, and cable.
Telephone and Broadband - They sort of go together. Its just less hassle if you ask me, if you stick with the same provider for both. If you want to make life a little bit easier, stick with the same provider. There are 2 major providers in Bangalore - BSNL and Airtel. BSNL - is not always avaialble everywhere. Its is a LOT cheaper, but sometimes, harder to get the connection. Cheaper also highly compensates quality. For example the Rs500 so called broadband connection from BSNL is great for light users - just email and chats. If you want to do some intense multimedia downloads, youtube or vpn into work.. forget BSNL.
Airtel offers a bunch of different plans - the bottom line is - there is nothing called Unlimited connections here in Bangalore. Everything has some limit. There are multiple speed options - 256kbps, 1mbps, and 2mbps. In the 256kbps - you can get unlimited plans. At that speed, you cannot download much anyways. In the other 2 speeds you can get monthly rates in Rs650 - Rs750 range 2gb,4gb,20gb data transfers. I am currently using 2mbps connection with a 4gb data transfer. Will try this for a month and see how much i acutally use before upgrading.
So that said about the acutal product - the broadband is not all the reliable. The connections do go off once or twice a day minimum. Sometimes, it can be off for a good 20 mins. So, if you are on critical work, save it! Yep, get used to the idea of using Ctrl+S a Lot here - either its the power or the connections. UPS is a must if you to save your work.
Btw, all these guys make house calls to get your application filled out and take the order for new connections. But be patient, they never install the day they say they would. Takes a few phones calls, screams and threats before you can acutally get the connections up and running. Don't take a day off from work based on the promises. Just give them youe cellphone number and ask them to call when they reach home.
About Cable TV - I have not yet explored this area in detail yet. I know there are a lot of Dish providers - Tata Sky, Dishnet, Airtel etc. Tata sky seems to be fairly popular. This option works only for people that have a wall/balcony in the right direction to pick up the signals. Regular cable providers also have the Set-top options - Basically a cable box that can let you watch what you want and not what the provider thinks you will like :-) Regular basic cable - beware - the channels keep changing. So ESPN will switch to Ten Sports if circket is on or if the cable guy fancies F1 - then that is what you will have to watch!
So bottom line - get some connection with the Settop box and remote. These are still inexpensice. About 2k or less for initial connection and cost of the box/dish etc. Then a maximum of Rs300 to Rs500 if you get all the channels they offer. In bangalore - you get North package and South package, sports package, movie package etc. I was so confused with the North and south - they basically mean Norht Indian languages channels and south indian languages. if you watch both - then go for the all-the-nonsense packages.
But relax - there is also Pay-per-view now. So you can watch most of the prime time stuff. Also, HBO and the Star channels offers all the US Prime time programming. Not all, but most of the good ones. If you are still not satisfied - then download the HD program off the respective US channel websites.
Telephone and Broadband - They sort of go together. Its just less hassle if you ask me, if you stick with the same provider for both. If you want to make life a little bit easier, stick with the same provider. There are 2 major providers in Bangalore - BSNL and Airtel. BSNL - is not always avaialble everywhere. Its is a LOT cheaper, but sometimes, harder to get the connection. Cheaper also highly compensates quality. For example the Rs500 so called broadband connection from BSNL is great for light users - just email and chats. If you want to do some intense multimedia downloads, youtube or vpn into work.. forget BSNL.
Airtel offers a bunch of different plans - the bottom line is - there is nothing called Unlimited connections here in Bangalore. Everything has some limit. There are multiple speed options - 256kbps, 1mbps, and 2mbps. In the 256kbps - you can get unlimited plans. At that speed, you cannot download much anyways. In the other 2 speeds you can get monthly rates in Rs650 - Rs750 range 2gb,4gb,20gb data transfers. I am currently using 2mbps connection with a 4gb data transfer. Will try this for a month and see how much i acutally use before upgrading.
So that said about the acutal product - the broadband is not all the reliable. The connections do go off once or twice a day minimum. Sometimes, it can be off for a good 20 mins. So, if you are on critical work, save it! Yep, get used to the idea of using Ctrl+S a Lot here - either its the power or the connections. UPS is a must if you to save your work.
Btw, all these guys make house calls to get your application filled out and take the order for new connections. But be patient, they never install the day they say they would. Takes a few phones calls, screams and threats before you can acutally get the connections up and running. Don't take a day off from work based on the promises. Just give them youe cellphone number and ask them to call when they reach home.
About Cable TV - I have not yet explored this area in detail yet. I know there are a lot of Dish providers - Tata Sky, Dishnet, Airtel etc. Tata sky seems to be fairly popular. This option works only for people that have a wall/balcony in the right direction to pick up the signals. Regular cable providers also have the Set-top options - Basically a cable box that can let you watch what you want and not what the provider thinks you will like :-) Regular basic cable - beware - the channels keep changing. So ESPN will switch to Ten Sports if circket is on or if the cable guy fancies F1 - then that is what you will have to watch!
So bottom line - get some connection with the Settop box and remote. These are still inexpensice. About 2k or less for initial connection and cost of the box/dish etc. Then a maximum of Rs300 to Rs500 if you get all the channels they offer. In bangalore - you get North package and South package, sports package, movie package etc. I was so confused with the North and south - they basically mean Norht Indian languages channels and south indian languages. if you watch both - then go for the all-the-nonsense packages.
But relax - there is also Pay-per-view now. So you can watch most of the prime time stuff. Also, HBO and the Star channels offers all the US Prime time programming. Not all, but most of the good ones. If you are still not satisfied - then download the HD program off the respective US channel websites.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Schools in Bangalore
Being very new to Bangalore and schools in Bangalore, it was a little bit of a search to find the right place for a 5yr old starting grade 1.
I cannot speak in general about schools in Bangalore but I can share my experience with schools in South Bangalore and about the admission process and adjustment.
We made a list of few popular schools in South Bangalore. Popular meaning - names of the schools based on what people around here recommended and what my family recommended. Also, most online forums eventually lead up to to a few schools deemed appropriate for returning NRI kids. In my opinion, sticking with these schools seems to make sense, as most NRIs anyway end up taking the same path to finding a school. If not anything, you will at least find similar kids in these schools and possibly help the kids adjust faster to the new enviroment.
The schools we were recommended were
PSBB, Ryan Intl, Presidency, Valley school, BGS, NPS, Kumarans.
We chose Ryan for the ICSE syllabus, new school that needed students :-) so admission was not a big hassle, decent infrastructure and promise for good stuff, well established company that runs a bunch of branches. We also chose this school as it had non-stop bus service from our house.
Things to consider when picking a school.
1. Type of school - Newer schools with better outlook towards education as a whole - No exams, continupus assessment style etc. Importance to overall development and opportunity to take part in national and international activities.
2. Infrastructure - Amenities like swiming pools, courts, sports complex, extra curricular activites etc. Most new/fancys chools have the money to build these very quickly. So gettign into a school that has plans to build them is good too. Its a matter of competition here. so make sur they hv some good facitility or at least plans to build them.
3. Syllabus - CBSE, ICSE are popular and available througout the country. State board is not all that great and not all that suitable for NRI kids in my opinion. Mainly due to the force of learning to read and write the local language.
4. Distance and bus service
5. Extra curricular acitivites and lessons. Schools have music, arts, dance, sports etc on weekends inside the campus with even bus service. So look for schools with these facitlies to avoid driving the kid around for various lessons.
6. Hygiene and maintenance of toilets and campus.
Admission process:
I am not sure how this happens during the rush time - which is usual November for the following school year. Most schools start accepting applicaitons in Nov through start of school. Appicaltion forms range from Rs200 to rs800. These application forms usually requrie the following documents. Good idea to keep copies of the following:
1. Birth certificate
2. Passport size pictures
3. Cash for application fee
4. A notepad and pen - most of the information is told and you will barely find any printed booklet about any school or admission process.
5. Keep a list of questions handy (will write my list below)
6. Copies of transfer records, academic cards - mainly for kids transferring at higher grades - above 1st grade.
After you apply in the schools - they will usually assign a admission number and also tell you to contact them in a few day to check on the status. They will also test the child the same day or on a scheduled day. In some schools, they simply expect you to call often to find out about the testing day.
Remember - the schools call ocassionaly, most of the time, its upto the parents to follow up and find out. But, in my experience, the customer service at the schools was not too bad. Its better to keep an open mind and acknowledge the lack of staff for the number of applications they receive.
After testing the child and if she/he is admitted. You will asked to pay fees. The general structure is
1. Admission fees (runs anywhere between 15K to 80K)
2. Tuition fees for the first term (3 terms per year. fees range fron 10K-30K per term)
3. School books, uniforms, transportation fees
A lot of the schools accept various forms for the fees above. At Ryan internation, banneghatta road, bangalore - they accepted only DD /cash for admission fees, only cheques for school tuition fees and only cash for books and uniform. So check with your school clearly about mode of payment for each part of the fees.
Before school starts
Make sure you acquire all materials like books, uniforms etc. take you child a few times to the campus during the summer holidays and familiarize them with the building and classrooms. Talk to the office people, pricipal, nurse, teachers, bus drivers etc. The more people you meet and talk to, the better it will be later on. There is not much of a procedure for parents to understand the school or process. At least for us, we were pretty lost as we started the admission process only in the month of May. There was no concept of orientation. So we has to ask the questions to the teachers and principal etc. Do take the time to do that, and prepare your child. The more information the better. The schools are very nice about talking to parents and working with them.The more interest you show, the better response you get.
School Begins
Beginning of the school year can be very stressful for every one. Especially for the child on day one. Be prepared as much as possible and let your understand what to expect on day 1. If he/she takes the school bus, make sure you go ahead of time to the bus stop and talk to other parents and exchange numbers. School bus drivers also have cellphones. SO take that number. Make sure your child know which stop to get off at on the way back. Most new kids espeically kids from the west are clueless and can get confused. In India, no one tells the kids what to do. THey alwasy assume that the kids Knows what to do. Which in fact is true for the kids here. So, you have the take the time and make suer your child in educated about bus routes, stops and drivers etc.
I will write more about expereinces in School and classrooms. But overall, the kids love the schools and they adjust very fast. If parents let the kids explore and learn and have a positive outlook towards eveyrthign, they do just fine. Just remind them that they are an explorer in an new country and culture. Take it one day at a time.
I cannot speak in general about schools in Bangalore but I can share my experience with schools in South Bangalore and about the admission process and adjustment.
We made a list of few popular schools in South Bangalore. Popular meaning - names of the schools based on what people around here recommended and what my family recommended. Also, most online forums eventually lead up to to a few schools deemed appropriate for returning NRI kids. In my opinion, sticking with these schools seems to make sense, as most NRIs anyway end up taking the same path to finding a school. If not anything, you will at least find similar kids in these schools and possibly help the kids adjust faster to the new enviroment.
The schools we were recommended were
PSBB, Ryan Intl, Presidency, Valley school, BGS, NPS, Kumarans.
We chose Ryan for the ICSE syllabus, new school that needed students :-) so admission was not a big hassle, decent infrastructure and promise for good stuff, well established company that runs a bunch of branches. We also chose this school as it had non-stop bus service from our house.
Things to consider when picking a school.
1. Type of school - Newer schools with better outlook towards education as a whole - No exams, continupus assessment style etc. Importance to overall development and opportunity to take part in national and international activities.
2. Infrastructure - Amenities like swiming pools, courts, sports complex, extra curricular activites etc. Most new/fancys chools have the money to build these very quickly. So gettign into a school that has plans to build them is good too. Its a matter of competition here. so make sur they hv some good facitility or at least plans to build them.
3. Syllabus - CBSE, ICSE are popular and available througout the country. State board is not all that great and not all that suitable for NRI kids in my opinion. Mainly due to the force of learning to read and write the local language.
4. Distance and bus service
5. Extra curricular acitivites and lessons. Schools have music, arts, dance, sports etc on weekends inside the campus with even bus service. So look for schools with these facitlies to avoid driving the kid around for various lessons.
6. Hygiene and maintenance of toilets and campus.
Admission process:
I am not sure how this happens during the rush time - which is usual November for the following school year. Most schools start accepting applicaitons in Nov through start of school. Appicaltion forms range from Rs200 to rs800. These application forms usually requrie the following documents. Good idea to keep copies of the following:
1. Birth certificate
2. Passport size pictures
3. Cash for application fee
4. A notepad and pen - most of the information is told and you will barely find any printed booklet about any school or admission process.
5. Keep a list of questions handy (will write my list below)
6. Copies of transfer records, academic cards - mainly for kids transferring at higher grades - above 1st grade.
After you apply in the schools - they will usually assign a admission number and also tell you to contact them in a few day to check on the status. They will also test the child the same day or on a scheduled day. In some schools, they simply expect you to call often to find out about the testing day.
Remember - the schools call ocassionaly, most of the time, its upto the parents to follow up and find out. But, in my experience, the customer service at the schools was not too bad. Its better to keep an open mind and acknowledge the lack of staff for the number of applications they receive.
After testing the child and if she/he is admitted. You will asked to pay fees. The general structure is
1. Admission fees (runs anywhere between 15K to 80K)
2. Tuition fees for the first term (3 terms per year. fees range fron 10K-30K per term)
3. School books, uniforms, transportation fees
A lot of the schools accept various forms for the fees above. At Ryan internation, banneghatta road, bangalore - they accepted only DD /cash for admission fees, only cheques for school tuition fees and only cash for books and uniform. So check with your school clearly about mode of payment for each part of the fees.
Before school starts
Make sure you acquire all materials like books, uniforms etc. take you child a few times to the campus during the summer holidays and familiarize them with the building and classrooms. Talk to the office people, pricipal, nurse, teachers, bus drivers etc. The more people you meet and talk to, the better it will be later on. There is not much of a procedure for parents to understand the school or process. At least for us, we were pretty lost as we started the admission process only in the month of May. There was no concept of orientation. So we has to ask the questions to the teachers and principal etc. Do take the time to do that, and prepare your child. The more information the better. The schools are very nice about talking to parents and working with them.The more interest you show, the better response you get.
School Begins
Beginning of the school year can be very stressful for every one. Especially for the child on day one. Be prepared as much as possible and let your understand what to expect on day 1. If he/she takes the school bus, make sure you go ahead of time to the bus stop and talk to other parents and exchange numbers. School bus drivers also have cellphones. SO take that number. Make sure your child know which stop to get off at on the way back. Most new kids espeically kids from the west are clueless and can get confused. In India, no one tells the kids what to do. THey alwasy assume that the kids Knows what to do. Which in fact is true for the kids here. So, you have the take the time and make suer your child in educated about bus routes, stops and drivers etc.
I will write more about expereinces in School and classrooms. But overall, the kids love the schools and they adjust very fast. If parents let the kids explore and learn and have a positive outlook towards eveyrthign, they do just fine. Just remind them that they are an explorer in an new country and culture. Take it one day at a time.
Friday, June 5, 2009
The views
Being back in India is quite an experience emotionally. Really, there are some things I see everyday, moves me so much that I have to hold back a bit and take a deep breath. I am not necessarily talking about the poverty, the poor standard of living(in comparison to the western world) and such negative things. It is quite moving to me when I see the little things. The sweet face of a flower girl on the street, the respect people show to our kids, the grin on the doorman's face when we thank him. There some extremely creative people who come up with solutions for their day to problems. There are a lot of crazy little things I witness and surprisingly there is always a darn good reason behind them. The solution may a bit crude - but it works and the reasoning behind it quite convincing.
To give you a simple example - there is a huge pigeon problem in the high rise we live.. ..you should see the different things people have come up with to avoid the bird droppings. Some of the richer folks have built glass enclosures to the balconies, some have simply stopped using their balconies, some have a fishing net covering the whole space, some people like us, with compulsive Googling habit ...have a bunch of flashy CDs dangling from ropes to scare the pigeons.. I have to show off.. the CDs actually work :-) It may be an eye sore... wait a minute.. did I say eye sore.. that is the fun part about being in India.. there is nothing called an eye sore. People are practical and live within their means. People who have lived and traveled to western countries.. think of these little crude solutions as eye sores. But they fail to see the creativity and practicality involved in such solutions. The reality is, people simply cannot afford to be fancy. What an eye-opening experience - if you think of this as "living green". It is amazing the way things are reused, recyled here in India. Will write more on that soon. There are times when I terrible for our way of wasteful living.
It really is super apparent that the problem-solving is more important than the appearance of the solution. This is something that might take us a little time to accept and more so to adapt to. Really, no one cares a hoot about how your stuff looks. Not true for everything.. but for the most part, yes, you can do what you want Without being under the fear of being judged. Life away from conformity. I truly enjoy this freedom of breaking away from the conforming lifestyle. What a contrast from living in America. I am not saying its bad to live in a conforming lifestyle - there are huge benefits in doing so. But, at the same time, there is a such a sense of freedom and interest to everyday tasks and chores here in India. There is not much of a pre-set way of doing things. There is no pressure of doing things a certain way, just because the rest of the country does so. This sense of people doing things their own way is very apparent while you shop, when you see kids play at a park, when you walk the streets, cross a road. Simple example, when you try to walk from point A to point B on any road.. there is no sidewalk.. so people can choose where they want to walk. There is no automatic sense of sticking to the left (assuming people drive on the left... half the country does not drive. so no sense of leftside/rightside) I, of course, being a creature of habit, walk on the right side of the road and stick to the right when someone comes in my way. But this did not quite work.. i was bulldozed by people, dogs,Bicyclists, cows, pigeons, auto rickshaws, puddles and rubble. All these things have their own minds and do their own things. Just accept this and move on. when you find a clear spot on the road in the direction towards point B.. just take step into that spot keep going. Don;t look around, don't ever think the person or thing next to you knows why you are stopping... they simply don't. Just barge in, move forward, and be happy and get to your destination. Some people call this lack of civic sense, I call this survival. Of course this have to slowly change and make it more easy to walk around. The problem is not the people, the problem is the knowledge transfer and infrastructre. When they build a sidewalk, people are not educated on how to use it.
Its not really funny for a lot of people to live in this kind of chaotic city and streets... but to me the solution lies in looking at this as difference and not a problem. The day we stop comparing western life to the way of life here in India.. Life will be so much more peaceful. A lot of people exposed to the western world have expectations and constantly compare their lives. But that is just a waste of time and living life in denial. They have to try an understand why what Dog or cow or puddle is there in the presume wrong spot. When you understand the reasons.. you stop looking at it as being in the wrong spot. It is in fact in the right spot.. considering the situation. Change has to come in a different form.. trying to squeeze the crazy, chaotic life here into a streamline life designed for the western world does not work.
My survival tip: Learn to understand and reason everything out. There is always a good reason for things being done a certain way. People have very complicated lives and priorities are very different. What is obvious and apparent to us is completely off the charts to some one else.
To give you a simple example - there is a huge pigeon problem in the high rise we live.. ..you should see the different things people have come up with to avoid the bird droppings. Some of the richer folks have built glass enclosures to the balconies, some have simply stopped using their balconies, some have a fishing net covering the whole space, some people like us, with compulsive Googling habit ...have a bunch of flashy CDs dangling from ropes to scare the pigeons.. I have to show off.. the CDs actually work :-) It may be an eye sore... wait a minute.. did I say eye sore.. that is the fun part about being in India.. there is nothing called an eye sore. People are practical and live within their means. People who have lived and traveled to western countries.. think of these little crude solutions as eye sores. But they fail to see the creativity and practicality involved in such solutions. The reality is, people simply cannot afford to be fancy. What an eye-opening experience - if you think of this as "living green". It is amazing the way things are reused, recyled here in India. Will write more on that soon. There are times when I terrible for our way of wasteful living.
It really is super apparent that the problem-solving is more important than the appearance of the solution. This is something that might take us a little time to accept and more so to adapt to. Really, no one cares a hoot about how your stuff looks. Not true for everything.. but for the most part, yes, you can do what you want Without being under the fear of being judged. Life away from conformity. I truly enjoy this freedom of breaking away from the conforming lifestyle. What a contrast from living in America. I am not saying its bad to live in a conforming lifestyle - there are huge benefits in doing so. But, at the same time, there is a such a sense of freedom and interest to everyday tasks and chores here in India. There is not much of a pre-set way of doing things. There is no pressure of doing things a certain way, just because the rest of the country does so. This sense of people doing things their own way is very apparent while you shop, when you see kids play at a park, when you walk the streets, cross a road. Simple example, when you try to walk from point A to point B on any road.. there is no sidewalk.. so people can choose where they want to walk. There is no automatic sense of sticking to the left (assuming people drive on the left... half the country does not drive. so no sense of leftside/rightside) I, of course, being a creature of habit, walk on the right side of the road and stick to the right when someone comes in my way. But this did not quite work.. i was bulldozed by people, dogs,Bicyclists, cows, pigeons, auto rickshaws, puddles and rubble. All these things have their own minds and do their own things. Just accept this and move on. when you find a clear spot on the road in the direction towards point B.. just take step into that spot keep going. Don;t look around, don't ever think the person or thing next to you knows why you are stopping... they simply don't. Just barge in, move forward, and be happy and get to your destination. Some people call this lack of civic sense, I call this survival. Of course this have to slowly change and make it more easy to walk around. The problem is not the people, the problem is the knowledge transfer and infrastructre. When they build a sidewalk, people are not educated on how to use it.
Its not really funny for a lot of people to live in this kind of chaotic city and streets... but to me the solution lies in looking at this as difference and not a problem. The day we stop comparing western life to the way of life here in India.. Life will be so much more peaceful. A lot of people exposed to the western world have expectations and constantly compare their lives. But that is just a waste of time and living life in denial. They have to try an understand why what Dog or cow or puddle is there in the presume wrong spot. When you understand the reasons.. you stop looking at it as being in the wrong spot. It is in fact in the right spot.. considering the situation. Change has to come in a different form.. trying to squeeze the crazy, chaotic life here into a streamline life designed for the western world does not work.
My survival tip: Learn to understand and reason everything out. There is always a good reason for things being done a certain way. People have very complicated lives and priorities are very different. What is obvious and apparent to us is completely off the charts to some one else.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Apartment living in Bangalore
Apartment living - another new things in our life. We have not lived in an apartment fro a very long time. We were a bit worried about feeling claustrophobic and feared a huge invasion of privacy. Being used to space and privacy in the US, downsizing to the patio/yard-less living was not in our 'looking forward to' list.
Having family in the city and living in our apartment a HUGE difference. Coming into a already setup house helped us a lot. We have not yet missed the space or yard. The apartment is very spacious (they say its quite big for bangalore standards) so I guess, if you want to stay sane and comfy - spend the dollars on space. The critical point in picking an aparment is the layout. We only have 4 homes on each floor and lots of privacy to the baconies. The windows do not face the next door neightbor's noisy TV or crazy kids running in the hallways. Find an apartment slightly higher up (like 5th floor or above) to avoid any foot traffic noise or cricket balls crashing through the windows.
One of the fun things about living in bigger communities like ours is the people watching fun. I love to spend time on the balconies and watch the kid play downstairs, watch the worried New honda car owners looking with hawk eyes at the kids playing cricket near their cars, watching the old couples taking slow walks while the younger ones zip past them in their skates, boards and self-concocted versions of heely shoes.
I also totally enjoy watching some people getting completely lost in the maze of buildings, blocks, floors and door numbers. You can spot these people at the lift lobbies.. the dazed look, the confusion, totally intimidated by the 3 yr old taking the lift by himself... yeah no restrictions .. i hv seen a few 3 to 5 yr olds ride the lifts(elevators) all by themselves.
The best part about elevator usage here in Bangalore ... a LOT of the people.. even the seemginly educated or high-class(will explain later) people take the wrong elevator - meaning - take the one going up while they want to go down... it took me a day to figure out why they were doing this. Acutally, my dad and sister had me in splits when they explained. I initially thought
people just got into the elevator no matter which way they went.. because they were tired of waiting for it. But, thats not the case. People here think they need to select the up or down based on where the elevator is at.. and not where they need to go. SO if the elevator is in the ground floor.. an they are at the 10th floor. they would press the "UP" button.. calling the lift to come up and pick them up :-) Somehow, they don;t get the idea that the machine(elevator in this case) is a service provider and the people are customer. If only this simple sense of who the customer is and who the service provider is - life in India will be SO much different (not sure if it will be better - food for another post some other day)
This elevator theory is acutally is an important and interesting one. This attitide of assuming that things/machines are superior, and people's assumption that they cannot control a machine or others that seem more important - is quite sad. The feelign of self-worth is so low among a huge population... and its true on the flipside as well.. the feeling of superiority and lack of humility is qutie notable.
I am sort of losing focus here... was supposed to stick with Apartment living in Bangalore... there is so much to learn about people, attitudes, financial ladders, and so much more ... and living in a huge building jungle is the best way to understand the people of India.
Having family in the city and living in our apartment a HUGE difference. Coming into a already setup house helped us a lot. We have not yet missed the space or yard. The apartment is very spacious (they say its quite big for bangalore standards) so I guess, if you want to stay sane and comfy - spend the dollars on space. The critical point in picking an aparment is the layout. We only have 4 homes on each floor and lots of privacy to the baconies. The windows do not face the next door neightbor's noisy TV or crazy kids running in the hallways. Find an apartment slightly higher up (like 5th floor or above) to avoid any foot traffic noise or cricket balls crashing through the windows.
One of the fun things about living in bigger communities like ours is the people watching fun. I love to spend time on the balconies and watch the kid play downstairs, watch the worried New honda car owners looking with hawk eyes at the kids playing cricket near their cars, watching the old couples taking slow walks while the younger ones zip past them in their skates, boards and self-concocted versions of heely shoes.
I also totally enjoy watching some people getting completely lost in the maze of buildings, blocks, floors and door numbers. You can spot these people at the lift lobbies.. the dazed look, the confusion, totally intimidated by the 3 yr old taking the lift by himself... yeah no restrictions .. i hv seen a few 3 to 5 yr olds ride the lifts(elevators) all by themselves.
The best part about elevator usage here in Bangalore ... a LOT of the people.. even the seemginly educated or high-class(will explain later) people take the wrong elevator - meaning - take the one going up while they want to go down... it took me a day to figure out why they were doing this. Acutally, my dad and sister had me in splits when they explained. I initially thought
people just got into the elevator no matter which way they went.. because they were tired of waiting for it. But, thats not the case. People here think they need to select the up or down based on where the elevator is at.. and not where they need to go. SO if the elevator is in the ground floor.. an they are at the 10th floor. they would press the "UP" button.. calling the lift to come up and pick them up :-) Somehow, they don;t get the idea that the machine(elevator in this case) is a service provider and the people are customer. If only this simple sense of who the customer is and who the service provider is - life in India will be SO much different (not sure if it will be better - food for another post some other day)
This elevator theory is acutally is an important and interesting one. This attitide of assuming that things/machines are superior, and people's assumption that they cannot control a machine or others that seem more important - is quite sad. The feelign of self-worth is so low among a huge population... and its true on the flipside as well.. the feeling of superiority and lack of humility is qutie notable.
I am sort of losing focus here... was supposed to stick with Apartment living in Bangalore... there is so much to learn about people, attitudes, financial ladders, and so much more ... and living in a huge building jungle is the best way to understand the people of India.
Bangalore Airport
Our first experience at Bangalore, of course, was the airport. To our surprise... the process if getting our baggage and getting out was rather smooth and took only about 40 min. I guess it was put in our minds that any Indian airport will be hell,... but it was no so in Bangalore. It was probably the odd time we landed (10:00 pm) on a Saturday. A week night could have been a nightmare.
The airport's location is quite far from the City. Especially, for us, we had to come all the way south of the city to road. It took us about 90 min to make it. The drive from the airport to our apartment was sort of exciting - almost Nintendo style. The driver was patient, but we were paranoid at every turn as we are used to driving on the other side of the road. Its always a bit of a scare when you change driving sides. The traffic was light late at night and we were of course busy catching up with the family and did not pay too much attention to the routes (pronounced as 'root' in India)
Tip to make life easy:
Do not try to drive to the airport at any time - unless you like to get frustrated or enjoy long drives with no views. Take the bus service to the airport. I have heard great reviews about these bus services from several spots around the city.
The airport's location is quite far from the City. Especially, for us, we had to come all the way south of the city to road. It took us about 90 min to make it. The drive from the airport to our apartment was sort of exciting - almost Nintendo style. The driver was patient, but we were paranoid at every turn as we are used to driving on the other side of the road. Its always a bit of a scare when you change driving sides. The traffic was light late at night and we were of course busy catching up with the family and did not pay too much attention to the routes (pronounced as 'root' in India)
Tip to make life easy:
Do not try to drive to the airport at any time - unless you like to get frustrated or enjoy long drives with no views. Take the bus service to the airport. I have heard great reviews about these bus services from several spots around the city.
Living in Bangalore
Living in Bangalore - Bangalore, India - One of the most talked about city in India. I have recently moved to Bangalore after living almost a decade in the United States. This blog, is an attempt to share my experiences, dreams, reality and more. I hope this blog helps others like me hoping to move and live in Bangalore. I will try to document my experience as detailed as possible. This probably will be just another R2I (return to India) blog :-)
Living away from India for a long period of time can disconnect you from the very essence of the country. Our patriotism for India had always been very strong and probably one of the biggest reasons to draw us back to homeland. As a family, we were extremely excited to move back to India and let our daughter enjoy the little joys of the Indian culture.
It has been about a month since we moved to Bangalore. Bangalore is very new to us, we have heard enough about the place - decent climate, horrible traffic, good food, cosmopolitan, great nightlife, hell in reality, rats nest .. etc etc. We have had various people from all walks of life either scare us or encourage us with our decision to move. We made the move for various reasons and stuck with our decision... and here we are almost one month and counting...
Living away from India for a long period of time can disconnect you from the very essence of the country. Our patriotism for India had always been very strong and probably one of the biggest reasons to draw us back to homeland. As a family, we were extremely excited to move back to India and let our daughter enjoy the little joys of the Indian culture.
It has been about a month since we moved to Bangalore. Bangalore is very new to us, we have heard enough about the place - decent climate, horrible traffic, good food, cosmopolitan, great nightlife, hell in reality, rats nest .. etc etc. We have had various people from all walks of life either scare us or encourage us with our decision to move. We made the move for various reasons and stuck with our decision... and here we are almost one month and counting...
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