Daily Life in the Streets

You gotta love state-sponsored graffiti

Despite old wise tails about eating street food in India, I find every simple food item an absolute taste festival. Not everything is "healthy" but it is all good.  I have not been sick yet for those wondering.

A huge diversity in modes of transport; bus, auto-rickshaw, foot, bike, motorbike and a bull.

Since Bangalorians have more spending money than the typical Indian and somewhat more open tastes, American fast-food places test-market in Bangalore.  This is an Au Bon Pain (I recognize the contraction in calling this "American"), the only "American" food I have eaten since I got here. If you are fatigued of food that burns mouth to arse, this may be the only place in India you can eat, it is the only such chain the the whole of the country and even this was much different than one you would expect in the US.  Otherwise I don't know why anyone would eat here as Indian food is so varied and delicious.

KFC is probably the most popular American food in all of Asia.  McDonalds is probably a close second, I will probably go there when my students read Ritzer's "McDonaldization," for instructional/ethonographic purposes. Taco Bell is test marketing here, although I doubt their "taco meat" has much beef in it in the US, anything "beefy" is strictly avoided here.  The billboard is advertising a paneer (an Indian cheese) "Gordita."  While I miss Mexican food so much, this is not it.  I overheard a student mention making a guacamole (all the ingredients are available here), I think I will be crashing that party.

Just more street life

I guess you could call this a "lower-middle-upper-working class" mall.  Prices were better than any Wal-Mart, and absolutely fascinating to walk around in.

Indian Cop

After three weeks, I am beginning to feel a little order to the Indian chaos.

Orwell meets some BS customer service philosophy form the 1990's

I must be the only foreigner with a bus pass in Bangalore, conductor doesn't believe it is mine until he see the Anglo name on it.  The bus here is awesome, the red ones have AC!  You can't get lost using these as long as you remember what the bus number is.  Some tourists love the auto-rickshaw, but they bother me on a lot of levels, including the pollution and overcharges.

There is a parakeet avery in the monastery next to my house, they are fun to stop and watch on my way home from work.

Jack launches a low-budget SETI program from a tree, or he may just be searching for a cell signal.  Finding extra terrestrial life seems more probable than finding a 3G signal on most days.