Traffic woes ... round up of visits to my boys, and plans...
So, this evening was one of my first real drives around Bangalore - not quite Bangalore, but probably the most traffic infested areas of the city. I headed to Indiranagar to ball with Aliya, and getting there wasn't really an issue - I headed out there at a quiet-ish time. Ballin was like the old days, I was a mess and Aliya just beat me to the ground. The first game was 15-11, the second was 15-09 - [If I didn't know her better, I'dve said that she let me get to 11 and 9 points]. As she said later in response to Chitra's wise crack ["Do you remember how to play?!"], "Her game hasn't changed a bit, she's so predictable!" As most people know, in a one on one situation, there are only two things I can do - shoot [and miss!], or drive in on the right [never the left]. Of course, Aliya having played alongside me, AND against me for so many years, knows this very well.
Anyhoo, back to the traffic - after ballin, a session cut short by my breathlessness, we headed to her house - I wanted to meet her mum before she left for Delhi, and then back to Vancouver, and catch up with some of our other friends from the bballin days. We stopped on the way at Coffee Day [local coffee frachise, similar to starbucks - but not quite there], where we picked up some cake for Karthik [Aliya's husband], and headed to her house. On the way, we got stuck in a pretty bad jam. Wait, let me rephrase that -- as most traffic jams in this city, the situations was aggravated by the sheer impatience of everyone on the road. Its shameful how impatient Bangalore drivers are - from autorickshaws to two-wheelers [cyclists, motor bikes, scooters, you name it!], cars to massive buses! No one can wait, each person thinks their work or destinations is more important than the others.
Side Note: Buses are THE worst. When I was learning how to drive, our driver said, you can try to out maneuver any vehicle, but never try and get in front of a bus. They drive blindly, if they hit you they don't feel a thing, and they'll never be worse for wear - if you see a bus, move out of its way. In earlier posts [blog-stalker tyrrell pointed this out], I said that the traffic isn't that bad. Well, I may have to retract that - its gotten worse, and besides the impatience - its also because there are so many more cars on the road [I've been told its because of low interest rates and montly payments on car loans - its easier than ever to get a car!], and most of these cars are not owner-driven, they are driven by drivers, who really have no attachment to the car, nor do they face repercussions if there is damage to the car. Additionally, previously Bangalore traffic was bad because of the two weelers and buses, now the cars have also gotten into the act - trying to squeeze their way into any crevices in the traffic. Its unheard of to have just two straight lanes of cars at a stop light.
Gone are the days of easy leisurely driving down South Parade [MG Road], now its annoying. I still enjoy it most of the time -- but sometimes even I have to say, seriously -- when traffic is not moving, how does it help to honk? Does it help the situation to squeeze into an intersection that is already blocked?
Of course, all of the traffic problems in Bangalore increase exponentially when you throw the state of the roads into the mix --- potholes, incomplete flyovers, unevenly paved streets. ARGh. However, I still think that the MAIN problem is the fact that people are impatient - when they're impatient, they drive like they're on CRACK. Honestly, I think that alot of them are on crack too!
This has been a kind of "complaining" post upto now, but now I'll tell you about my evening w/the girls.
We went over to Aliya's apartment - first time I've been there since she moved, and Sheetal and Chitra came over a little later. Both are friends from the basketball days of old - we've shared alot of good times together, especially with Aliya and Chitra. The three of us hung out a lot together during the Mounts days, Sheetal had her own drama going on at that time. Anyhoo, Sheetal is a model and actress [Malayalam and other regional films], and she is truly whack. No, really - I'll use a Harry Potter term [btw, new book releases July 16th!!!] - she's "mental"!! She arrived at about 7pm, she talked NON-STOP until 10.30pm. Anyone who's EVER said I talk alot - you don't want to meet Sheets. She's REALLY nice, but when she's with peopel she knows as well as she knows us, she'll just talk her head off. She's also really excited because she's engaged and her wedding is in December inshaAllah --- another reason why she talked so much. She told each one of us about the design of the card, her clothes, and how she's going to match everything -- she told us all separately, so since I was there first, I heard the story FOUR times!
Aunty and Sarah brought us dinner from the club, and Sarah immediately put us to work unloading the car. She's heading off on her new UN assignment in December, and until then she's moving into her flat. A little bit of background, Aunty's family developed the property that they lived in, and the area has developed really nicely --- lots of apartments buildings have come up, and everyone in the family has a share in it in the form of an apartment --- very common set up. So Aliya and Karthik have a gorgeous three-bedroom apartment that they moved into last year that has been the home base for Aunty, Sarah and Farah. Sarah and Farah also have apartments in the neighboring buildings, and Sarah is moving into one of them. I have to say, they are really gorgeous apartments - very large, spacious, multiple bedrooms, beautiful patios - two are ground floor apartments, so they have adjoining gardens. Alhamdullilah, they have all settled well.
So after dinner, once we got Sheetal to sit quietly for a bit, we were talking about the days we used to spend at Aliya's old house, and all the basketball trips we went on, and the tournaments and the fights, and the pranks. And we just sat and laughed about all the stupid things we had done, and the crazy people we met along the way! Everyone's settled now - most married, some have kids ma'shaAllah, its amazing. Of course, I'm the baby of the group - most of the gang are 26-28. It was such a nice evening, hangin' out, chillin', relaxin' all cool :-)
Off the topic of hanging out with friends - I never posted about my two beautiful nephews ... subha'anallah ... they are lovely kids. Ishaan and Akbar -- the newest members of the Ali Mohammed family are one year old and nine months old respectively. Ishaan is a cunning little fellow, he'll never actually come to you, but will demand your attention at all times. All afternoon he was showing off with all his toys, standing at his keyboard playing for half an hour at a time, crawling around putting pieces of old bread in his mouth, giggling on the terrace, shouting AH AH AH, and TATA TAAAA. Ma'shaAllah he's the cutest, almost - Akbar gives him good competition!
Akbar jaan is his mothers pet, he will not leave her when she's in front of him. When he is in her lap, he giggles and hides, and lies upside down, and turns red -- an absolute doll of a child. But when he's out of his mothers lap, he really makes you work for his affection. It took me about half an hour before he would sit in my arms without yelling, and another hour or more of walking him around and talking to him before he would talk back, and by talking I mean, his blah blah talk. But subhan'allah, at one point, he started babbling so much that I thought he was telling me about how his sister was making a fuss earlier in the day! Ma'shaAllah, he's already trying to stand up - I sat him on my stomach, and held out my hands - he'd grab them and pull himself up and jump up and down with a big toothless grin on his face, his light eyes sparkling! I hope I get to spend more time with them this summer inshaAllah, and become buddies with them :-)
What next? Tomorrow I hang out w/Gay [pronounced Guy] and Sam - we're goin to BHEEMA's! - our favorite andhra joint.
Culinary note: Food from the Andhra Pradesh region is supposed to be the spiciest food in the country - Andhrites are so used to spicy food, that they are known to eat whole green chillies if the food isn't hot enough.
Anyhoo, back to the traffic - after ballin, a session cut short by my breathlessness, we headed to her house - I wanted to meet her mum before she left for Delhi, and then back to Vancouver, and catch up with some of our other friends from the bballin days. We stopped on the way at Coffee Day [local coffee frachise, similar to starbucks - but not quite there], where we picked up some cake for Karthik [Aliya's husband], and headed to her house. On the way, we got stuck in a pretty bad jam. Wait, let me rephrase that -- as most traffic jams in this city, the situations was aggravated by the sheer impatience of everyone on the road. Its shameful how impatient Bangalore drivers are - from autorickshaws to two-wheelers [cyclists, motor bikes, scooters, you name it!], cars to massive buses! No one can wait, each person thinks their work or destinations is more important than the others.
Side Note: Buses are THE worst. When I was learning how to drive, our driver said, you can try to out maneuver any vehicle, but never try and get in front of a bus. They drive blindly, if they hit you they don't feel a thing, and they'll never be worse for wear - if you see a bus, move out of its way. In earlier posts [blog-stalker tyrrell pointed this out], I said that the traffic isn't that bad. Well, I may have to retract that - its gotten worse, and besides the impatience - its also because there are so many more cars on the road [I've been told its because of low interest rates and montly payments on car loans - its easier than ever to get a car!], and most of these cars are not owner-driven, they are driven by drivers, who really have no attachment to the car, nor do they face repercussions if there is damage to the car. Additionally, previously Bangalore traffic was bad because of the two weelers and buses, now the cars have also gotten into the act - trying to squeeze their way into any crevices in the traffic. Its unheard of to have just two straight lanes of cars at a stop light.
Gone are the days of easy leisurely driving down South Parade [MG Road], now its annoying. I still enjoy it most of the time -- but sometimes even I have to say, seriously -- when traffic is not moving, how does it help to honk? Does it help the situation to squeeze into an intersection that is already blocked?
Of course, all of the traffic problems in Bangalore increase exponentially when you throw the state of the roads into the mix --- potholes, incomplete flyovers, unevenly paved streets. ARGh. However, I still think that the MAIN problem is the fact that people are impatient - when they're impatient, they drive like they're on CRACK. Honestly, I think that alot of them are on crack too!
This has been a kind of "complaining" post upto now, but now I'll tell you about my evening w/the girls.
We went over to Aliya's apartment - first time I've been there since she moved, and Sheetal and Chitra came over a little later. Both are friends from the basketball days of old - we've shared alot of good times together, especially with Aliya and Chitra. The three of us hung out a lot together during the Mounts days, Sheetal had her own drama going on at that time. Anyhoo, Sheetal is a model and actress [Malayalam and other regional films], and she is truly whack. No, really - I'll use a Harry Potter term [btw, new book releases July 16th!!!] - she's "mental"!! She arrived at about 7pm, she talked NON-STOP until 10.30pm. Anyone who's EVER said I talk alot - you don't want to meet Sheets. She's REALLY nice, but when she's with peopel she knows as well as she knows us, she'll just talk her head off. She's also really excited because she's engaged and her wedding is in December inshaAllah --- another reason why she talked so much. She told each one of us about the design of the card, her clothes, and how she's going to match everything -- she told us all separately, so since I was there first, I heard the story FOUR times!
Aunty and Sarah brought us dinner from the club, and Sarah immediately put us to work unloading the car. She's heading off on her new UN assignment in December, and until then she's moving into her flat. A little bit of background, Aunty's family developed the property that they lived in, and the area has developed really nicely --- lots of apartments buildings have come up, and everyone in the family has a share in it in the form of an apartment --- very common set up. So Aliya and Karthik have a gorgeous three-bedroom apartment that they moved into last year that has been the home base for Aunty, Sarah and Farah. Sarah and Farah also have apartments in the neighboring buildings, and Sarah is moving into one of them. I have to say, they are really gorgeous apartments - very large, spacious, multiple bedrooms, beautiful patios - two are ground floor apartments, so they have adjoining gardens. Alhamdullilah, they have all settled well.
So after dinner, once we got Sheetal to sit quietly for a bit, we were talking about the days we used to spend at Aliya's old house, and all the basketball trips we went on, and the tournaments and the fights, and the pranks. And we just sat and laughed about all the stupid things we had done, and the crazy people we met along the way! Everyone's settled now - most married, some have kids ma'shaAllah, its amazing. Of course, I'm the baby of the group - most of the gang are 26-28. It was such a nice evening, hangin' out, chillin', relaxin' all cool :-)
Off the topic of hanging out with friends - I never posted about my two beautiful nephews ... subha'anallah ... they are lovely kids. Ishaan and Akbar -- the newest members of the Ali Mohammed family are one year old and nine months old respectively. Ishaan is a cunning little fellow, he'll never actually come to you, but will demand your attention at all times. All afternoon he was showing off with all his toys, standing at his keyboard playing for half an hour at a time, crawling around putting pieces of old bread in his mouth, giggling on the terrace, shouting AH AH AH, and TATA TAAAA. Ma'shaAllah he's the cutest, almost - Akbar gives him good competition!
Akbar jaan is his mothers pet, he will not leave her when she's in front of him. When he is in her lap, he giggles and hides, and lies upside down, and turns red -- an absolute doll of a child. But when he's out of his mothers lap, he really makes you work for his affection. It took me about half an hour before he would sit in my arms without yelling, and another hour or more of walking him around and talking to him before he would talk back, and by talking I mean, his blah blah talk. But subhan'allah, at one point, he started babbling so much that I thought he was telling me about how his sister was making a fuss earlier in the day! Ma'shaAllah, he's already trying to stand up - I sat him on my stomach, and held out my hands - he'd grab them and pull himself up and jump up and down with a big toothless grin on his face, his light eyes sparkling! I hope I get to spend more time with them this summer inshaAllah, and become buddies with them :-)
What next? Tomorrow I hang out w/Gay [pronounced Guy] and Sam - we're goin to BHEEMA's! - our favorite andhra joint.
Culinary note: Food from the Andhra Pradesh region is supposed to be the spiciest food in the country - Andhrites are so used to spicy food, that they are known to eat whole green chillies if the food isn't hot enough.
posted by zai5h at Tuesday, June 21, 2005
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