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| From House1 |
March 18, 2011
Priorities in the new house
Larrie has begun to populate the new house we purchased Tuesday with high priority items: A cat scratch post and buckets of cat litter.
Wild elephant could keep me away...
This is a new one! Apparently wild elephants can keep some things away. Message from our Organic Produce supplier today:
"After the recent wild elephant intrusion again in mid February we have managed to limp back to partial normalcy. Now it is the heat, dryness and lack of water that we are trying to tackle.
The local administration has now commenced work on excavating a trench intended to contain the elephants within the reserve forests.
All these impediments have temporarily affected the quantity of produce and we are unable to make the usual round this week."
March 14, 2011
Show me the water!
March 7, 2011
Yep, Incredible :-(
6:39 pm and still no water. I'm getting thirsty just thinking about it. I'm sitting here wondering whether I should be trying to book a hotel room somewhere so I can take a shower before work in the morning. Also, thinking it would be nice to be able to flush toilets and wash hands before then.
I have to say, I really don't understand the causality described below.
On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 1:24 PM, Palm Meadows Adda <support@apartmentadda.com> wrote:
This is to inform all the Residents that due to power interupption in whole of whitefield area,the water supply has affected.BESCOM has informed us that due to tree cutting on the road power has been cut off and upto 5'o clock we are not going to get supply.This has seriously affected our water supply.Even we are not in position to purchase the tanker water.
Kindly bear with us.We appologise for this.
Thanking you,
Maintenance
March 1, 2011
Going Green
Larrie plans to Go Green when we return to Minneapolis and not use disposable plastic anymore. He had seen these heavy duty bags around town and decided to go to the source in City Market. For some reason he arranged to acquire 50 of them even though they will probably NEVER wear out. (Hmmm... anyone want to know what they are getting for Xmas in 2011?) The vendor didn't have that many but said he could make them in an hour. They we about 30 cents apiece. I could see a potential long term import business model here...
The story behind the story: I wanted to get these bags, and I asked Imtiaz where we could get them, which turned out to be City Market. I learned something about City Market that day. I thought City Market was a general reference to an area, but it is a specific building. We pulled in, and attempted to find a parking spot. In order to park, we needed to move a two wheeler out of the way; so, Imtiaz and I picked it up, and moved it. When the owner showed up, we almost got into a fight over the fact that we had moved his bike. The stuff on the ground under our feet was indescribable - a combination of manure, garbage, straw, leavings from the vegetable and fruit markets, and other stuff. You glided through this stuff. So, picking up and moving a two wheeler was problematic when you were standing on slick sludge.
At any rate, we parked and headed inside. This was an incredible indoor market, and you can see from the pictures, this is this guys whole business. His stall is about four feet wide, and maybe eight feet deep. Imtiaz negotiated the price, Rs. 15 each, and the guy said about half an hour. Imtiaz and I went up to the third floor to the tools market, which was like walking around Weisman's in Great Falls - I loved it. If I had found the third floor earlier on, I would have owned more tools. On our way back down to see progress, we encountered a cow wandering about the hallways, and there were multiple birds, and I'm pretty sure a fine colony of rodents. Unbeknown to us, the power had gone off, and it takes power to run the sewing machines - "not ready, sir". I had to get to the dentist; so, we headed off. The original idea, as told to me by Imtiaz, was "just 10 minutes, sir". Another deep dive into the markets proved to be just that, deeper than originally planned.
Upon our return from the dentist, an hour and a half later, they were still sewing. We did a quality check on the completed bags, rejecting some, which took a lot of discussion to assure them that they were unacceptable. In the end, we walked out with the bags through a different entrance, and on the way to the car passed a street vendor who had about 10,000 of these bags ready - cash -n- carry. Oh, well; not the first time I have been fooled by preconceived expectations. The bags on the street were Rs. 45 each. So, convenience costs more, but there is some guy at the Sultan Khan Bag Works who is getting his bags sent to Minnesota, and he is smiling!
The story behind the story: I wanted to get these bags, and I asked Imtiaz where we could get them, which turned out to be City Market. I learned something about City Market that day. I thought City Market was a general reference to an area, but it is a specific building. We pulled in, and attempted to find a parking spot. In order to park, we needed to move a two wheeler out of the way; so, Imtiaz and I picked it up, and moved it. When the owner showed up, we almost got into a fight over the fact that we had moved his bike. The stuff on the ground under our feet was indescribable - a combination of manure, garbage, straw, leavings from the vegetable and fruit markets, and other stuff. You glided through this stuff. So, picking up and moving a two wheeler was problematic when you were standing on slick sludge.
At any rate, we parked and headed inside. This was an incredible indoor market, and you can see from the pictures, this is this guys whole business. His stall is about four feet wide, and maybe eight feet deep. Imtiaz negotiated the price, Rs. 15 each, and the guy said about half an hour. Imtiaz and I went up to the third floor to the tools market, which was like walking around Weisman's in Great Falls - I loved it. If I had found the third floor earlier on, I would have owned more tools. On our way back down to see progress, we encountered a cow wandering about the hallways, and there were multiple birds, and I'm pretty sure a fine colony of rodents. Unbeknown to us, the power had gone off, and it takes power to run the sewing machines - "not ready, sir". I had to get to the dentist; so, we headed off. The original idea, as told to me by Imtiaz, was "just 10 minutes, sir". Another deep dive into the markets proved to be just that, deeper than originally planned.
Upon our return from the dentist, an hour and a half later, they were still sewing. We did a quality check on the completed bags, rejecting some, which took a lot of discussion to assure them that they were unacceptable. In the end, we walked out with the bags through a different entrance, and on the way to the car passed a street vendor who had about 10,000 of these bags ready - cash -n- carry. Oh, well; not the first time I have been fooled by preconceived expectations. The bags on the street were Rs. 45 each. So, convenience costs more, but there is some guy at the Sultan Khan Bag Works who is getting his bags sent to Minnesota, and he is smiling!
Firing up the brick kiln
Sited on Larrie's Sunday morning bike ride this week were two men checking a fired brick kiln. One of the most interesting things about living in India is seeing how items originate.
The rest of the story: We ride our bikes through what we call sand pit mines - think of a skate board park. The "miners" take the sand, and the brick guys take the clay, which just leave a big messy moonscape behind. The brick makers refine the clay and make the bricks. But, to be a sturdy brick requires firing. In some cases there are formal kilns with smoke stacks and everything, but every now and again I see a pile that looks like a kiln. They pile up bricks, and then put "pipes" of wood here and there, more bricks, more wood, and so on. Now, by wood, I'm talkin' 8" trees the full length of the pile. This pile was the first time I have seen one sealed up and cooking - you can see the burn marks in the picture. I did not know they sealed the sides with clay to create a rare oxygen environment for slow cooking.
The Cats in the Cradle or 18 lb. Cat in a Gravity Well
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