Saturday, May 31, 2008

When it Rains, it Pours... and Drips

Sometimes you just have days where you have to drive around the city and take care of things. Saturday was one of those days. We had to go to the hospital to get our final Hep B vaccination, we had to go to the furniture rental place to arrange for a bed for our "Summer guest season", (eldest daughter Isha arrives in less than three weeks!!!) and then we had to go to Thom's Super Market and Bakery. Thom's is one of the older expat haven type grocery stores in Bangalore. We can get Corn Flakes there (if we wanted), we can get meat there (even beef), we can get baking cocoa and Betty Crocker baking mixes there (I can smell baking brownies as I type!). Bryan can even get decaf coffee there. As far as we know this is the only place in Bangalore that has decaf, even if it is only Nescafe... but sadly they were out of stock (Monday after 3 it shall be there!) Anyway, Anna came with us today and she was so happy to find these:


I believe that they are actually made in Thailand, but still, to her they are a taste from home!

Here is another interesting sight from the streets of Bangalore.

You often see trucks like these around. This truck is actually being used as a bus. It transports people into and out of the city from the villages. This bus appears to be a little on the empty side as sometimes you will see a full batch of heads inside and a full row of bottoms off the back. As you see they have a rope to hang on to and handles on the side. I think sitting on the back would be a fun view, although I would want to hang on real well through all the bumps on the city streets!
I also saw a guy on the back of a two-wheeler carrying a goat across his lap. A LIVE goat! Sadly I did not get a picture of this one but it was one of those "oh yeah, I'm in India" sights. They were probably headed to a barbeque or something.

We then dropped the daughter off on Brigade road (she was meeting a "friend") and Bryan and I headed home. It wasn't long before it started to get a little dark. Then it got even darker. Soon it was 4:00 p.m. and I was turning lights on inside because it was so dark. Glancing outside I saw this:


I really had the feeling that IT was coming.
Yup, I think I can safely say that The Monsoon started today.

Aaaannnd, we still have a few leaks. Nothing torrential, quite. But the rain is really something to behold. About 20 minutes after the above picture was taken, things looked like this:


and this:
At the top left of the above photo you can see a little shack (click if you would like to see it bigger). This is where the construction workers for the site next to us are living. I think there are four of them, probably all under the age of 25 - if that. Some time later they were out in the downpour trying to fix a leak that they have in one of the corners.

This was after about 30 minutes:

Did you notice how much water is around the motorcycle tire? He's not going anywhere soon!

That's a lot of water. And as mentioned, we had our leaks to contend with as well. Oh, and marble floors, when wet, are really slippery. All things considered we are lucky that more does not come in the house!

10 comments:

yarnivorous said...

Golly, that is a lot of rain! Sounds like the monsoon has hit indeed!
Good luck with getting the leaks fixed - at least you'll know if they really are fixed :-)

Rima said...

Oh how much I miss Bangalore. Though I dislike the monsoon season, it would be so great to be in Bangalore right now.

Maya said...

So I hear you've been sending Bryan out for walks in that rain without an umbrella! I think my boys would LOVE those rain puddles as much as he seems to!

In a funny bit of perspective twisting, your photo of the motorcycle looks like a diorama, because those large sheets of paper(?) behind it look like U.S. money. Funny!

Bikerdude said...

Hi there,

Caught up with your posts after quite a while, and am glad to see you've become quite a Bangalorean! Great going, enjoy the rain (err) and keep posting!!

PS: Did you have anything to do with the airport moving close to your home? I'd like some of those numbers you called pull that one off, please :P

Anonymous said...

... Food Zone sell decaff!! we had a similar 'full day in the car' experience on Saturday, and came home with the last bottle of Vermouth in Bangalore. Success!

Anonymous said...

thanks to u , i know whr i'll be finding decaf coffee in bangalore now :) - been drinking the usual coffee thats available all over the place :(

cindy said...

Yikes!!! Hope you can stay dry in this wet season. Your pics of India and Indian life are wonderful. Keep them coming.............I hope you can find decaf when you need it.

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Romi said...

Wow. It is so cool to see your pics of life there. We get so insulated here....

Gail said...

Hi! I'm heading to Bangalore this Friday for work. I'm only going to be there a week, and I'm staying right off MG Road at the Royal Orchard Central. Is there anywhere I should go? Anything to look out for?

And yah, right in time for the monsoon, apparently :)