August 22, 2008
· Filed under Life in Bangalore
Here I will post month to month on the highlights of a year in Bangalore.
August – The big international schools start back in mid August so most expat families have returned to Bangalore from their summer trips home. The weather is very nice. We are still in the monsoon. That means we have a HEAVY downpour almost every night. People are sick with all sorts of “viral” ailments – colds, flus, etc.
September – The rains have stopped for the most part. The festival season has started. For us, the first big festival of the year is the Ganesh puja. For those of you who don’t know, Ganesh is the elephant-headed god that you see all over India. He is believed to be the remover of obstacles so many people will pray to him before they start on an important task (a trip, writing an exam, building a house, doing a puja.) The Ganesh celebration is a lot of fun. The markets will be full of Ganesh idols made out of clay or plaster. You can buy them painted in very bright colors or left in their natural state. Because the idols end up being immersed in a local lake at the end of the festival there is a lot of awareness about selecting an idol made out of natural products (clay with no paint.) Little A came to the market and selected a nice idol. We did cave and have a little gold paint and silver sparkles added on to the Ganesh! Ganesh is a lover of sweets so on the day of the puja families will prepare a number of sweet dishes to offer during the puja and then to consume after! Individual neighborhoods will put very large Ganesh idols under a tent or on a stage in the locality. There will be lots of music, color and fun. After a few days (5, 7, 10 – depends on the family) the idol will be taken from the home and immersed in a lake or other water body. Bangalore has taken to setting up mobile water tanks in order to keep the lakes clean and to streamline the process. This has also been the month of Ramadan so your Muslim friends and neighbors may be fasting all day and having a meal only in the evening. If you can get some you must try Haleem – one of the favorite foods used to break the fast.
OCTOBER – This will be a month of festivals! We have Gandhi’s birthday on October 2 which is a national holiday. We then have the Dassara holiday which is a 9 day festival (for most parts of India). Both my kids have one week off from school for that holiday. We are then back to school for two weeks before it is Diwali and another one week holiday. This year Diwali and Halloween fall in the same week so we will be combining festivities in our neighborhood this year! The weather is getting warm. We have not had any rain in quite a few days.
October 11, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized
We still love to eat out… a lot. Here are a few of our current favorites:
The Zuri Hotel – this is a new five star hotel on ITPL road in Whitefield. They are still very new and I think probably not very busy. We went to a Bengali Food Festival that was really well done! The service was terrific, the ambience lovely and the food excellent. We took 4 kids with us and it was really great for everyone. We will be heading back to try the Italian restaurant soon!
Toscanos – this is our favorite Italian restaurant in Bangalore! There have been weeks when I have eaten here 2-3 times! We now go to the one that opened in the Forum Value Mall Whitefield but the UB City one is fantastic. Love the food, love the presentation, love the ambience! This is a place my whole family votes to go!
Benjarong – Great Thai food! Every time we have gone it has been very quiet. Service is great. We have been a number of times and will go back many, many more!
The Sunday Buffet at F&B – this is a fixed price buffet in which you can order as much as you want from the menu for one price. The portions are smaller so you might end up ordering 2-3 appetizers and 2-3 main courses. Drinks are buy one and get the rest free! The it is a nice place to spend a long Sunday with friends. There is a play area that is a big hit with the kids!
October 11, 2009
· Filed under Education, Kids
Well it has been a LONG while since I started this blog. Life simply became too busy and blogging took a hit! Some people have emailed me for updates regarding the education issues so here they are.
Big A still is at Primus. She is having a wonderful time. She has received many, many awards and recognition from the school. We are still happy with the school. I have come to accept that I might never find the “perfect” school for us here in Bangalore and that it will be incumbent upon me to take up those areas in which I feel a school is not performing. I will be teaching her 4 subjects in addition to her regular syllabus. We will take those up after school and on weekends.
Little A is still at Neev. I still think it is fantastic and I will keep him there as long as I can!
Good luck to all of you looking for the school for your child!
September 25, 2008
· Filed under Life in Bangalore, Tips · Tagged Ants, Bugs, Lizards
They grow bugs bigger, hungrier and smarter here in India! Fighting off the invasions requires a few steps that will help keep your home bug free.
First, when you move into the home I would recommend calling Godrej and having them do a whole home bug treatment. I have seen first hand how effective their product is! They will also come back if after the treatment the bugs have still found a way in!
For me the thing that creeps me out the most are ants. I hate ANTS! I especially hate the little almost invisible ones that show up in the kitchen sometimes. Here are the steps I take to keep them at bay:
- Everything that is open is in a sealed plastic container. This includes all cereals, spices, powders, etc.
- All surfaces are cleaned numerous times during the day.
- No food items are left out – really nothing!
- Eating only takes place at the table (with two kids I don’t want crumbs and ants showing up around the house!) They can also eat in the yard if they like (the kids, not the ants!).
- Anything dropped on the floor is immediately wiped up. One last sweep before sleeping keeps me from having to wake up to an invasion!
What to do if ants have found a way in? I really hate the bug sprays here – I feel dizzy and unwell after spraying so I know they are really toxic. My first choice is vinegar. Apparently ants hate the smell and it interferes with their ability to follow the ants that went before. My house has french doors from the garden directly into the kitchen. We had ants coming in under the door to escape the heat outside. I purchased this pesticide chalk that has done wonders. We marked a line under the doors and no more ants!
Finally, we have a NO ANT policy in the house. I did some research online to understand the enemy. Apparently, ants will send in a scouter ant to see if there is anything good inside. He will then bring in the rest of them if he finds food. So when we see one scouter ant we know he is the most important one to get rid of!
Mosquitoes are really bad here in Bangalore especially between 6-7:00 pm. Not only are they a nuisance but they pose a significant health hazard. Make sure you have good mosquito screens on all windows – check for gaps. If the kids will be at the park in the evening, use a mosquito spray. Try and keep doors closed in the evening. But the most important (and fun) thing you can do is to purchase these electrified rackets. They are the best way to get rid of the mosquitoes that get into the house. No chemicals, no smell and to tell the truth – a kind of sick pleasure. They look like a badmiton racket but the strings are electrified. They make it really easy to catch the mosquito who then send out a small flash when he dies. I don’t think you can understand the pleasure until you have tried it! (Warning – these are not kid friendly. The shock hurts (believe me) and there is no way to make it child-safe. It must be kept out of reach of kids!)
I have seen the biggest spiders in my life in the house here. I don’t have any ideas – I just suggest that one person in your house be brave enough to be responsible for removing them! (Those rackets work on spiders too – we tried!) If your house is under big trees you will definately have more spiders. I have had very few after moving to a house that is not below palm trees.
Lizards (ok – I know they are not bugs but they fall into the same yuck category so here they are!) You should be aware that most Indians will not harm a lizard. You really should not kill them. They creeped us out for the first year but I got so tired of trying to catch and release them that we came up with a new plan. First, we named them. Any lizard in our house is “lizzie.” Then we told ourselves that they are eating the mosquitoes so we are grateful for them. We understand they come inside to escape the heat of the day so we feel we are sheltering them. And now we just live with them. If there is one in the house, we leave it. Yes, if he is near a door or window I will try to get him out but otherwise, we just leave him alone. Welcome home Lizzie!
September 23, 2008
· Filed under Lawyer in Bangalore · Tagged legal, LPO, outsourcing
When I arrived in Bangalore two years ago I thought that the legal outsourcing craze was going to offer the perfect fit for me professionally. Before arriving I had contacted a small LPO based in the US and in Bangalore. I was offered a job and I eagerly looked forward to jumping in. On my first day of work I was told their manager was retiring and I was offered a position running the whole show. I was flattered, excited and very, very naive! I really had no idea what running such a project would entail.
Let me give you a little summary of what an LPO is. Basically, legal outsourcing is supposed to be a way for American and UK firms to cut costs for their clients by utilizing the English speaking, common-law based Indian attorneys who are willing to work for pennies on the dollar. Theoretically, it should be fine. It has worked in so many other fields. Outsourcing has basically built Bangalore and the spectacular successes of outsourcing firms are legendary. Unfortunately, the concept does not actually translate that well into legal work. Some firms are content with low level document processing and review. That kind of work is probably perfect for the LPO model. However other firms are trying to break into research and drafting of documents and that is where the entire LPO model looks very shaky. The very basic reason is that a person graduating from and Indian law school (except for one or two) really does not have the qualifications, the background, the knowledge or the ability to produce work that looks like it was produced by an American attorney. There is no emphasis on writing in Indian law schools.
What LPOs tend to do is to hire a few people who graduated from US law schools or who have practical experience working abroad. Those people are put in charge of a few more people who graduated from Indian law schools. These “teams” are supposed to work on projects from the US and return a document that meets US standards. In reality, the people in charge of the team end up either doing most of the work themselves or spending inordinate amounts of time correcting and editing the work of the teammates.
There are companies that are now training Indian lawyers for the LPO industry. This is a great idea. The problem is most LPOs feel they can do the training in-house. I just am not sure if you can impart an American legal education in a series of one-hour lectures over a few months!
There was great hope for the LPO industry. Some of the big outsourcing companies were talking about jumping in. I was told by one company that they hoped to hire 2000 attorneys over the next two years. That was a year ago and from what I hear, they don’t have more than a skeleton staff still. It is very hard to find qualified people and more difficult to keep qualified people.
September 23, 2008
· Filed under Education, Kids · Tagged Education, Schools
Educating “BIg A” – Inventure Academy and Primus Public School
Picking a school for our oldest child was one of the most important aspects of our relocation to India. We really wanted her to land up in a school that she was happy in. She was in the first grade when we moved and had a fabulous experience in her US preschool and kindergarten. I knew the school in India would be different, but I hoped to minimize the differences by choosing a more “international” school.
Big A went to school at Inventure Academy for two years. We chose the school because it was a newer school that seemed to share our philosophy about educating the whole child. They had lots of emphasis on arts and music, sports as well as all the typical academic classes. There was a lot of talk about focusing on each child as an individual and catering the educational experience to each child. Class size was very good – about 20 or 25 in a class. She had very good teachers at Inventure as well. One thing I really appreciated about the school was the openness to parent involvement. During our two years a parentvolunteer program was started that had parents in the school reading with differentclasses or discussing books with different classes. I was fortunate enough to teach in a few of the older classes as well as 2nd and3rd grade. I think it is VERY rare in Indian schools for parents to be given that kind of access and intimate look at the functioning of the school. All the teachers and the administration were very open and friendly.
All that being said, Big A did have difficulty adjusting to the Indian system. First, the emphasis on uniformity of appearance was a shock to both of us. There were rules about hair and about nails. I couldn’t believe it the first time she came home and said she got in trouble because her nails were too long – they were just over her fingertips! Then there was the shouting. My daughter had never heard a teacher shout in her life. Yet in Indian schools it seems like the preferred method of addressing a class! When Big A heard shouting she assumed the teacher was angry or someone was in trouble. The truth was, more often than not, the teacher was simply trying to be heard and didn’t have enough discipline in the class. Taking Hindi was also a bit of a challenge. The teacher believed in language emersion and refused to translate or explain anything in English. My daughter found this very frustrating and said she spent the whole class period wishing she could jump out the window! I did talk to the school and this was modified.
I think the thing that led to us leaving Inventure was a feeling that there simply was no discipline at the school. I firmly believe in letting children have fun and express their creative side but in a school setting there has to be some discipline or there is chaos. During her first year at school my daughter broke her leg during a period after lunch when all the children in first through fifth grades were allowed to play in a concrete play yard with no teacher supervision. I was told that all the teachers were having lunch at that time! I was infuriated that a school that boasted about a fantastic teacher-student ratio saw nothing wrong with having no teachers responsible for that time period. After talking with everyone I assumed that problem had been addressed. However, again during the next year while I was at the school I saw children in the junior block running around wild because all the teachers had gone to a meeting on the other side of the school! That was really the last straw for me. Interestingly, Big A also asked to be transferred to another school. So we decided to try something different.
Big A is currently at Primus Public School. This school is also a new school. It was founded, however, by the same gentlemen who founded the very prestigious andsuccessful Indus School. The principle was the academic head at Indus. He has taken teachers from schools all around Bangalore. They also have a very good balance of art, music, sports and academics. I think the main difference so far is just a feeling of organization and discipline. I have been in the school and seen children having fun without being wild. There always seems to be a plan regarding supervision. Big A is also very happy and is topping all her subjects. The tuition at Primus is significantly less than the tuition we were paying at Inventure. I am sure it will have to increase but I won’t mind given the lower price it is starting at! They have cut out some of the bells andwhistles of a more expensive school – they don’t provide any meals or snacks – you have to send them from home. I don’t mind it and I don’t think most other parents mind it either.
We did visit a number of schools before deciding on Primus. There are schools to fit every budget, every parenting philosophy and ever locality. For us one deciding factor was the location. Anything that would have resulted in more than a one hour bus ride was out. After that we wanted a school run by people with significant experience in education and a good track record. Big A wanted a nice facility with good sports area. In Primus we found what we were all looking for!
August 30, 2008
· Filed under Kids, Life in Bangalore · Tagged Food, Restaurant
I was a little nervous about heading to this place with a bunch of kids in tow. I had heard that it was a nice restaurant and I didn’t want to spend the entire evening trying to sit on the kids! I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they had a small children’s play area inside the restaurant. We did go early – around 7 pm on a Friday night, when most Indians haven’t yet headed out for dinner. The place was mostly empty. We had a table right next to the play area and it really was great. The kids mostly stayed in the play area except to quickly eat their dinner. The food was very nice – they have a large menu of Indian, Asian, Continental food items. The wine was also lovely. The location was a little far from us but I really did appreciate the steps they took to make it a family-fun outing!
August 30, 2008
· Filed under Kids, Life in Bangalore · Tagged Food, Restaurant
We have started to try and go out at least once a week with some friends. This generally includes all our kids and therefore we try to pick a place where a little noise won’t be a problem! In general, I find that restaurants in India tend to be more family friendly and kid tolerant than nice restaurants in the US.
Bar-B-Que Nation was a hit with the entire family! We visited the Indiranagar branch but I understand they now have three locations in the city. We sat on the rooftop which was very nice. The concept of the restaurant is that they serve a variety of kebabs (fish, chicken, veg, paneer) which you can add sauces to and finish cooking right at your table. They keep bringing new kebabs as you finish off your favorite. The kebabs themselves are probably enough food for most people but then there is a very nice buffet to finish off the meal. The kids loved the novelty of everything (no sitting and waiting for food!) There was enough to satisfy the pickiest eaters. There were traditional Indian dishes as well as some nice soups and pasta dishes. The dessert buffet was also quite good! We really did enjoy ourselves and I would recommend it for a family outing. The night we went there was also a live band singing in the corner!
August 30, 2008
· Filed under Life in Bangalore · Tagged Beutician, Salon, Trainer
There are a number of aspects in living life in Bangalore that can seem a little luxurious to our friends and family back home. Here are a few of them!
Of course there is the obvious – the maid, cook and driver. They are all discussed in numerous other posts so I won’t elaborate here.
The nanny. Many families hire additional help just to help out with the kids. They take charge of meal time, take the kids to the park, basically do whatever mom needs help with. This is especially great for those families that end up here with 2-3 very young children.
The beautician. I and many of my friends have a lady who comes home to do manicures, pedicures, facials, massages, you name it! The price is absolutely right – Rs 200 for one hour pedicure, Rs 200 for one hour facial… My mom was visiting from Connecticut – land of the $40 pedicure and she was in heaven! Had a pedicure every week for two months!
The salon. Bangalore is overflowing with fancy new salons – seems like a new one opens every week. If you love to go for day long spa treatments and to try all sorts of new treatments this is the place for you. Prices range from reasonable to outlandish! The highest prices are generally the salons attached to luxury hotels. There are many destination spas that provide a meal along with treatments.
The trainer. This one I just started but lots of friends have been using one for a while. A trainer will come home (or to your clubhouse) and put you through your workout. My trainer charges Rs 4000/month for three one hour sessions per week for individual lessons. A friend and I are sharing him, however, so we will each pay Rs 2000.
August 29, 2008
· Filed under Life in Bangalore · Tagged Advances, Driver, Maid, Salary
It is inevitable that you will be asked for a salary advance by someone working for you. While some people have adopted a firm “no advances given” policy, others freely give advances. What will work for you depends in large party upon your own mentality when you give the advance, your expectations, and your relationship with the person you are giving it to. There are a number of approaches I have seen work for people:
Approach One – Large advances to known and trusted employees. We have a maid who has been with us for over two years. Her main expense, as a single mother, is the education of her three children. School tuition is generally due in a lump sum in June. For the last two years we have given very large advances to her to cover the cost of tuition. We then cut a pre-determined amount from her salary every month in order to cover the advance. The first year went very well so we were more than willing to do it again this year. We have set a limit for how much of an advance we will give. We will not give more that what she can comfortably have cut for a 10 month period (that gives her two months of full salary in the summer.) For example, if she is willing to have Rs 3000 cut per month, we will lend a total of Rs 30,000. Of course, as the year progresses we will give bonuses for different holidays and we will give small “scholarships” to each of the children when they do well on exams. We have found this method to work very well with this particular person.
Approach Two – Small Advances – No more than what you owe for services already rendered. By this I mean if you have a driver who has worked for you for a week, then you can give an “advance” of a weeks pay. He has already earned the money so if he skips out on the job after getting the advance you are no worse off. Sometimes drivers, particularly those with families, will have expenses that arise before the end of the month. If you are willing to help him out, then feel free to do so.
Approach Three – “Gifts to Employees”- There are times of the year when festivals are numerous and when everyone’s household expenses increase. If you know that this is happening, you may want to simply give a “gift” to your employee. With a gift you have no expectation of repayment and there is no burden added on to the employee. The reality is that the differences in the financial situations between employer and employee here are VAST. The difference between what giving a RS 500-1000 gift will mean to your pocket vs what it will mean to your maid, cook or driver is unquantifiable.
Approach Four – No advances. I know many families who swear by this approach. It keeps things simple. They tell new employees upfront that this is the policy. It prevents them from having to track advances and repayments and forestalls any requests for money.
