If hair could be happy each of my stands would be gleaming with shine. When I first got to India I had heard of this concept called hair fall. What is that you ask? Well ask pantene, fructis or dove. It when you hair cuticuls get damaged and you hair becomes lack-luster, thin, and falls out. My once healthy long blonde hair is now a tuft of straw with a crown of frizz where the weak strands have broken under pressure.
So why is my hair so happy? Because I am going home soon and even a week away from the Indian air and water polution is a reprieve from the daily torment.
Beyond my hair, my friend once told me that living each day in Mumbai is equivilant to smoking 20 ciggarettes a day so might as well take up the habit and at least benifit from the nicotine high. Just one year here has seriously taken a toll on my body, my skin, my lungs and my hair. I only hope that it all goes back to normal when the polution showdown is over.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Bangalore oh Bangalore
I was finally able to make it down to Bangalore. It is the home of my great roomate Saabira and my company's beautiful office. I had heard a few stories about this place and I had to see it to believe it.
In Bangalore it is illegal to dance. That it right, you read it correctly. Illigal to shake those hips and drop it like it's hot. My friend once said that he forgot where he was and having a few drinks in him starting tapping his toes and shaking his leg. Sure enough a few minutes later he felt a tap on the sholder only to turn and see a bouncer tellin him to stop.
Apparantly back in-the-day Bangalore used to be the king of party towns and there were major issues with drinking and driving and drug abuse so the state cracked down. They enforced an 11:30 curfew and stopped the youth from boogeying late into the night. Now instead of being out at a bar meeting others and mingling in a socially acceptable manner the rules have cause people to go out earlier, binge for a few hours before getting into their cars to meet at the house of a hosting friend only to consume more alchohol than they would have in the begining and causing potentially more danger on the roads. Smart move Govn't.
Now on top of those two restrictions the state is debating whether to make the consumption and sale if beef illegal. Although up north it is rarely seen on menus it is by religious choice and not goverend by the state.
As one of my Bangalore born and raised friends put it so nicely, "There is already no dancing, if this beef thing gets passed I am never coming back."
In Bangalore it is illegal to dance. That it right, you read it correctly. Illigal to shake those hips and drop it like it's hot. My friend once said that he forgot where he was and having a few drinks in him starting tapping his toes and shaking his leg. Sure enough a few minutes later he felt a tap on the sholder only to turn and see a bouncer tellin him to stop.
Apparantly back in-the-day Bangalore used to be the king of party towns and there were major issues with drinking and driving and drug abuse so the state cracked down. They enforced an 11:30 curfew and stopped the youth from boogeying late into the night. Now instead of being out at a bar meeting others and mingling in a socially acceptable manner the rules have cause people to go out earlier, binge for a few hours before getting into their cars to meet at the house of a hosting friend only to consume more alchohol than they would have in the begining and causing potentially more danger on the roads. Smart move Govn't.
Now on top of those two restrictions the state is debating whether to make the consumption and sale if beef illegal. Although up north it is rarely seen on menus it is by religious choice and not goverend by the state.
As one of my Bangalore born and raised friends put it so nicely, "There is already no dancing, if this beef thing gets passed I am never coming back."
Hummers in LA
Today I was walking through the colabra markets in Mumbai with Shannon and her driver Mohammed The section of the market that we were in was filled with antiques. There were stalls and tents filled with clocks, saxaphones and old bollywood posters. Strolling would be a peaceful exaggeration as we played frogger in the streets with the black and yellow taxis, man pulled carts and dead/discusting things in the road. Then it hit 2:00 and the rain came pouring down. We ducked for cover under a blue tarped stall where there was a seafoam green old Chrysler p
Plymouth car parked halfway under the makeshift roof. I leaned on it for pictures posing awkwardly to keep protected from the storm.
As I was treating the car like my property all I could think about was the reaction of one of my Indian staff members when I asked her how her trip to NY and Orlando was. "oh my god, Americans care souch about their cars! I was really tired one day so I stopped to take a break so I leaned on a car and this guy comes running out of the shop yelling at me to get of his car..." I briefly looked around me at all of the dings and broken bumpers and laughed. Indians buy cars knowing they will be driving through Delhi or Mumbai traffic, never inbetween the lines if they are even painted and will be parked on the street. They could never fully understand the protective nature over a car as we do in the states. They would just be happy that thier mirror is still attached from the night before.
Plymouth car parked halfway under the makeshift roof. I leaned on it for pictures posing awkwardly to keep protected from the storm.
As I was treating the car like my property all I could think about was the reaction of one of my Indian staff members when I asked her how her trip to NY and Orlando was. "oh my god, Americans care souch about their cars! I was really tired one day so I stopped to take a break so I leaned on a car and this guy comes running out of the shop yelling at me to get of his car..." I briefly looked around me at all of the dings and broken bumpers and laughed. Indians buy cars knowing they will be driving through Delhi or Mumbai traffic, never inbetween the lines if they are even painted and will be parked on the street. They could never fully understand the protective nature over a car as we do in the states. They would just be happy that thier mirror is still attached from the night before.
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