Bollywood Reflections, Part 1

Greetings from Bangalore - happy Resurrection Sunday! I've had a good time the past few weeks. I've been learning more about India's two passions, cricket and Bollywood. I've watched a number of cricket matches (the world cup is going on right now in India), and I've seen two Indian movies in the theater.

The first movie, Neerja, portrayed the life of the courageous Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her life while protecting over 350 passengers on Pan Am flight 73 in 1986. The flight was hijacked by a terrorist organization. The movie was in Hindi with English subtitles, and I give it 3 out of 5 stars (the plot was a slow and the acting forced at times).

Lobby of INOX Theater at Garuda Mall

The second Bollywood movie I saw was Kapoor and Sons, which was advertised as a family drama revolving around two brothers who fell for the same girl. It was not a comedy, as I had hoped, but a dramatic tale of family secrets, acceptance, life and death. This move was in Hindi with no subtitles, and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

I was amazed at how much of Kapoor and Sons I was able to follow based on the cinematography and the universality of certain human emotions (love, anger, disappointment, etc.). One of the most memorable scenes of the movie actually came during the advertisements that preceded the movie. Please check out this link to see the ad:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwW0X9f0mME.

It wasn't until the very end of this tear-jerker that I realized the ad was for a laundry detergent. The ad spoke to the cultural norms that pervade not only India, but the U.S. too - laundry and the home are a women's domain, and men can't be bothered with such things.

My personal view is that each couple should discuss and come to an agreement on the roles in a house, and serve each other willingly and wholeheartedly.

In the movie Neerja, the audience is shown parts of the heroine's past, including the demise of her first marriage. Her husband is shown verbally and emotionally abusing her for actions such as bringing home take-away food for supper when she had to work late and for trying to pursue her blossoming modeling career while being a new wife.

The movie looked like a comedy...

These scenes show that India, like the U.S., is grappling with gender roles in society. One of the major themes in Sheryl Sandberg's book Lean In (click for quotes) is that each couple should discuss and agree on who should be responsible for what. Maybe one person is responsible for laundry and cleaning, and the other for cooking and grocery shopping. I think this is important so resentment doesn't grow, especially if one person feels that they are contributing more to the relationship than another.

I write this post to share a glimpse into Indian cinema and the issues that this society grapples with, which are very similar to those men and women in the U.S. face every day. I think we all need to talk about expectations and goals in our various relationships, and support each other towards those. Let's all work to #ShareTheLoad.

Month 1 Reflections

I've been in Bangalore for just over a month now - can you believe it?! Work has been going well and I am settling into the hotel room which will be my home for the next few months.

Although my original plan was to stay in a serviced apartment (furnished place with daily maid service), none of the options I was shown felt particularly safe to me. The hotel has been good so far.

I've noted a number of little things over the past month that hit me as either unexpected, surprising, or just plain weird. Since you've been on this journey with me so far, I'd thought I share some of them with you:

English is common, but so are misunderstandings
To avoid the astronomical laundry charges at my first hotel, I ordered laundry service through an app on my new local phone. The first time I used the app, the courier showed up on the wrong day. The second time I used the app, he showed up at the wrong location.

I thought the instructions were pretty clear!

Worse still, my entire second order was dry cleaned. Upon realizing the mistake, all my clothes were actually laundered, including the pieces I had designated as dry-clean only.

I did get a $5 voucher for my troubles that I have yet to redeem.

Pervasive recommendations
Indians are an agreeable bunch and also an opinionated one. Most Indians I meet are quick to offer recommendations on trips to take, restaurants to try, and shops to visit.

Although many people have provided recommendations, very few have invited me to do something with them. A partner at PwC and his wife invited me to join them on their Valentine's Day dinner, and a co-worker invited our team to his daughter's 2nd birthday lunch. A few more people have extended invitations for future events, but particularly the first few weeks I was here, I was surprised at how few people invited me to do things with them.

Outside Valentine's Day Dinner

These experiences have definitely made me sympathize with what immigrants and foreigners in the U.S. must experience daily. While I think I am generally a welcoming person, this experience has made me more acutely aware of the challenges and loneliness of settling in another place.

The lack of good nail salons
I did not expect to miss my go-to nail salon, Decor Nails, so much. Since Bangalore is 9x the size of Charlotte, I assumed there would be a plethora of quality nail salons in Bangalore.

I was wrong.

Gel nails, after one day :(

I've set foot in three different places in search of a quality manicure. I walked out on one after deciding that one of my new personal maxims is, don't go to a nail salon that also doubles as a tattoo parlor.

I've had to return to two nail salons for nails that chipped <2 days after the manicure, and most recently, I had to remind the nail tech that the manicure should happen before the polish is applied, and that a base coat should be used before applying coral polish.

Wild monkeys
There are many wandering cows, dogs, and goats in Bangalore. Surprisingly, I have only seen cats on two occasions. What I was not expecting was how many monkeys I would see!

Monkey's eating a cucumber on my shoulder!

In my trek to Nandi Hills, I shared how shocked I was to see wild monkeys. Yesterday, I took a colleague who's in town for two weeks to the largest park (Lal Bagh) in Bangalore. She desperately wanted to see monkeys, and we found them alright - and we also found a local who has trained the monkeys to eat fresh veggies off the heads and out of the hands of brave tourists:

Wild birds
In addition to being entertained by the many monkeys running around, I have also been enthralled by the number and sheer size of the birds in Bangalore. Every morning I see at least ten birds circling outside my window, and while eating breakfast, I watch them fly at least as high as the 15th floor.

Egyptian Vulture, image from
http://bangalorecaptured.com/tag/flycatcher/

The Asian paradise flycatcher is the most unusual one bird seen. I saw one at Nandi Hills. If its flying at the right angle, it resembles a fish.

Google Image

Google Image

Social activities, aesthetics, and wildlife - hope you enjoyed some of my observations from month one. Stay tuned for month 2!

First Trek to Nandi Hills

In Moving to India - the FAQs, I mentioned a list of the Top 55 Most Popular Places Around Bangalore, according to Thrillophilia (which sounds like a disease I desperately don't want to catch). Number 2 on this list was a trek to Nandi Hills, which I was fortunate enough to do this past Saturday.

View from Nandi Hills

Not quite hills and not quite mountains, Nandi Hills remind me of the smaller foothills in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Nandi Hills is the biggest hill, and is where a historical figure in Mysore, Tipu Sultan, used to go for holidays. You can read more about the hills here.

Everyone I consulted with suggested that Nandi Hills was only worth the trek for sunrise. So, being the semi-professional travel planner that I am, I used a co-worker's trusted driver and left plenty of extra travel time so I could make it there for sunrise.

Enjoying the breeze

My plan would have worked well if the driver hadn't used my call asking him where he was as his wakeup call! The driver did try to make up his almost an hour tardiness by driving aggressively, even by Indian standards. We drove through the sleeping city, past the airport, and into the outskirts of the city. Through the darkness, I could just make out street vendors starting to stir from the sleepy settlements.

It took a little less than an hour to reach Nandi Hills. While most of the trip was in the morning darkness, our drive to the top was illuminated by a hazy morning light.

Line for entry

Because the hills are very popular for sunrise, by the time we reached the entrance to the top of the hill, there was a long line of people waiting for the entrance ticket. While I didn't get to see the actual sunrise from the peak of the mountain, I did see something better - something unexpected:

Monkeys. Wild monkeys!

The first ones I saw were perched on an awning over the public restrooms. They were scampering for their breakfast of bananas and chips, handed over by the trekkers, or stolen from unattended backpack.

After obtaining the entrance ticket, I walked up a stone-step pathway (ala Machu Picchu) to the top of the hills. The walk took about 10 minutes, and was punctuated by the sound of car and bike horns. Unfortunately, the park allows cars and two-wheelers (aka motor bikes) to the top of the peak, which somewhat destroys the serenity of the place.

Just begs you to sit down, doesn't it?

The top of the hill has a circular path, with expansive views from all sides. This was by far my favorite view:

Given that Bangalore has a pollution problem, it felt good to be surrounding by nature and somewhat fresher air.

The morning sun felt so good

I even found a tree to climb:

I had to fight monkey for this branch
(kidding, kidding)

The hills are less than an hour from the city center, and I intend to do this trek again and chase the sunrise. Next time, I may even bring some food for the monkeys!