All posts by Deirdre Straughan

bio, travel in India

The Streets of Bangalore

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I did not get a chance to see any of Bangalore’s tourist sights this trip (I vaguely remember having seen them back in 1980, when I went on Woodstock’s Winter Tour all over India). But I did get out and about a bit, sadly on my own since I didn’t have any travelling companions this time. What I mostly observed was traffic and street life. Which, as usual, had its own interests…

Bangalore bus

I saw a number of these elaborately airbrush-painted buses, which I guess to be privately-owned lines running fixed routes to the suburbs. “Air Bus” means air-conditioned.

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The scenes painted on some invoked coolness, including one (that I did not manage to photograph) incongruously featuring penguins.

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^ I assume this bus is reserved for women passengers only.

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^ This is a trend I did not see in Delhi: elaborate advertising on auto rickshaws.

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^ A family of three on one moped, all sans helmets.

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^ These construction workers did have helmets, which wouldn’t help much if they got mowed down by a bus when crossing a busy intersection against the light.

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^ Many women in Bangalore wear jasmine in their hair, a charming custom. Many of them ride motorcycles without helmets, perhaps for fear of having helmet-jasmine.

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^ “Precaution is better than treatment”, indeed.

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^Trying to direct all the mayhem: traffic police in jaunty white hats.

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^ Ignoring it all: street dogs who’ve found an uncommonly soft spot for themselves.

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bio, India

Inside Sun IEC

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In my visits to various Sun campuses, I enjoy comparing and contrasting Sun lifestyles worldwide.

Sun’s India Engineering Center (IEC) occupies most of the Divya Shree Chambers building off Langford Road in Bangalore. Lunch (always a major preoccupation with me) is provided at the 5th-floor canteen, which gets very crowded around 12:45. There’s a buffet of Indian food for Rs. 25 (about 60 cents US)…

or you can order a wide selection of vegetarian sandwiches and fresh fruit, including a fruit chaat plate – diced seasonal fruit lightly seasoned with spices (so lightly, in fact, that I couldn’t really detect the spices over the amazing flavors of the fruit itself).

This is mango season, so I’ve been eating mangoes every chance I get. The poor, pale things we get in the US and Europe are only very distant reminders of what a really good mango can be. Makes coming to India in the hot season worthwhile!

To give you an idea, this is a selection of three different types of mangoes that I bought in Delhi, including the famous Alfonsos (yellow, in front). The large yellow thing on the right is a papaya, the stripey things are melons.

The Sun break rooms have a great selection of teas, including elaichi (cardamom), masala (what Americans call chai spice), and ginger. Plus a selection of other hot drinks – cocoa, instant coffee, and flavored mixes that I haven’t quite understood yet.

There’s a machine dispensing hot water and hot milk to mix these with. There is also brewed coffee, brewed south Indian style. Umm… Sorry, I’m not a coffee snob, but i just can’t get used to this stuff. I’ll make do with instant.

As with most establishments of any sort in India, Sun’s offices have a lot of support staff – labor is cheap here, and people need jobs. There are men in the break rooms to brew the coffee, ensure constant supplies of everything, and wash the cups (a much more eco-friendly practice than the disposable ones used at US offices). They also come around periodically to collect cups that people have carried back to their desks. All the work areas get thoroughly dusted every morning before people arrive (I know because I arrived early yesterday). This is in sharp contrast to Broomfield, where I have to dust my desk every time I go back there.

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Italian language

Everyday Italian: Newspaper Headlines 22

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Left:

  • Free gift: map of northern Lake Garda
  • Nudists at Pradello
  • Two commuters wounded
  • Disco party for dog Johnny – photo

Right:

  • Young person dies in a car run over by a train
  • Insert: housing market

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Everyday Italian: Newspaper Headlines, Dec 2008 Everyday Italian: Newspaper Headlines 20 Everyday Italian: Newspaper Headlines 14 Everyday Italian: Newspaper Headlines 7
Italian language

Everyday Italian: Newspaper Headlines 21

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Upper left:

  • Health: “golden” consultations at the hospital and local health authority: they spend 2.3 million
  • Departments and services at the Manzoni [hospital] up for bidding by private interests?
  • Tragedy: mother of three dies in the crash

Left:

  • Free gift: the map of the pre-Alpine lakes
  • 350 thousand euros to the extortionists: gas station owner on the [?] (in the red)
  • “We sell bread, not coins”

Center left:

  • Free gift: the map of the pre-Alpine lakes
  • Volunteer dies at the fish farm
  • 140 public residences on the way

Center right:

  • Play and win very rich prizes
  • Lecco: Lario [lake] clean and safe: the interforce committee is born

Right:

  • Dangerous roads: in grave danger another mother
  • Tables in the piazza: a bar against town hall
  • Blu-celeste [light blue] rugby near Series B

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Woodstock School

Celebrations: Parents’ Banquet 2008

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In the evening after Baccalaureate, a dinner is given by the parents (actually cooked by the school – and it was good – but we paid for it) for their graduating children and a small selection of administration and staff.

I enjoyed being emcee for the evening. I didn’t actually do much of the talking myself, but encouraged others to do so, with very pleasing results – if somewhat embarrassing to the kids whose parents got up to speak!

Teeran and Rossella, 2008 Parents' Banquet

^ since Enrico was not present, my classmate Teeran, who supervises Woodstock’s catering, stepped in as surrogate dad

I had been amazed to be told that this was the largest turnout of parents for graduation in recent memory. In my day, it was highly unusual for parents not to attend. I regret that I said as much to the audience during the banquet  – it was an unnecessary reminder for some whose parents were MIA, including Ross (who probably felt over-mothered and under-fathered throughout).

I suppose that for some parents (particularly those of SAGE program students, who had travelled the furthest to attend Woodstock), it was too far and/or expensive to travel. Others whose own cultural background does not include American-style graduation festivities perhaps did not understand the importance of this rite of passage. Perhaps in future the school can try a little harder to explain it to them.

Although having to juggle parents during one’s final, highly emotional, days at school can add its own set of stresses!

Rebecca

The students repaid us with entertainment: some very fine jazz which inspired some (including some staff and parents) to dance.

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And some students got up to respond very eloquently to the statements of their elders.

Alamdar

^ top: souvenir placemats and napkins in the class colors, embroidered with the class word “Renaissance” – one of the mothers supervised this project. The souvenir Kashmiri papier maché boxes also are inscribed with “Renaissance”

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