Whitefield Road, Bangalore

Tuesday itself: well, obviously I’ve done a bit of writing, eh (Most of Monday’s entry was written this morning)? I’ve taken both the digital and my film cameras and taken photos of the construction zone behind the house - constant work is going on there, and boy would OSHA not be pleased! Most people are barefoot, and lunch for one crew was brought in by a woman and her baby daughter strapped to her side. The work force is about half women - mostly doing the heavy carrying and lifting, moving sand, gravel, and wet concrete around on their heads in large, flat pans. They are wearing hard hats though, equipped with a special circular column to hold the pan. The timeless image of a heavily-laden porter comes to mind - but instead of the bundled goods, substitute a plate of concrete or sand or dirt balanced (no hands, usually) on top of the bright yellow safety hat. Many are barefoot, and the others wear flip-flops or chappals. It seems quite strange to see these workers, wearing beautifully colored silk saris and wraps, looking like they could have come from hundreds of years ago, walking out in the dirt and concrete dust of a modern construction site. I feel like I might come from a different planet - how on earth is this work done in the US? I honestly don’t know - I assumed that a back hoe would dig the foundation holes and a big truck would drive up and pour the concrete in. The women move constantly, back and forth, negotiating narrow the pathways among the huge holes for the footings and piles of gravel and sand and displaced dirt. Occasionally a welcome break in the shade of a earthen berm, while they wait for the men who are running the concrete mixing machine to catch up with them, or fine-tune the mix by adding more water or sand. There goes the dark forest-green sari, with a light pink top; here’s one in brilliant blue, with black and gold trim; another with varying shades of light pink and green trim; olive green with gold trim and black sleeves: stately, elegant, beautiful, strong, patient, cheerful... all those adjectives apply.

Others, men mostly, are wrapping the existing columns of cement and rebar with burlap and soaking them. These were evidently poured yesterday and the day before, about 6 to 7 feet at a time, and must be kept damp to ensure it cures properly in the sun. You can see where each column section joins the previous day by the differing color of concrete - whiter below, darker grey on top, and this followed by more men propped up there and nailing today’s wooden forms onto the column so that another 10 feet can be poured. Another crew is assembling the rebar - some *serious* stuff, over 1” diameter iron. I did this exact job on a worksite in Cuba, but our rebar was less than 1/2” - these guys have it propped up on a stand made of more rebar, putting 6 long pieces in place and putting rectangles of more iron around, and wiring it all together. They’ve made a lot of progress today alone as there are many more columns standing.

Mehnoush had time to come home for lunch and that was really nice! We had the leftovers from the Samarkand last night, plus a container of food from one of her colleagues - oh, man... there’s nothing like home cooked Indian food: a really rich chopped-up chicken curry, super flavorful but not spicy-hot at all. The bones in the chicken pieces were broken open with the cleaver and I think that the marrow was adding a TON of flavor. And definitely some pieces still had some of the organs like liver or gizzards as well, intensifying the flavor. You may think it isn’t sounding good, but I ate every bit of it and wiped the bowl - just intensely packed with the seasonings Whatever Indian cooks use, it makes you simply not be able to stop eating - tell us, Priti, what is the secret?! I guess it’s obvious that I am not going pure-veg on this trip, the way I did in 1997...

I spotted my first bird of the trip playing around in the courtyard today - a large pied wagtail: bigger than a robin, completely black and white with bold patterns and more streamlined as well, but acting rather similar - hopping across the lawn looking for food. Except that I could tell it was a “wagtail” of some sort: every step, the tail would bounce up and down! There’s a few of them around and the book says there are pretty common - I imagine it’s like someone from here getting excited about the robin back in the US.

Mehnoush came home around 7:30, when I was just attempting to use Nortel’s MCS soft telephone client across the 128kbps link to dial in to a conference call in RTP chaired by my colleague Vinya just across town! What a coincidence! I only had a couple comments for the review, and when I was told that my phone connection was generating a lot of noise, I took that as an opportunity to flee. I had worked a little too much today, dialling in and answering e-mail queries. This week is supposed to be a vacation!

We drove about halfway into downtown Bangalore for dinner at a pure-veg Italian restaurant - go figure! Pasta alla carbone with no meat. Pasta Bolognaise with a tofu sauce. Some combinations sounded odd, others good. A creamy veggie soup to start, some garlic bread, and a spicy tomato pizza were all good. Unfortunately, by this time, jet lag was seriously kicking in for me and I was mostly asleep! We got back around 9pm and I barely had time to position myself so that I would land on the bed when I fell over... out like a light.