The left side moves faster

Aah...finally back in Bangalore. Yes, we have finally moved. The Singapore chapter of our life has come to a close and a new chapter begins in Bangalore.

My wife and daughter had moved in ahead of me, mainly to get the school admissions done. While we had spoken to the admissions personnel at the Vidyshilp Academy School in Bangalore, the enrollment confirmation required my daughter to sit through an interview with some of the teachers of the school to test her on English, Math, Hindi (her language) and Physical Education. While we had no apprehensions about three of th four parts, her language preference in Singapore had been French and she had not had a lot of exposure to Hindi (apart from the stuff that we taught her at home).

The feedback we got from the interview was fantastic. She found all the questions on Math quite easy (it's her favourite subject at school after all). When she was asked what her hobby is, she said she liked to read. When asked who her favourite author was, she firmly replied "Roadl Dahl". From the teacher's expression, it was clear that she was surprised, but not convinced. So the teacher asked her to name some of the Dahl books she had read. And so "The Twits", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and other names were rattled off. I think that sealed it. Her other interviews also went well and she was admitted to the school. She has already started going to school and has already made friends. The school had it's Parent-Teacher-Meeting last weekend and, even though she had been there only for a couple of days, all the teachers had very positive things to say about her.

That made me feel immensely proud of my daughter. She has adapted to her new surroundings in a new city with the utmost ease and is making both me my wife feel guilty about how we are handling the change ourselves.

Then there's the house. Some of you may know that I have my own house here. We bought this about two and a half years ago. The last few days (I have landed here on the 30th of last month) have been completely consumed with making the house habitable. Nothing could have prepared me for the shock as I entered my house. The condition that it was kept in was - to use the most appropriate word here - appalling! After just one look at the place, I knew there was a lot to be done.

So the whole of the weekend and then some more was spent on getting the house upto scratch. The painting is done, the plumbing is fixed, the curtains have been drycleaned (they hadn't been washed for 2 years!), the floor is cleaned, the loos are fixed and now the place looks like something that I can stay in. We also managed to get in some appliance shopping on the weekend. So a huge 490 litre refrigerator and a washing machine has been installed in the house. So has the AquaGuard water purifier. A lot of the carpentry has also been taken care of. So it has begun to feel like the home we had lived in before we left for Singapore.

Of course, the bulk of our stuff has not landed yet. I understand from my movers that the container has landed in Bangalore, but is now awaiting Customs clearance. Hopefully that will be sorted out in the next few days and hopefully (again) my stuff will have come home by the weekend. So (hopefully) the house will be completely functional in a few days.

My first day in office was a revelation. The welcome very warm and it immediately felt like the place I had left only a couple of years back. What was fun was the laughter and the converstation that flowed through the day. It is one of the things that was a big differentiator to the days in Singapore. The fact that so many people were busy with the things that they do and yet managed to squeeze a little bit of time out of their busy schedules to have a laugh and just kick back and relax. The camaraderie was palpable.

What took me completely by surprise was the very short time it took me to adjust to driving in Bangalore. I had become used to taking cabs and busses and trains in Singapore and also the driving style in Singapore. But within my first few minutes behind the wheel, I was back at weaving in and out of the Bangalore traffic which, by all estimates, has only become worse since I left. The key to getting ahead and getting to where you are going is to stay, not in the fast lane which is on the right side, but on the left side. That side, contrary to normal traffic conventions, moves much faster than the traditional fast lane. It's surprising how much you tend to miss when you are in the middle of these situations, but notice only when you have been in a different environment.

All in all, this week has been about getting the house in a condition decent enough to live in and about buying all the things that we are not carrying from Singapore. Rest is something that we will have to take one step at a time.

And hopefully, now that most of the changes have happened, I will be able to blog more often. Here's to hoping.