The trip from my hotel to work is 5.3 km, about 3.5 miles. Going to work it's
about a block to M.G. road and then we go east to 100 Feet Road, named for it's
width. It's south a couple blocks on 100 Ft. Rd. into an Air Force Base to
Airport Rd, also known as HAL Rd. on some maps. HAL is an Indian aircraft
manufacturer. On Airport road it's east again through the base and on to the
Diamond District complex, where the i2 offices are.
Usually the ride is uneventful, but I have had a driver make a wrong turn, two drivers run out of gas, and been approached my several beggar ladies carrying sleeping or drugged little girls while I was stopped at the light on 100 Ft. Rd. and M.G. Road on the way home. [left: A gas pump in a gas station where one of my auto rikshaw drivers stopped.]
On the way home last night I saw something that I thought was pretty interesting. We pulled up to the red light, first in line, with a small motorcycle next to us maybe 3 ft. away. Another motorcycle filled the gap rather quickly. The three of us filled up a little more than all of the right lane. We were on Airport Rd. at 100 Ft. Rd., waiting to turn right. A pretty, young lady on a motorcycle came up on our left and stopped. Then she drove across in front of to take up a position in front of the two motorcycles that were first in line to turn. They were ridden by men. Trough driving is a pretty competitive sport here, they backed up to give her room, so she wouldn't have to be sitting out in the intersection.
On the way to work this morning I was stopped on M.G. Road at the right turn to 100 Feet Rd. at the light. The young Indian lady in the auto rikshaw next to me got out and handed her driver a Rs. 50 bill, but the driver handed it back because he didn't have change. I did have change and so I got it out of my wallet. Normally I have the bills in my wallet all organized by denomination, but I've been rushed on occasion and a Rs. 50 had made it in among the Rs. 10s. As I handed the money to the young lady, with it slightly fanned out so she could see that there were 5 bills, my driver reached out and pulled the Rs. 50 out so I could see my mistake. People here are generally nice like that, but what amazes me is that I have two distinctly different kinds of Rs. 10 in my room and I believe I saw a third kind this morning in the hotel cashier's drawer. The driver is more familiar with Indian money than I am, but with the variety of bills I'm still a little surprised at his perceptiveness. I corrected my mistake and gave the young lady her change.
The Diamond District is on the south side of the road, and since we drive on the left here in India, the drivers usually go down to a break in the foot wide median, half a block past where I want to get off, turn around in a very tight circle only auto rikshaws and motorcycles could possibly make, and take me back to the DD driveway. One thing that is very common here is the technique of driving up along the left side of a bunch of people waiting to make a right turn and then sneaking in somehow. That's just what my driver tried to do, for there was quite a long line waiting to get around some men painting something on the street, probably a "STOP" and the accompanying line you are supposed to stop behind. With the road work disrupting things, there was a policeman there directing traffic. When my driver couldn't squeeze into the line of traffic from the side he went on up to the front and tried to turn right in front of them all. Most days he might have gotten away with it, but the policeman waved him off and he had to go on down the street.
At that point I told him I'd get off at the left curb and he pulled over and let me out. I split the Rs. 50 he had saved me, and gave him the Rs. 50 bill for the Rs. 24 fare.
On my walk back to the office I was looking for a Hyundai Santrol, a common car here, because I wanted to see how you spell the name. On the back of the Santrol it says it has "Zip Drive". Besides thinking that you would never see that in the U.S., it occurred to me that maybe the cars were a joint venture with Iomega, makers of a computer disk drive called a "Zip Drive".
That's all for today, but Saturday a bunch of us from i2 are going on a hike. That should be a very different adventure from the others I've had. I only have 7 days and a few hours left here. I'm going to miss Bangalore.
Garr