A day in the life of .... Wed., 24 Oct. -- Forum Mall

Today:
went to a MALL with the kids, dropped them off at an indoor play area (with Devi). While they played, I got to do a phone interview (that's an "aside" story), got money from my American debit card at a state-of-the-art ATM (HSBC, in case you were wondering), took a look at all the latest mobile phones, and did my grocery shopping at a supermarket. Pretty good and normal, right?

But THIS, below, is really India.

At the phone shop: no stock of Nokia flip-phones. This is THE phone shop in one of the biggest malls in Bangalore. Hmmmm. Nevermind, Srini said that I could get anything for half-price at Bjkfsdkhfskjhfsdkj Market anyway. Just that they are smuggled, so there won't be any warranty. Not that that would be needed. :) :) :) . I'm looking forward to that Blksdfdjlkjksdf Market trip!

At the supermarket: was given a nice welcome by the mini-flies surrounding the onions ... on a pleasant note, was promptly informed of lack of Quaker Oats. My turn at check-out took 10 minutes for 10 items, plus 5 minutes to get my change.

At the indoor play-area: the price was REDUCED, and the staff were all playing with Tina and Lucy. THIS I love.

Got home, had lunch, blah, blah, blah. Only one power outage.

4.30 PM: went to my Kannada class (that's the state language here), and basically understood nothing, but then again, neither did any of the other students (all Indian nationals from other parts of India). Walked home, feeling ok.

7 PM: walked around the block with the kids in their PJs. Halfway home, was accompanied by our ironing-man, drunk unfortunately but not surprisingly. He wanted money, of course. I told him to ask Phil since I ALWAYS say no, but "sir" sometimes says yes. He was nice though, and we all happily said good-bye at our gate. Good, right?

That's about it for tonight!