Day 1, Friday

My roommate Ankit has saved my ass repetitively. For example, when I went to the bank, a security guard took up position in front of the door as if to look imposing, and he said what the door already indicated: that the bank closed at 3:30pm. I was late. So, I walked away. I met up with Ankit, and told him it was closed. He stared off into space for a few moments, then said "why don't we go ask what we need for setting up a checking account." We talked to a few people and suddenly a [new account maker dude] told us he worked for the bank, and for us to come inside. The bank was closed but he took us in anyway. He explained (tried to sell) the simple details of the bank. He has his name and some sort of number (I assume either a phone number of unique identifier) on many of his paper advertisements which explained how the bank worked. The young man was from Mantupi. They only have "savings" accounts here; they don't seem to have checking accounts. Also, the Government regulates how each bank cannot loan out beyond 40-60% of what they current have. Supposedly India has been resilient to the current economic recession.

Vijesh at HDFC bank will probably be the person who helps me out.

Rashida is the maid who cleans the dishes and floors, and does the laundry by hand. No English. She made it a point to tell me that she follows Islam.

Naayak is the cook. He works a 1 hour shift in the morning and a 1 hour shift in the evening; he moves swiftly.

At the Target-style supermarket, there is a ton of decent cotton women's clothes ranging from $10-30 USD. The prices there are reasonable. I told Ankit about Target in the US.

When I achieve something "new", I call it a milestone or acheivement. Ankit has caught on to this, and he playfully mocked me today, asking if I'd made a milestone.

Even though I know English, I don't know "Indian English", nor do I know Hindi. Hindi is more popular here than English. English is okay for doing business, but if the business people want to expidite things, they will use Hindi.

A wireless router was delivered to our door - apparently we can receive packages straight to our door. Our address is B32 Block, Diamond District, Old Airport Road, Bangalore, India. I configured the router for the house - I had to go online to lookup its default IP.

I fervently resisted eating any food that I didn't cook myself with boiling water. I went about 18 hours on just a banana, which I allowed myself to eat bsaed on reading, and because Peter Rohl from work told me peeled fruit was probably okay. Finally, I went shopping for food. It took a lot of motivation, but I convinced myself to find adequate food for just 100 Rs ($2.10 USD). I was mostly successful.

I cooked cauliflower by boiling tap water, dumping in a few heads of the cauliflower, and letting them cook for several minutes. I ate it. I don't seem to have an upset stomache. I ate using the chopsticks I brought; we have spoons but no forks.

Later, I cooked some sort of pulse or seed called Moong Dal (aka split Mung bean). In the Market, it resembled lentils in the supermarket, which I remembered needed just 45 minutes of cooktime. I think these cooked even quicker - 30-40 minutes. I just boiled water then tossed them in.

I also bought 1kg of "gold" basamati rice, which I hope to cook tomorrow.

On my first day, we had our first power outage - it lasted about 30 minutes. I think this is very normal. Most Indians who care a lot of their services usually need to arrange for redundant backups.

The weather is pleasant; not too hot. 60s and 70s throughout the day. The sun is mostly gone by about 7pm.

Tomorrow, I hope to setup a bank account and arrange a wire transfer.