Once again, up at ridiculous time of night/morning.
First of GO TEXANS!!!! John and I settled ourselves in bed, bought the big ticket from the NFL game pass, and watched the Texans win their first round game of the playoffs, the wild card game, and twas good. Was very good. Hahaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Now back to life here......It's Monday morning. And I mean morning, as is 3:07 a.m. here. Yup. Until we get into a home, get Bruce back into a school, get a routine going, we're going to be night owls I think.
House hunting was a bit on the overwhelming this week. Too much to choose from in the gated communities. Most of the homes are all cookie cutter style McMansions....meaning they are all very similar. Have found a few that really stand out....but have asked to view some independent homes. Meaning not in gated communities.....just going to check it out and see what we see. When in Rome.....right?
Ok. I know most of you can't understand why we have agreed to come to India. We have all seen Slumdog Millionaire right? And Bangalore does have it's slum areas. These areas are scattered all over I think but the "main" area as far as I can tell is sort of a "tin town".....homes that look like they consist of one room made of tin.And these people might even be considered the lucky ones of some of the poorest. They are usually "open" and you can see inside. No running water, kitchens, electricity, toilets,etc that I can tell. I am surprised that my emotional side has been shut down on some level and I am able to view these places without breaking into tears. They are truly poor people living in sad conditions. I have viewed these areas with wide eyes but I think our travels in southeast Asia these past two years really prepared me for all this. I am torn because I want to take pics, to show you all what extreme poverty, up close really looks like....to have a record and pictures so that those who think that life is tough can see what having it tough really means...i want to take these pictures and show this, but I feel that I am intruding on their private lives. Yes their lives are on display already in the areas in which they have chosen to live, but was this really a choice for them? Did they even have a choice? John says I need to just "click away" and I'm sure I will eventually, but right now I am more interested in the "why" of it all. I have seen a ton of government housing, big huge and I mean HUGE apartment complexes scattered all over the city and I am wondering who decides who gets to live in those apartments and why are some still living in these shacks,on the sidewalks, etc? I know it's all a bit more complicated than just saying "all you who have no homes, come live here", but I am still very curious of how it all works. Anyway, no, to answer your questions of is it like Slumdog Millionaire not on that scale in regards to the size of the slum population, but yes, on the question of "are they who live in the slums that level of poor"? Yes. I'm afraid so. Yes.
Business is booming here in Bangalore. Look it up. Tons of jobs and companies have been moved here in the IT industy (Dell, Intel, GE, Oracle, Yahoo,) as well as big companies like Shell and Honeywell, etc. There is an economic boom going on here. With all that an economic boom brings, I am hopeful that alot of good change will be taking place. It'll be a slow process but you can already see "change is a coming". Roads are being torn up to add in water lines, there is construction everywhere. Everywhere. I'm curious to see how much change occurs during the time we'll be here. I want to do my part to help it along.
That being said, I know that whatever I do to "help" here may not count for much. But I want to try. Mother Theresa I'll never be, don't think I would even want to strive to that level....but I get it now. I really, really do.
p.s. I'm really confused on how to use these blog tools so look under new page for more pics, i think that's where they are.Will be starting this blog all over when I have more time. otherwise scratch it a
First of GO TEXANS!!!! John and I settled ourselves in bed, bought the big ticket from the NFL game pass, and watched the Texans win their first round game of the playoffs, the wild card game, and twas good. Was very good. Hahaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Now back to life here......It's Monday morning. And I mean morning, as is 3:07 a.m. here. Yup. Until we get into a home, get Bruce back into a school, get a routine going, we're going to be night owls I think.
House hunting was a bit on the overwhelming this week. Too much to choose from in the gated communities. Most of the homes are all cookie cutter style McMansions....meaning they are all very similar. Have found a few that really stand out....but have asked to view some independent homes. Meaning not in gated communities.....just going to check it out and see what we see. When in Rome.....right?
Ok. I know most of you can't understand why we have agreed to come to India. We have all seen Slumdog Millionaire right? And Bangalore does have it's slum areas. These areas are scattered all over I think but the "main" area as far as I can tell is sort of a "tin town".....homes that look like they consist of one room made of tin.And these people might even be considered the lucky ones of some of the poorest. They are usually "open" and you can see inside. No running water, kitchens, electricity, toilets,etc that I can tell. I am surprised that my emotional side has been shut down on some level and I am able to view these places without breaking into tears. They are truly poor people living in sad conditions. I have viewed these areas with wide eyes but I think our travels in southeast Asia these past two years really prepared me for all this. I am torn because I want to take pics, to show you all what extreme poverty, up close really looks like....to have a record and pictures so that those who think that life is tough can see what having it tough really means...i want to take these pictures and show this, but I feel that I am intruding on their private lives. Yes their lives are on display already in the areas in which they have chosen to live, but was this really a choice for them? Did they even have a choice? John says I need to just "click away" and I'm sure I will eventually, but right now I am more interested in the "why" of it all. I have seen a ton of government housing, big huge and I mean HUGE apartment complexes scattered all over the city and I am wondering who decides who gets to live in those apartments and why are some still living in these shacks,on the sidewalks, etc? I know it's all a bit more complicated than just saying "all you who have no homes, come live here", but I am still very curious of how it all works. Anyway, no, to answer your questions of is it like Slumdog Millionaire not on that scale in regards to the size of the slum population, but yes, on the question of "are they who live in the slums that level of poor"? Yes. I'm afraid so. Yes.
Business is booming here in Bangalore. Look it up. Tons of jobs and companies have been moved here in the IT industy (Dell, Intel, GE, Oracle, Yahoo,) as well as big companies like Shell and Honeywell, etc. There is an economic boom going on here. With all that an economic boom brings, I am hopeful that alot of good change will be taking place. It'll be a slow process but you can already see "change is a coming". Roads are being torn up to add in water lines, there is construction everywhere. Everywhere. I'm curious to see how much change occurs during the time we'll be here. I want to do my part to help it along.
That being said, I know that whatever I do to "help" here may not count for much. But I want to try. Mother Theresa I'll never be, don't think I would even want to strive to that level....but I get it now. I really, really do.
p.s. I'm really confused on how to use these blog tools so look under new page for more pics, i think that's where they are.Will be starting this blog all over when I have more time. otherwise scratch it a
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