Bangalore India

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Bangalore India

Postby Kurt » Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:51 pm

I have never been to India at all, but I am interviewing for a job this week that would relocate me to LA and put me in charge of three NOCs (network Operation Centers) in NYC, LA and Bangalore so there would be a lot of travel to Bangalore in the beginning.

The informal polls I have taken among former colleagues is that the western folks find Bangalore a bit boring compared to the rest of India but the Indians go on about how "nice" it is compared to the rest of India, so I am guessing that it is India, but with less cows and garbage piles (something my former co-workers from India did not find charming about their country at all).

One big, big problem is I am allergic to "curry", most likely cardamon and big doses of tumeric seem to set my face alight with pimples like an awkward teenager. Its a shame because I love varieties of food and I love experimenting with that but I will have to be the person who has to settle for substandard Indian interpretations of western cuisine.

So, any tips and thoughts? Any restaurant that caters to fearful visitors looking for bacon and eggs in the morning?
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby rickshaw92 » Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:11 pm

but I will have to be the person who has to settle for substandard Indian interpretations of western cuisine.


The first time I went Mcdonalds made big macs outta mutton. Last time they were made of chicken. I have never been to Bangalore but I am told it is the silicon valley of India and is supposed to be clean. There should be over priced places catering to folks just like you and you should have an expense account to pay. That said, you can get most of the nourishment you need from beer. I know this as fact.
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby Kurt » Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:39 pm

Thanks, I like to be prepared for interviews and this job would be in one of the Silicon Valley type places.

Beer is usually a good replacement for salad IMO as beer will never poison you like salad can.
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby rickshaw92 » Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:43 pm

as beer will never poison you like salad can.


Syrian beer, Egyptian beer, the 10 year old beer I drank in Kabul. I could go on.
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby Kurt » Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:49 pm

rickshaw92 wrote:
as beer will never poison you like salad can.


Syrian beer, Egyptian beer, the 10 year old beer I drank in Kabul. I could go on.


Poison as in Hospitalization?

My record was a can of Billy Beer from 1977 that I drank in 2003. It was in a steel can and it tasted like carbonated skunked rust but I did not get sick from it.

I would take a 16 year old can of beer over a salad in Haiti any day.
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby rickshaw92 » Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:56 pm

Poison as in Hospitalization?


No. To fucked up to get to a hospital. I have had a lot of good luck with salad although I dont eat them much. When I found I have eaten something dodgy I rinse my system out with beer as soon as the puking and ass exploding stops.
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby vagabond » Sun Jan 08, 2012 2:29 am

I was in Bangalore in Dec 08. It's a very hectic, busy place, and was very annoying as a backpacker on a budget looking for a place to stay that was affordable and not an absolute shithole. Other than that:

-You'll be able to find plenty of Western food, even good Western food that won't make you shit like a fire hydrant. I went to a nice Cuban (I think) restaurant there and there are plenty of other options (even Western style 'health') options. Given the amount of foreign companies w/ hqs there, I'm sure that, due to the expat community, these places will have slightly higher standards than many other places in India. So if you can't do curry and have to do only Western food, you'll probably be in good company w/ your other Western compatriots. With the company I used to work with, one of the guys lived on pizza and fish and chips from the hotel for two months in Mumbai. So, if the hotel is a decent international one, it also shouldn't be a problem if you always do room service (which hopefully your company picks up the tab for).

-Drinking. Plenty of bars and they even have a closed off pedestrian area. There's a lot of young hip places and it's one of the few I've seen where girls are actually out and about drinking as well so it's not one huge sausage fest.

-The rickshaw drivers are the worst, most cutthroat, and most idiotic in India. This will be your experience and is the experience of many Indians I've known that have had to deal with them. Most of the drivers, like in many cities, come from somewhere else in India, barely know their way around and try and overcharge more than any other drivers I've ran into in two trips to the country. Depending on where you are, and how the company handles you, it's entirely possible to walk, take a cab (not douche bags and w/ rate cards that are legit), or the company will provide a car and driver/van. I will assume the latter since that tends to be policy w/ big organizations there.

-Flying from LA. It's a bit of a haul. Where I worked, we flew Emirates through Dubai. There are two different flights and the newest one, that I got to take, was great. The plane from LAX - Dubai was barely full and everyone in my part of coach got to stretch out and sleep on a whole row. Dubai - Mumbai sucked. Not sure how you'd be getting to Bangalore from LA but there are flights via Cathay through Hong Kong and other decent airlines that take the Pacific route. The cool thing about the return flight from Dubai was flying over the North Pole.

Moving on from Banglore/India...

Where in LA is the company based? That could make a difference in your experience out here as well. Shoot me a PM if you don't want it on the forum of course. Swain would probably have some (better) advice too.
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby rickshaw92 » Sun Jan 08, 2012 6:28 am

It's a very hectic, busy place, and was very annoying as a backpacker on a budget looking for a place to stay that was affordable and not an absolute shithole.


So it's not much different than the rest of India then?
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby Kurt » Sun Jan 08, 2012 7:11 am

Its located in Beverly Hills...the grid shaped part, but there is always a chance the data center will be located someplace else.
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby vagabond » Sun Jan 08, 2012 5:52 pm

rickshaw92 wrote:
It's a very hectic, busy place, and was very annoying as a backpacker on a budget looking for a place to stay that was affordable and not an absolute shithole.


So it's not much different than the rest of India then?


It was worse. But at the time, I had been through Kerala and mostly southern India, which is pretty sedate and has reasonable places to stay for cheap. I've heard N. India (which I haven't had the chance to explore yet) is worse and more crowded.

It seems odd as I've talked w/ people in the tourist trade over there that are actively trying to promote the place. I can understand wanting to get folks at the higher end of the scale but even those ppl have to deal w/ the normal BS of being in India. At the lower end, they could get more dirty backpackers (and it's not like they're truly lacking) but there's no reason for the wide gap b/w dirt cheap, shithole and medium-priced Indian business hotel ($30-40/night and either errs on the side of shit hole or caters to new Indian middle class).

It's an entrepreneurial place, they have enough ppl to clean and maintain buildings (as they do for themselves at a certain level) and people would like to go there but not have to retire to a shithole at the end of a day of fighting tooth and nail w/ every rickshaw driver and vendor around. Then again, it's the same rule of thumb that applies to most places that, if you stay out of the cities, things tend to be much much better.

Anyway, just my two rupees.
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby JITW » Mon Jan 09, 2012 7:10 am

Everywhere is cool as long as you are cool

And don't worry about the curry - if you are going over and meeting up with other expats who work with your company you will probably go nowhere near the locals or their nasty chow



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Re: Bangalore India

Postby rickshaw92 » Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:57 am

or their nasty chow



India is a good place for eatin.
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby JITW » Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:27 pm

rickshaw92 wrote:
or their nasty chow



India is a good place for eatin.


I have never really had a taste for Injin curry - But I do like Thai, Malaysian and Indo curry


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Re: Bangalore India

Postby rickshaw92 » Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:59 pm

JITW wrote:
rickshaw92 wrote:
or their nasty chow



India is a good place for eatin.


I have never really had a taste for Injin curry - But I do like Thai, Malaysian and Indo curry


~JITW


It ain't just curry dude. They gots all kinds of good food. Tandori cooked meat is awesome.
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: Bangalore India

Postby vagabond » Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:04 pm

rickshaw92 wrote:
JITW wrote:
rickshaw92 wrote:
or their nasty chow



India is a good place for eatin.


I have never really had a taste for Injin curry - But I do like Thai, Malaysian and Indo curry


~JITW


It ain't just curry dude. They gots all kinds of good food. Tandori cooked meat is awesome.


Yup. Some of my favorite chicken and lamb dishes have been eaten over Injun land.

I'm the opposite - I usually avoid Thai "curry" dishes.

I will say that I'll take a Malaysian/Indo dish over pretty much anything in Thailand or India. Even the fried rice is somehow better and I had no problem just living off nasi goreng belacan for days.
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