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The decision to hire C as my driver was the best I’ve made. He exceeds in all the basic requirements — safe driver, knows the roads, professional, great referrals, etc — but he’s also infinitely patient. And he’s the best Guy Friday. And today he was bursting with joy.

“Our”* new Toyota Innova arrived this week as May 23 was deemed the most auspicious day for C to pick it up. Once he was done at the dealer, it was a quick drive to the temple by Ulsoor Lake for a Puja (blessing) of the car. The pujari (priest ) attached flowers to the hood and grill, then finger painted an “Om” on the windshield with sandalwood paste for good luck. Next he said mantras to Ganesh, while C tossed rice. The pujari lighted a fire with incense in a small brass tray used for these purposes and C tossed rice, while the pujari circled the car and steering wheel. A small Ganesh was placed on the dashboard. A coconut is dropped hard, so it will shatter, in front of the car. Each tyre was anointed with a lemon to ward off evil. Now the car is blessed.

*I say “ours” because C will own it, but it will stay in my garage and be used for my family & guests. An Innova was initially described to me as a “mini-SUV” and I think Toyota advertises it as “multi premium vehicle”. I confess, it seems more like a minivan to me. There are tons of them on the roads of Bangalore as it’s quite popular with local drivers. It’s a pretty comfortable ride which is important in a city known for its traffic.

Clearly C is thrilled to have this car. After all the help he’s been to me, it is heartwarming to see him so happy. I told him to take it home with him tonight to drive around his family (versus leaving it in my garage). I gave him money to buy his family ice cream, too. (That’s what I recall doing as a kid when my dad bright home a new car – we drove out for ice cream!)

Well, not dawn. But my appointment is 8:15 AM Wednesday — which seems pretty early for an official governmental agency to open.  I’ve heard horror stories about long lines winding around the building, so hopefully this early time slot will work to my advantage and I’ll beat the crowds.   Once I get the FRRO, I should FINALLY be able to open a bank account and to get my own SIM card (and return the one I’m borrowing from C).

In the meantime I’ve registered with the Embassy and local Consulate. Not invites to July 4th parties yet, but I have already started getting the email alerts about things the State Department finds relevant to “travelers”. Nothing juicy so far.

C was a real rock star today. Mind you, he’s incredibly helpful most days — whether it’s coordinating plant deliveries, taking me to the local Costco/Sams equivalent (the Metro Store), negotiating with mattress vendors or playing body guard at the currency traders, he’s a handy guy to have around.  While I was in meetings at the office today, he worked with a crazy number of service providers and their scheduling departments to get my TV  delivered and installed,  get the  internet up and running, schedule a service visit/demo for the new fridge (we cannot get the ice maker to work — I know, First World Problem) and took delivery of my fire extinguisher (safety first). He almost got the TV service (different from the internet provider)  installed,too, but they called around 6:30PM to reschedule.  C was waiting for the TV service installer while I took an evening business call at home in another room.  When the TV service people canceled, C stepped out and came back with a South Indian Filter Coffee for me before leaving for the night.  All this and coffee delivery, too?  Without even asking??  I don’t know how I got so lucky as to find C, but I am counting my blessings…  (Of course, among all of this, he managed to get me to/from work promptly.)

Tonight is my first night in the new apartment. It’s been an exhausting weekend moving and trying to get things done.  When I look back, I’ve done a lot since I departed a week ago and landed Tuesday.  I managed to move in within a week (which I was seriously doubting would happen at some points).

I made good progress this week, although it feels like I still have a lot to do (e.g., FRRO, drapes, TV installation, TV service hook-up, internet service installation — not to mention work!).  Cheers to the start of week #2!

I’m trying to move in Sunday. In the interest if time, I decided to skip the whole drapery decision for the living room and just put plants on the balcony. I figured that the plants would provide privacy and enhance my balcony view which is … um … city (office building, parking lot, another apartment building — the roof has better views over the tree tops). Plus, palm trees and flowering plants are so much less expensive here. And I wanted some green. Here is a photo of the plants at the nursery.

In fact, the guys delivering the plants beat us back to the apartment (I confess, we were the late ones this time). C managed to coordinate getting the delivery to building (if not the apartment) even without us being there. Then C and the security guard moved the plants onto my balcony. By the time we — ok, they — got this done, it was too dark for good photos. But here’s the new view Sunday morning.

One of the plants is a local lime tree. The limes here more akin to key limes back in the states – small, round, and with a slightly more lemony flavor. The tree was recently harvested, but there are some baby limes growing now. We’ll be ready for G&Ts in no time!

While running errands Saturday, I came across these cows being feed & watered. Readers had asked who feeds the cows wandering the streets, so I thought I’d share. These particular cows have a tarp for shade, located within about 50′ from what appears to be a communal water facet. They were being feed fresh green grass and they looked to me to be healthy and happy. A little bit down the road, there was a small herd of goats (I’m told they are not used for goat milk; one day they’ll be dinner). All of this urban farming was in the midst of the city.

People can get milk from these types of urban cows delivered to their homes but it has little to no “processing”. Several locals told me it was risky to get this sort of milk, but some people prefer it and others don’t have the luxury of store-bought milk. (Even in the US so-called raw milk has its fans, so it’s not entirely different. But I think in the US it tends to be more of a organic/locavore/alternative health option that is more expensive and harder to obtain than typical store- bought milk. So that seems to be one big difference: the urban poor in the US are not the typical raw milk customer….)

The milk in grocery stores is generally from distributors outside the city in “the villages”, who obtain their milk from rural farms and process it. Processing includes pasteurization. Most milk is sold un-refrigerated in Parmalat-style small box cartons. One can also buy milk in plastic baggies — LOTS of products are sold packaged in plastic baggies, from laundry powder to cooking oil — in the refrigerator aisle but I’ve been advised to drink/use that type of milk within a day or 2 at most because it doesn’t have a long shelf life.

A local said to me today, “In India, you must have patience or you will become a patient.” Sounds like something embroidered on a silly pillow — but yet, he has a point.

Speaking of pillows, I learned today that mattresses are another thing super sized in the U.S. My notes from my house hunting visit indicated that the beds were queen-size (US 60″ x 80″). However, we didn’t actually measure because they were –ahem– OBVIOUSLY not king-size (US 76″ x 80″).

I read all about how hard it is to fine fitted sheets here, so I was on the look-out for bedding sales in the US before my move and I got a few sets of quality queen sheets at a bargain. Alas, I learned today that the standard king mattress in India (and in several other countries) is a slimmer 72″ x 78″. Bigger (wider) than a US queen and smaller than a US king. I have no idea how I managed to get the fitted sheets on my radar while entirely missing the part about the actual mattress sizes. Wouldn’t you think that the issues were linked? But I only have myself to blame for not measuring and presuming that mattresses sizes were universal.

In any event, it appears I purchased the wrong size bed linens. I’ll still try to see if they’ll fit, but a 10″ difference in a fitted sheet is doubtful. Anyone in India seeking brand new US queen sheet sets?

The good news is that you can buy a mattress and get it delivered the same day. That’s just about the fastest turn around time on anything I’ve come across so far! After purchasing the proper sized sheets tomorrow, I should be ready to move in by Sunday at the latest (fingers crossed).

Here’s my mattress – not much to look at, but one step closer to moving in and that is a thing of beauty!

There were some workmen installing mosquito screens in the windows of my apartment during today’s walk-through of the apartment. This is how they plugged their electric drills into the wall sockets:

Basic, but functional. I mean, how many people REALLY get electrocuted via power drill anyway, right?

I came back to my hotel today after my first day in the office and a long (but generally good) walk-thru of the apartment with the landlord and these roses greeted me in my room. What a nice surprise! I couldn’t figure out how this came to pass, so I asked the front desk. The man at the front desk wasn’t entirely sure but he did some digging around. When he got back to me, he said, “They are from us [the hotel], to make you happy.” So classy! And they DID make me happy!