Day 11 - $how me the money

Thursday’s highlight was another trip to the base that was wildly successful. It certainly could not have been more unexpected, but I managed to make arrangements with the finance office to ensure my training in Chennai would be paid for. Shockingly, not only was everything set up for me, but I was also paid in cash on the spot! And this was all in the course of an hour or so! Wow, things are starting to look up!

As if that good news wasn’t enough, I also forgot to mention that I found out that Winston Churchill lived at a place called the retreat, just a 5 minute walk from my house. Apparently he served here during World War 1, although I have not researched it yet. The house has a large picture of him on the front porch and highlights the fact that he stayed there, so it must be true, right?

Day 10 – Exploding bladder averted...

Wednesday we finally got approval to go on base, so I got the tour of my future workplace. I even got to see the Kiran Mk 2 up close. It looks like a pretty durable, reliable machine, so I hope that will in fact be the case. The offices were small, but sufficient. They people were friendly and welcoming. They even have people constantly going around offering you glasses of water. I realized after about 3 or 4 glasses that I probably didn’t need to worry about dehydration anymore. Sitting in my new commander’s office, I remembered that Tycho Brahe had died from a ruptured bladder (don’t believe me, well check out Exploding Bladder). Fortunately, things did not deteriorate to the point that I feared for my life, but it was nonetheless a bit of a concern. At one point we were recalled to the guard shack to present our credentials. That should not have been a big deal, but we did waste more time trying to prove my legitimacy yet again. It seems everyone thinks I’m a spy or something. I guess I do kinda look like Daniel Craig (James Bond) would look with a shaved head. Or maybe Austin Powers? After all, I am an international man of mystery! Ha!

Okay, so moving on from the guard shack, we made a trip over to meet the base commander and had a nice visit with him before calling it a day and heading home. After getting home, we decided it would be wise for me to open a bank account so we hopped in the car and drove into the city. Once again, we were met with resistance and told we should come back in the morning because they didn’t know what paperwork was required. We said that wouldn’t do and then they did their best to accommodate us. That meant surrendering all of my photo IDs and signing my name countless times to papers that were never intended to be read… only agreed to. So you ask the question, how can you agree to something you don’t read? Well, you don’t. It’s India and you just accept it. I was happy that in less than an hour and a half we were done and my new bank account was activated. I know that’s all the time it took because I was timing… maybe they knew and that’s why it didn’t take 3 hours like the cell phone ordeal!

Day 9 – More fun?

While I managed to follow-up one quiet day with another, this day would be characterized as slightly more fruitful. However, as you will see, that was not without a lot of effort. We spent about 3 hours (and I say about because it was probably longer than 3 hours!) at Vodafone setting up my cell phone service. The funny thing is that we even had everything necessary to open an account. They required copies of every form of ID that I have, a letter from the consulate, pictures, and even after all that, they send someone to both your house and your work to do a security verification. Oh and in case you ever come to India and need to buy a cellphone, be prepared to sign your name about 50 times. As if that’s not bad enough, there’s so much paperwork for you to sign that you can’t even begin to read any of it. You’re just expected to sign and agree to all the terms and conditions. It doesn’t matter that it’d take a good 2 hours or so to read through all the paperwork! If I would’ve know that it would take as long as it did for everything to get worked out, maybe I would’ve kept myself occupied by reading through everything I signed my name to. Hopefully, they didn’t slip something in there that equated to me signing away my soul. I would be in trouble if they did because I wouldn’t have caught it! Well, at least we managed to get something done.

Day 7 - (Indian) Wedding crasher!

Wedding crasher...  courtesy of B.H.

Saturday night ended up being a sleepover, so in the morning we (and by “we” I really mean “they”) made a delectable quiche and a fruit salad. It was a lovely surprise for Mr. Sleepy. Folks begin to filter out during the course of the day and I drifted back to studying.

As I was catching up on some reading and trying to prepare myself for the big final week of classes, my buddy reminded me that there was a wedding he’d be going to with the ex-pat gang that evening. I wasn’t sure if I could swing it, but then again, who passes up the opportunity to crash a wedding? With the offer to wear an Indian outfit on the table, I could not resist. We got ourselves ready and they made the trek into the city to meet up with the rest of the gang. We ended up at a friend’s house with the guys waiting for the girls to get ready. Of course that never happens in the states, but here those saris take a long time to put on, especially if you don’t regularly don the sari. I must say that this was yet another “I’m proud to be a man” moment. Ha! Okay, so once the girls were ready we had to take a few pictures because they really did look wonderful all decked out in their beautiful saris. After the photo shoot, we were off to the wedding.

What we went to was actually the wedding reception, but as you may have heard, they are huge! We walked into an enormous room that probably had seating for 500 people or so. At the front is a large, colorful stage decorated with various ornaments, colorful flowers and stuff. The bride and groom sit on the podium or stand or stage or whatever it’s called. They just smile and look pretty for the cameras. Every once in a while some folks walk up and pass along their congratulations, but for the most part, they just sit there smiling at the crowd. Although it was a little awkward, my friends invited me onto the stage with them and introduced me to the bride and groom. I’m still not sure how I feel about meeting someone for the first time at their wedding, but without their invitation! I’m just gonna chalk that one up as being okay because of the cultural differences…

Next, we went downstairs for food. As was expected, it was a catered meal and the food was excellent. There were plenty of different options, so fortunately the “Man v. Food” side of me did not take over otherwise I probably would have exploded! Interestingly enough, there were only a couple tables for people to sit down and eat even though there were probably at least 2-3 hundred people. Again, it’s pretty standard to eat standing up (Mimi, if you’re reading this, don’t get any crazy ideas right before your wedding!). There was also a water table, but most people don’t drink anything with the meal, they just grab a drink after the meal. It makes sense if you think about how hard it would be to hold a plate, eat, and hold a drink while standing up. The dessert was okay, but nothing amazing.

Oh, I just realized that in addition to my first Hindu wedding, I also got into my first car accident as well! It was a pretty rainy night and basically we pulled out into some fast-moving oncoming traffic and they could not stop in time. It was like slow motion as I’m sitting in the passenger’s seat watching the car skid towards us. It seemed inevitable that they would hit us and when they finally did, I was surprised that it didn’t feel much different than getting hit in a bumper car. Honestly, we bounced and they bounced. Some words were exchanged, but since no apparent damage was done we both drove off. And so in addition to attending my first Indian wedding, I was also involved in my first car accident. Fortunately, as far as I could tell, no one was hurt in either.

Day 8 – And the fun begins…

This was to be the day I get to go see the base where I’ll spend the majority of my time here. Unfortunately, due to the lengthy coordination process, that did not happen. Paralyzed by indecision seems to be an accurate description of the way things work. Oh that it were not so, but alas no one is willing to change the system! I hope this doesn’t become a regular refrain for me. Unfortunately, as I would soon come to find out, it could be… good thing I had plenty of schoolwork to keep me occupied!