On the Home Stretch?

It's early Sunday morning in Bangalore. Other than the chirping birds, barking stray dogs and occasional honking truck zipping by, seems most of the city is asleep. I like this time.

I'm feeling a little messed up as far as my days go - Thursday was a holiday in India - Republic Day, the anniversary of the day the Constitution of India was formally adopted. Because of the day off, though, I catch myself thinking "What day is it today?"

On Friday, Aakash and I had our weekly doctor's appointment. The baby is healthy and doing well, but definitely taking his/her own sweet time coming out. Our due date is this Tuesday, but we haven't seen too many signs that the baby will make his/her appearance then.

I shouldn't be too surprised, though. According to Aakash, he has made a deal with the baby to not come out until we've gotten a car. So far, the baby has been keeping his/her word. Although I'm very happy to say I *think* we are pretty close to getting that WagonR.

Since all of our endless attempts at financing have fallen through, we're left with no option other than to buy the car outright. The last attempt at getting financing - enlisting the help of my company - was particularly frustrating. I wrote on Jan 19th that we were to find out "in a day or two" whether or not our financing would go through. Would you believe it took 10 days? The loan rep, whom I had initially labeled a "very nice guy" gave us a bit of a runaround. He did a good job of dodging our calls for over a week, and then finally informed us that our financing did not go through. Same reason as always - we aren't citizens and we don't own land.

In any case, we've managed to scrape together enough money and tomorrow, we'll likely put it towards that WagonR we looked at - the 2005 which we were told was a 2006 (see the Jan 19th posting). We decided that we'd call the guy on lying to us and strong-arm him into giving us a 2005 price. Despite having been asked over 4 times point blank, "Is this a 2006 WagonR", the salesman denied ever having told us that. But, he did agree to give us the 2005 price. Now, if everything goes according to plan, we'll have a new car on Tuesday. Woo-hoo! Baby may just be on time after all.

Belly-Watcher Update (almost 40 weeks):

On Politics and Change

Lately, I've been finding myself getting more and more frustrated with the political system here in Bangalore (and India in general). The sole concern with filling their pockets and haughty disregard for the people they govern touted by many government officials has been on my mind a lot in recent days. Granted, look closely at any government, and you are likely to find corruption. My home country is no less guilty of this than India. But, I fear for Bangalore and the direction she is heading - such a beautiful city with so much promise and potential, but sorely lacking just, befitting leadership to help her realize her possibilities.

I ask Aakash often what it would take - what needs to happen to thwart the rampant corruption and start heading in the right direction? Seems a start would be getting some fresh new minds in office.

Enter 5 graduates from IIT (Indian Institute of Technology).

These 20-something young men have decided to give up their tech jobs and jump ship into politics - a grassroots effort to start a new political party, Paritrana. From The Times of India:

"Giving up handsome pay packages, comfort of family and support of friends wasn’t that easy," says Tanmay Rajpurohit, the national president of the party and B Tech in aerospace from IIT Bombay followed by an MS from GeorgiaTech and double masters in arts.

"But my inner voice told me that I should invest my efforts in my country rather than making my pockets heavier," said Ajit Ashwalayan Shukla, vice president of the party.

Granted, listening to one's inner voice does not necessarily make you a good politician. Many are already labeling these young men as idealistic and foolish. I say more power to them. Maybe the fruits of their efforts end up being mere ripples. But, create enough ripples, and you've got a wave.

The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.
Author Unknown

The One That Got Away...Again

Aakash and I decided to skip the gym tonite, so I've got no excuse for not catching up on a little blogging. The past couple of days, I have been feeling a wee bit exhausted. Not sure if its the pregnancy or all of the gazillion things we are trying to get taken care of. Whatever it is, I'm a bit pooped.

As our due date creeps ever closer, our car saga continues on. I think that this is one of my biggest challenges with living here - how certain things take so much more time and effort than they should. I'll share the latest in our unending epic. I really don't mean to sound like I'm endlessly complaining, but just trying to give others a feel for what life is like here.

I believe the last I'd left off, we had found out that we weren't eligible for financing a car. If we wanted a vehicle, we'd have to pay for it all upfront. The company I am working for apparently used to help employees with leasing cars, so I decided to hit them up for some advice. They put us in touch with one of their bank representatives. Very nice guy, but he wouldn't really tell us either way whether or not we, as U.S. citizens, could even be considered for a loan. His approach was to collect all of the necessary paperwork and basically just see whether or not it goes through. We should find out in a day or two.

Aside: I am so amazed by the use of photographs out here. For just about anything and everything, a passport-size photograph is needed - signing a job offer letter, applying for financing, opening a bank account - you name it! For our car financing application, we each had to give 3 photos. Bet the instant photo places, which you see on every corner, do pretty well out here.

With our financing paperwork under way, we now had to find an available vehicle. The guy that collected our loan paperwork was actually very helpful in that area - very cool. He has contacts with all of the local dealerships, and with just a few phone calls, he was able to find us a dealer with an available vehicle - a Maruti WagonR, one of the cars we've had our eye on. The car was scheduled to arrive in just a few days - all we needed to do was get out there and put a small chunk of change down to "block" the vehicle. Only one small problem - this dealership was out in Whitefield.

Given that afternoon rush hour was already upon us, we opted to go to the dealer first thing in the morning. We talked to the dealer a couple of times, told him we had the money and would be coming straight away the next day. Wouldn't you know - when Aakash got out to the dealer the next day (at the crack of dawn, mind you), the vehicle had already been blocked by someone else. Slipped right through our fingers! Again!

Feeling disappointed, frustrated and warn out from the journey to Whitefield, Aakash headed back into town. He stopped at a couple more dealerships on the way, but nobody had anything in stock. He met me at work, and we walked next door to another Maruti dealership. Mind you, we've already been to this dealership twice and come out empty-handed. We were hoping, though, by some small stroke of luck that they might have gotten some 2006's in by now.

Fate must've been on our side because it turns out they had in stock a 2006 WagonR in just the model we've been looking for. This time, nobody would be blocking that vehicle out from under us! We filled out the paperwork, handed over 4 more photographs, and put some money down to secure the vehicle. I think I came out in a bit of a daze - could it be that we actually might be getting a vehicle in just a few days?

How shocked would you be if I told you that it was all too good to be true? Well, to some extent, it is true - they do have a vehicle in stock, a WagonR in the model we want. Problem is, its a 2005, not a 2006. Not a big deal, really, considering that there is no difference in the model between these two years. But, the fact of the matter is that the salesman we worked with blatantly lied to us about the year of the vehicle - more than once - and is charging us the 2006 price! That's just plain wrong.

We find ourselves now stuck between a rock and a hard place. If we stick to our principles - which I'd really like to do - we'd tell this guy he can take his 2005 WagonR and drive it up you-know-where. We'd likely lose about Rs. 3000 (~$75) of our blocking deposit. But, in the interest of adhering to our morals, it is a small price to play.

Where we feel a bit trapped, though, is in letting yet another car slip through our fingers. We'll be back to square one - no vehicle and that much closer to the baby's due date. Doesn't exactly give us the warm fuzzies. We've thrown around the idea of placing an order for a car (which will likely take 3-4 weeks) and then just renting something for the time being. The cost of a rental, though, will likely be more than what this jerk salesman is overcharging us for the 2005.

I keep trying to convince Aakash that an auto-rickshaw ride to the hospital when I go into labor really won't be that bad. All of the bumps and potholes might just make my delivery that much quicker. He hasn't quite bought into this yet...

Weekly Update

It's early Saturday morning - just taking a little break from writing a book review. As the due date for the book review looms upon me, I'm wondering why I ever agreed - no, make that volunteered - to do the review. With a baby around the corner and a full-time job, I'm thinking I must've been a bit out of my mind (pregnancy hormones, maybe?). I love reading and writing, though, and the chance at a free book is hard to pass up.

While checking out my week-by-week pregnancy guide, I came across an interesting little factoid: 85% of babies are born within 2 weeks of the due date. If we're on target with this statistic, our window of opportunity starts next Tuesday! Wow! We had our weekly doctor visit this past Wednesday, and our doc said she's already been delivering babies with a due date of Jan 26th. Here's the latest belly update (37 weeks):

Aakash and I had a good week - we seemed to make a lot of progress on the to-do list hanging over our heads. Still no car yet, but we did manage to knock a number of other things off of the list. Earlier this week, we met a very nice lady who let us try out her Reva - that's the electric car here in India. It's teenie weenie - like something you'd expect to see 10 big clowns getting out of at the circus. Sure is fun, though - a lot like driving a golf cart. With the traffic and parking headaches here in Bangalore, it really does make sense. And not having to learn to drive a manual would be a big plus for me. But, I don't know that we've got anywhere to plug it in - that could be a problem...

The One That Got Away

Just got done whipping up a little dinner. I tell you, there's nothing like cooking with Michael Buble cranked up in the background (thank you, Christy, for turning me on to him). Now, all I need is Aakash - he's out taking care of getting a new mobile phone. What an ordeal that can be. While we were on our way to pregnancy class last week, Aakash's phone fell out of his pocket. While we hoped that the rickshaw driver might have enough principles to try and find the phone's rightful owner, mobile phones are such a hot commodity here that this was highly unlikely.

Even though we use a pre-paid service, and it is not likely that we'd incur any fraudulent charges, Aakash still went through the normal loss procedures - notifying the service provider and filling out a First Information Report (FIR) with the police station. Apparently, while Aakash was at the police station, somebody was getting caned. Aakash said he could hear the guy screaming and crying. I'm hoping this guy had already received his due process, although I'm not holding my breath...

This past weekend, Aakash and I were just mere moments away from being the proud new owners of a Hyundai Getz. Wouldn't you know, though, our car-buying curse followed us to the Hyundai dealership and once again foiled our plans. While we weren't really considering a Getz (don't get me wrong, it's a great car - I'd love to have one - but a bit over our budget), the dealership could get us one within a matter of days. With every other vehicle, we're told it will take 3 weeks to get one. Three weeks in India time, mind you. With our baby due in 3 weeks, that puts us in a tough spot.

We decided to bite the bullet and go with the Getz. We were even told that we could get financing for it. We sat with the finance lady, poured through all of the numbers and got all of the dirty details on all of the documents we would have to provide. Everything was looking great. Unfortunately, one two-minute phone call between the finance lady and the bank, and it was all over. Apparently, as of just this month, the bank has stopped giving car loans to NRIs. Looks like its back to the drawing board for us.

How'd We Get Here?

Happy Friday! Once again, I find myself a bit baffled that we are already at the weekend. It's so crazy how the time goes. We had a somewhat loaded week, which I'm sure contributed to the days flying by in a blur. In addition to the job (which I'm still really, really enjoying), we had two nights of baby classes, and a late-night conference call. I sat in on a review meeting which went from 12:30-2:30 am. Guess that's what I get for working for a multi-national company. My sleep schedule has not surprisingly gotten, as my Mom would say, a little "cattywompus".

The topic of one of our baby classes this week was puerperium (the 6-week period starting immediately after the birth of the baby). We learned about all of the crazy things my body is going to go through once the baby is born. Since class, Aakash has asked me already a couple of times if I still want to go through with having 4 kids. That should give you an idea of how the lecture went. Our next - and final - lecture will be on newborns. Hopefully that one won't contain too many surprises.

Wishing you all a good weekend!

Pleasant Chaos

Our house is in a bit of a state of chaos right now, but to tell you the truth, I am welcoming it with open arms. We're having some ACs installed which has resulted in our livingroom becoming a barren dustbowl. The 1/2-inch thick layer of dust coating just about every surface, while a bit disgusting, is a sign of progress. We've had such a time convincing our flat owner to install ACs that our current state of disarray is really a welcome site. In a day or two, it will all be over.

This past weekend, I got my first paycheck. With as excited as I was, you'd think this was my very first job. The other big thrill was getting my Sodexho coupons. To get around excessive taxes (for both the employer and employee), companies here will give a percentage of your monthly salary as different benefits - you can allocate that money for expenses like professional development and paying your phone bill. You can also choose to get Sodexho coupons, which are used to buy food at grocery stores and restaurants.

Received some really great pics from my parents the other day that I just had to share ("proud mama" syndrome, maybe?). For Christmas, my sister got her "neice", Lu Lu, this really great, pink fu fu bed. Apparently, Lu Lu has started taking a liking to it:

(adorable pic is complements of my Dad)

Happy New Year 2006

Wishing all a new year full of happiness, health and peace. Aakash and I had a very pleasant, low-key celebration. We started our celebration by going out for some lunch and then lounging over a cup of coffee at Coffee World. Later that afternoon, we had a brief visit with some friends - it was actually supposed to be somewhat of a business meeting, but that didn't exactly happen. We met over a few mocktails and cocktails at the pub in the mall. Probably not the best place to try and conduct some business.

In the evening, Aakash and I enjoyed a nice dinner together at Sahib Sindh Sultan (the train place). We opted for this restaurant because it is close by, and we didn't feel like haggling with the rickshaw wallahs. Afterwards, we relaxed at home and watched a movie. At midnight, the entire Bangalore sky was lit up with fireworks. All you could see in every direction was big flashes of light and color. Very festive! A number of residents, too, had gathered outside and were bursting crackers of their own.

This was the first New Year's in some time that Aakash and I haven't traveled anywhere. While it may not have been the norm, we rang in the New Year together - that's all that really matters.

Happy New Year!