Sweden: after a year

It's a been a little more than a year ago that we moved to Sweden. Many have asked 'Why Sweden?' and my after being here, I still say 'Why not?'. It has been extremely easy to settle down here with my family. Of course, the biggest challenge for many is that their spouses or partners take a while before they find their first job here. Mostly because the supply is more than demand. 

Yesterday I asked my younger daughter who is almost 10 now, what she liked about Sweden and she promptly said 'the nature' and I completely agree. Clean air and water is not a given for many people across the world and perhaps not comprehensible to many. It could also be a factor of population. Sweden has only around 10 million people, as big as the city of Bangalore, where I grew up. 

The taxes are pretty high, but everyone gets free education and health care, what more could one ask for, really? I haven't seen any homeless person, living in a train station, or under some makeshift tent or any of this which is the reality in many parts of the world. Maybe this will not last forever but for now, it is good. 

Sometimes I get a feeling that there is no pandemic here, not many really wear masks, schools never stopped in person classes, and life still continued. Sweden did get a fair share of criticism for this, but which country hasn't? They have probably managed to get away with the light rules as the population itself is quite low, which helped with distancing. 

For now, I simply thankful for what I have and that my family is safe and sound. 

Change amidst the pandemic

My earlier post was almost a year ago and little did I know that my life would change. In August this year, my family and I moved from Bangalore, India to Sweden. Yes, in the middle of the pandemic!

While everyone around me thought I was crazy, I saw this as an opportunity, to make most of the year that most would consider a complete wash out. 

Change was not easy, however, it has been worth every bit of the trouble we went through!

Corruption and disease

“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation” – Gustavo Petro, Mayor of Bogotá

Many cities in India, Bangalore for instance, are growing rapidly, both in population and in technical development. The use of latest technologies, e.g., having an app for everything you can possibly think of, from scheduling a appointment for a home pickup of your blood samples to groceries delivered right at your doorstep, baffles many, even those visiting from the developed nations of the world. 

Having said this, how do we measure how developed our cities really are? It is not just about the increase in the number of people owning phones, or those who can spend more, it is also to do with how our lives are changing, a lot of times, for the worse. Bangalore, probably has everything one might possibly think of. It's the hub for startups, jobs, fashion, technology, food and even has the best micro breweries.

However, we are also paying a huge price. Corruption has impacted every part of our lives today. India is not poor, but the wealth is being misused, most of it going into the pockets for those who are supposed to care for our cities, towns and villages. As a result, it is almost a state of lawlessness when it comes to garbage disposal or pollution control. Our lakes are almost all gone, whatever is left is polluted with sewage. The end result is that everyone suffers with disease, young and old. 

Dengue, chikungunya, typhoid amongst many others are quite common. Everyday day, we hear of these deaths, and now it has become a part of our lives.

No single person or entity is held accountable. All everyone is worried about is politics based on religion, language and power. Will this ever change? 

Bangalore Lost?

Bangalore is home, this is where I grew up. Memories of Bangalore go back to when traffic lights were turned off by 9pm, winters were cold, the air was fresh and when sparrows randomly flew into our homes looking for grain.
It was a city of lakes and indeed a garden city, with canopies of rain trees which were home to thousands of birds.
Paradise is pretty much lost now, due to the inorganic growth of the city, lack of planning, corruption, land mafia, and mountains of garbage, to name just a few.
Our lakes are polluted beyond repair and catching fire, the number of respiratory diseases has increased, clean well water is a thing of the past and the butterflies have vanished.
Have we lost our paradise, our Bangalore?

Roadtrip to Kerala

We drove from Bangalore to Cochin last weekend and I must say that I was quite surprised. The roads were in great condition except for a stretch of around 5 km after Palakkad. It was our first long road trip ever since Ellen was born a year ago. I was a little apprehensive about how a one year old would be able to sit in a car for 12 long hours, but she kept herself occupied. We took short break every 2 hours, for her to be able to stretch her legs. 

Breakfast was ham sandwiches, however for lunch we stopped at a place called Rice Bowl in Kerala, assuming it was the same group of restaurants from Bangalore but when we saw the famous "fish curry meals" in the menu we were pretty sure we were mistaken :). 

Anyways, as soon as we crossed the border into Kerala, we were welcomed by plenty of greenery, paddy fields, coconut trees, rivers and ponds. Loverrrly! 

We stayed in Cochin for a few days and then drove to Kottayam, via Kumarakom, another beautiful part of Kerala popular for its backwaters. However, I did notice that it has turned into some kind of a touristy spot, couple of nice hotels, Taj Vivanta being one of them. 

Kerala is hot as hell in the month of April, so a better time to go there would be in December when it is pleasant, not hot and not raining. 

On our way back, we noticed a couple of elephants being transported in large trucks to Thrishur for Thrishurpuram. Was a pity that I couldn't stay back for Thrishurpuram, but may be some other day !

My little one is not so little any more :)

Here is Lisa on her 6th birthday!

Japan

Cannot understand this catastrophe in Japan, I'm ripped every time I see the videos. How much can the people bear really, an earthquake, a tsunami and now a possible nuclear meltdown?
How can they even begin to rebuild their homes, when it's all just one big dump?
India: we would never ever be prepared for something like this, forget the tsunami, I don't think we can cope with an earthquake of 5.

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas

Make a Smilebox greeting

None of the photo links work!

I just realized that none of the links to the photo albums are working. Photobucket did something :(

Christmas 2008

Here is a photo that I took this morning.

Nostalgia!

We studied together, way back in the 80's. That takes us back maybe 2 decades! We met again in October this year.


From left to rt: Swati (the entrepreneur and engineer), Sophia (the dentist), Yours truly, Urmila (the banker).

Where are their hearts?

Here is the story of Moshe and his brave nanny.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/12/02/moshe.mumbai/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Teaching Math to a 4 year old

My 4 year old daughter, Lisa, taught me yesterday that we should never under estimate the learning abilities of children.

She's in pre-school and came home yesterday with one full page of math homework. I was really upset with the school for having started so early and thought that this was just pushing kids to the limit. However, I was pleasantly surprised. She completed the whole thing- 2+1, 4+5, 5+5 etc etc in less than 10 minutes using all 10 fingers. Very cool indeed.

I also found this link, which describes exactly how she does the simple math:
http://www.thecoloradoindex.com/the_colorado_index/2007/09/on-teaching-mat.html?cid=139939784#comments

Languages

I absolutely love this feature. I can actually write in the local languages:

Hindi: मेरा नाम रीना है और में इस फेअतुरे से बेहत कुश हूँ।
Kannada: ನನ್ನ ಹೆಸರು ರೀನಾ. ನನಗೆ ಈ ಫೆಅತುರೆ ತುಂಬ ಇಷ್ಟ ಆಯಿತು.
Malayalam: എന്റെ പേര് റീന. എനിക്ക് ഈ ഫീടുരെ ഒത്തിരി ഇഷ്ടമായി.
Tamil: எனோடு பேரு ரீனா.

Most of the spellings seem fine, except a couple here and there. Absolutely fantastic, strange that I've never tried it before.

School Hunting!

We've been trying to decide which is the best school in Bangalore for Lisa and somehow it seems to be Sophia Girls School. The only problem is that it's really quite a distance for Lisa to commute everyday. The second on the list is Bishop Cotton Girls school and it seems to me now that it's most likely that she will go there.
I submitted forms to Sacred Heart Girls early this week and I loved the campus very much. Old stone buildings, plenty of trees- lovely environment. What we are looking for Lisa is a place that does not concentrate on only academics but a more holistic approach to developement.
Many of them also told me about Baldwin Girls but it's really not on the top of my list atleast.

The White Tiger

I've been reading Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger and I must say I am impressed. It is hilarious, entertaining and outrageous. All about Balram Halwai's seven letters to the Chinese Premier, to educate him about the real India before his impending visit.
While many in India might be offended by Adiga's narration of the pathetic life in India, if looked through the eyes of the uneducated Balram Halwai, it is in fact the plain truth about the poor.
Everyone likes the world to know India as the emerging economic powerhouse, as long as the facts about the poor, the homeless and the uneducated are brushed away under the carpet.
Being brought up in Bangalore, I have seen how this place has grown from being a quiet paradise where the rich and famous were sparse, to a city bustling with people from all rungs of society, from every state, hoping for the "Bangalorean dream" to come true. Adiga is surely exposing the real India not just to the rest of the world but to some Indians who like to run away from the truth.

Lisa is 4!

Lisa turned 4 on Sept 3rd. Here are some pictures!

This was supposed to be a plain glossy chocolate cake with a big 4 written on it, but the baker let his imagination go wild!

Bicentennial Celebrations and more....

This weekend we were part of the bicentennial celebrations at St. Marks Cathedral, Bangalore. The Cathedral where we worship every Sunday also the Cathedral where we got married.
All of us were extremely tired but it was fun.

The webpage: www.saintmarks.in has some awesome pictures of the Mass Choir and Children's choir who performed at Bishop Cotton Boys School. Lisa is the tiniest of the lot.

Since I'm not going to bother with a new post, here is a picture of Lisa as Little Red Riding Hood for an even in school.

Zoomin

I've tried out this new (atleast to me) website called www.zoomin.com where you can upload your photos and place an order for prints to be delivered within India. Most of the other photo hosting sites take orders only for delivery to the US and so on. But this is simply great.
You can pay for it online and even select what kind of finish you need- glossy, matte or metallic (which is absolutely super). You can also select any size you want.
There is just one bug, which the developers promise to fix- if you happen to lose connectivity to the site or signout when you already have some items in the cart, then these items just vanish. So if you are placing an order, make sure you do it all at once. Don't wait to sign out and come back another day.