Charles and I are now living in an apartment here in Bangalore which we like to call "The Marble Palace." We went through a leasing agent and quickly realized that anything that reminded us of our house in Minnie was simply not to be found in central Bangalore (you know; energy efficient, modern, reasonably sized for 2 people). This place is a monstrosity! It's so big it's vulgar, obscene even when you consider how the vast majority of Indians live. We live in a 3,800 square foot luxury flat in a building that houses 6 flats, including the 2 story penthouse for the Managing Director of Toyota India. You could fit two of our townhomes in here. We have 3 bedrooms all with a connecting full bathrooms and terraces, an office, a formal living room, informal living room (the jump-rope room), full terrace off the back connecting the living rooms, foyer, powder room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, and maid's quarters with bathroom. And it's covered in cream marble! I called the informal living room my jump-rope-room because for 2 weeks that's all that was in it. The first week we were in the flat we were so desperate to be out of the hotel that we made due with our kitchen equipment, computer desk, and two beds. That's it. We waited 5 days for the kitchen table and chairs, and an additional week for our sofa and chairs. It was like camping! It's a good thing Charles and I are easy going. Now that we're back from our trip home for the holidays, we're settled in and have what we need. To make it more livable we've closed off the office and put the computer desk in the informal living room, and try to forget about the third bedroom since it's just used for linen storage in one of the floor to ceiling built-ins. We've got the basics as far as furniture, but it's still quite bare. We negotiated a stipend from the owners of the flat for furniture and appliances that will stay here when we leave(then they can rent it as furnished next go round), and we've been hard-pressed to make many purchases of our own since we'll be here such a short amount of time. We're not really "stuff-people" so it's unnecessary to buy a lot of crap to ship home to our already furnished house. I do want some handmade silk table runners and placemats though. So, nothing on the wall, no rugs, and Charles has to make his overseas calls in the bedroom so the bed absorbs the echo! The day that the "100% dryer" arrived, I had to be cultural liaison and give a lesson to both the leasing agent and her "boy" as to why I would need it and how it works. Tina said that it must be an American luxury because her housekeeper still cleans her clothes by beating them on a rock in a stream near her house, then the clothes are hung to dry! That's been a joke too, American and Indian luxuries. I think servants are a luxury, and Tina thinks they are a necessity. Tina has 3 full time servants and couldn't live without them. Life experiences, I guess.
Check out Facebook for all my pics of the flat.
That reminds me, Kavitha is here today. I hired a housekeeper because of peer pressure and a sense of community service or charity. ALL the expat ladies, and Charles co-workers, and Tina couldn't believe I didn't have a housekeeper lined up. Tina was in such disbelief that she went out and found one for me. Kavitha works Monday-Saturday mornings/afternoons in 2 of the other flats in the building, and Wednesday from 1-5 (usually) for us. Ours is the only arrangement I've heard of that isn't 5 or 6 days a week. I simply don't need that much help, and this way people stay off my back about having someone! Some of my girlfriends say that they make as much of a mess as they can so that their housekeeper doesn't complain that she's bored during her 4 hour shift. (Why do we do this? Why have we all separately and collectively agreed to have these housekeepers we don't need? I know "it's a living," and these women can support a family on what they make, but are we so lazy? I tell myself it's for Kavitha, not really for me. It's the same reason that Bangalore hires thousands of people to sweep the streets every morning instead of buying an automated street-sweeper; it's a job. What else would those people do? I guess that's another topic for later. Suffice to say, the profusion of manual labor is a huge cultural difference, and I'm not used to it.) Kavitha does what I hate doing; cleaning the floors, bathrooms, and ironing. That takes her the 4 hours she's here. I CAN'T BELIEVE how much DIRT makes its way into this place!!! Daily, I wash my feet as often as I wash my hands. It's interesting because Indian clean is absolutely not the same as American and Kim clean. No way. But Kavitha does as best she can in the war against dust, pollution, and hard water stains. Just as with Deepak, Kavitha is kind of weirded-out by our casual ways. She doesn't have much to say to me and is uncomfortable when I small talk. Today, for example, I saw her on the street when I was walking home from the grocery store and we walked to the flat together. I asked her about her weekend, and she asked me if she could carry my bags. I know she understood my question, but she's not a big talker. Her English is ok, not great, so maybe she just didn't have the words to explain what she did this weekend. Oh man, or she doesn't really get a weekend. Cleaning 6 days a week, and then 1 day home with the family probably doesn't leave a lot of time for leisure activities. It's also another cultural difference; I don't know any better. I try and talk to her, but it's ME that's being weird.
For her 4 hours here, I'll pay her the going rate. She'll leave today with 220 INR. That's $5.
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