Wednesday 30 March, 2011

A random day in Ahmedabad - in 96 pictures!

I got used to so many things that are actually different to Europe, I stopped wondering about most of them. But maybe you guys back home would find it interesting to see what I come across every day. I decided to photodocument one day. I clicked more or less randomly what I saw to give you an impression of how life in Ahmedabad and at NID is.

So, shall we begin?
First thing in the morning: Shower! Because it is fucking hot! I wake up and I am already sweating... It gets better with Palmolive, Indian walnut shampoo and herbal hair conditioner.














 Then: brushing my teeth. Shuchi (who is here with Priya to work with PJ on their company) and Robert sneak in. Good mooorning!
Getting a rickshaw to school because we are late... we have to be in time for breakfast!
We come across our kind-of-busy neighbours... ;-)

...and some other things on our way to NID: The temple next to our house...

 ...an old lady in the slums rocking a child in a hammock...
...and of course the rickshaw driver!

After arriving at middle gate we walk through the hostel area and then take the stairs to the mess in NID.

Getting some fried eggs for breakfast. You can get EVERY sort of eggs you want. From half fried (only one side), over full fried (both sides), omelette, masala fried eggs (with a lot of Indian spices and onions), fried boiled eggs (yes, indeed!), fried boiled egg white (crazy!), to French toast. Everything you can have with tomatoes, onions and spices, if you want to (and if the chief understands you). There is also "bread ugma", toast pieces fried with chillie, spices, tomatoes, ketchup and koriander. Yummy!

My regular breakfast: Full fried egg with tomatoes on toast, cornflakes with warm milk and a big cup of chai!
Sometimes the chief starts making my fried egg when he sees me :D I love it!
Weird flatmate...

...tired flatmate...

...and Nona and Frank, some Germans from Hannover :)
Another view of the mess.

And fans under the ceiling. You get fans in every building and even outside under simple sun protectors, but you really need them! It is incredibly warm!


 On my way to the studio. This lady is taking a rest....
 ...opposite to the hostel store, where we buy some water. I drink approximately 4 liters a day.
 The way through boy's hostel area
This is so called pidgin park.



Why is it called like that?
That's why!

For the pidgeons' defence I have to admit that most of the poo comes from a million migratory birds. It is sooo dangerous crossing the park in the evenings! You can hear the poo dripping on the ground around you - it is so disgusting! You can only pray that you don't get hit.

NID campus building and Eames Plaza (that's the name of the park). First floor is IT centre and library, second floor is studios (this is where I work).
 Walking into the central campus area....
 ...up the stairs to the 2nd floor...
 ...into product design studio...
 ...where Daniel, Robert and I have our workspace!
 Frank is coming around for a little chat. Many windows here don't have glass, so you can just climb outside to the balkony. Not having glass windows is also a nice addition to the fans.
 Lunchtime! We walk back out of the studio...
...and on the way Robert is filling up his bottle with chilled water. 
 The way to textile studio. The tree on the left side of the picture is the one you could see seven pics before.
 Taking the stairs to the area between the workshops and main gate...
 ...to the so called "BMW", where you can pick up some snacks like fried rice, egg Maggi (yes, they serve instant noodles, plain or with scrambled egg or vegetables), chicken masala or veg pakoda, chai tea...
 ...and some nice cold drinks!
After food: washing hands! I love this tub and the concrete basin next to the tree!
 What about some dessert? Walking towards main gate, where the busses to Gandhinagar are parking,...
 ...we meet Anna from Norway, who is studying at Konstfack in Sweden and thinks that this weather is defenitely TOO WARM! It's like everyday sauna! (FYI: we have around 44° - in the shade...)
 To my right there is the furniture design area.


Out of main gate, where you can see Lalu, the nicest chai walla in the world (guy who serves chai tea and plays some rubber ball game with the students). 

The view from the gate.












 We turn left and pass the rickshaw drivers, who are waiting for customers.
There is a new graffity on the wall!

 The crossing. Some guy is carrying leaves from the Neem tree on a rycle cart.
We reach our destination, the bakery shop, where you get...

 ...ice buns! It is a milkbun, which they fill with icecream in front of you! So simple, sooo yummy!












 This is the view on the street from the bakery.
 No comments^^ On our way back.
 Passing the shadow installation between textile, automotive and product design studios.
Ok, it is super warm, I am feeling tired and I have a headache! I wanna go home, so i grab the scooter and leave NID at the middle gate (in the background of the picture). In front of it there is one of Ahmedabad's many cows :) I love them!
 Parking the scooter under our house....
 ...and walking up to the third floor. I enter the door (not in the pic)...
 ...and take a nap in the slightly chaotic living room. My room is too warm at daytime to sleep there.
Back to NID! Some guy is watering the plants in pidgin park.
Old canteen and IT centre in the 1st floor.













On my way to the tree, where I want to meet Robert, I get a private photo session with one of the many peacocks that are living around NID.
We want to pick up some booze and I want to buy a saree, so we leave towards main gate, passing the every day afternoon rubber-ball-game...thing. I don't know what it is called.
Taking a rickshaw to Inder Residency, where the liquor shop is located.
On the way to...
...Paldi crossing.
A petrol station. I am not sure if the umbrellas really help against the sun^^
Some houses...
...of different kinds.
The street in front of Inder Residency is always very crowded.
Back again! :D The liquor shop!
We decided to walk to the Kadhi shop, it is only 10 minutes and you see so much more compared to taking a rickshaw. For example this very fat dog.
When we got here I was wondering about the difference between sleeping and dead dogs. By the time I got to know it - it is the dark red puddle around the dead dog.
Some people are drying their clothes at the roadside...
...or selling watermelons! Yummy!
Beggars.













 The monkey's colours fit in so well, it could actually be a concrete sculpture :D
 Finally we reach the Kadhi shop! (Yes, this is a proper and even a bit expensive shop, although it doesn't look like it from the outside^^)
Afterwards we decide to have a coffee at Café Coffee Day, and shop for some bedsheets and sarees at National Handloom. So we take a rick direction Swastik char rasta (which means crossing), on CG road.
People being carried on trucks or other vehicles is something very normal in India. In Darjeeling school kids would stand on the back of jeeps to get a ride home, and even we travelled from Mandvi to Bhuj on the roof top of a bus :D
 Roadside shops at Law Garden.
 COFFEEEE! :D
 In front of National Handloom^^ Robert took this pic while I was storing my bag at the entrance area, and the guy who took care of my bag was staring at the camera all the time! He probably didn't understand what should be so interesting to be worth being clicked.
 Holi (the colour festival) preparations start around the city! Do you want to buy a water gun which is shaped like an elephant?
 Buying a skirt to wear under my sarees.
Outside of the shop you can get pan! Doesn't this look amazing?
 Look what we bought!!! We filled them with water and shot some dogs and cars out of the rickshaw^^
Taking the rick home. At that time of the year in India the sun goes down around 7pm in the evening.
After a nice water fight with Daniel and Robert, Dannie and I go for dinner at the mess. This is what our street looks like at night. Parked rickshaws and many dogs, which start chasing you when it gets late.
NID hostel area from outside...
 ...and middle gate. At the left border of the pic there is the gate, between the guard's house and the big white building you reach the main campus via pidgin park and from where I took the picture you reach the hostel area.
 Student's shop and stairs to the mess in the background.
 Getting some food...
 ...which looked like that. Rice, some dal, coconut chutney, salad with yoghurt (which is called "curd" in India), sweet rice cake and roti! There was more choice but I didn't feel like eating it.
 Paying dinner on our way out. Breakfast is 25Rs, lunch and dinner 35Rs (which is around 0,40 and 0,60 Euro^^ Food outside is usually more pricey, the range goes from 30Rs for a thali set at dabba for example, to 300Rs for lunch at a nice Italian restaurant, and even more expensive depending on where you go).
 Pidgin park at night...
 ...and the studio. I prefer working in the mornings and evenings / nights, at noon it is just too warm to think! My brain fells like jelly most of the day...
 The balkony next to my window with Eames Plaza below.
Daniel calls and tells Robert and me to come home to celebrate our friends' newborn company, so we get on the scooter and try to find some shop that would still sell some cold drinks (which is not that easy at 11pm).
This pan shop is still open and sells soft drinks! Yay! Thums up is an Indian coke brand, which, of course, belongs to Coca Cola. And yes, the "b" is missing.










 ...storing stuff in the scooter and there we go...
 ...towards Paldi char rasta...
 ...and our neighbourhood...
 ...untill we are home.
This is our guard sleeping.
 First thing at home: Waterfight! :D The boys discovered our water guns!
 And who cares getting wet at 36°C in the late evening?

















  Let the fun begin^^

Cheers to the company! What a nice day :D

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