When travelling, obviously i find that different places appeal to me in various ways, but more than that, i always seem to get a thought in my head whenever i visit somewhere, especially if it is new to me. It is more than likely to be equivalent to one of these three:
1) I wish i could stay here longer, there is so much more to see and do; i need to come back here as soon as i can! Perhaps i could even find a way of staying for longer next time…
2) I enjoyed my time here and would recommend it as a place for someone to visit, but dont think I’ll feel the need to come back soon.
3) I didn’t like it here and dont see myself returning for a while.
Being as adaptable as I am means that the vast majority of places seem to fall in to the first category for me. A recent example is Shanghai. My time there was one of amazing discovery and i hope to continue it as soon as i can, perhaps even looking to live there for a few months to give me a better feel for it. Another is Berlin. Whenever i leave that city, i feel the need to go back and do more. It just has so much to offer, historically, culturally and creatively. Not all are big cities, such as the place that i am writing this from, but more on that in the next post.
The second category usually consists of small places. One that comes to mind is my trip to Hampi, which at two days i found gave us ample time to see the sights. Nothing is likely to change there in the near future and even though i enjoyed it very much, there are many more places to see on my neverending list before i return there. It appealed to me as a tourist, but being there longer would probably not suit me.
After a very long break, I’ve got some catching up to do on this blog! It’s been incredibly busy at work and I was fortunate enough to have a few visitors as well This also meant that in the last two months I’ve discovered more of India than before, not just geographically. It’s less than a week until I leave, so anything I don’t manage to get through now will have to wait for the flight or for the UK. So perhaps I should start from my amazing 16 day trip around the north of India which, after taking a rough estimate, looks like it was about 8000 km (5000 miles) long. Even without flights included the total is pretty impressive: 5100 km (3200 miles) in 14 days. And those only include distances travelled between cities, not within them. For those interested, here is a map of the major stops…
Last weekend we went on a trip to Tamil Nadu, a state that I had not yet been to and I have to admit that I really liked it. It was wet and very muddy, but that was expected considering we were mostly walking through tea plantations. The trip there also made me realise something that on the surface seems quite obvious. I have mostly had an opportunity to judge people within Bangalore or areas that are used to seeing tourists, such as Goa and Hampi. The people in such places are different to those in the countryside. Londoners always complain about how they hate other Londoners. Maybe to an extent the same is true for Bangaloreans? After all, we are just city dwellers interested in two things: money and ourselves. Read the rest of this entry »
Came across this while on the Indian Vodafone website. I have to say it made me chuckle. Wouldn’t you usually use a sporting personality by mentioning the sport they participate in? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that Lewis likes to have the odd innings between GPs and I know that India’s main sport is cricket, but even so it seems like a slight mismatch.
What next? David Beckham challenging you to a game of pool?
I’ve delayed writing this post, as it still seems so surreal to me that Michael Jackson has died. I’m sure it does to so many of his fans around the world.
Even now, his music sounds as fresh today as it did when it was created. He achieved what very few musicians have managed, creating revolutionary fusions of genres that might otherwise be seen as opposing each other. It was the kind of music that could not only appeal to anyone, but also introduce people to new genres. As a rap fan listening to Michael Jackson, you might find yourself enjoying the Van Halen guitar solo in “Beat It,” even though that wouldn’t usually be something you might choose to listen to. This was four years before Run DMC’s cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk this way”.
I have always said that if there was one person who I’d love to see live on stage, it would be him. With the announcements of the concerts in London, my dream (and that of many others) had finally come true. This would be something I was going to tell my children about.
I came across something yesterday that gave me goosebumps. It was a video of Michael Jackson rehearsing for the concerts in London. I still can’t convince myself that he has passed away. And I’m not the type of person to mourn a celebrity, but it’s the huge impact that his music has had on my life that I can’t let go of. It’s something that defines him as someone who I’m sure will remain in my memory forever.
It started with a number of very loud explosions, the smoke covering the road ahead. Then the music started and we could hear it getting closer.
Many in the office seemed as confused as me so we were looking out of the windows to see what it was. The procession moved slowly and just after this video finished, it stopped for a minute, only for the music to gain in volume and for many of the followers to start dancing. Initially, this seems very different to how a Christian funeral might look, but in fact, there are many common factors (shots, drums, flower covered coffin), except in the West only celebrities and soldiers seem to get this sort of sending off.
The battery in my two month old 5800 has recently been laughably poor. Initially I was getting around 3 days of use out of it. Now it’s down to about 20-24 hours. This means that I’ve basically been tied to my phone charger for the last few weeks. Now obviously a mobile phone is just a piece of technology. I understand that when making around 1 million handsets a day, there will be some with faults. That’s fine.
So of course I went to the Nokia Care centre and my first impressions were quite positive. The place felt almost like a doctor’s surgery, with the customer first having to take a number and then wait for their turn. So I patiently waited for about 10 minutes. That’s acceptable in my books, although the ladies behind the counters didn’t seem to be in any sort of hurry. I was called up and proceeded to explain my problem to one of the women, telling her that it was a phone purchased in the UK. She took it, looked at me blankly and typed the serial number in to her computer and told me the same thing I had just told her. Then she disappeared for a minute to talk to someone. On her return, I was informed that because it was purchased abroad, they don’t have permission to change the software. I replied that it might be worthwhile putting in another battery to check whether it’s the software in the first place or whether it’s a hardware issue. She just repeated the same thing, that they can’t do anything with the phone because it was not purchased in India. So I asked what they could do for me and got that wonderful, blank look of cluelessness from her again. This was followed by a smirk as if I was the idiot for thinking that she might be able to help me. I asked if I could get a new battery for it and was told that they didn’t stock accessories, so I would have to go to their shop. Fair enough, now we’re getting somewhere. So, I ask, is there some sort of receipt that you can give me to prove that I’ve been here and need a replacement? “Oh no sir, you’ll have to buy it”. Great.
So after purchasing a phone from the world’s biggest phone manufacturer and really wanting to fall back in love with the company that touts itself as “India’s most trusted brand”, I was left highly disappointed. Needless to say, Nokia will be hearing from me. Such a shame, as I was looking forward to the E72. Now they’ll really have to win me back. Incidentally, I popped in to a Nokia store on the way home to ask out of interest how much a new battery would cost. They didn’t have any in stock, or know the price for one. Bravo.
I didn’t post this previously, but now I thought that it might be interesting. For our trip to Goa, we decided to rent a minibus with driver for the weekend. The drive there was supposed to take 12 hours. We passed a sign to our destination (after 400km and 14 hours) that showed 94km to go. At this point we asked the driver how much longer it would take us. He replied with “Half an hour”. Needless to say, unless he had a secret barrel of nitrous oxide in the boot, we couldn’t take his promise seriously. After getting lost a few times we eventually got there in 18 hours. Read the rest of this entry »
Something that you immediately get told by friends when you announce that you’re off to India is “ooooh, well you won’t be having any beef then”.
Not only is it untrue, beef seems to be the cheapest meat here, which is great for people like me. I have to point out that I am in southern India, and peoples’ stances on the subject of different meats varies around the country, as it does on most other subjects. Luckily for me, I’ve come to discover that it is possible to buy meat and the prices are very reasonable. A solid piece of beef (no bone) costs just Rs.120/kg.
One thing that I didn’t expect is how people here look at pork. Even those who eat beef usually wouldn’t touch pork, the reason being that pigs are considered to be extremely dirty animals. A friend told me that even when she was abroad, feasting on beef burgers constantly, she couldn’t bring herself to eat pork. A real surprise then, that where I buy my meat, pork is more expensive than beef, at Rs.160/kg. Also, the cuts aren’t as nice, with much more fat.
Finally, I thought I would come to something that I’ve found really interesting comparing between the China, India and the UK. Whereas in China it’s quite easy to find and consume dog, in the UK and India this is not the case. Now in Europe most people couldn’t imagine eating dog. It’s man’s best friend after all. In India it’s also the case that no one would eat dog, but for a totally different reason. It’s considered to be a dirty and disgusting animal, just like the pig. Now it’s interesting that in both cultures, we absolutely seem to rule out any possibility of eating dog, but our reasons are totally polarised.
This is clearly due to the status that dogs have in society and the role they play in everyday life. In Europe, dogs are usually kept as pets that we love and take care of. People come home from work waiting to see their dog. Here, 99% of dogs are strays. There are so many that it’s unsurprising they are often seen as a nuisance. Due to the way they live, many walk around with open wounds, eating out of rubbish heaps.
Before I came here, I thought that nearly every dog would have rabies and be barking crazily at me. The truth is, these dogs are usually so scared of humans that they wouldn’t even bark at you. Here, they are more used to being kicked by people than stroked by them. For me, as someone who has always loved dogs, this is very difficult to look at. I get strange looks from people when I stroke stray dogs, but sometimes you really can’t help yourself.
As a designer, I understand the unavoidability of built-in obsolescence in today’s world. With most objects we don’t even seem to notice or mind. We accept that a television will most likely have to be replaced well within 10 years of purchase and even if it doesn’t have to be, we will probably choose to buy a newer, flashier model anyway.
Technology progresses so quickly that in many cases we as consumers are the ones who make certain purchases even though they may not be totally necessary, such as a new mobile phone or music player. That is fine. However, what really hit me today is a certain product that a lot of people have to replace far too often. I’m talking about headphones.
Don’t you just hate it when you turn on your mp3 player and one of the earphones makes a few faint crackling sounds and then dies? Or when it stops and starts working with every step you take, giving you false hope that it might still come back to life? Of course you can say that buying more expensive gear will solve this problem. To a certain extent this is true, but for headphones, peoples’ budgets vary from $10 to $1000, which is a much larger price range than for something like even a music player itself. Firstly, this leaves potential for a huge quality difference and secondly it makes it more difficult to define what ‘cheap’ and ‘expensive’ might be. But that’s no excuse to allow a product to break quickly. Does a mobile phone purchased for $30 break after a few months, while one worth $300 outlasts it? Of course not. In fact, the cheaper one often outlasts its more fragile, gadget packed cousin.
With headphones however, you can still read of many customers who have purchased some for over $50 only to find them unusable in a few weeks. Why is it that the Nokia charger that was purchased for my 5110 mobile around 9 years ago still works perfectly while my Sony MDR-EX082 headphones gave up today after only a year of use (btw, the little extension cable they came with died over 6 months ago). Many games console controllers seem to work fine now even after almost two decades. All of these products have to face up to many similar stresses. The cord is pulled suddenly and very hard on many occasions (who hasn’t yanked a pad through frustration and pulled the console down with it or pulled a charger out of the socket just by the cable?) It also gets wrapped around itself in all directions, but these products don’t give up as easily as headphones. They are often designed with thicker and better quality cables and what is most important, the strain relief seems to be more effective.
I have to say that most headphones that I seem to come across within a normal budget seem to have these problems in common. There are many that compare very well with more expensive ones on sound quality, but not on durability. If only manufacturers used slightly better strain relief on these, they might make many people very happy. Instead, if you purchase a pair of headphones that quickly breaks, the result is not that you go back to buy another one from them, but that you buy from the competition. The only two budget pairs that I’ve bought in the last five years and don’t feel like complaining about are the Philips SHE9500 and JVC Marshmallows. Both give very nice sound quality at a reasonable price and crucially, both lasted long enough that I didn’t have cause to feel cheated.
I’m now definitely going to go for an option with a cloth cord, as these seem like a much better solution to me. They also won’t tangle as much, which in itself might help them live longer. The Nixon range seems to be popular so they’re going on my shortlist. However, being in India means obtaining certain items isn’t as easy as back in Europe, so I think my purchase will have to wait. For now, I’ll probably go through another budget pair, or five, before I return.
PS- Who was the genius behind making the cable for the right bud on the MDR-EX082s much longer, yet slightly thinner than that for the left bud? Seriously, to go out of your way to make it worse… ridiculous.
This also meant that in the last two months I’ve discovered more of India than before, not just geographically. It’s less than a week until I leave, so anything I don’t manage to get through now will have to wait for the flight or for the UK. So perhaps I should start from my amazing 16 day trip around the north of India which, after taking a rough estimate, looks like it was about 8000 km (5000 miles) long. Even without flights included the total is pretty impressive: 5100 km (3200 miles) in 14 days. And those only include distances travelled between cities, not within them. For those interested, here is a map of the major stops…
Technology progresses so quickly that in many cases we as consumers are the ones who make certain purchases even though they may not be totally necessary, such as a new mobile phone or music player. That is fine. However, what really hit me today is a certain product that a lot of people have to replace far too often. I’m talking about headphones.
