Well another week has passed by very quickly and so I thought I should post again.... now, what to write about?? The week has consisted of work work and more work, which I don't like to talk about on here for obvious reasons and so the only thing I can talk of is the drive to and from work, which is slowly but surely increasing my baseline blood pressure by 2mmHg per day....
Now for those of you that have never been to India, I will give you some background. In my 30 years of being on this planet I have travelled to a number of places that would not be classed as "first world' or "western"....... however, I have NEVER encountered the sheer ridiculousness that awaits us on the streets of Bangalore.
So this week Simone has started doing a few more cases which are running later into the evening. This means that I finish at 4pm, drive home from work and then go back to collect him at an unspecified time, as unfortunately, you can't always put an exact time on how long it takes to save someones life ;)
Now the journey to work is only 3km..... and I dread having to drive it every single time.. WHY?
* There are absolutely NO rules on the roads of India (or at least, none that are followed)
* I have almost killed about 20 people in a week- some by accident and some not
* When an Indian person approaches a junction, they DO NOT STOP and DO NOT even LOOK to see if there is something coming. As a result of this you have to expect people to just pull out in front of you, and it is S O A N N O Y I N G..... I am used to it now though, so I drive with the 'expect the unexpected' mentality, however this only came about after a very close encounter with a two wheeler that pulled out approx 4metres in front of me as I was travelling at 40kph
* There are hundreds of people walking in the road.
* Beeping is incessant
* The term 'road' needs to be used very loosely..... There are bumps and pot holes (and when I say pot holes- you would be better to imagine craters) for the whole journey
* The cows
Ok, so now you have an idea of how it is to drive the the hospital......... Close your eyes...... picture the drive... and then MULTIPLY IT by a thousand, because most of the time I do it.... It is in the dark. And when I say 'dark' in India, I don't mean like when it is dark in the UK and there are shops lit up and street lights lighting up the path for you..... oh no no no.... I mean it is PITCH BLACK.....And all the other muppets that drive here in India either drive with their FULL BEAMS on which completely blinds you OR without any lights, ensuring that the horrendous journey of people... pot holes... bumps.... beeping... cars pulling out in front of you.... is made a thousand times worse, because now you are also temporarily blinded.
I always start off the journey so positively, and about 400metres in I am ready to put my foot down, and run over all of the fuckers that are getting in my way...... Whilst screaming "you f*cKing idiot get out of the road" "what the f*ck ar you looking at?" "you stupid tw*t"....... oh if only they could understand me..
Mental note to self... Do not want to end up in an Indian prison for homicide. M U S T C A L M
D O W N...... yep, it has been well and truly proven, I am definitely a Quinn.
On a lighter note, we now have our documents from the visa office.... hooooooooooorrrrraaaahhhhhh..... So, if I do end up rotting in an Indian prison then I am at least in the country legally :)
When Simone and I first arrived here we were always laughing at the amount of people or 'things' we have seen on a two wheeler.... And so we started compiling a list of 'what have we seen on a two wheeler today'. Many of you will know as you will have seen in other countries that they put very slamm children on two wheelers in these countries, and it never ceases to amaze me when you see a child who is no older that 12 months holding on to the handle bars of a moped. I think the most people we have seen on one bike was 5 people... a 3 adults and 2 children. So what is all this about needing a 'family car'????? Total bloody shite I say, just get a moped.
We have seen some strange things on them including....
* A hedge trimmer
* A fridge (yes a fridge)
* Microwaves (yes, that is plural, and one actually fell off right at our feet)
Oh I could go on and on.......... However, I will leave you with one photograph that we managed to take, which I think pretty much sums it up...........
Now for those of you that have never been to India, I will give you some background. In my 30 years of being on this planet I have travelled to a number of places that would not be classed as "first world' or "western"....... however, I have NEVER encountered the sheer ridiculousness that awaits us on the streets of Bangalore.
So this week Simone has started doing a few more cases which are running later into the evening. This means that I finish at 4pm, drive home from work and then go back to collect him at an unspecified time, as unfortunately, you can't always put an exact time on how long it takes to save someones life ;)
Now the journey to work is only 3km..... and I dread having to drive it every single time.. WHY?
* There are absolutely NO rules on the roads of India (or at least, none that are followed)
* I have almost killed about 20 people in a week- some by accident and some not
* When an Indian person approaches a junction, they DO NOT STOP and DO NOT even LOOK to see if there is something coming. As a result of this you have to expect people to just pull out in front of you, and it is S O A N N O Y I N G..... I am used to it now though, so I drive with the 'expect the unexpected' mentality, however this only came about after a very close encounter with a two wheeler that pulled out approx 4metres in front of me as I was travelling at 40kph
* There are hundreds of people walking in the road.
* Beeping is incessant
* The term 'road' needs to be used very loosely..... There are bumps and pot holes (and when I say pot holes- you would be better to imagine craters) for the whole journey
* The cows
Ok, so now you have an idea of how it is to drive the the hospital......... Close your eyes...... picture the drive... and then MULTIPLY IT by a thousand, because most of the time I do it.... It is in the dark. And when I say 'dark' in India, I don't mean like when it is dark in the UK and there are shops lit up and street lights lighting up the path for you..... oh no no no.... I mean it is PITCH BLACK.....And all the other muppets that drive here in India either drive with their FULL BEAMS on which completely blinds you OR without any lights, ensuring that the horrendous journey of people... pot holes... bumps.... beeping... cars pulling out in front of you.... is made a thousand times worse, because now you are also temporarily blinded.
I always start off the journey so positively, and about 400metres in I am ready to put my foot down, and run over all of the fuckers that are getting in my way...... Whilst screaming "you f*cKing idiot get out of the road" "what the f*ck ar you looking at?" "you stupid tw*t"....... oh if only they could understand me..
Mental note to self... Do not want to end up in an Indian prison for homicide. M U S T C A L M
D O W N...... yep, it has been well and truly proven, I am definitely a Quinn.
On a lighter note, we now have our documents from the visa office.... hooooooooooorrrrraaaahhhhhh..... So, if I do end up rotting in an Indian prison then I am at least in the country legally :)
When Simone and I first arrived here we were always laughing at the amount of people or 'things' we have seen on a two wheeler.... And so we started compiling a list of 'what have we seen on a two wheeler today'. Many of you will know as you will have seen in other countries that they put very slamm children on two wheelers in these countries, and it never ceases to amaze me when you see a child who is no older that 12 months holding on to the handle bars of a moped. I think the most people we have seen on one bike was 5 people... a 3 adults and 2 children. So what is all this about needing a 'family car'????? Total bloody shite I say, just get a moped.
We have seen some strange things on them including....
* A hedge trimmer
* A fridge (yes a fridge)
* Microwaves (yes, that is plural, and one actually fell off right at our feet)
Oh I could go on and on.......... However, I will leave you with one photograph that we managed to take, which I think pretty much sums it up...........
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