A stroll around my hood

If you read my post below this, you'll know I took a leisurely stroll around my area in search of a few things. 1) an ATM machine. I've still got plenty of rupees courtesy of my mom (it was my Christmas present) but they are in rather large denominations (500 and 1000 rupee notes) so wanted to see if the normal ATM gave out anything smaller. 2) a grocery store. The room comes with a complimentary large bottle of water that I have yet to drink so I have 3 at my disposal now and I managed to steal, take some of the bagged snacks they had at work but just like foreign McDonald's, foreign grocery stores are just as fun. 3) the aforementioned McDonald's.

I am living off 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar. I'm going to call it the Beverly Hills of Bangalore... minus the celebrities, nice cars, and overall cleanliness. Make a left out of my hotel, go down about a hundred yards, make another left, walk another 50 yards, and you're on 100 Feet road. On one side of the street is this little gem, a Guess store next to a what I'm pretty sure is a knockoff Apple Store.

Next to that is a bank with a broken ATM (not helpful) and right next to that is the staple of any high class area.

Of course the flavor that sounded the best to me, Pomegranate, was out so I got Green Apple instead.

Next to that is a ING branch with a working ATM (Whoop whoop!). ATM's in India are self contained in glass enclosures with a security guard watching over it. Only 1 person at at time can go in so when it was my turn, I panicked since there was a line behind me and I knew 1000 rupees wasn't enough so entered the next number that came to my mind. 10,000 rupees. That's $162.43 US if you're counting. That should last me for a LONG time. BUT, it came out in 500 rupee notes. DOH! 

To put into perspective how much 10,000 rupees is... The average PER CAPITA income in India is 5729 rupees a MONTH. 

So there I am, with a stack of bills an inch thick, trying to think of what I should do. The people outside can see I'm done at the machine. I didn't want to take off my backpack and try to stuff the wad of cash into a pocket risking dropping any. So I did what any moron would do, tried to hide it under my shirt. I'm sure that didn't look conspicuous. I left the safety of the ATM kiosk and walked out onto the street still not knowing what the hell I was going to do with this wad of cash. Eventually I just shoved it into my cargo pocket in my shorts and zipped it closed. Imagine a pocket stuffed full of kleenex. Then I continued on my merry way knowing I still had the grocery store and McDonald's to find. 

Continue down the road and you'll find another staple of American yuppieness, CPK. Followed by a KFC, Pizza Hut, Ray Ban Store, Oakley Store, Levi Store, Puma Store, the list goes on. 

If it wasn't for the terrible sidewalks, the incessant honking, eye-burning pollution, the male beggar wearing a dress accosting a street vendor for not giving him enough money, and the occasional cow in the way, I would think I was at Santana Row. There's even the customary British Expat bar around the corner.

I never found the damn grocery store despite using my GPS. It kept running me around in circles. so I gave up after about 30 minutes. But to close the afternoon, I spotted a car I'd never seen before while eating my green apple Pinkberry. 

That orange thing, my friends, is a Tata Nano. Also known as the "Cheapest Car in the World". The base model starts at $2689.16 US. No, I didn't leave out a zero. It's $2700 for a brand new car. 

I want one.