Fireworks in Dubai!

Check out this awesome fireworks display from the recent opening of the world's tallest building (for now).

ootunes is slick!

Last week, with Christmas around the corner, we missed good ol' KOIT from the Bay area. They are on the web but I wondered if there was a better way to listen. A little time on Google and I found ooTunes for the iPhone! This app will let you listen to internet radio streams on your iPhone.
The reviews were so overwhelmingly positive, that I wondered if something was fishy. Anyway I bit the bait and bought the $5 app and I can report that it works great. Every single station I wanted to listen to was already in the ooTunes db. So now with just a few taps I can listen to CapitalFM (from London), the BBC World service, KOIT or KFOG anytime.

Gotta love the age we live in :)

Woohoo! Avocados!

Avocado in Bangalore
Originally uploaded by Jillako

Never been happier to see Avocados. Over the last many years Avocados have become an integral part of our diet. It was one of the foods that we thought we'll have to live without when in Bangalore.
Little did we know that Avocados are widely available all over the place by the name of "butter fruit". After some initial confusion, I purchased one hoping that butter fruit = avocado. Sure enough, it is 100% avocado!
They're huge, even bigger than the ones in Costco, must be a local variety of some sort. The pit (seed) is huge too.
Alright, I'm off to make myself an avocado cucumber sandwich!

Clothes dryer vs. Maid

We're getting our new home ready for occupation and here's an interesting dilemma - There are hardly any clothes dryers available here. Our landlord who left his clothes washer behind didn't use a dryer (just like everyone else). So how do folks dry their clothes? They hang it out to dry of course. This is fine for families with one working member and another taking care of the household chores during the day but for a family such as ours with both adults working, we'll need a maid to operate the clothes washer since it will have to be done during the day. We hadn't thought of a maid as a necessity for our home just yet but we'll have to make the definitive call soon.

The economics go like this - a dryer costs about Rs. 17000 to purchase, plus you need the space. If you were to employ a maid, you would (from what I've learned) pay the person an extra Rs. 300 a month to run the washer and put your clothes out to dry. Factoring in the small size of the washing machine we have at home, washing is going to be a daily chore and if we were to use a dryer, we'll likely pay that Rs. 300 to the Electricity Board anyway, so why not just add another task for that ubiquitous maid?

The one (big) plus to having a dryer is that you can run multiple loads the same day when required without having to worry about running out of clothesline. Decisions, decisions! Hmm..

A new beginning

Things have been busy of late and I've neglected the blog. I hope to start posting regularly soon though, now that the kids have settled in their daycare/preschool schedules.
We have moved back to India for the next few years. The opportunity came along and we've taken it. Bangalore is our new home. We've been here two weeks and some days already, slowly settling in.
We're looking at India in a new light, not as visitors but as residents and that too in a new city. Things are going along reasonably well, I'll have more details in future posts.

Ozzies Slummin' it in Delhi

And they are really slumming!
Titled A real riches to rags story, this piece was published in February but I just came across it.
13 years!! It's hard for me to imagine the motivation to stay, but to each their own I guess.

Clean Water for the World (Matt Damon)

If you're in the US, you can help by signing this petition.