The Robertson House

So I still have to introduce you to my house...

I managed to get a bed in the Robertson house almost a month after I arrived in India. The house itself is overpopulated, has just one good working shower (for 13 persons), is poorly ventilated, has a dirty kitchen, toilets and is not well maintained. On top of that theft happens on a regular basis; especially lot’s of food and drinks from our kitchen disappears during the day, while we are at work. Anyway, for this we introduced a quick ‘n dirty solution; the picture below should say enough…

Actually we told our house guard (our nr 1 suspect) only after he probably finished a bottle of Fanta about its “special” content. You should have seen his face… Priceless!! After this he moved out from the house...

Although the place itself seems far from perfect, I wouldn’t like to move somewhere else, as in some way the house has its own unique atmosphere. The inhabitants (let’s call them Robertsonites (thanks Daniel.. ) are all from different places in the world, i.e. Germany, US, Canada, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, China, France, Mexico and Sweden, which results in an interesting mix of cultures, tastes, languages, opinions, music and food. There is no way you will be bored while living there… There is always something going on. That can be anything; from a cocktail party, or a paintball competition (no, not in the house itself) to a traffic accident (Poor Cesar is still recovering from it…).

Our house even made the press: click!

This video is a bit outdated, as most of the Robertsonites already left the house and the country, but still gives you a good impression of the place.

Of course I also have been traveling around last weekend. We visited Coorg, known as the Scotland of the Indian subcontinent. Just after 6 hours of traveling by bus from Bangalore, we arrived in a completely different India. The landscape was dominated by large mountains, luscious green and clean air. No traffic, fumes, noises, Riksha’s, or any other big city annoyances. The first day we decided to climb the 1900 meter high peak, which was quite exhausting but certainly worth it.

Also the area is known for its coffee plantations. The owner of our cottage explained me the differences between the Robusta plants and Arabica plants, which both grew in his garden.

Arabica plants have larger beans but the leaves of the plant are smaller, while Robusta beans are smaller and the plants have bigger leaves. Also, the berry of the Arabica plant is a bit sweeter. Anyway, the distinctive aroma of coffee will only appear after the beans have been roasted.

The following day we did some elephant riding and visited the largest Tibetian settlement outside Tibet. It basically was a small village with lots of Buddhists, prayer flags and an impressive temple. The place was very touristy but had a nice and friendly atmosphere due to the (Tibetan) monks. After this we took the bus back to Bangalore.

(Thanks Meike and Felix for the pictures)

A nice weekend it was.