KBR Park, laundry, biking and Lavanya

This morning I pedaled over to KBR park after breakfast to explore. I discovered that the park isn't bike-friendly; there are speed bumps (aka speed breakers) just about every 10 meters or so in most places. I nonetheless bumped along for a while to see what I could.

KRB Park is big. I knew that from driving around it so often (all routes between central Hyderabad and HiTech City pass the park on either the north or south side), but there's nothing like being in it to drive that home. Here are a few pictures from the ride.

This one has some barely-visible birds in it; they were a long way off, so whatever they were, they were big.

On my way home I took a slight detour to explore a path that one of the Hertz drivers used to get from Road #1 to my house; it goes past a "secured area" (the head minister of Andhra Pradesh?), and I was turned back politely but firmly. As I left, I spotted this sign, which is of a type common in Hyderabad: the mixed message.



Once I got home, I turned my attentions to the shiny new front-loading washer that arrived this week, and did two loads of laundry. I learned a lesson - the first time I wash anything I buy here in India, I should probably be very careful about colors and expect bleeding.



I mixed my pretty bedspread with some (formerly...) white t-shirts and underwear - ooops.

Once the laundry was done (or at least hanging up to dry) I got back on the bike and rode over to Pedaller's Point (the shop where I bought the bike) and dropped it off for some adjustments (the handle bars loosened up, and the gears were a little flaky). Anil met me there in his car and drove us back to his apartment, where Anu served us lunch. We then settled in to watch Syrianna, which I brought from the US on DVD.

This turned out not to be a big success; Anil has to struggle a bit to keep up with movie dialog in English. We eventually gave up; he'll watch it at his leisure and then we'll talk about it. Anil took me back to the bike shop; I picked up my bike and rode home, via FabIndia (where I got a few more kurtas).

On the way, I passed these critters and pulled over to snap their picture. Unfortunately they were really moving, and by the time I got the camera out they were pretty far away. I had to blow this up to the point of blur for you to see them. Yes, that's a couple of camels over there to the left...



Once home I took a quick shower and then walked/richshawed to Chutneys to meet Lavanya (Haranadh's wife) for dinner. This was thoroughly delightful; thank you, Lavanya, and thank you, Haranadh, for getting us in touch! It's interesting that H. and L. are going through the same kind of transition I am, but in reverse. H. is having his own troubles adjusting to the U.S., and they partially mirror mine - transportation (he has to get a U.S. license before he can drive), food (like me, he's mostly eating out), friends. We'll have to meet sometime and compare notes.