David Kotz

Kids’ school: CISB

Andy and I took a trip out to the kids’ school.

Andy and I took a taxi out to the Canadian International School, where John, Mara, and Andy will soon start school. This school is a 45-60 minute drive from IISc, out the highway toward the airport. A small sign marks the turn off the highway. First, you get onto a parallel access road, though; unfortunately, our driver tried to short-cut across the dirt median and whump! one wheel landed in a freshly dug hole. Fortunately, a passing motorcycle stopped to help immediately. The two gents on the cycle (and most motorcycles seem to have two riders) jumped off, and lifted and pushed until our taxi was back on the road. I was impressed at how willing they were to help.

A dirt road leads to CIS. It passes some farm fields, and some ramshackle huts made of sticks, plastic tarps, and corrugated metal. Once you pass through the security gate to CIS, however, you find a brand-new school facility, spacious and well-appointed, with surrounding playing fields and a swimming pool. The contrast between the poverty of the shacks and the wealthy school is stunning.

Andy was interested in the natural world, however. The road passes banana fields, with ripening bananas – a new sight for him – and mountainous anthills taller than Andy. In the middle of the road lay a cow, with just enough room for us to go around it.

Next week we all return to CIS for orientation day. After that the kids will take the bus to and from school, hopefully from right at the edge of campus.

This post was transferred from MobileMe to WordPress in 2020, with an effort to retain the content as close to the original as possible; I recognize that some comments may now seem dated or some links may now be broken.

First day

Our first day was focused on key logistics; checking our apartment and doing some basic shopping.

After resting in the hotel for the night we had breakfast at the hotel. The kids were faced with their first meal in India, a traditional breakfast with idlees and sambar and other treats. Andy and John tasted everything but Mara mostly nibbled at the corn flakes. I thought it was good, though I’ve had better. (Our hotel, the Woodlands, is 2-stars and leaves a lot to be desired.)

Everyone was buzzing with excitement because today India won its first-ever Gold medal in the Olympics, in the shooting competition. It was headline news in all the papers.

We met up with our Fulbright-provided facilitator. Professor M.K. Sridhar at National College (Bangalore) is a former Fulbright Scholar himself. (He visited U. South Carolina in 2000, I think, to teach sanskrit.) He has been extremely helpful, explaining how things work and taking us around the city as needed. On this day we visited our apartment at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). I am extremely grateful to the IISc-ECE staff who have been helping to coordinate our housing on campus, and working with the housing staff to clean, repaint, and improve our apartment.

Later, we went to M.G. Road, the busy upscale shopping strip. Although touristy and somewhat expensive, one can find most things here. We bought sheets and towels from a Bombay Dyeing outlet, nice quality at a reasonable price.

After my visit to the cellphone store I walked back to the hotel in a drizzle, after dark. [Here in the tropics and in this part of the timezone it gets dark at about 6:30.] The streets were busy with a meleé of honking “autos” (three-wheeled motorized rickshaws), cars, and pedestrians trying to weave through the traffic. The sidewalks were packed with people, many who stop at little hole-in-the-wall (literally) shops that sell all manner of cooked food for a few rupees. It’s hard to describe the powerful blend of noises and smells that come from the traffic, people, and cooking. Exciting, overwhelming, interesting, stimulating, all at once.

First impressions

I am spending the 2008-09 academic year at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, India.

I am spending the 2008-09 academic year at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, India. My wife and I are both Fulbright Scholars, a program that enables teachers and researchers to visit foreign countries for academic exchange and to encourage international understanding.

We arrived just past midnight on August 12, 2008, after a flight from Paris. We landed at the brand new Bengaluru International Airport, opened just two months ago. This spacious, gleaming structure is a far cry from the cramped and dingy airport we used last year, where the exit from the airport left you in an utter chaos of hundreds of taxis and small streets.

The signs around the airport highlight the new name for this city of 6.5m people: Bengaluru. As with other cities, such as Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras), Bangalore decided last year that it was time to revert to a more traditional (pre-British) name. Apparently, Bengaluru means “city of beans”.

The downside to the new airport is that it is 30km drive, albeit on a new 4- or 6-lane highway, into the city. I was amazed that our taxi driver could fit five of us, 10 suitcases, and 8 carry-on bags. On the other hand, some of these were tied on a roofrack with a rather flimsy-looking rope. When it started to sprinkle, I winced… fortunately, it never rained hard and our luggage was fine.

The highway itself demonstrates some of the contrasts you see in Bangalore. New and well-built, it highlights the new Bangalore, booming with IT jobs and prosperity. But in the darkness of midnight one may be surprised to see donkeys resting on the median strip, untended and untied; or an overloaded agricultural truck, with no lights or warning markers, broken down in the traveling lane. Not that lanes mean anything to a Bangalore driver – in the city, where streets are perpetually jammed, drivers jostle for position wherever possible.

The air is cool, even chilly, as we depart the airport and drive into town. This is the monsoon season, with highs in the 70s and lows in the 60s. It rains nearly every day, sometimes heavily.

MobiSys in Colorado

Some hiking and sightseeing around a conference in Colorado.

At the MobiSys 2008 conference, which was held at Breckenridge resort in Colorado, a group of us met to celebrate the retirement of Carla Ellis by taking a hike in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. See the trail description and review.

Surendar Chandra, David Kotz, Carla Ellis, and Rick LaRowe.

On the way back, I drove over Loveland Pass to stand on the Continental Divide. Gorgeous!

See the photo gallery.

Skiing Mount Cardigan

Skiing the east side of Mount Cardigan.

In early January 2008 I met with some friends to ski up (and down) the east side of Mount Cardigan. After a big dump of new snow, it was a popular destination that day.

See the photo gallery.

Columbia River Gorge

The Columbia River Gorge is truly a spectacular place, particularly for some of the many waterfalls that plunge into the river from the steep mountains alongside.

While at SOSP 2007 I visited a few neat places in the Columbia River Gorge, in Oregon. The Columbia River Gorge is truly a spectacular place, particularly for some of the many waterfalls that plunge into the river from the steep mountains alongside. Below, Multnomah Falls.

See my SmugMug photo gallery for more photos of Multnomah Falls, as well as Wahkeena Falls and Oneonta Gorge.

Exploratory trip to India

We visited Bangalore in August 2007, after filing our Fulbright applications but long before we knew whether we would be accepted. This was my first trip to India!

Pam and I went to Bangalore, India, for a week in August 2007. [Saturday August 18 – Friday August 24]

I was speaking at Intel, Infosys, Microsoft, and IISc, and we were scouting the city in advance of our plans to live in Bangalore for a 2008-09 sabbatical. My goal was to make professional connections, find a place for us to live, and to identify which school would be best for the kids.

We also toured the Canadian International School, just before its new campus opened for the first day.

See the photo gallery.

Another major temple in Bangalore. India. Bangalore.

Snoqualmie Falls

Snoqualmie Falls, Washington.

Snoqualmie Falls, Washington state, June 2, 2006. I was there for a Microsoft Research workshop, and the falls were a short stroll from the hotel.

This stunning waterfall is in western Washington state, and includes a hydro-power facility by diverting some water around the falls, through pipes.

See my SmugMug photo gallery, including video.

Europe trips

Finland, Germany, and England.

In August-September visited Oulu, Finland to give a keynote talk a workshop, then flew on to Mobicom in Cologne, Germany. Then in October I returned to visit Brighton, England, for the SOSP conference.

See my photo galleries.

Riva del Garda, Italy

I attended WiOpt 2005 in Riva del Garda, Italy.

When I attended WiOpt 2005 in Riva del Garda, Italy, I spent some time strolling around this picturesque village, and took a day off to drive around Lago di Garda. Gorgeous place!

On another day off, I walked right out the front door of my hotel; in a few blocks I reached the base of the mountain to the west; enclosed is a sunrise photo of the mountain from my hotel room. I climbed up past the ruins of a small castle, and a beautiful tiny mountainside chapel, to a tiny peak near the summit. The little peak, known as Cima Sat, seems to be the common destination rather than the actual, higher, summit. Although a direct trail offers a lot of exposure and hundred-foot ladders.

Cima Sat is at 1270m; I started my hike at the lake (200m).

See my photo galleries.