Reporting Live From Manipal!!

NOTE: Scarily loooooong post ahead, with few pictures only. Close website if lack patience to read.

Finally!! INTERNET!! I'm actually stealing wireless Internet from some sad soul who did not set a password for his wireless. Its really slow, but who cares la, as long as I get to use Internet I'm happy!! My new definition of earthly-heaven is anywhere with Internet. Seriously, the past few days has been soooo happening, I have sooooo much to blog about, but no Internet. Imagine my pain. Anyway, besides this paragraph, the rest of the post was pre-typed out on Word and pasted here. Haha.

Anyway, this post is just to briefly INTRO my loyal readers and future MMMC students into Manipal, India. Generally this place is O-K-A-Y. Not as fancy as Malaysia, but similar to those kampung areas I guess. Time difference is 2.5hours behind Malaysia, time zone +5.30GMT. The exchange rate is around 100rupees to RM7.50. The Malaysian students here usually calculate it the lazy way, which is 100rps to RM10.

Us, getting briefed on flight details.

FOOD on the journey here was horrible, probably because we weren’t use to the food-of-the-Indians. MAS freaking served us curry vege with rice. zzZ. Lucky I had mcD before boarding the plane. Nevertheless, now I think the food is O-K-A-Y. It may be because I already got used to it, or maybe because Manipal has better food. Haha. Anyway, price of food to quantity of serving is magnificent. Back in KL, mamak style Maggie-goreng single with no meat nor egg will cost RM3, but here, similar mamak style Maggie-goreng with meat, egg and cucumber is 45rps, that works out to about RM3.50. But wait! That’s not the main point, the serving is not single, it’s at least triple or maybe even QUADRUPLE!! For girls, 2 to 3 people can share a serving, for guys, maybe 3people share 2servings. Seriously the first time I ordered that was my 1st dinner here. I was SHOCKED when the food came. I ate like, half only, or maybe less. But as my mum always say, “I rather it go to waste then into my waist!” Lolz!

Massive serving or mee goreng

Hostel rooms are comfortable. I’m staying in a single AC room in Amartya Sen Hostel, and it’s so called the most-luxurious-room for guys. I heard there is a girls’ hostel that is as nice as hotel rooms. Our senior told us, “we don’t call that a hostel, we call it hotel.” Lolz. Anyway I’m happy with my current room. Small and comfy. And since the room is small, it gets cold very fast especially when the air-cond is on. When I say fast, I mean really really fast, like 5-10mins only. I think I wouldn’t mind staying in non-AC rooms. The door lock looks like prison’s locks, but it’s really safe, so it’s ok. Nevertheless I have some complains too. Can you believe that the toilet has no window?! I mean there are 2 pieces of semi-transparent tinted glass, but there is no ledge to open it!! There is a small hole as exhaust, but I think it’ll take like.. forever for the toilet smell to clear. ARGH!! I need air refreshener!! But the nearby grocery shop will only get stock after 2 days. And if you think that’s bad, we get frequent ELECTRICITY CUTS!! WTH?!! I’m forced to use laptop with battery all the time. I guess my battery life span will be damn short. zzZ.. But the fortunate part is the cuts are usually for less than a minute. =)

My hostel room

Btw, whoever told you Indians make stupid businessmen has never been to India. In Manipal, Indians are genius businessmen. They’ll start all kinds of BUSINESS near Uni campus that meets the needs of ALL foreign students. There is this grocery shop that sells literally everything at dirt cheap prices. From locks to cutleries to laundry baskets to floor mats to pails to mop to broom to air refreshener. Aiya you get the picture rite? EVERYTHING a student will need to survive in India. Just beside it is a mini-supermarket that is similar to a Carrefour Express. They have better selection of stuff BUT everything there is expensive. zzZ. Down the road is an electric shop that sells desk lamps, energy stabilizer, converters, extension cords, irons, etc. Then there are millions of many laundry services around. There are already 2 or 3 just in hostel alone. They’ll wash and iron your clothes for a little fee. Eg: pants and shirt is 5rps, T-shirt is 4rps, etc. We’ll never need to worry about laundry here. Haha! But then, Seniors recommended us to use the laundry service outside of hostel. Slightly more expensive but they clean better. Other standard shops include Kodak photo (damn cheap!! 16 pp-sized photos for 75rps only), broadband, banks, phone lines, tailors, Asian restaurants, etc. There is also this med school equipments shop that sells dissection kits, lab coats and name tags (wth, don’t Uni provide these??). Oh ya, there is this group of people who provides water dispenser for hostels. Rental of the dispenser is 275rps for life, and 20L refill of clean mineral water cost 75rps only. And if you think that’s everything? Think again.. There is this really small, close to unseen stall shop nearby that does leather shoes polishing. OMGosh la this place has EVERYTHING!! Now I finally understand why seniors said "no need to bring anything also can". Haha!

Water dispenser

Dissection kit

But then Internet here sucks. The hostel Internet application process takes so long. Indians are damn lazy k. Everything takes days/months to be done. Even INSTANT photos needs 15minutes. zzZ. Anyway back to Internet, broadband is quite similar to Msia’s Streamyx, hostel LAN Internet blocks off torrent downloads and certain sites. As for campus library computers, we’ll need to pay 10rps per hour. Those comps really block everything. MSN, facebook, Friendster and even youtube!! zzZ. The comp my friend used had loads of porn videos on the desktop. WTH?! They allow porn but block facebook?! @r$3h0l3s. I can only conclude that whoever did the Internet security settings is a perverted anti-social bastard. Anyway, I’ll be using the hostel LAN Internet, no more G00 and Bleach for me.. T.T.. The Internet application process is as messed up as the Visa application process back home. Firstly we have to fill up a form in the admin building, then a 10mins walk to ICICI bank to pay 200rps for installation. (Why the hell are we paying to the bank?? Aren’t we supposed to pay to the hostel management??) Next, head back to the admin building and pass them the payment receipt, get another paper, and pass it to the Information System Department, which is another 10mins walk. There, we’ll get our LAN cables and they will activate our hostel room LAN. WT* MAN!! One hell of a troublesome process!!

Transportation is not a problem here. Everything is within walking distances. Or if you’re lazy to walk, can always take the public taxi called “auto”. From anywhere to anywhere, as long as it’s within town, it’s usually 15rps. That’s like RM1.10!! LOLz!! Most students here own a motorbike. You can buy a good 2nd hand 125cc super bike for 20,000rps. That’s around RM2k. You won’t need a driving license nor helmet here, no one will bother to check them. Or if you’re paranoid, driving license can be bought. Really, BOUGHT. That’s what seniors told us, not sure if it’s true or not. Initially I thought motor was a luxury, until I walked around Manipal town. Every damn driver honks for no blady reason!! They’ll be like 50 meters away honking while you’re crossing the road. 50 METERS LA DAM*IT!!!! DO YOU LEARN MATHS AND PHYSICS??!! EVEN IF THERE ISN’T AIR RESISTANCE AND FRICTION, YOU’LL STILL NEVER BANG ME!!!!!! I’m so gonna get a bike to honk the crap out of those who honked me. It’s either you honk, or get honked. zzZ. Talk about friendliness. Zero!!

Communication here is dirt cheap. It’s almost free. Everyone here uses “Airtel”, it’s like Maxis back home. We paid 1000rps for the sim card, and there is 967.01rps inside. We get 100 free smses DAILY to all Airtel lines, but calling is so cheap no one bothers to sms here. Calls are 0.25rps per minute, that’s like RM0.02 only!! LOLz!!! Let’s do some maths now k, if calls are that cheap, and sms is free, how long will we take to use up 967.01rps? NEVER!! Unless we call back to Msia, 6.40rps per minute, or 1.5rps per sms. In the past few days, I’ve been smsing my parents a lot. Its so cheap we don’t even care. Haha!!

Ok I’ve been talking a lot. Should stop now. I’ll post up more pictures next time when I get my proper line. Until then, just know that I’m alive and well here!! God bless!!