From Spoiled to Soiled

My commute to work has changed from spoiled to soiled. Here's why:

Morning commute in Los Altos: After getting ready for the day, I take a lovely walk down the street with Ellie, we skip through a little park and then enter her perfectly clean, expansive, suburban elementary school. I hold her hand with one hand, and in the other, I tote a delicious mocha made by my darling husband. After dropping her off, I pack up the twins to go to pre-school, give them a kiss, and Patrick shuffles them off. I then give my doggies a goodbye pat on the head, climb into my big van, turn on NPR and then ride off to Google, only 15 minutes away.

Morning commute in Bangalore: Walk out of my apartment which is very nice on the inside, but on the outside is kind of project-like and run-down. Walking on the "sidewalk" has my full attention, trying to dodge the poop left by dogs, cows, and sometimes humans, the puddles of saliva left from spit, garbage (and there is a ton of it), urine puddles, mud puddles left from the evening monsoon, and on occasion, dead varmints. The only time I can stop focusing on the ground, is when I have to cross the street to avoid the onslaught of cars, mopeds and rickshaws. Bangalore is not pedestrian friendly and vehicles rule the road. There is complete disorder and it's impossible to know which way to look, as everything moves in all directions.