Brazil Dairy - Day 3
The third day´s (13-05-06)visit was to `´Corpo de Bombeiros policia Militar´´ which is an emergency service like 191 in USA or 180 in India. The number in Brazil is 193.
We met Mr.Monel here who is the Asst commandent of the forces. It was astounding to note that they receive 8000 calls per day at the 4 bases that they have in Sao Paulo. There are 25 percent fake calls made by children, 10 percent fire and 60 percent road accidents. The Bombeiros, as they are called here have 13 choppers to man the entire state. The response time is 10 minutes in most of the cases. The maximum number of years of service is 30 years and the entry age is 18. If one completes 30 years, he/she is to retire. The men were so tough that I had the best hand-shake of my life from one guy who is the toughest I ever met. The hand felt like iron. This is not a joke that we usually play with tough acting guys.
They were actually on high alert as the criminals were on the rampage in Sao Paulo that day. The men guarding the gates stood there with the hands on the guns and ready to face any situation. Here I found one Rheas note in the lift and everybody said I was lucky though I wanted to leave it in some box. The hosts asked me to keep it. The view of the city was marvellous from this point.
From here we went to the central church which is the biggest in Sao Paulo state. I later learnt that there are 39 cities in Sao Paulo. The church was magnificent with domes coloured in green and is 150 years old. Opposite to this church we will find the poor who dwell on the pavements and I was told by one of the hosts that they like it that way. They do not want to go to the camps run by the State for such people as one cannot booze and smoke. They have to maintain certain discipline which these dwellers are not for. The church is quite big and can seat almost a thousand people. Opposite to the church is the Zero Point. Can you guess what it is? It is the point from which the distances are measured in the city, like we do with our bus stations. The place had a mix of several people. Beggars, shoe-polishers,bible-readers,tourists with their guides et al.
From here we proceeded to Musica No solar de Marquesa de Santos which is a museum housing the articles used by the lover of King Pedro II. This king used to travel on horse-back from Sao Paulo to San Jose, a distance of 80 kms to meet his lover. Everywhere in the world, the kings seem to have the same kind of fascination for women they loved. India had one too and so Taj Mahal was built.
Next to this is a museum called Casa De Ancheta which was once a school founded by Jose De Ancheta in 1554. This was the first school in Sao Paulo.
After this we walked in the streets of downtown. I had seen the stock exchange of Brazil. There were high-rise buildings which amazed me a lot as I have seen such towers only in movies. At one of these points there was an electronic display board in which the numbers were moving by forward at high speed and I learnt that the number signified the amount of tax the country collected from the residents which is displayed for their awareness. We went to the municipal fruit market where every fruit in the world is available. In the market, there were queues at a few vendors and my enquiries revealed that they were waiting to eat Morta dela which is meat sand-wich and liked by most Brazilians. The downtown was so crowded that our hosts had to literally act like body-guards as it was dangerous for the foreigners.
The lunch was at an Italian restaurent and here I had the national drink of Brazil ´´Caipirinha´´which is a mix of Kashasha(Brazilian tardy), lemon and ice. I also had a glass of ´´Serramalte ´´ brand beer and pasta for food. It was a wonderful day too.
It was Flavia´s birthday today and she invited me to her party with her family members. She picked me up at my hosts place and we went to a posh bar ´´Banjamin Botique`´. Here I had a peg of Buchanan. I was given to understand that the bars are open till 5 in the morning on weekends if there were guests. I conveyed your wishes to her and she was very happy. At the bar I told the Flavia's family members about our 'Trimurthulu' and also the concept of 'Mathru devo bhava' and 'pithru devo bhava' as the next day was Mother´s Day. They all heard with rapt attention. FLavia´s sister is an architect and she looked a very confident lady, while
her brother worked in the Amazon which 3000 kms from Sao Paulo.
I was dropped home at 2.00 am by Srikanth´s host who also attended the party. The day ended at 2.00 am in a satisfying manner.
We met Mr.Monel here who is the Asst commandent of the forces. It was astounding to note that they receive 8000 calls per day at the 4 bases that they have in Sao Paulo. There are 25 percent fake calls made by children, 10 percent fire and 60 percent road accidents. The Bombeiros, as they are called here have 13 choppers to man the entire state. The response time is 10 minutes in most of the cases. The maximum number of years of service is 30 years and the entry age is 18. If one completes 30 years, he/she is to retire. The men were so tough that I had the best hand-shake of my life from one guy who is the toughest I ever met. The hand felt like iron. This is not a joke that we usually play with tough acting guys.
They were actually on high alert as the criminals were on the rampage in Sao Paulo that day. The men guarding the gates stood there with the hands on the guns and ready to face any situation. Here I found one Rheas note in the lift and everybody said I was lucky though I wanted to leave it in some box. The hosts asked me to keep it. The view of the city was marvellous from this point.
From here we went to the central church which is the biggest in Sao Paulo state. I later learnt that there are 39 cities in Sao Paulo. The church was magnificent with domes coloured in green and is 150 years old. Opposite to this church we will find the poor who dwell on the pavements and I was told by one of the hosts that they like it that way. They do not want to go to the camps run by the State for such people as one cannot booze and smoke. They have to maintain certain discipline which these dwellers are not for. The church is quite big and can seat almost a thousand people. Opposite to the church is the Zero Point. Can you guess what it is? It is the point from which the distances are measured in the city, like we do with our bus stations. The place had a mix of several people. Beggars, shoe-polishers,bible-readers,tourists with their guides et al.
From here we proceeded to Musica No solar de Marquesa de Santos which is a museum housing the articles used by the lover of King Pedro II. This king used to travel on horse-back from Sao Paulo to San Jose, a distance of 80 kms to meet his lover. Everywhere in the world, the kings seem to have the same kind of fascination for women they loved. India had one too and so Taj Mahal was built.
Next to this is a museum called Casa De Ancheta which was once a school founded by Jose De Ancheta in 1554. This was the first school in Sao Paulo.
After this we walked in the streets of downtown. I had seen the stock exchange of Brazil. There were high-rise buildings which amazed me a lot as I have seen such towers only in movies. At one of these points there was an electronic display board in which the numbers were moving by forward at high speed and I learnt that the number signified the amount of tax the country collected from the residents which is displayed for their awareness. We went to the municipal fruit market where every fruit in the world is available. In the market, there were queues at a few vendors and my enquiries revealed that they were waiting to eat Morta dela which is meat sand-wich and liked by most Brazilians. The downtown was so crowded that our hosts had to literally act like body-guards as it was dangerous for the foreigners.
The lunch was at an Italian restaurent and here I had the national drink of Brazil ´´Caipirinha´´which is a mix of Kashasha(Brazilian tardy), lemon and ice. I also had a glass of ´´Serramalte ´´ brand beer and pasta for food. It was a wonderful day too.
It was Flavia´s birthday today and she invited me to her party with her family members. She picked me up at my hosts place and we went to a posh bar ´´Banjamin Botique`´. Here I had a peg of Buchanan. I was given to understand that the bars are open till 5 in the morning on weekends if there were guests. I conveyed your wishes to her and she was very happy. At the bar I told the Flavia's family members about our 'Trimurthulu' and also the concept of 'Mathru devo bhava' and 'pithru devo bhava' as the next day was Mother´s Day. They all heard with rapt attention. FLavia´s sister is an architect and she looked a very confident lady, while
her brother worked in the Amazon which 3000 kms from Sao Paulo.
I was dropped home at 2.00 am by Srikanth´s host who also attended the party. The day ended at 2.00 am in a satisfying manner.
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