Brazil Dairy - Day 5
On this day(15-05-2006) I was picked up by Serau, President of RC of Vila Alpina at 7.05 am though he said 7.15 am. Serau is a retired Bombeiro’s employee and is a stickler to time commitments. On the way which is a 20 minute drive to his house, I enquired about his life. He has two daughters aged 21 and 17. While the elder is married, the second is studying at a local school. He enquired about how marriages are performed in India. He is already aware that the girl goes to the husband’ house in India and said that it is not the case in Brazil where the couple stay in a home of their own. He bought a house for them near to his and the couple stay there. At 7.30 am he received a call from his house on his mobile and the reason for the call was we were not at home as committed at 7.30 am. His wife was enquiring if all was well. I admired the care that his wife had for him.
The following are a few observations about the city.
Some buildings had glassed compound walls which were looking elegant.
The No.1 channel in Brazil is Globo.
There are all the major car brands like Citroen, Fiat, Toyota, Volkswagon, GM, Peugot and there are dealers selling all brands under one umberella which are called ‘THE MULTIMARCAS’ meaning multibrands. A new Cheverlot Novo in Brazil costs R$ 59,990 which I felt is amost the same as in India..
Smooching and hugging in public is common.
The motor-cyclists are a dreaded lot as they go at high speeds in between two cars.
Roads are not smooth but as the cars are big, you don’t feel the roughness. However they are better than in India.
At all the signal points, you will find ball jugglers begging by performing in front of the cars when they stop at the signal. Young girls and boys sell chocolates at the major junctions for a living, but I have not seen anybody buying the same.
Homeopatia as it is called in Brazil, is taken to by some of the people.
All the vehicles maintain a minimum distance with the front vehicle and you will find “mantenha distancia” at the back of the buses. There is bus service transport by name “Himalai Transporte”. Reminded of the Himalayan mountains.
There are plenty of English language schools.
Sao Paulo is a hilly area and you should not be surprised if all climates are seen in one day. It happened when we were there.
The Tiete river embankment is concreted and it is well maintained.
The number plates of all the cars are sealed making it impossible to tamper with. On 13th May, I had seen while returning home, two policemen intercept a car as the number plate was tampered and like in movies, the driver was made to lift his hands and stand while one of the police pointed his gun at him the other was searching him for possible danger.
Blowing horn is prohibited in Sao Paulo and I never saw anyone using the same.
People don’t pee on the roads and the roads are maintained very neatly.
Ok, The day’s visit was to SABESP which is a water purifying station. The water from 4 rivers namely, Jaguari, Jacarci, Atibania and Cachoeira is stored in 8 reservoirs and treated for use by the denizens of Sao Paulo. It was amazing to see this but the subject was more technical. I realized from Valdemar(Sumit’s host) that the citizens pay for using the water. The more you use, the more you pay. I liked it, because only then will someone be more responsible to natural resources which is not the case as of now.The cost is almost R$ 10/- for 1 cubic meter of water and the city of SP consumed 68 cubic meters of water per second.
From here we went to ESCOLA de Bomberios which is a training college for police and firemen. The college is situated just opposite to one of the biggest jails in SP. We had lunch with the head of the college. It is amazing to see how fit the Commanding Officer and his Corporal were. I wish some of our Indian police and firemen take a cue from them. The school is located in 11 hectares land on the banks of Mairipora Reservoir and has a built-up area of 60,000 sq.ft. The hotel can accommodate 750 trainees in 200 rooms. The dining hall is spacious and can seat 1000 people in one go. The school has virtual training classes which are impressive.
After lunch at this place, we proceeded to the pumping station of SABESPA. We went below the earth’s surface to a depth of almost 60 metres in a lift in just 2 minutes. The water from the rivers is pumped up from here using high power machines made by Siemens, Hitachi and Mitsubishi. I couldn’t help appreciating the greatness of man and his ways of inventing for better living and the methods used in harnessing nature’s assets for his own well being.
While coming out from here, there was a message to one of our hosts that the situation of Sao Paulo is no good and that the drug mafia has attacked the police and there were violent incidents of setting buses ablaze and that there is tension everywhere in the city. The kind of concern that the hosts had for us was overwhelming as they were restless until we reached our homes. I waited at Mr.Serau’s house until my host came and picked me up from there. The tension in the public was akin to the one that prevails in India and most of the shops and establishments downed their shutters. On my way back, I saw police stopping some suspects and conducting a thorough search on them with their hands lifted up. While one police was aiming the gun, the other was conducting the search. It reminded of Hollywood movies.
The following are a few observations about the city.
Some buildings had glassed compound walls which were looking elegant.
The No.1 channel in Brazil is Globo.
There are all the major car brands like Citroen, Fiat, Toyota, Volkswagon, GM, Peugot and there are dealers selling all brands under one umberella which are called ‘THE MULTIMARCAS’ meaning multibrands. A new Cheverlot Novo in Brazil costs R$ 59,990 which I felt is amost the same as in India..
Smooching and hugging in public is common.
The motor-cyclists are a dreaded lot as they go at high speeds in between two cars.
Roads are not smooth but as the cars are big, you don’t feel the roughness. However they are better than in India.
At all the signal points, you will find ball jugglers begging by performing in front of the cars when they stop at the signal. Young girls and boys sell chocolates at the major junctions for a living, but I have not seen anybody buying the same.
Homeopatia as it is called in Brazil, is taken to by some of the people.
All the vehicles maintain a minimum distance with the front vehicle and you will find “mantenha distancia” at the back of the buses. There is bus service transport by name “Himalai Transporte”. Reminded of the Himalayan mountains.
There are plenty of English language schools.
Sao Paulo is a hilly area and you should not be surprised if all climates are seen in one day. It happened when we were there.
The Tiete river embankment is concreted and it is well maintained.
The number plates of all the cars are sealed making it impossible to tamper with. On 13th May, I had seen while returning home, two policemen intercept a car as the number plate was tampered and like in movies, the driver was made to lift his hands and stand while one of the police pointed his gun at him the other was searching him for possible danger.
Blowing horn is prohibited in Sao Paulo and I never saw anyone using the same.
People don’t pee on the roads and the roads are maintained very neatly.
Ok, The day’s visit was to SABESP which is a water purifying station. The water from 4 rivers namely, Jaguari, Jacarci, Atibania and Cachoeira is stored in 8 reservoirs and treated for use by the denizens of Sao Paulo. It was amazing to see this but the subject was more technical. I realized from Valdemar(Sumit’s host) that the citizens pay for using the water. The more you use, the more you pay. I liked it, because only then will someone be more responsible to natural resources which is not the case as of now.The cost is almost R$ 10/- for 1 cubic meter of water and the city of SP consumed 68 cubic meters of water per second.
From here we went to ESCOLA de Bomberios which is a training college for police and firemen. The college is situated just opposite to one of the biggest jails in SP. We had lunch with the head of the college. It is amazing to see how fit the Commanding Officer and his Corporal were. I wish some of our Indian police and firemen take a cue from them. The school is located in 11 hectares land on the banks of Mairipora Reservoir and has a built-up area of 60,000 sq.ft. The hotel can accommodate 750 trainees in 200 rooms. The dining hall is spacious and can seat 1000 people in one go. The school has virtual training classes which are impressive.
After lunch at this place, we proceeded to the pumping station of SABESPA. We went below the earth’s surface to a depth of almost 60 metres in a lift in just 2 minutes. The water from the rivers is pumped up from here using high power machines made by Siemens, Hitachi and Mitsubishi. I couldn’t help appreciating the greatness of man and his ways of inventing for better living and the methods used in harnessing nature’s assets for his own well being.
While coming out from here, there was a message to one of our hosts that the situation of Sao Paulo is no good and that the drug mafia has attacked the police and there were violent incidents of setting buses ablaze and that there is tension everywhere in the city. The kind of concern that the hosts had for us was overwhelming as they were restless until we reached our homes. I waited at Mr.Serau’s house until my host came and picked me up from there. The tension in the public was akin to the one that prevails in India and most of the shops and establishments downed their shutters. On my way back, I saw police stopping some suspects and conducting a thorough search on them with their hands lifted up. While one police was aiming the gun, the other was conducting the search. It reminded of Hollywood movies.
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