thirty-two -- bangalore and mysore (day 1 cont'd, day 2)

street vendor in Mysore (July 21, 2009)

Since we have decided to relax at home today, I now have the time to briefly describe our last two days in Bangalore. Monday we visited the gorgeous Shiva Mandir and yesterday we visited Mysore. It's nice to play the tourist in India, for once. Too often we're just caught in the middle, shuttled from flat to a relative's house, seeing India but not really seeing it. See our pictures here.

I SEE:

• strings of jasmine flowers in long dark hair
• a Shiva statue twenty times my size, striking against the blue night -- wondrous
• eco-friendly volvo busses (more expensive than a normal bus)
• a profuse number of alcohol advertisements (Kingfisher, Bacardi, Smirnoff)
• silver chudiyan (bangles) on our wrists, purchased from vendors at the Mysore Palace. they jingle and are very pretty.
• cloudy gray skies and cool weather
• in Mysore, humans and horses and cows
• people swarming the Chamundeshwari temple, straining for a glimpse of the heavily-garlanded goddess far in the back
• the Supriya Pig Mutton Hotel (Gablu: Nina didi, they call everything a hotel here! And it's true.)
• auto-rickshaws, Marutis, one Ford, motorbikes
• new buildings and malls and giant billboards
• the shabby prettiness of Vrindavan Gardens, the magnificence of the Mysore Palace

I TASTE:

• egg omelettes and pancakes
• chicken fry and noodles
• "authentic Karnatakan South Indian Thalis... veg, but still good!"
• McChicken and fries
• daal, rice, fried aloo

I FEEL:

• exhausted (poor nights of rest, still jet-lagged?)
• tense (still acclimating)
• awed by devotion (Shiva Mandir and Chamundeshwari Temple)
• overwhelmed (are temples supposed to be so stressful?)
• restless (I want to see the city more!)

thirty-one -- bangalore, baby! (day one)

When the humidity hits you, you know you're in India. Stepping off the plane in Mumbai, the three of us felt so thrilled to be nearing the end of our approximately nineteen hour flight. Only hours later, we finally landed in the vast, sparkling expanse that is the Bangalore airport. Contrary to my previous memories of Indian Customs, the process was smooth and rapid. (Probably because it was about 4:00 AM!) Waiting for us outside was one of our good friends from Michigan, Sandip Kaku ("Sandip Uncle"). His family had moved to Bangalore five years ago and only now we managed the chance to hit up South India.

Yes, this is my first journey into south India... my first journey in India that's not Bombay or Calcutta or about relatives. And really? I like what I see. The weather, for one, was the biggest surprise; cool and breezy like springtime in Michigan. It, of course, was dark when we returned to Uncle's gated subdivision, but the glimpses I saw in the dark painted the picture of the rising metropolis the world talks about. Huge apartment buildings were going up on either side of the roads, juxtaposed against the "old Bangalore," of mom-and-pop shops and a little shabbiness. The hour trip home went by quickly as I attempted to absorb what little I could see outside. Sandip Kaku described the changes he had seen in the last five years and the contrast to the India he grew up with. There's shopping malls, theatres, grocery stores -- everything at your fingertips when you have a car.

"But still a long way to go," he said.

The statement is both encouraging and discouraging at the same time. Must India really recreate the West in order to consider itself "developed"? Will the rise in this massive, massive consumerism lead to the materialism plaguing the West? India is majority Hindu, and a large principle is the detachment to material goods and goals for True happiness. While I am encouraged by the rising standard of living, I am concerned people will now equate money and goods with happiness even more than before... And is this standard of living rising across the board for all income classes? I doubt it.

This community is beautiful. Bangalore, according to our friends, is much greener than many big cities in India. You notice that too -- there's a lot of lushness and big trees here. Lots of pretty flowers. The buildings in this community in particular are just like two-story houses at home, almost reminiscent of the typical California architecture. I am amazed; it's nothing like what I have seen in Calcutta, though I am sure places like this exist there for Indians from abroad. It is really, really nice and a funny sort of culture shock... the shock of how insulated you can be. No, it's not a bad thing at all! Just... different from what I am used to!

Today we will be getting a mobile phone and checking out some spots in the city. Perhaps some shopping? We'll see.

Until then! Peace and love,
Nina