Blogs from Koramangala, Bangalore, Karnataka, India, Asia

Bonjour mes amis, I'm going to attempt to fit about a week's worth of adventure into one entry (Wednesday 7/11-Thursday 7/19). Since work has started I've been a bit burnt out... My schedule has been irregular because of a long Friday night and several early work mornings. Here's my attempt at relaying nine days worth of events: Let me start with some advice I received from my boss before I left: to state the obvious, being gay in India is not like being gay in NYC (duh). I was told, essentially, to leave out some key details of my personal life so as not to let the proverbial cat out of the bag. This advice was given from the heart; my boss wanted to ensure that my work would be judged on its merits and not ... read more

I just came back from a trip to Divine Euphoria, one of the most attractive weekend destination near Bangalore. Whenever we travel to any vacation places or picnic spots around Bangalore, I take down a lot of notes hoping to blog about it, but I hardly get time time once I get back home. Even though we have visited most of the popular weekend destinations around Bangalore and have taken hundreds of photos, I have published only a few so far. I am hoping to write about them all in the coming few months, once our kids start going to school after the vacation. Divine Euphoria is our favorite weekend destination and picnic location around Bangalore. Yesterday was our third visit to this amazing farmland picnic place, after I purchased a small plot there to build ... read more

Agara is in the south east side of Bangalore city. There is a rarely visited lake in Agara known as Agara lake. Agara area has been very well developed during recent years. There are quite a few temples in Agara, two of them are notable, one, the Jagannath Temple and the other Hanuman temple. Both of them are build during recent years. The temple is actually small but the statue is extremely large. The 102 feet Gigantic statue of Lord hanuman is standing on a lotus pedestal. The statue is on the road side and visible from quite a distance. Although the temple opens in the morning and evening, there is no timing for seeing the statue as it is always visible from any side. The statue is east facing, so if you go in the ... read more

"I read something today in the very modern, Barnes and Noble-esque bookstore in the very over-priced, un-stereotypical Indian mall, from the book of the Krishna faith. It was something along the lines of basic Buddhist beliefs, where “to desire objects” is bad because to desire leads to infatuation and infatuation somehow leads to loss of discrimination, and somewhere down the line loss of discrimination leads to loss of one’s self. It made more sense and seemed somewhat enlightening when I read it in the bookstore. Maybe it had something to do with being surrounded by Indian texts: cooking books, Hindi language books, Krishna texts, and Gandhi’s most famous quotes, that made reading that little idea out of that little page out of that little book seem so miraculous, but it resonated within me and almost made ... read more

I step off the plane, and from what I can remember, basically in an effort to capture everything on film in five seconds, run into one of those ridiculously large and obtrusive blocks to keep people from driving into the airport, and fall over it. The next humorous experience I could think of would be the palm reading, in which I was told I've been cursed deliberately by someone who's been jealous of me for a long time, and I am basically fucked from some Black Magic. I will have no money, no one special in my life, and my parents hate me. Singularly I would say that these things mean nothing, together I would think that this trip is just doomed, but by the mere fact that I am India, among amazing, intelligent, talented people, ... read more

Goa has been the much-needed antidote for the maniacal pace of Mumbai; it’s lush shades of green, palm trees and sandy beaches proved to be accurate foreshadowing for the mood of the trip. The city was Portuguese for…..ever (don’t make me look up dates here, I’m on vacation!) and it sure shows. Many elderly residents still speak the language, but more telling is the architecture. Spanish tiles sit atop every house and wrought-iron decorates most windows and balconies. Crepes are available anywhere you go too, which was a pleasure for my mouth but didn’t stay in my stomach for very long (sigh). The local crop here is cashew and the drink of choice, if you’re into Indian moonshine, is called fenny, and made from cashew as well. Most notable, as anyone who knows about Goa, are ... read more