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Published: November 5th 2005
Namaskar Mere Dosthte. It is Sunday morning and I can not sleep. I am still buzzed from the day. I slept until 3:00 p.m. which is a lot longer than I had planned to. It may have had something to with all the booze I consumed last night or yesterday morning, after work. Friday night actually started Saturday morning. Diane and I came back to the flat and had some drinks. Nothing was open so there was nothing to do around town even if we wanted. I pushed the double beds together in the bedroom and I crashed there versus on the couch which is where I had been sleeping.
Ashish, one of the Adjusters from the office insisted on being our tour guide. We dismissed our driver for the day and Ashish picked us up. Our plan was to set out at noon so we were late but he did not mind. It was grey out but no rain so we headed over to Commercial Street. Ten minutes in to our trip we had to pull over so that I could puke at the side of the road. The fumes from the traffic coupled with the liquor on my
stomach were a bad mix. Once I puked the pounding in my head quickly subsided. This area is like the old Jew Town in Chicago but multiplied by twelve. Lots of shops and so many people you would not ever believe it if you did not see it. We parked in the Bangalore version of Self Park (10 R’s) and started out on our way. Our first objective was to locate coffee. I swear to god I would kill for a cup of Starbuck’s coffee right now. I think I am suffering from caffeine withdrawal. The Housekeeping guys in the office make the coffee super sweet (Indian style) and with lots of milk so I have not been able to drink the stuff. We found a Coffee Day Café above one of the shops and sat down near a window overlooking the street below. The shop was full of teenagers and young adults all dressed in western style clothes sitting around chatting over cups of coffee and juice drinks which seem to be very popular here. Caste identity is recognizable by observing what activity the workers do. Lighter skinned persons seem to manage the shop, make the drinks and, interact
with the customers, while darker skinned workers clean the tables and sweep the floors. What struck me odd were the two young men sitting on the sofa, arms draped around the other. As this was not my first encounter of the sort, and because I had been told homosexuality was against the law here, I was moved to inquire about it with our host. He flashed a big smile across the table and commented they were “naughty boys” as he laughed out loud. Over coffee Ashish revealed that he had been selected to travel to the U.S., Chicago specifically for training for up to two years.
Our first stop was a jeweler where the prices were OK but nothing so tempting that you had to buy. Walking through this area is and adventure in itself as most stretches do not have sidewalks, leaving one to walk in the street. I am surprised no one gets hit given all the traffic in the street. The vehicle of choice here is a motor bike and sometime you see a family of three or four on the same bike. Aside from all the shops there are merchants walking around trying to sell
tourist things. The stench in the air was putrid but was bearable due to the excitement of the adventure. There was running water at the curbs of the street but there was no rain. I inquired where it came from of Ashish who quickly told me I did not want to know and not to step in it. A shoe store caught Diane’s eye and we popped in to look around. We were immediately greeted by two very push sales people, one a young man no older than thirteen. Here we spent 350 Rs which got me a pair of traditional leather slippers/shoes and Diane some sandals. That’s 350 Rs each but still a steal for hand made shoes. Our next stop was a textile shop run by some Kashmirian’s. I hope I spelled that correctly
. The silk blankets here are beautiful but you get robbed if you are not with a local. After seeing what seemed like a hundred blankets spread out for us I finally agreed on purchasing one when we agreed on a price I was comfortable with. The shop operators can translate Rs in to dollars in there heads in no time which gives them an advantage. I got a silk and hand embroidered blanket which doubles as a duvet cover with matching pillow covers for $136.00 dollars U.S. The sticker price was 8500 Rs. Afterwards we stopped in a shop where Shari’s were being sold for $2 US and up. You can give your size and shop for two hours and come back while the tailoring is being done. The tailoring is $2 US…no more. This we passed on because we did not want to have to return later. Diane found some jewelry she wanted which was at a good price but passed as by this time our Rs were low and we were hungry. There are Temples everywhere in Bangalore with elaborate entrances with colorful Buda’s on top. Indian Policeman do not wear pistols but carry stick instead. On the way back to the car we ran across a guy riding his motor bike alongside his oxen and I tried running ahead to get a snap (photo). I hope I was successful but I had to stop to avoid stepping in all fresh dung lying in the street. The Muslim women here all wear Burka’s which is a strange site to see. You don’t date take a snap for fear of offending someone. Yesterday was Eat, a Muslim Holiday, marking the end of Ramza or Ramadan as it is called in the US. There was a big festival going on but we did not stop to look around. We drove down to MD Road until we came to another shopping district. We decided to stop and eat at The Main China restaurant which I am told is the most famous Chinese restaurant in all of Bangalore. The place was beautiful inside and customers are treated like kings. Our guess played a guessing game as to what country I was from and guessed Brazil. He asked if I played football, soccer to us in the US, due to the way I was dressed. Dinner was excellent, save the lobster which was ruined by some garlic sauce it was cooked in. The food was brought out in courses and served to you on your plate. The waiter keeps watchful eye over you and refills you plate as the meal progresses…strange. A young Indian boy seated at the table to our right would not take his eyes off of me the entire time. By the end of dinner we were all swamped so we headed back home.
I had planned to just relax and not BLOG this evening but thought I had better given the overwhelming popularity of this page to those back home. I was even able to tweak some snaps that the IT guys in the office were kind enough to upload to my laptop for me. Snaps from today won’t be available until after Monday. I asked them to teach me how to do it so I won’t have to keep bugging them. It seem that I have to purchase some hardware as the UBS cord that came with the camera is too powerful for my hub…..I don’t know what the hell any of that means but they have promised to fix it for me next week.
We have been invited to go to Mangalore two weeks from now. A number of co-worker’s at office are from there and invited us as soon as they saw I new a bit about the place. The tourist book I bought before coming has been a big help to me. As soon as the local people learn that you have an interest in the culture they want to tell you everything about the part of India they are from. I have learned that I do not want to go to Mumbai. There is three times as many people there, it is hugely expensive for everything, and the people are not kind to foreigner who can not speak the local language. Each state in India has its own language. Most Indian’s speak four to five languages/tongues. Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, is also out as it is too cost prohibitive. It is much cheaper to travel like the locals via train or bus but takes three times longer and is more dangerous for foreigners. So for this trip I will see as much of Southwestern India as I can. Goa and Mysore are all so on the table right now.
If any of you women back in the US want a Shari I need measurements, detailed. I can not promise I can fill all the orders as cash is an issue but with a promise of reimbursement I will try.
I am headed to sleep now. We dismissed our driver for the day as Ashish road us around in his car. A 
Construction - Rear of Guest House
The WORKERS live on site until completion
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