Bangalore Happenings

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I have such mixed feelings about the city of Bangalore. Part of me hates the noise, the smells and the pollution. I get frustrated while sitting in traffic everywhere we go, either cramped in the school van with all five of my roommates or stuffed into an auto rickshaw with exhaust blowing in my face. I wish the city had a metro or that the roads were planned better. The stray dogs barking and nipping at each other keeps me up at night, and the zoom of traffic outside my window doesn't seem to cease.

But I am really started to love the city itself. Being in a big city is a nice change from the small town I am used to at home. There is something going on every night of the week, and there are restaurants and bars of a caliber I could not dream of finding in my humble little college town. The newspaper is full of concerts, films and theater to attend. The weather is so much better than I expected. It is pleasant--warm with a nice breeze and mostly sunny. It seems like back home in Missouri it goes from miserably hot to much too cold with almost no in between. However, my favorite part of being here so far has got to be all the new experiences I get to have every day. Some of my adventures have been big, exciting ones--my weekend trip to Mysore and all the adventure that went along with that; attending a Hindu wedding dressed in my beautiful green silk sari with jasmine flowers tucked in my hair; celebrating the Keralan New Year by eating a 21-dish feast off of banana leaves only using my fingers; going to our dance professor's recital held in a Hindu temple and afterwards eating a meal in the upper room served by temple priests. Some of them have been tiny happenings because in India, nothing is the same as it is back home. Every meal is an experience, and turning on the tv brings an unfamiliar form of entertainment. Even the first time I bought popcorn from a street vendor turned into an adventure because I found it was covered in a delicious spice mixture unlike anything I'd ever had before. I think it's safe to say I will never forget my time here.

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