Leah Bills
Leah
Leah Bills
Hello I'm Leah. I'm from Galway in the west of Ireland, and I thought it would be a great idea to come to India for my first ever long stay trip away from home. As I type, there is a power outage and some ants have staged a coop on my boyfriend's laptop in honour of their dead friends -who died at my hands. I have tried to be loving to all living things since I arrived here a week ago, but I just can't do it anymore -there are too many bitey itchy things -and they all want a piece of me.In spite of this, India is growing on me ( bad analogy!I'm taking my malaria tablets Mam I swear!)Anyway, we came to India because my boyfriend John was offered a fantastic job in Bangalore. I insisted he take it, imagining Ashrams, peaceful meditation, guru like mentors, and the smell of Nag Champa incense. Well..Bangalore -formerly the Garden City -is now famously known as the IT capital of India, so no incense just yet-except for the musk I bought yesterday. So I can safely say that Bangalore is not what I expected. There are social minefields and religious pitfalls that I was totally unaware of -and thats just grocery shopping. There are also massive disparities in this busy techie city, in which I daren't show my legs or arms for fear of riots or offence,and which is home to sacred cows who lie lazily in the middle of the road as three wheeler rickshaws fly around them. This blog is mainly for my family and friends -but maybe it will be of help to any female travelers coming to Bangalore. I felt intensely lonely when I got here for the first few days( I 've never been anywhere where I look so different!) -despite being surrounded by 6 million people and also in spite of John's constant sweet understanding and words of encouragement. So, if this is iinteresting or of help to anyone- great. If not then please dont think me conceited in writing a blog!