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Wedding Dinner
A line of half a dozen boys filters in, each with a bowl in hand filled with a different curry or carb, dropping a spoonful on every guest's banana leaf plate. They have really maximized in efficiency for these functions, to be able to serve 4000 guests in one night. Egore here, happy to tell you further adventures of the intrepid travelers in India…
Awakened bright and early Friday morning to the sound of not-so-jazzy saxophone outside our hotel window, Jelena dressed and headed outside to see what all the hubbub was about. Jelena returned to tell us that there was an Indian wedding going on! The family was so welcoming, inviting her and her friends back for breakfast. So, we wandered in, dressed as American as can be (Friday was supposed to be casual day at work), and sat down in the long line of guests. The two cousins of the bride who invited Jelena were extremely nice, informing us about various cultural norms and traditions. For example, females in India don’t wear white. Whoops.
Friday was crackdown day at Grameen Koota. Finally over the jet lag, we finalized our project plan and really started on our proejct to save the world. To treat ourselves after a long day in the office, we sought out a fancy nearby hotel that served some non-Indian cuisine (we ordered vegetable stir fry and sweet and sour chicken… all extremely breaded). Our drinks more than doubled the cost
Botanical Gardens
Indian saris among garden flowers... of the meal, making it about five times the price of our typical Indian dinners (though still only $10 a person).
We expected Justin to come into Bangalore that night around 2 am. Two am came and went, but no call. At 4 am, I jumped out of bed at the sound of a door opening, only to see a frightened “other Emily” standing at the bathroom. Around 6 am, we went to the front desk to seek out internet to see if he e-mailed us, but to no avail. After we paced for two more hours about our hotel room, Justin finally called to inform us he wasn’t dead in the streets of Mumbai. We met him at work (this is Saturday morning) and continued our research. Around 2pm, Vikash took us to an Indian restaurant where Justin complained that every other patron had the benefit of eating on banana leaves, while we were given boring silver plates. We discovered that roti is even better than naan (astonishing that that’s even possible!). Vikash later took us into Bangalore to see the botanical gardens. We stood out like sore thumbs there, as with everywhere we go, but at least
Wedding guest photos
Justin and Emily G (and others) were welcomed with open arms onto the stage as the 16 year old bride (unhappy woman in red sari) was married to her 42 year old groom. we had fun! We took many silly pictures and even had some Indian families ask us to be in their photos (it’s all about Jelena’s blonde hair!).
We returned to South Bangalore for dinner, where we were greeted by a painted midget and invited to yet another wedding dinner. This one was even grander - 4000 people expected to come rather than 2000! We were also more comfortable, as some of the people were dressed in Western clothes. The food was delicious, the service excellent (though how the Indians eat their meals so fast, I can't understand!). We even received a goody bag at the end with a whole coconut, some sort of druggy leaf (obviously, the other Emily was the one who knew about that one), and mango candy.
Sunday was a day filled with smelly buses, bare feet, and confused Americans (plus a Japanese girl). We took a 4 hour bus ride in the morning to see Mysore palace. Once we arrived there, we hid our cameras (none allowed inside the palace) and took off our shoes (once again, none allowed inside the palace), but not before Jelena was asked by three more groups of Indians
Our popular blonde
Jelena's cap and hair make her the most popular tourist attraction at mysore palace. (mostly men!) for a photo with her. The palace was beautiful, filled with ornate walls and ceilings, and dozens of paintings with multi-armed goddesses and big-bootied sacrificial men being consumed by lions (we’d love to know the story behind that). After exploring the palace, we walked around a fly-filled marketplace with varieties of fruits I’ve never seen or smelled before. At 6pm, we began to ask around for the bus station. We finally found it, only to discover after asking four people “Which bus to Bangalore?” that there was another bus station 20 minutes away. We asked directions from at least one person per block as we searched for the "rural station" until finally we stopped the right person. Talk about profiling… finding someone who simultaneously speaks English and doesn’t seem sketchy is no easy feat here. I went for the smiling collared man holding his son’s hand, which worked out very nicely. The line for the Bangalore bus was 2-4 busloads long. Ugh. Thankfully, a shout of “Bangalore! Bangalore!” arose behind us. As people started sprinting toward the bus, we decided it couldn’t hurt to join the stampede. We finally arrived back to the Bangalore station only to realize
Strange fruit
We accidentally ended up in a sketchy roadside market when trying to find the famous mysore market. Anyone know what fruit this is? It smelled great, and if it weren't for the bugs, we totally would've bought one! that we had trouble once again with rickshaws… a 70 rupee ride cost us 250, even after the shouting, arguing, and pouting. Ah, to be white/eastasian/european in India.
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anonymous
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A delicious fruit called Jackfruit.