Home > GapBlogs > Tom Medley White
Hi,
I'm Tom, and when I had to plan a constructive gap year at very short notice, Gap Guru amazingly managed to find me the perfect job in the perfect city, working in Bangalore.
Tom
Tom Medley White's Blogs
Email
Print
A jam packed weekend! We left early on Saturday morning; Mysore is about a 4 hour drive from Bangalore.
We stopped on the way for traditional South Indian breakfast, before
stopping at Srirangapatna. This place, a few km from Mysore is a tourist
hotspot, for Indians and foreigners alike. It is crammed with temples,
mosques and ruins. It was once a huge fortress town, ruled by Tipu
Sultan, but it fell to the British in 1799.
My Projects
Last Sunday I went out with some friends from Woodstock to see ISKCON
Temple. ISKCON stands for The International Society for Krishna
Consciousness (the ‘Hare Krishna’ movement). The temple itself is
enormous, though divided up into many small sections; the largest room
is probably smaller than the average parish church. The centrepiece is a
large golden shrine for Krishna, which is surrounded by flowers and oil
lamps.
My Projects
The other day I was working the late shift (4.30-1.30) so I had most of the day free to explore more of Bangalore.
This time I went to Commercial Street, the main shopping district. This
area has been largely untouched by western shops and remains chock full
of traditional Indian shops and wares. It is just amazing to wander
around, I have by no means finished exploring the area. Round every
corner there is another tiny street crammed with shops, and where there
isn’t a shop front there’s a stall placed in front of the wall.
My Projects
I took to the streets of Bangalore
on my own today, which was quite scary but quite fun. Inevitably
everything which people always say happens happened, beggars followed me
around, every market stall you looked at had the owner coming out and
offering you something to buy, and there were plenty of cows! I kept to
the main streets today, M.G Road and Brigade Road,
though I did spend some time wandering round some of the smaller
streets nearby.
My Projects
Sorry this has taken a long time to come, but since arrival life has
been non-stop! I will tell you more about things when I have my internet
properly set up (I am just using the computer in the office at the
moment). Arrival in India is a complete shock to all the senses. No
guide books can possibly prepare you for the overwhelming nature of
experiencing the sight, sound, smell of a completely different culture
all in one go.
My Projects