Bangalore...is a brash, brazen, brouhaha (I can't help myself sometimes!) in the state of Karnataka, is a world away from
Chennai and a concentrated example of what India is rapidly developing into. Every second person is a software engineer and enormous international businesses are rapidly consuming space and manpower, whilst the generation of young, skilled, single, educated and moneyed professionals are making the most of their well above average wages.
Bangalore's yuppies mean that there is, yes that's right, a nightlife here. And though there is an extremely strict citywide 11.30pm closing time, bars and clubs are filled with
Bangalore's beautiful people every single night.
Seeing central
Bangalore for the first time was like stepping into an Indian version of Times Square, New York. Brigade Road and Mahatma Gandhi Road are an acid trip of neon lights, food vendors, street entertainers, exquisitely decorated shop windows, shopping malls, McDonalds, KFCs and six-lane roads, saturated with the same assortment of rickshaws, taxis, bicycles, battered buses, utility vehicles, cars and of course, cows. The tell tale giveaways that you're in India are always present.
I'm living in a place called Cooke Town, about a 30 minute rickshaw ride away from town and probably also a 20 minute walk. In India, it is polite to refer (I learnt) to your elders as Auntie/Uncle as a sign of respect...thus my Auntie (Maria) and Uncle (Albert) have had the pleasure of having me as their guest for a month. They're Christians, so married for love over arrangement and the house is a happy place to be. As soon as I arrived and Auntie learned I was ill she gave me strict instructions as to how to recover (including drinking pepper water...Never. Again.), and mothered me to extremes. I really appreciated how affectionate she was though. Being away from home starves you of hugs and kisses somewhat. Aww.
They have a team of one house boy and two ladies who do all the chores and tasks, some necessary and others not so necessary. The language barrier is a little restrictive, and I wish they'd let me pour milk onto my cereal and put toast in the toaster but alas, it's not proper. The whole house was in a hullabaloo because I'd changed my own bed sheets, they couldn't stop giggling.
Kid's Activity Leader:
Work here is based at an NGO, which works with orphanages and children's homes across
Bangalore to improve their lives. Our roles as volunteers can be based anywhere, working in the office or at the centres, some of which are for HIV+ children. As it is summer holidays for Indian children, we've all been working on summer camps. I was thrown in at the deep end at an orphanage called Vishwas, working with about 20 children aged 2-16. As they'd already done summer camp for a week, they seemed to know more that I did about anything and after an extremely brief introduction, choruses of 'AUNTIE, AUNTIE, AUNTIE' became some sort of anthem and shelter kids are a real handful, especially as I was a recovering wreck. Though of course, favorites are not allowed, my three superstars were Sandeep, Santosh and Bujama. Sandeep seemed to be a big brother to everyone and would sort everything out. If I asked him anything he'd reply with "Yes, Auntie, I will do." It's strange to identify personalities in children so young, but with the right encouragement, with his intelligence, obedience and capability to take on seemingly everything, Sandeep could ace at business. This was probably the saddest aspect to being here; knowing that a full education can never be offered to these children unless adoption takes place, and unfortunately this isn't common. Santosh was such a stud, loved Michael Jackson, and could dance just as well. He wore his hand-me-downs with style and is destined to be a heart breaker I'm sure. Bujama was an absolute tyrant and made me laugh so much as she'd take on the boys in fights and though she couldn't speak a word of English, and I am far from fluent in Kannada, we'd have long chats. The senior Aunties LOVED having volunteers, and frequently bundled myself and Abi into their bedroom to do our hair, teach us Kannada and instruct us on how to wear saris, whilst force feeding us all the Indian delights they could muster.
The finale of summer camp was a big performance, which although in terms of organization was a shambles, the kids' dancing and drama performances were absolutely fantastic and we couldn't have been any more proud of them.
More Weekends Away:
We've been on a few weekend trips, such as Gokarna, on the Western Ghats near Goa. We had to take an overnight sleeper train to get there which was exciting enough, without the fact we'd gone to the wrong station for 10.50 pm and our train left at 11pm thus having, I'm sure, a record breaking rickshaw ride to the correct station. God bless India's lack of organization, the train was 45minutes late and so we made it with a good half hour spare.
Last weekend I traveled out to a place called Mysore with three of my old gang from
Chennai. Mysore became a constant battle with touts to leave us the hell alone. Apart from that, the main attraction, the Maharaja's Palace was absolutely spectacular with the most painstakingly detailed interior of gold, peacock blue and stained glass. I'll keep repeating this but India knows how to do royalty, even if they're behind on a few other things.
Conclusively, I am enjoying
Bangalore more than
Chennai. It's easy to get away at weekends and I've enjoyed an entire month of not feeling like I need hospital treatment! Hoorah!