Things I now know about Bangalore...

1. It's a bit of a contrast. You can go past a street that reeks Leeds' Festival longdrops on a hot day, and the next can be in the middle of a haze of spicy, yummy food smells that makes your stomach remind you that dinner would be nice.

2. People are painfully polite, even when they're trying to rob you blind. I have been called madame by every rickshaw driver, in spite of their trying to charge me 100 rupees for a 30 rupee journey. Talking of which, rickshaws are a really good way to get around (if you can convince the driver to put the meter on). They look like the inside of a wurlitzer ride at a fair ground and are quite exciting when combined with Indian roads (falling to bits) and Indian drivers (utterly mental).


3. The food is awesome, and I'm slowly getting used to the level of spiciness. I must also not eat too much paneer, otherwise I will be the size of a house when I get home! However, the soft drinks leave a little to be desired (apart from the sweet lime juice and soda, om nom nom!). If you can read the label, Ollie's orange soda on Monday contained absolutely no fruit!
They also have some interesting ideas as to what constitutes a refreshing beverage. We went out for dinner last night with Ollie's supervisor and a couple of other students and Ollie had a sherbet which tasted like a mixture of soap, salt, lime juice and perfume and something else entirely. It was topped with puffed rice and a pretty umbrella.
Needless to say, that's it at the end of the meal. Ollie didn't make much headway into it!

4. You never know from one day to the next whether the country will be running. Tomorrow and Friday I'm off work due to a national holiday. There's a temple that's been argued over by Muslims and Hindus for 61 years, both claim it as a holy site. The verdict is being delivered tomorrow and the government is worried about civil unrest, so has arranged for the minimum of people to be at work.

5. Monsoon rains are quite incredible when they do happen, and we're at the tail end of it!

6. There genuinely are cows everywhere. And goats. They can be a bit of a traffic hazard on a busy road!


So, the last two days have been quite quiet. I bought my first bit of sari silk on Monday night on MG road. It was quite expensive by Bangalore standards, but for a rectangle of pure silk 6m by 2m I'm quite happy with my purchase.
I'm not daft enough to attempt a sari, not without assistance from someone who knows what they're doing, for now I'm happy to plan my beautiful fleece and silk blanket!

Work is still really good fun, the kids are so lovely and the staff are really nice. It's great to be able to take them outside to play with the weather being so reliable, and the nursery has the only patch of properly green grass I've seen on private land!

With the two days I have off we're going to do some plotting and scheming as to where to go for Dusserah (sp?). This is a two-week festival celebrating the victory of the goddess Durga over a buffalo-headed demon, and is cause for massive celebrations. I'll be off work for a week and a half so we're hoping to see more of the country during that time, I hope this will involve a trip to the coast, I've only ever dreamed of tropical beaches and now I get to see one for real!