I’m Here!

I can hardly belive that today is day five in India. I am sorry that I havent posted earlier but between jet lag, sight seeing, meal times, and discussing the fate of the world it’s been tough to fit in studying, writing & sleeping.

I am happy to report that Bangalore has been a very welcoming experience so far. The people are friendly and sometimes curious about us. For the most part, the people of Bangaluru (as is the actually Indian name of the city) are quite similar to any other city in the USA. There are malls, restaurants, parks and government offices like banks, gvm’t buildings and the post office. You will also find a variety of churches, mosques and temples. But I would be sugar coating things if I left it at that. There is a lot of poverty and trash here that confuses me.

One of the first experiences here in India was to go to Lalbagh Garden & Electronic City. What is nice is that because our group is small, we have been able to nimbly go off course or add stops along the way. One of those additions was a stop at the Bull Temple.

Temples are everywhere. The pop up in between buildings, so much so that you could miss them. The Bull Temple is one that is a larger temple, set back from the street and a bit elevated. The Temple houses the 3rd largest carved bull in India. The black granite piece must have been about 15 feet high and 18 feet around. One solid piece of granite.

As we were about to reboard the van, our guide noticed a wedding going on across the street. She nonchalantly crossed us to the other side (which this in itself is a harrowing first experience in India!) and walked us right in to the event. I think as Americans, we were all a bit worried about our wedding crashing but we soon (immediately) discovered that the family practically ushered us in and pushed us to the front of the groom.

It was the quintessential event that I had wished to occur in India, and this was day one. The women explained what was happening. the bride and groom were raised in to the air to playfully lasso eachother with beautifully strung garlands of marigolds, jasmine and roses. Everyone was putting rice in our hands to partake in the celebration. We thanked them for their hospitality and started to leave but the people were smiling and imploring us to stay “five more minutes” for coffee. They took great pride in sharing this day. The people were Brahman, which is considered a “good caste” and they wanted us to know this.

Throughout our stops, those who are curios enough to approach us ask ,”foreign?” I start with saying “yes, United States.” Some like to hear you say “USA” or “America”.

I need to sign off as I am packing up for the next stop…. there will be more but I am having some it problems with getting pics posted. those of you who are friends, please see my fb page

xoxoxo