Back from Bangalore, and I slept for 6 hours straight after getting back from the airport! Flight was crazy uncomfortable. I just have a few things to say before my goldfish memory expires and I kinda forget the finer details of the trip.
I'm just gonna divide my posts on Bangalore into 2 parts, because its way too long to fit into 1 part and its gonna bore all of you. So... here goes. Part 1 = sights and sounds, Part 2 = actual mission trip :)
So I knew nothing about Indian geography before I went on this mission trip; it was only on the last day that I found out Bangalore is the name of a city, and not a state by itself. It's located in a state of India called Karnataka. Essentially the place that we were carrying out some work at was located at the outer core of Bangalore city; just about 45 minutes (with the CRAZY traffic) from the city core. Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India; so its business district is pretty developed - a bus ride down the city revealed many upmarket brands found also in Singapore, which to me is always an indicator of the development (at least the upper limit) of the city.
But as we crossed the border of the inner core and the outer core of the city, it was like being in two different worlds. The inner core was characterized by concrete, glass, steel, and many beautiful colonial-era buildings. Roads were nicely paved and the surrounding land was filled with luxuriant green cow grass. Lighted signboards and neon signs, traffic lights and distinct road lanes. And the people's clothes were much like what we see here in Singapore - T-Shirts and jeans, collared shirts etcetera. The outer core was a totally different story. Concrete, wood and aluminium roofs for some, unfinished buildings, distressed buildings, and the roads had so many potholes. Old school painted shop signs, murals, but surprisingly little grafitti hah. Lane lines were fading to nothingness and the land around - I remember it as being mostly orange soil. And the POLLUTION, oh it was so bad. Both noise from the traffic and air pollution. People around were markedly less well dressed. The men wore pretty ratty Polo T shirts or collared shirts, and the women were mostly dressed in Saris. Mad, mad, world.
Their Cabbies - much like the TukTuks we find in SE Asia
Leather Shoe Shop!
Man Selling Kacang Puteh by the Roadside
And there's just this one thing I have to point out about Bangalore. In India, the cow is a sacred animal; Hinduism's religious texts have expressed deep reverence for the cow. And I've heard about it before, and I knew that in India, people avoid beef. But that was about it - I didn't really think that cows would be wandering around - leash-less and with free reign to roam about the streets - in India! And people leave them to their own blissful businesses, they would sometimes stand around at bus stops, or in a few cases I saw them at road dividers. But the locals around do not bat an eye, and the drivers on the road simply give them wide berth when encountered on the roads! It was kerazy. It was actually quite a amusing sight to see the cow lazing around in the middle of a clogged up road, filled with cars tooting their horns at each other and swerving suddenly to avoid the cows - and the cow simply relaxing, swishing its tail and chilling out on the road. What a sight.
Cows waiting for the bus
Cow who wandered into my frame while I was taking a picture
And... don't get me started about the traffic. Oh. My. Goodness. People use the horn like it's free (okay, it is free but you know what I mean). In Singapore, people use the horn when they're really, really pissed. In Bangalore, people use the horn to say, "I'm coming! Get out of my way!" It's true! Every 3 seconds, a horn will blare. And their horns are fashioned to have different sounds, so sometimes it kinda sounds like fanfare music haha. In fact, on some huge lorries, emblazoned at the back of them are the words 'No Signal. Horn Please' - which essentially means, don't use your signal, or your hand signals, just horn to get your point across. If you don't horn, you don't warn the driver in front to give way and you are therefore in the wrong. There is no lane discipline in Bangalore. People cut lanes like no one's business, and U-Turn wherever possible. Its just kinda scary how drivers squeeze their way through almost impossible openings - more than a few times our bus squeezed past other vehicles within the length of a fingernail! As a pedestrian, when you cross the road, you've got to have guts. You just kinda walk onto the road hoping the cars will slow down for you because if you don't start walking, the cars keep moving. And as a bonus, you get blasted at by their horns. What do you do? You don't panic, you just keep moving.
There is a driving school, really?!
I wonder what it says.
Food wise, it was mostly naan and curry most of the time. Everything was spicy, everything was very very tasty (almost too tasty my taste buds were numb by the end of it). And I still love Indian food. India has prata as well - their version is parottha, and its less crispy than their Singaporean counterparts. Their Mango Lassi is to die for as well - some people don't like it though, they think its too strong. But the local Lassi has a strong yoghurt flavour and that is the whole point! A pity though that my throat was going and the heaty food wasn't really cutting it, so towards the middle of the trip I switched to less interesting things like fried rice and noodles. Yes, they do a decent job of chinese food :)
Naan
And yay, we're finished with part I!
Labels: bangalore, mission, musings, travel
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