Bangalore

Last post from the lower half of the country! Off to the train station in 3 hours (scheduled to arrive in Kolkata at 5am Thursday). Had another good sleep last night in my dark, quiet room, but did have to kill 3 mini cockroaches before going to bed (it was almost cute how small they were, and so I felt really guilty about killing them - but would have had a hard time sleeping knowing they were crawling around the room). Oh, and I saw white people! Two yesterday and two today. But only one out on the streets. One man was in the lobby of my hotel yesterday, and a couple were in the restaurant downstairs this morning. First I've seen since I've been in this area. I expect there will be more in Kolkata.

Back to the final days with Jim and Blaire. We had good quick flight (1 hour) from Trivandrum to Bangalore, on a very clean and modern Indigo (great name huh?) plane. Not so great was seeing my smaller bag arrive on the belt with the top zipper partway opened, and realizing that my MP3 was gone. Had the attendant lady call around to see if it had been found, but it hadn't. Don't know if the zipper just came undone and it fell out, or if someone deliberately took it. Luckily, I came equipped with 2 music players, and the 2nd, my iPod nano, is the one with all my yoga music on it. Nevertheless, it was a sad drive away from the airport as I thought about all the meaningful songs I had accumulated on my old MP3 (that had come with me to Thailand as well). I suppose this is another exercise in detachment. The pilot had said it was 33 when we landed around 7pm, but with the dryness of Bangalore (or because I was now used to so much hotter) it felt cool and pleasant. We checked into the Purple Lotus, a gorgeous boutique hotel in a nice (by Indian standards) part of town. The decor and our rooms were spectacular. Had a delicious dinner downstairs, then went back to our rooms for TV and bed (in the most comfortable bed, pillows, and blanket I've slept in in my life!).

Up at 7 on the 5th, great buffet breakfast (again), then walked to the nearby Cubbon Park. Sort of like Bangalore's Central Park, but less busy, less maintained, less impressive. Though there were some absolutely spectacular trees. A guy in Varkala had recommended a good Bollywood movie for us to watch here, so to escape the afternoon heat, we got a tuk-tuk to the mall to get some tickets. Well, according to our driver, 'mall' means large silk store where he gets commission for bringing tourists. This had happened to me once in South America, but it was surprisingly the first time in India. We didn't go in to look at silk, and instead walked down the street to Cafe Coffee Day (their equivalent of Starbucks) for 3 delicious Coffeetinis (fancy flavored cold coffees in martini glasses, which probably would have cost 10 bucks a pop back home - here, just a 100 rupees, 2 bucks... which is still pricey for here, considering you can easily get a full Indian meal for under 100 rupees). Walked around and found the mall we were looking for (pretty deserted place), bought our tickets for the show in an hour and a half, then headed back to Purple Lotus as Jim wanted to drop off his big camera bag. Got lost on the way back, had to get another tuk-tuk, and then, when it was time to leave the hotel again, we realized we didn't know the name of the mall we had to get back to. After using our tickets for clues and describing a few close landmarks to the receptionists, we were able to to tell the driver where to take us. The movie was indeed a very good thriller. No cheesiness, no group singing throughout, but also very little English. The plot was pretty intricate, so we really had work hard to fill in the blanks, but were able to follow the main storyline. Of course, we all stood for the national anthem before it started (Jim giggled, it was the first time he experienced this). Back to PL for laundry and internet. For dinner that night, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe which we had walked past earlier in the day. There happened to be a live Indian rock band playing that night, so it was really loud an pretty packed. It was actually the first time I had seen some bar nightlife in India. The place itself was beautiful, in an old building with super high ceilings and great decor. Don't think I'd ever been to a Hard Rock before. 

Up at 8 on the 6th, buffet breakfast, and from the moment I woke up, I was already choked up about losing my great company that night. This was our last day together, before Jim flew home to Salt Lake City, Utah, and Blaire to Eckville, Alberta. I checked the web for confirmation of the Art of Living course I'd be starting that evening, and all seemed in order. When I looked at the map a little closer, I realized the ashram was an hour out of the city. This made me a little nervous about finding transportation and accommodation nearby. And also sad about having to leave my travel mates a little earlier. To get more info (I was pretty disorganized about the whole thing), I figured I'd better call. When I did, the woman told me the course had started last night and that it wasn't possible to join part way. Guess the info from the website was wrong, and while I was disappointed about not being able to take the course, I was actually a little relieved about having less planning and traveling to do that day, and thrilled to have an extra few hours with J&B. So we all packed our bags, brought them down at check-out time, leaving them in the conference room as we headed off for a final afternoon in the city. Had lunch at another Cafe Coffee Day, where Jim had the great idea of hopping on the modern above ground metro (which we could see from where we were sitting) for our last glimpses of Bangalore. Went through airport-style security to get in, bought our tokens, and walked up to the platform. The security guards up there were on whistle power trips, blowing frantically every time anyone got remotely near the yellow lines. Had a great ride on the smooth train, people inside excitedly asking us to pose for "snaps" with them. Went to one end, got off, crossed over, and the went back. On the way home, we stopped for a drink at Hard Rock, where Jim bought Blaire and I rockin' Bengaluru Hard Rock t-shirts. Went back to Purple Lotus, used the web, played a last few rounds of cards, then went down for dinner, where we shared our first bottle of red wine (Blaire was happy!) as well as tons of wonderful memories from the trip. Then came the sad good-byes, but Blaire promised to come visit Montreal next summer (2013), and Jim and I have been managing to see each other every couple years or so. So not good-bye for too long.

The rest you know from my previous blogs. I was worried about being stuck in Bangalore for three days with nothing to do since my course fell through (train ticket was pre-booked, assuming I'd be doing the course), but catching up on blog and photo posts has taken up most of those 3 days. Along with a little exploring of my surroundings and watching some TV and movies in the evenings. Back to less screen and more books on the train journey ahead.

I'll end today with the two quotes that are on the back cover of The Guru of Joy - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar & The Art of Living, the book I had bought (but again, have yet to read) in Rishikesh, to prepare myself for the course I was supposed to take. I'm still a little unsure how I feel about the term 'God', and it's used here, but I just love the message, regardless of what our personal word for God is.

"Meditation is seeing God in yourself. Love is seeing God in the person next to you. Knowledge is seeing God everywhere."

"Enlightenment is the journey from the head back to the heart, from words back to silence, to innocence in spite of our intelligence."

Wow. Goosebumps. Really hope I get a chance to take that course with him someday!