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Other entries in Bangalore

To Bangalore!

So after a late night of dancing, chanting and getting dowsed in pink powder I left the elephants and dirty, cramped streets of Mumbai behind and headed to Bangalore where I am volunteering for about 3 months.  I was a bit apprehensive about the 24 hour train journey as I'd heard a few stories about girls travelling alone being harrassed by men.  Luckily my worries were without any need and the train journey passed uneventfully.  It was an early start for the train leaving at 8am.   I was lucky to be sharing my compartment with a young Indian woman who was really friendly and helpful.  Before we had even left she had bought me a bag of crisps which I was incredibly grateful for as I had not had any time for breakfast.  Throughout the journey she helped me out by explaining what was what, made sure that i got meals and also taught me some stuff about Indian culture.  I had opted for the more "comfortable" 2nd class air-conditioned carraige.  This meant that the carriage was divided into sections of 4bunks seperated with curtains.  The bunks were firm to say the least and covered in vinyl which was a bit sweaty but better than having fabric that could carry bedbugs I guess!  I dread to think how uncomfortable the beds in the non-a/c sleeper class were given that I was told they were a lot harder - I'm not sure how they could be short of them being concrete!  At about 7pm two men boarded the train to share our compartment.  They didn't speak any English but seemed friendly enough and they were kind enough to allow us to have the top bunks which they had actually reserved.  I was impressed that we actually managed to travel for 23 hours without any delay (a far cry from British trains) however the fact that we got delayed by about 3/4 an hour in the last 1/2 hour was a bit frustrating!

When I arrived in Bangalore I was met by a taxi driver - Mr Ravi.  He hardly spoke enlish - I had just assumed that he had something to do with Parikrma (the school I'm volunteering at) but that wasn't the case.  He just droppped me off at my house which took me by surprise a bit.  Luckily there were other people in to answer and sort me out!

Bangalore is a big change from Mumbai  - much more liveable.  Whilst the city is still extremely polluted (apparently breathing in the air in the large cities in India -which Ihave little choise over wherether or not to do! - is equivilent to smoking 20cigarettes a day!  Ican certainly beleive that expecially in the congested centre- its not so bad where i say.  Despite this there is much more of a feeling of space, it seems a lot cleaner and newer (the majority of buildings don't look decrepet and really to fall down as in Mumbai) and  it has a more western feel to it in the centre whilst still being undeniably Indian.  It is also a lot greener with lots of coconut trees and red dusty earth.

I'm not actually based right in the city of Bangalore its a small suburb called Sahakaranagar (pronounced something along the lines of Sakanagar -goodness knows why all those othe letters are there!).  It's a really nice wee area - it has quite a village feel to it with lots of little shops and vegetable stalls and things.  There are of course the obligatory cows wandering the streets which are also filled with lots of street dogs (you would love it Kate and Neil - ahem!).   Despite the centre of Bangalore feeling westernised that certainly isn't the feeling here.  I feel that I'm right in the depths of India.  Since arriving aparat from other volunteers at Parikrma I have only seen one other white person here.  We don't get ripped off here either because there's no tourist culture which is a big problem in some other parts of Bangalore and India for that matter.  It's also very mixed as to the people living here.  There are some pretty well off people with nice houses and cars etc and there are also however slums.  It's strange how india is such a place of dichotomies. 

Our house is nice.  It is the bottom floor of a large house - the rest is owned by an Indian family.  I am sharing with 4 other volunteers.  2 canadian girls - Mo and Laura, a German girl  - Steph and a German guy - Alex (totally outnumbered!).  We have 2 large bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (with sparadic hot water - big luxury!), a large lounge/dining area and a small kitchen. 

As yet I've not done a lot here.  Just went for a wander in town, had my first rickshaw ride!  I had Monday off school to recover as they only have exams just now anyway and today is a holiday.

Ok so that's the low down on where I'm staying I'm going to stop for now because I've gone on for long enough, this internet place is so dingy too - dark, grey except from the ganesh thing on the wall with little flashing lights (so indian) and has started to smell of pee!!

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