August 18, 2008
It has been a year and 3 months since we moved to India. I no longer yearn for home (America). Slowly, we have searched for “comfort” foods, “comfort” trips, libraries, restaurants, and slowly we have found them all. I no longer yearn for a trip to Java City, instead we just take the 15 mins drive to Breadz, the bakery where we buy our fresh breads without preservatives, and indulge ourselves with the “Mind Blower Chocolate swirl coffee”. We have bought the Times food guide, and have been visiting all the recommended restaurants in town.
I am often touched by the special treatment I get being a “lady driver”. Often I have gotten lost in Bangalore roads, there has never been a dearth of help. Even the policeman once let me make an illegal U-turn to the nearest main road because he did not want me to get lost some more. India’s ability to “tilt the mirror’, as Shantaram said in his book. Just a couple days ago, in my effort to find parking, I ended up in a narrow blind alley, from where I could not steer my car back to the main road. Two men came out to help me, one of them even drove my car out of that alley. Total strangers they were.
The library that we discovered on Infantry road, carries such a wide range of books. At a time when it seems like that fantasy books are taking over every bookstore, the different genre of books we can find at the library for our son has been very much appreciated.
Last Friday, we went to a Pizza Hut, this was just our second trip there, but the lady remembered our daughter and came after her saying “Last time you did not talk to me, today at least you tell me your name”. At Breadz, they ask my husband “How is the family?” They remember that I like to limit the plastic shopping bags that I use.
I am realizing that such personal touches calm people down, reduce stress, there is something about human nature that makes it appealing.
Not to mention all the trips that we take. India is such a beautiful country. Living in India, we are able to visit the little gems, places that can be reached only by road. We have the luxury of time now.
We are finally getting familiar with the lanes and bylanes, the little alleys, the specialty shops, that new Italian restaurant that just opened. The discovery of all these has been a challenge and adventurous.
Our childrens’ lives are full of their friends. School friends, who come over for sleepovers. Neighborhood friends, who stay up all night and exchange ghost stories. Our daughter, who looks at the clock every evening to see when it is 5:30, so that she can don her helmet and take off on her bike to meet up with her friends.
Life has been good to us so far in Bangalore.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Kabini and Coonoor (Swagata's version)
March 2008
Making my peace with nature
This is Kabini, untouched, unspoilt by human needs. The last time I was so taken aback by nature’s beauty was at Liechtenstein. Beauty that every human yearns to see. To be able to experience more of this beauty, humans start building ugly structures, in the process destroying the very views they try close to get to.
We had a two week vacation from school, so we drove 200 klms to the edge of Nagarhole Forest, where we stayed at Jungle River and Lodges http://www.junglelodges.com The forest has lots of elephants, we were able to see two pairs of mother and calf, lots of spotted deer, wild monkeys, different types of birds, and lots of flora and fauna.
Conoor, June 2008
And, this is Coonoor in the Nilgiris.
I am sitting in the garden of our hotel, looking out at the blue mountains. Coonoor reminds me of Shillong from my childhood days. Mountains all around, clouds hanging low, mist floating past. I can understand why the Nilgiris is called “Blue Mountains” – the vegetation on the mountains is so dark green and lush that from a distance it looks blue. Optical illusion? There must be some other reason also for this coloring effect – the mist perhaps?
When we came to Coonoor in June, the rains had just started. We drove all the way from Bangalore. In the afternoons the sun goes into hiding behind the clouds, a cold breeze blows, and the mist turns into raindrops.
Coonoor is not commercialized yet – like Ooty has become, with ugly structures all aound – I hope they have the sense to keep it like this.
One of those mother-children moments amidst the Lush and Green.
On the way back, we stopped at Brindavan Gardens, Mysore.
Shatranj Ki Khiladis:-
Making my peace with nature
This is Kabini, untouched, unspoilt by human needs. The last time I was so taken aback by nature’s beauty was at Liechtenstein. Beauty that every human yearns to see. To be able to experience more of this beauty, humans start building ugly structures, in the process destroying the very views they try close to get to.
We had a two week vacation from school, so we drove 200 klms to the edge of Nagarhole Forest, where we stayed at Jungle River and Lodges http://www.junglelodges.com The forest has lots of elephants, we were able to see two pairs of mother and calf, lots of spotted deer, wild monkeys, different types of birds, and lots of flora and fauna.
Conoor, June 2008
And, this is Coonoor in the Nilgiris.
I am sitting in the garden of our hotel, looking out at the blue mountains. Coonoor reminds me of Shillong from my childhood days. Mountains all around, clouds hanging low, mist floating past. I can understand why the Nilgiris is called “Blue Mountains” – the vegetation on the mountains is so dark green and lush that from a distance it looks blue. Optical illusion? There must be some other reason also for this coloring effect – the mist perhaps?
When we came to Coonoor in June, the rains had just started. We drove all the way from Bangalore. In the afternoons the sun goes into hiding behind the clouds, a cold breeze blows, and the mist turns into raindrops.
Coonoor is not commercialized yet – like Ooty has become, with ugly structures all aound – I hope they have the sense to keep it like this.
One of those mother-children moments amidst the Lush and Green.
On the way back, we stopped at Brindavan Gardens, Mysore.
Shatranj Ki Khiladis:-
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