Republic Day Weekend

Last weekend was a 3 day weekend. So it was kind of split between fun and 'work'. Saturday, Maya, Cindy and I went shopping. Mostly for household, but also for some school items for Maya. We didn't have Manju, our regular driver, and it was a bit of a trial. The substitute didn't know his way around Bangalore (though he is a driver for another expat). He didn't know where Commercial Street was, or how to get there from our house. Not only that, but he didn't speak very good english, hardly any at all. So getting around town was a bit of a chore.

I had wanted to get out of the city for the day on Sunday. Cindy convinced me that we shouldn't go see the wildlife park as it would be overcrowded. It probably was based on our other experiences for the weekend. So after hemming and hawing about where we could actually go, and get our Driver to manage getting us there, we chose to go to Nandi Hills again. Ari hadn't been. It isn't too far from the house, and we could explain to the driver how to get there. So off we went.

We arrived around Noon and it was already crowded. We drove to the top and found some parking. At that time the loop around the top was about 1/2 parked full. Meaning cars on only one side of the road. It was still driveable. We wandered around the perimeter first. Saw a pooja going on at the Nandi Bull. Both Cindy and I wanted to take photos, but weren't sure if we would be intruding on the pooja, so we didn't. We showed Ari where Tipu Sultan would execute people by dropping them down the cliff, though she didn't want to get too close. Then we went to the top. Ari got to take pictures of the aggressive monkeys. This particular one decided to pee just as she was taking the picture! I didn't get that on film, so to speak. We wandered around the Nehru Guest house, which has some nice gardens around it. It also has some interesting statues in it. This particular smaller Nandi Bull had been recently decorated or blessed (I'm not sure which).

After wandering around, we had a simple lunch in the little restaurant overlooking the cliffs down towards the south, in the direction of Bangalore. Unfortunately the air was thick with dust and smog, and looked pretty brown. We could not see far. Last time we were there the view was much better. I guess we need some rain to clear the air out. Then we all had an ice cream. Mine was butterscotch, which came in an almost dayglow yellow. It was rather strange to eat, but tasted good enough. I had some guys come up and ask to have my picture taken with them. We figured this was an entree to getting a picture with Ari, who joined for the 2nd shot. She took a picture as well, but I don't have a copy of that.

Monday we were invited to a 'barbie' at the DeVilles. Good fun. We had to take a rickshaw there, fortunately there were only 3 of us as Cindy was sick, so we fit in ok. We managed by just giving directions, left, right, straight. Again he spoke a little, but not a lot of English. We had a nice day. There were some college age kids there who had been volunteering for a month or 2 a the school where Ari volunteers. They were from the US and England mostly. I think one was Aussie. They seemed nice enough and it was nice for Ari and Kelsey to have some other company. We got home after dinner, fully stuffed, and ready for a short week. So, another week in Bangalore goes by.

Today is sort of a lazy day, and tomorrow we go out to a friends house for an afternoon get together. It seems that where ever and what ever we do, all the talk these days is about the Economy, whether it is going to get worse here in India, how bad it is in the US, and Europe. Whether Obama will succeed--everyone seems to hope so. He has brought a lot of hope to people in this part of the world. I just count my lucky stars I am over here in India with a job, rather than in the US looking for one now...