After the safari yesterday, Brian and I took some time to sleep… and before long we were both up and ready to grab a drink or two. It’s not uncommon in the area to stay out late drinking, and given how few nights we would spend where we weren’t headed for work… this seemed like a great idea!
We started off at the “Wood Fired Pizza” place next to our hotel in the mall square. Brian had been there before and wanted to have it again. He said the calzone was very good, but had no tomato sauce at all. I’d give it a try! It was… well… not exactly what I was expecting. The bread was very traditional of India, meaning not a lot of volume and very flat. This caused the entire calzone to be a bit greasy as there was nothing really to suck up the excess. It was okay overall, but I don’t think I would get it again. While we sat there, another coworker joined us, and soon we were headed for the elusive “Sky Lounge” which they have here. It’s a club, essentially, with a rooftop dance floor and bar. We got there just as they ran out of tables, but were told we were welcome to hang around the bar and drink if we wanted. We did, paid the cover, and headed in.
After a few drinks each, we met other coworkers and one from India who is a regular at Sky Lounge, and they were able to finagle us a table. I didn’t get any pictures up there just yet… but I did find this one: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5262/5590527828_a478ec6f4d_b.jpg
It was beautiful up there, and while we had already eaten our other coworkers enjoyed some appetizers while we enjoyed the music and night life of Bangalore. There were people of all ages dancing, a rugby team from Sweden sticking out awkwardly above the heads of the rest of the crowd… and we had a great time. As rain began to fall, we moved to the edges and eventually called it a night after finishing off one my drink at the hotel bar. The next day was supposed to be a trip to some local waterfalls… but both Brian and I bowed out. We were going to take some time for ourselves and get things like laundry done.
As it would turn out as we awoke the morning of May 2nd, none of us would be able to go to the waterfalls. Our coworkers weren’t feeling well after downing some very spicy appetizers, and while Brian and I had already said we weren’t going… everyone else cancelled that morning. I awoke around 7:00 AM IST, had breakfast, and Brian and I headed out to do a bit of shopping at a local store.
We knew the general direction of the store we were looking for, and it being Sunday morning we were immediately inundated with rickshaw drivers offering to take us here and there. They know the best shopping, they would say, and would even follow you down the streets as you walked. We refused sternly, and still they followed, some for nearly six blocks, waiting for us to give in. The “sales” side of things here, everything from rides to stores, is very aggressive.
On the way, were we sidetracked into a conversation with a man who said it was a Bangalore local, who could help point us to the right route to the store. Immediately, though, he began to suggest alternative paths that seemed longer, different shops than we had ended up hoping to go to initially… and I got the impression he wasn’t being helpful so much as he was looking for money for giving us a tip on how to go shopping. I’d seen him near a rickshaw earlier, but I had thought he was a passenger. As it would turn out… he was a driver.
Brian and I thanked the man for his directions and suggestions to avoid a political rally taking place that day (there was no rally, of course) and headed off in the direction he suggested. Soon we were a few blocks away when our helpful native showed up in his rickshaw and offered to have us ride with him. “It’s not about the money!” he said, he just wanted us to be safe. I refused, and we continued walking. Soon he was talking to us again though, and offered to take us to a shop that was a block away. Brian agreed, and soon we had walked well over a mile following a random guy from Bangalore across some pretty major intersections.
For a time, I thought perhaps he was hoping for an easy target to rob… hoping we would follow him into a dark alley or a deserted area. At one point a man put his hand on my chest from behind, and I turned immediately sweeping his arm away, only to incidentally backhand him across the face. Not sure how to handle the situation I took a step toward him (he did touch me…) and he shrunk away before he started following our little group at a distance. He eventually would catch up, and beg the group for money. He’d been trying to get my attention, and I had misinterpreted and slapped him without meaning to… but here there are so many people in poverty that offering any of them something will lead to a crowd surrounding you. He go nothing from us for his trouble. It became clear though, over the next few blocks, that the rickshaw driver was also just after a dollar or two and was sending us to his shop of choice… where he gets a percentage kickback on anything we purchase. As luck would have it, however, it was the right kind of store for what we needed… and it was pretty nice overall!
The sales staff were pushier than the rickshaw driver, offering for us to sit down, showing us all their wares and telling us over and over again what to look at, what we should buy, why we should buy it, how nice it was, how it was cheap and we could afford it. It was like being at some of the outside bazaar stalls in Europe, except this was inside of a store where escape was made difficult and they didn’t take a forceful “no” for an answer. I ended up being rude and just ignoring them while I looked around the store. It was the only way to shop on your own! We bought a few things each, and left the store.
Along the trip back, the driver (well, walker at this point) continued to corral us in an attempt for more shopping. Brian finally broke from his lead and we headed for the hotel. It became clear to the driver that we weren’t spending more, and we both gave him a few dollars for getting us across the major intersections (seriously, we could have died without him… heck we nearly died with him.) and went on our way. Back to the hotel… to put our things down and a few hours to relax, and then it was on to our next adventure at a coworker’s home.
Our coworker Pari is very interesting. I haven’t asked of course, but I would say she is in her mid or late twenties, somewhere around my age perhaps, and extremely perky. She’s outgoing, very intelligent, and excitable. Add this to the fact that she met Brian the last time he was out here… and we had an invitation to a dinner at her parent’s house for a taste of local cuisine.
Pari and her brother, Pandu, picked us up from the hotel around six, and we were off to dinner. Pari is married, though her husband is doing his collegiate dissertation and is currently away, (her husband is actually an extremely bright guy in IT Security and Cryptography, I hope to meet him someday!) and lives in the city, Pandu lives with his parents and will one day take over their business and home as time goes on. Pandu is also married, though his wife was out of town as well, so it was just the core family of four and Brian and I for dinner. We’d invited our other coworkers, but none had come with us, and boy did they miss out!
We took some roads through a part of Bangalore I’ve never visited before, and ended up stopping to pick up some fresh fruits, coconuts, and I expressed an interesting in truly authentic local fare to Pari. She would absolutely take care of it, she said, and about two blocks later we pulled over again at a street vendor.
I should stop here for a moment to say that every health official I’ve ever met says you should never eat food from a vendor on the side of the road in any country I’ve ever visited. I realize there are inherent concerns there with health and cleanliness, and this is sound advice. With that said… it has never stopped me before nor would it stop me today! When Pari came back with a variety of dishes for us to try (all “not spicy”, because they were for the Americans) we downed them all, and it was delicious. I have one picture with me and more to come later on… it’s a bit blurry… but we were eating a mixture of vegetables and spices out of a banana leaf wrapped in newspaper covered in the local language. I thought I could probably say that was a pretty authentic experience!
One of a few different dishes we tried!
Pari warned us not to mention the food to her mother, as she was spoiling our dinner, and we happily obliged. A few minutes down a very deserted highway later we arrived at a three-story house where Pari’s parents had recently moved in.
The house was made of concrete, and was very airy on every level. I’m not sure how many square feet, but I would say around 900 per floor if not 1000. There was about as much room outside as inside with walkways and staircases (all outside) and patios, etc.. The entire building, including interior walls, was made of concrete. The floors inside the house however, had been inlaid with granite, very nice granite in fact! This is actually very normal for upscale housing here these days because granite keeps cold even when it is extremely warm. Walking around barefoot helps the family cool off, and sometimes they even sleep on the floor when it reaches the hottest parts of summer.
We met Pari’s father, an electrical engineer who had helped with most of the house himself, and her mother who was very traditional and had helped raise the children and keep the household over the years. They showed us pictures of Pari and Pandu’s weddings, each of which were three-day events where up to 1,200 people came to pay their respects to the families. I’m not sure, but it seemed he number of guests was a deep point of honor for their family and showed the breadth of influence they had in the community. It was very neat to see and the pictures from the wedding ceremonies were amazing. Both Pari and Pandu were married thanks to their parents, both through arranged-marriages. Disney had taught me this was not typically a good thing, but Pandu actually asked his parents to find him a bride and Pari seemed to be very happy with her life and her husband as well. I suppose it varies! It was great to get to know her family, and share laughs and food through the night. We ate a few different chutneys with some local breads for dipping and small sugar cakes for dessert with vanilla ice cream. We also had some tender coconut water after, to help us digest.
After a few hours we thanked our hosts and headed out. They’ve encouraged me to visit again before the end of my trip and it felt a little like I have an adoptive family out here. They offered for us to stay at their home in the future instead of the hotel even, which was extremely generous! I hope to get the opportunity to let them turn up the heat a little bit next time on the meal (they were cautioned to our weak ability to cope with spices) and see if we can have another memorable night like that one! It was the best part of my trip so far.
