Back to Bangalore

Oh Bangalore, how I did not miss thee.

You know it's going to be a long day when at the fourth security check before 8am you trip over your suitcase and twist your ankle in a way that sends you to the ground in pain. Way too much excitement for a Sunday morning. After a few delays though, I finally made it back to Delhi on Sunday afternoon. I limped my way to the airline counter to change my flight back to Bangalore to make it earlier and then got into a taxi and went straight to my favorite place in Delhi - the Park Hotel.

The limp was bad enough that people kept asking me if they could bring a doctor, but I so badly wanted to sit peacefully in the spa that I declined the help. I did, however, discover one 0f the most amazing things about India. Manicures cheaper than even the Vietnamese salons in DC!!! I ended up choosing a manicure, pedicure, shampoo, haircut, and blow-dry that totalled, including tip, less than $55. Unbelievable. They massaged my head, neck, and shoulders during the shampoo and then had two people hovering during the blow-dry, one for the brush and one for the dryer. It felt plush, to say the least. Then it was time for my pedicure and this man scrubbed my feet better than anyone else has ever before. I kept apologizing because I didn't envy the man... I'd just spent a week in the mountains wearing flip flops almost everyday. Couldn't have been an easy job. He was scrubbing with such vigor that the manicurist had to stop and wait because my whole body was shaking. Not to mention all the screaming I did when he touched my ankle the wrong way. I felt slightly bad for the other people in the spa, but the man was just not being gentle!

After that luxury I went down to the cafe for brunch and had this fantastic mezze platter and I had the strangest feeling of not really being in India. Sadly, the feeling ended on the drive to the airport (though I got to ride in an Ambassador, one of those fabulous cars that looks like it was taken off the set of Lassie).

Of course my flight to Bangalore was delayed and when we finally got on the plane it was so unbearably hot that I felt like I was suffocating. The flight attendants told us there was a glitch and that as soon as the plane took off the ac would go into full effect. Well, that wasn't enough for the annoying lady next to me who demanded to be let off the plane becuase she had high blood pressure and couldn't fly 'like this.' There was some misunderstanding and they ended up taking EVERYONE off the plane and loading us onto Jet Airways buses where we sat on the runway right next to the plane for an hour. Then they put us back on the same plane with the same heat with the same explanations about the ac turning on when we took off. At least this time we took off quickly and of course as soon as we were in the air things cooled off nicely.

Getting back to Bangalore gave me such a visceral shock. It was dirty and polluted and the baggage carousels were too small and the line for a pre-paid taxi stretched through most of the arrivals hall and only one man was working the counter. Then to actually get into a taxi you had to wait in another line right next to all the honking and fumes and I realized there really was a difference in the honking in Delhi and Bangalore. In the north they still honk a lot but they're quick honks and don't make you wish you had ear plugs. In Bangalore, however, they seem to hold down the horn just to let everyone know who's where. If you pass another car on the road it's as though there's a rule you have to hold down the horn until you've passed. Madness.

But here I am, survived the journey and am back to work. I went to Saras's house last night and finally made her hamantashen cookies. She was so surpised that they actually were as good as I told her they'd be that I had to make a second batch because the first one got eaten before they'd even had time to cool. She even emailed mom to thank her for sending me the recipe and asked for recipes for more Jewish/NYC sweets.

That's all from here. Wish I could upload pictures but my laptop is determined to misbehave at the coffee shops with wireless and I'm not sure how to fix it.
Cheers from India. Only six weeks to go!