Shopping in Bangalore made easy

Shopping in Bangalore made easy
Originally uploaded by GlamourGeek.

If you ever visit Bangalore do not, I repeat DO NOT, go into the silks shops. Even if, as in my case on the previous two trips, the taxi drivers basically kidnap you and take you to the silks shops instead of where you want to go. Which is Kids Kemp, pictured here. You will never appreciate price tags more. They have almost identical items, but at reasonable prices that don't make you feel cheated and angry about your purchases.

Cobras and hooves

If only I weren't too timid to take photos.

Last night we went to dinner with one of our distributors, which none of us wanted to do as we would have preferred to shop and sleep, but we had to be diplomatic. The distis took us to Isys, branded as "newage indian cuisine", where they must have been trying to get a rise out of us. Normally when I am in India, I eat only vegetarian food, so I don't worry when someone else orders for me. These distributors, however, were not vegetarian and they ordered a soup for us contianing sheeps' hooves. I am quite ill this morning after only eating a little bit of it.

This morning, as I was in a taxi to the office, a child ran up to the car when we were stopped and knocked on the window for money. Normally I ignore them or wave them away. Shaking your head 'No' doesn't work here as it means 'yes' to the locals. This child then pulled out his piece de resistance by opening the small round basket in his hand to reveal a cobra sleeping among flowers. The cobra woke up and flared its' head, at which point I had to give some rupees to the boy. If only I had taken a photo. Then his siblings ran up to the car and I had to wave them away, which made me feel very rude.

Greetings from India! (again)

I have been scolded, and quite rightly, for not keeping this site updated.

I am in Bangalore again this week, for the third time in the past year. Not bad for someone who had never left the US beofre spring of 2004. Bangalore is less and less of a culture shock each time I visit. The smells of sewage (from open sewers and trash dumped on the side of the roads) and moth balls (ubiquitous in the shower and sink drains) bring this city to mind. It amazes me how great the drivers here are, because in this chaos there should be a lot more accidents. For an accurate indication on what traffic is like in India, watch the video clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcpJS8MRhKk and try to imagine what that traffic is like at rush hour in a monsoon. There are no lanes in the road, no traffic lights or stop signs or pedestrian crossings, no concept of right-of-way, and the horn is used as an indicator. I am at least to the point where I no longer close my eyes when in the taxi. But you'll never catch me driving here! Trying to cross the street on foot was terrifying enough.

What else is a girl to do but to buy gorgeous silk salwars. Today I am wearing a bright turquoise raw silk tunic with cream coloured raw silk trousers. The people in the office have approved, and isn't approval what we are all searching for?