On The Way to Bangalore, Karnataka - 19th Jan 2011

The whole day was travel today from Palagat to Bangalore. Leaving before sunrise is always an adventure. Like you’re doing something in secret under the blanket of dark and gonna surprise people later.. Fun it was leaving at 4:30am...

We stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant and it was crowded as it is, without the 30 of us streaming in. Since there was no way to get tables exclusively, we scattered and sat wherever we got place. It was funny to see peoples faces as 2 or 3 us randomly came and sat with them as they ate. Complete strangers.. Haha..

At tea, we stopped at one of those roadside dhabas and there were the cutest puppies running around! I know all puppies are cute, but these were like extra cute only! And they kept on playing around with each other and running around and allowing us to feed them and all.. Puppies always make people happy...

We enter Bangalore on what Rakesh tells me is the longest flyover in Asia. Something like 5 long km or something. It was pretty cool.. Like you’re on this huge bridge and I don’t know about other people, but I like to pretend when you’re that high, and you cant see what’s below you,  that you’re going to some magical kind of place and you’re bypassing civilization to get there..  Eeeeeee....

And Sister and Prashanth (who are from Karnataka) kept teasing Joice that we’re not in Kerela anymore. “See see outside, see all the gardens.. You don’t have gardens like this in Kerela,” “See see we have flyovers here.. Longest flyover in Asia. Waat you have in Kerela huh?”

When we reached Bangalore, we had a really awesome welcome committee who received us and took photos and gave us flowers and handshakes and lots of smiles. And we took this group photo and Solomon was like, nooooo.. “I’m looking so bad abhi.. We’ve just been travelling the whole day.. They should take tomorrow when we’re fresh.” Later we found out they’re gonna use it as the backdrop at the event. You should have seen Solomon’s face then. Haha! I said, “Jab u see the backdrop, aap ‘back drop’ ho jaoge in shock.. Hai na?”

And at dinner, someone poured water into Solomon’s glass and he said thank you in Malayalam. And the guy just moved on. Then Solomon realized that this isn’t Malayalam country anymore. And he had no idea how to say anything in Kannada. The look of realization on his face that he’ll have to learn a new set of words now was soooooooooo funny!

And the weather was a lot cooler than Kerela and Tamil Nadu. Especially at night. The other 2 places were kinda warm and humid. But Bangalore was very pleasant with bright sunshine during the day and a cool cool breeze.. So fresh! Looking forward to what the Garden City brings tomorrow!

Bangalore, Karnataka - 20th Jan 2011

We meet Jennifer’s mom today  morning (Jennifer’s from Bangalore) and they’re standing next to each other and Deepika says, “Bilkul Aunty jaise lag rahe ho.” And Jennifer puts her hand on her hip and says, “Main aunty jaise lagti hoon???”

“Ab.. Nahi, matlab.. Tum apni mummy jaise lagti ho. Main tumhare mom ko to aunty hi bolungi na?”

We visited Mount Carmel College and had a session with them. By far this was the most enthusiastic one we’ve had. The girls were so spirited and lively and had such drive in their energy. They also already have a bunch of programs on women education and other social programs and they had the force within to take initiative to speak up and start something as well. I was really impressed with their spirit and their willingness to start new programs based on our suggestions. And they had also banned plastic in their college. Making rules or setting up something somewhere is one thing, but to practice it whole heartedly is something else altogether, and here these girls were doing it. They are quite an inspiration and I really commend their efforts and encourage them to keep at it.

Made some really awesome friends in these refined young ladies.

After the program we were having brunch in the canteen and Jennifer and Solomon got into a friendly-ish argument of who is better – Carmelites or Josephytes (You can figure out who is from where). And both were saying that both were the best (duh) and Solomon kept saying that when a Josephyte is near, there is no need to fear. And Jennifer said that that is the reason to fear. And Solomon quipped back saying that Josephytes are dynamites and then Jennifer said, “Exactly. They’re all sound and no matter. They explode and then nothing.”

 Haha! And Solomon was like “Ae! We can take you guys anytime haan!”

But then Jennifer said that if the Carmelites decide to gang up on him, he aint got a chance. And Solomon was like they cant do that coz they don’t stand a chance against a Josephyite. And Jennifer was like, “Acha?? Should I call my friends??”

We were in the college where she was from. And Solomon was like that’s not fair and everything. And Prashanth who was sitting there said, “Ya Jennifer and all can totally win.” And Solomon is like, “Whose side are you on?? You’re on her side? The girls? What about men empowerment yaar??”

They should add that to the Millennium Development Goals. For Solomon.

In the evening, we had an interaction session with a few members of the VAZ Foundation. They work for education and all in schools and their flagship program is career guidance. Here we spoke about climate change and the environment and what problems we’re facing in preserving it, and then we all spoke individually about 1 thing we do that is harmful to the environment and what we can do to change it. 1 thing I noticed was that there were a lot of things that a lot of learned from each other that day with each suggestion that came through. Some of it was a real eye opener too. And at the end we had this excercise where we stood in a circle and Aman from VAZ led us through an action song. It was something completely out of a children’s tv program to me, but it really helped everyone feel more free and lose their inhibitions a little bit more. It was a very enriching session. For all of us.