An eggplant-shaped truth

Greetings from Bangalore! IT capital of India, this city has a great relaxed feel, helped most noticeably by the beautiful weather here. Unbelievably, its almost cold here at night! Wild. Bangalore is really big, but there are a few main areas that are of most interest to travelers. The MG (mahatma Gandhi) road area has a ton of shopping, bars, clubs and restaurants in a fairly compact area. Next door is the large lovely Cubbon park, great wandering here. The High Court and State Central Library are in the park itself, while Karnataka's central government building, the Vidhana Soubha is across the street. Bangalore is busy, but not teeming with people like Mumbai was. Traffic, as always, is heavy and pollution is bad, but the charm of the city and its people is undeniable. It has been really easy to meet people, even on the street. Why, just the other day I met a man outside the park. We exchanged ritual pleasantries, shared a nice walk and conversation together and he even propositioned me at the end! I was flattered, but was already late to meet up with my couchsurfing host, and had to crush his dreams.

I am surfing here with this guy Dev, a software programmer who is trying to become a professional photographer. Really cool guy, he agreed to host me when my original host had to fly to Mumbai on short notice to meet with a client. The Bangalore couchsurfing network is really well-developed, met a bunch of them at this club (called, hilariously enough, Couch) for their weekly Wednesday meet-up. Really great people, friendly and open, but also, quite obviously, a close-knit community of friends. It was quite the experience, definitely something I want to be a part of wherever I may live in the future. The nightlife in this town is great, although by law all bars and clubs have to close by 11.30. While this is a drawback, it just means people go hard from like 7 till close, really squeezing all they can out of the partying scene.

Before Bangalore I was in Bidar, in the far northern corner of Karnataka state. There is a really great old fort up there, still in the process of being opened to the public. This place was huge, surrounded by a 6 km long wall and accompanying moat. Its free to get in, but you can give a guide a small tip to get showed around the locked areas of the palace, so I was able to check out the Raja and Rani's private quarters and meeting areas, as well as some of the underground sections where gunpowder was stored. Really fascinating place, and a great walk out from the city to get there, like 5 km, so a really good chance to see a small Indian town close up.

I picked up a book the other day by Rabindranath Tagore, India and Bengal's premier man of letters. The book is Gora, a work about Bengal in the late 19th century that examines the emerging nationalist movement from the eyes of an orthodox Hindu man. Tagore is a really amazing writer, profound emotions and otherworldly sights co-mingle in the minds and discussions of his characters. Here is a true image of Bharatvarsha, one that seeks to bring all the disparate elements of Indian society together into a unifying whole of disunity. Paradoxical, yes. But quite moving and beautiful at the same time. Highly recommended.