bangalore: where the weather makes everything perfect

We spent the long weekend - Indian Independance Day was celebrated on Friday - visiting Bangalore. Our good friend Sunil was launching his new NGO. Rather than stay at home in Delhi and be bored we decided to tag along with Phet on his business trip and the moment we got off the plane we were damn happy that we had decided to do so. While it was a good 35' degrees and sticky up in Delhi, it was a fresh and pleasant 23' mid-morning in Bangalore. It. Was. So. Great.

And, coming in a close second in spectacularity was the Bangalore Airport ("Bangaluru" a la "Mumbai" and "Kolkata"). Check it out:

Yes! It is shiny. It is spinky-spanky. It has high ceilings. It boasts a wide array of shops and services. It is remarkably uncongested at its entrance. Delhi Airport hides its stuffy, dusty, aesthetically displeasing head in shame when it is shown photographs of its stylish new cousin.

Sunil picked us up at the airport - which was pretty great of him, given that he was in the midst of planning a major conference and the launch of his new career. We drove into town and marvelled at the red dirt roads and trees lining said roads. We were dropped off at our hotel, the Jayamahal Palace Hotel. Sounds pretty good, huh? Well, let's check out what it says on their website, shall we?

"An experience of royalty combined with the luxury of a palace in a hotel that is deluged with heritage. Jayamahal Palace Hotel is the one and only true palace heritage hotel that spreads over 19 acres of rich vegetation. The property, which existed since 1903, is a part of H.G.H hotels, a hotel chain owned by the Maharaja of Gondal. The group is currently operating heritage hotels in Gujarat and Bangalore. We at the Jayamahal Palace are proposing to repeat the same glory as it was once during the raj days. This world class Heritage hotel in the heart of Bangalore has taken a new avtar. A truly classic, Heritage hotel offers all the five star contemporary luxuries in a traditional style. JAYAMAHAL PALACE is an epitome of classic elegance and warm hospitality, where we are dedicated to pamper our guests like a king in the 21st century."

Wow. Sounds nice doesn't it? Here's what I've got to say: the Maharaja of Gondal has alot to learn if he thinks this hotel is deluging people in luxury. It'll take me to the end of my story to make my point entirely, but bear with me and you'll get there.

Our room had a great terrace outside of it, and a view of a nice, big grassy lawn with a large tree. I am not sure this one tree counts as "rich vegetation" but whatever, it was a great tree:

For the morning's adventure, Sunil suggested we check out Lal Bagh park at the centre of the city. The driver picked us up and dropped us off in a flood of about half the population of Bangalore. It was Independance Day and everyone and their auntie was out perambulating. I am very scared of crowds, but once we were in the park it wasn't actually person-to-person, so I made myself carry on and enjoy the park. It was 23'! How could I not want to stay out and enjoy walking around and not sweating? We climbed up the giant rock / hill next to the park's entrance and then wandered through the park, past the horticulture centre, next to the lake, through the rose gardens, and the stately palm tree corridors, and had just a fine time. I may not have mentioned this yet, but every time we take Seung Yi out in busy-public (ie not just to a local market in Delhi, but say to a big mall or to a destination-type-place) numerous random strangers come up to us to take Seung Yi's photo with their cellphones. In general, we are gracious and try to get her to cooperate, but we remain kind of intrigued that people end up being surprised that Seung Yi actually does NOT want to be picked up by them, and will not smile for the photo if they try actively to snuggle her. Hello? Um, Stranger Danger? Phet and I also wonder what the falafel they do with the photos when they get them home. Show them to their friends and say what? Here's some kid at a park hiding behind her mother's pants? Who knows. One poor guy got the tough end of the stick from Phet when he made a bit of a linguistic faux pas and came up and asked, "Shall I take a photograph now?" Phet's answer: "No." Ouch.

After the park we were tired out because we had to wait at the main gate amidst the other half of the population plus a frillion gillion buses and tuk tuks before our driver could find us (cause I made us leave out the wrong gate), but we nevertheless had him carry on and drive us to see some other sights. Cause the weather was so good! We saw the parliament buildings, which have THE all-time-greatest inscription on them anywhere: "Government Work Is God's Work". We saw the courts. We passed the Golden Temple but didn't have the energy to get up and actually climb up to see it. We went a long way out of town to check out a mall and had a biiiiiig fluffy oily fresh puri with chick pea curry and some weird banana shakes. We drove into a winding sort of a neighbourhood with teeny tiny (like, really, 4' high) doors and saw the biggest church in town. The next day we also saw the beautiful Jumma Masjid, so I figure we covered all religious bases. Praise be!

On that first night, after napping, we decided to go down to the hotel restaurant to get a bite to eat. There were no guests and no lights on, but there were six staff at the restaurant who suggested that perhaps we could order food up to our room. Our room, while decent, had no floorspace available, so I made the call that we'd go out for dinner because I get freaked out when I have to eat in places where there aren't any other customers. Dinner, at the Empire Hotel, was excellent. We had their wonderful spicy rotisserie chicken served with a good serving of spicy onions. I had these funky south indian vermicelli-loosely gathered into a round, flattish conglomeration accompanied by two lip-smackingly good chicken curries. Coconutty and really flavourful.

The next morning we got up early - really early - and I called down to order breakfast, but they explained to me that if we went to the restaurant between 7:00 and 10:00 we could eat the buffet there for free. I was a little sceptical given that I hadn't seen a single guest other than us, but we all got dressed and went down. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't any food out, but the seven new staff rapidly sorted us out and brought us fresh puris, potato curry, toast, wonderful fresh sugar cane juice, rich milky tea, hot creamy milk for the kids, and made-to-measure omelettes. Nice! It almost - but not quite - made up for the fact that the much-lauded swimming pool was defunct, the bar would be closed until September 19th, there was construction throughout the hotel rendering the patio unuseable, and our cable TV wasn't working. I only wanted to go to Bangalore to enjoy watching a tiny bit of the Olympics! Wah.

Sunil's very lovely wife, Esme, came to pick us up just before lunch to take us out. We had cheap cheap and yummy yummy south Indian thalis and then drove for a good hour and a half out to the Zoo. It was great because it was 23'. There were a great deal of people, but they were all pretty low key about having foreigners around, which was very nice. It was the first time that Seung Yi actually really enjoyed seeing stuff at a destination. Like, she watched the deer carefully. She loved it when the zebra came right up and tried to munch her fingers. She paid attention to the cheetahs even when they were far away. And she tried her best to see the SIX METRE LONG PYTHONS but they sort of blended into the tree trunks. The zoo was just fine as far as zoos go, aside from the glum porcupine enclosure which was entirely concrete. But on the good side, they had excellent signs telling people not to bug the animals, and I actually heard one visitor caution another one not to feed the animals. Here's the awesome sign:

I love how the lion's biting the guy's leg all nonchalantly, like, 'Hey, this moron stuck his leg out of the cage, I might as well have a nibble.'

In the evening, we enjoyed a biriani feast at Sunil and Esme's lovely apartment and revelled in the breeze coming in their windows across the eucalyptus grove across from their house. Esme gave Ji a bunch of wonderful books and let Seung Yi play with the new toys she had bought for the Montessori school she will soon be opening with her friend.

On Sunday we headed in to work with Phet and said hello to Sunil and Lawrence. Ji and Seung Yi and I then hopped back into the taxi and went to explore the other huge green space in Bangalore city-centre, Cubbon Park. It was a bar-none terrific park and the weather only made it terrificker. We started out on the wild side and went rock climbing and tree climbing:

Look carefully on top of the left hand side of the insane tree and you'll see Ji Hong nestled up there for his photo op. We even found trees for Seung Yi to climb. Then we wandered over to the kids' section of the park where there was a really big play complex. The equipment was sort of par for the course in India, like metal and sort of dangerous, but well-maintained and plenty of fun. Seung Yi had a ball climbing up all the ladders and stairs and sliding down, and Ji swung on his swing for a half hour. We treated ourselves to grilled corn rolled in lime and salt, and then after some more playing had popsicles. When we were good and tired and hungry we went back to the conference, ate lunch with the professionals, and then whisked Phet away. We thought we'd try to go and see Kung Fu Panda, but it was sold out, so instead we went to find some special sweets to take back to Delhi and it took us about an hour to drive to the shop our friend had recommended. By the time we got back to the hotel we were good and tired and dirty and sweaty. I went to have a shower before packing up and - surprise! - there was no running water? Oh, and did I mention that they'd had a blackout the night before and there was no back-up generator? But back to the water, we called, they said they'd send a guy up, he came up, he couldn't fix it, we called again, they said they'd fix it, nothing happened, we asked if we could just shower in another room so they opened one for us, I got all my stuff, took off my clothes in the new room, turned on the shower and - hm! No water. So I washed my face off in the sink, which somehow DID have water and just packed up and got ready to go.

Before we checked out, Phet went and talked to the front desk dude. Phet was like, "There's no water." The guy was like, [nod]. Phet said, "You should be concerned. You should do something." The guys said, [nod nod]. Ok. We are deluged in luxury and you are deluged in the inability to speak.

Still and all, another good cup of tea later, I was chipper and ready to enjoy the airport for a second time. Felt kind of like Mrs. Rogers in an Amelia Bedelia book. Come hell or no water or your steaks being tied to your tomatoes, a good lemon meringue pie or a fine cup of tea will make you forget your problems in a jiffy.

Three cheers for Bangalore, home of parks and good weather!

[On The Road-21-August-2008]