TRAVELWEEKTRAVELWEEKTRAVELWEEK: PT I

      So intense that it needed to be said three times: travel week 2011 was pretty epic. We covered a lot of ground and I did my best to stay on top of my mental game, attempting to both process and remember everything I learned and experienced. I've also given in and decided to write a few separate posts for the convenience of all parties involved. Here it goes...

DAY 1: Fly to Bangalore
      It all began the evening of September 30 when we drove to Mangalore and flew to Bangalore. It is with deep regret that I inform you that no other names of places we went rhyme. Feeling a little funny about the fact that my computer had been here before me, I landed in Bangalore where the first thing I saw was a fed-ex plane, so hi Uncle Chris, if you're reading this. After a late dinner we rolled into the New Institute for Advanced Studies guest house where we spent the night. I already knew Bangalore was going to be different from everything I'd seen so far when we drove by a golf course...(hi dad).

DAY 2: Bangalore,  Vidhana Soudha, meet with MLA
      Rise and shine little travelers, it's time for the first day of travel week! After a breakfast of dosas we were off to the Karnatka state legislator building, called the Vidhana Soudha. It's a large, lavish building that is one of the more impressive state buildings in India, partially because it was built post-independence. I was struck by the vastness of this building, as well as the administrative building next door. Though in India federalism is much weaker than it is in the US, ironically, the size of the state government buildings here would make it seem that the state governments are large and influential. There are ministers for every which thing and representatives of huge constituencies. They also have yet to bother with computerizing files, so every office is jammed full with stacks of stacks of paper, which, if they experience mildew problems like I do, cannot possibly be in great condition.  Though my interest in politics has waned over the years, I still nerd out a bit for government buildings, so it was pretty cool to walk the open-air halls where Karnatka's slimiest walk, too. We even had the opportunity to perpetuate the corruption issue by paying a guard so we could take pictures!

       After the tour we headed over to the ever-so-swanky Bangalore club where we would be staying that night. Positioned right in the middle of downtown Bangalore, the club kind of comes out of nowhere. Most members are heirs to both their riches and membership and the whole place had a very "old money" feel to it. There's parking for guests' drivers, a men's bar and a "mixed bar" (which I so naively assumed meant a bar known for its mixed drinks), only white clothes on the tennis court please!, no sandals in the parlor, etc etc. I'm not sure what my final assessment on the club is, so instead of getting all critical of the gaping socio-economic inequalities made clear here, I'll just say good for you guys for reaping the benefits of your ancestors' successes. I'm glad that's working out for you.

the building with our rooms

6th from the bottom, winston churchill's 13 rupee i.o.u.

     Next we set out for a meeting with a member of the legislative assembly, Mr. Krishna Byre Gowda. Having arrived in India just in time for the most significant part of the Anna Hazare anti-corruption campaign, we were all eager to speak with a real life Indian politician and find out what he would and would not say to us. The most exciting part of this meeting for me was learning that Mr. Gowda got his masters at American University's in SIS, what a small freaking world it really is!! He had even heard of Davenport (of COURSE I asked). In fact, he had humble things to say about his education in DC, he said that, though his studies in International Affairs may not directly affect his work as a local representative in Bangalore, he feels that he would not be the same without having left India to study and, furthermore, he said his work and studies in DC gave him a completely new way of looking at the world. In a way, I felt like we had traded places. Regarding the absurdly unreasonable expectations of MLAs, he said his time is predominately occupied with answering constituents' questions and responding to problems with anything form electricity to water to roads and, thus, he ends up with very little time to deal with actual lawmaking. This vicious cycle results in only the repercussions of failed systems being attended to, while the failed systems continue to eat their way through India. I feel that this point rings true in many aspects of Indian society. Attempting to delicately address the issue of corruption while maintaining a clean image of his party (congress) and a negative one of their primary opposition (BJP, ruling party in Karnataka), Gowda explained that though his party had faced small issues, the BJP's recent mess of scandals was going to provide space for the congress party to begin regaining power for the next twelve months leading up to the election. He also backhandedly told us that politicians are inevitably lead to corruption from the very beginning, due to the strict regulations on campaigning set by the central government. All in all it was a fascinating meeting, both for what we did hear and learn from Mr. Gowda and also for what we did not.
      We arrived back at the Bangalore club with lots of time to spare before our late dinner reservation, so we decided to make a quick run over to the Fabindia we had seen on the drive in. Unfortunately, the selection was thin and the prices were thick, so we left empty handed (with the exception of my fancy new wallet). But the trip was not for naught, as we decided to stop by the incredibly western looking "biere garten," near the store. Here we found our first real beer in India (kingfisher really does suck) and savoured it for every rupee of the 350 we had paid for a pint (that's 7 USD for all you math majors, YIKES). The scene was pretty funny, it was around 7:30 and the place was jam packed with large groups of both westerners and Indians sitting and drinking jovially (leopolds anyone? more shantaram references to come after I go to Mumbai). We only stayed for a bit, but we were there long enough for me to experience a severe moment of nostalgia for London. Little did I know, this would not be the first time that this would happen in Bangalore. That night we ate dinner at this semi-fancy restaurant called Ebony that, positioned on the top of a relatively tall building, offered a great view of the city at night. I took advantage of the multi-ethnic menu and shared a chicken parm and an egg pad thai with a friend and I'd say it was worth the risk that comes with ordering western food in India. A lot of this day gave us a taste for how Bangaloreans live and it was definitely not too shabby.

DAY 3: Few plans, lots of wandering
      Our second day in Bangalore was a little bit less planned out, for better or for worse. We woke up for breakfast on the lawn at the club and then indulged in some post-eating relaxation. I continued to read Shantaram, like I would for the rest of travel week. Eventually we hit up a few temples and  summer palace of 18th century ruler of the state of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, who died in battle against the British. We also checked out the Lalbagh Botanical Garden, a lovely park that was, for me, entirely too reminiscent of Regent's Park (see here) for comfort. I initially assumed the park was a colonial relic, but was interested to learn that its maintenance began during the reign of Tipu Sultan's father, Hyder Ali. Finally we ate a late and enormous lunch and set out for some shopping. There was a little translation issue that came with explaining to our driver that we wanted to go shopping, but not at the big, expensive malls. Rather than fun shops or bazaars, Harish, our driver, was always very adamant about bringing us to the ritziest malls and hotel restaurants (which, our resident director tried [and failed] to explain to him, were never very good). Maybe it had something to do with our staying at the freaking Bangalore Club... After putting my philosophy teacher on the phone with Harish, we made it to a great bazaar where I finally did a little shopping for friends at home. I also bought a 30 rupee bag of saunf, sweet, mint-dipped anise seeds served after meals. Several stressful hours in the crowded market made us all ready to get on the overnight train to Hampi and crash, which is exactly what happened for me.

nandi statue at the bull temple

impromptu stamp-on henna

Lalbagh Botanical Garden

Lalbagh again

can you find me?

time for the overnight train to hampi

P.S. personally, I think pictures tell the real story, so I'm working on putting most of my travel week pictures in albums on photobucket for everybody without facebook's viewing pleasure. Uploading here is slow, so I've only made it through two albums, but here it is: http://s1122.photobucket.com/albums/l530/juliaschultz/