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Drivers in Bangalore honk their vehicle horns not because they want to warn but because this is how they communication with other vehicles, pedestrians and animals. So imagine being in traffic during rush hour in a city with approximately 1.95 million cars and each car is communicating.
Some trucks and auto-rickshaws have "Sound OK Horn" written on the bumper.
Now that I got that out of the way, I want to say that I am very disturbed by what I witnessed this morning on the road and I shouldn't be since this happens a million times everyday in Malaysia. My cabbie was stopped by 2 fat traffic officials (maybe a random inspection?). Cabbie showed Fat Officer 1 his driver's license and then was asked to stepped out. I, of course have no idea what they are talking about but watching them from my tinted window, this is what I *think* is happening.
Fat Officer 1: I'm going to write you a big fat ticket.
Cabbie: Please sir, I didn't do anything wrong.
Fat Officer 1: You know what you did! We can fix this. How much do you have?
Cabbie took out his wallet. Looks like Rs100 bill and no change (Rs100 = US$2.30). Fat Officer 1 took the bill. Now if I never found out how much cab drivers make monthly, I won't feel as bad but I do.
Fat Officer 2 and Fat Officer 1 exchange whispers. Fat Officer 1 took the Rs100 note, symphatize and gave Cabbie a couple of crumbled Rs10 notes under his hat. I found myself grabbing my camera.
No, I didn't do it. I didn't want to be dragged out of my AC cab and stoned to death. Would've been a good picture though.
Cabbie dropped me off at my Guru's. I spent the next 2 hours practicing yoga, and no matter how many ohms and deep breathes I took, all I could think about is how these 2 fat men just bullied my scrawny driver and now Cabbie (who probably has 3 kids and a wife living about 100 km away, who are all probably as scrawny) will have to skip meals today. When Cabbie sent me home later, I gave him Rs100. Is it wrong?
PART 2
So Saturday night, a new friend N got pulled over for DUI and had a BAC level of .07 (N said .03 is maximum legal level in Bangalore). N had limited Rupees on him, and Officer Ram wasn’t going to let him off easy. Since N had a chick on the passenger seat, he negotiated for a down-payment and Officer Ram gave him his cell phone number.
Sunday, I got a ride from N (who wasn’t driving) and H (who was also drunk driving the night before). H drove us to where Officer Ram was placed for the evening and passed him the previously agreed balance. Apparently, N’s deal with Officer Ram was not to get out of a ticket but for Officer Ram (with a *little* incentive) to go to court and pay for N’s ticket. Before we left, N & H shook hands with Officer Ram and he said “see you next weekend”…
After spending 3 hours being indecisive about watching the Dark Knight movie, I finally gave in and my nice colleague K instantly bought the movie tickets. Five minutes later he said change of plans because there are bombings in Bangalore and one of the bombs blasted right behind The Forum; a popular mall and also where our theatre is located. I found out later there were a series of 9 bombings and one of them on Langford Road, which is the street right off my corporate apartment building.
My brother Justin told my mother, "bomb goes wherever she goes" (re: 9/11). I'm just annoyed that my Friday night plans got cancelled.
Full Bangalore Bomb Story
Talk about a random event. I went on a road trip with a Product Manager who works for the "Company's" biggest competitor but it wasn't as confrontational as I thought it'd be and we didn't throw each other out of the car. In fact, I had a great time with P because he, though an American, speaks Tamil fairly well and that was close to essential while traveling in the countryside of South India.
The first time I met P is at 5:30am when he came to pick me up with his hired driver. We drove for about 3.5 hours before reaching Shravanabelagola, a town well known for its Jain art and Gomatheswara statue.
The 13 meter Gomatheswara statueWe had to leave our shoes in the car and walk on rock-cut stairs. It took us about 15 minutes to hike up Indragiri Hill to see the Gomatheswara statue.
800 steps of rock-cut steps.
Alternatively, you could pay for this service. These men practically ran up the 800 steps stairs in a few minutes.Next to the Indragiri Hill is Chandragiri Hill that holds a group of smaller shrinesand to me a more difficult hike . It's so surprisingly quiet up here that the only sound you hear is some women doing laundry by the pond.
View from Chandragiri Hill
This is the Jain God's feet carved on the highest point of Chandragiri Hill.
Barata Statue on Chandragiri Hill
Indragiri Hill from Chandragiri Hill. You could see the top half of the Gomatheswara from here.
A very rewarding yummy paper dosai for breakfast after a long hike at Hotel Raghu.BelurOur next stop was Belur, which is about 2 hours away on sometimes unpaved roads but passing scenic farm lands and small villages made the drive bearable.
Sunflower farmBelur seems to me like a very sleepy town but is renowned for its Chennakeshava temple which has one of the most intricate and fine carvings on stone I have seen yet.
Elephants for strength, lions for courage, horses for speed
Chennakeshava temple
Chennakeshava temple
Pillar at the Chennakeshava templeNot only were there figures of nude female dancers but also figures of people having sexual intercourse. My friend K.O. would have a blast here.
Can you spot it?
My South Indian Lunch.
Curd Rice to calm the stomach after a spicy meal. Curd rice taste exactly how you think rice mixed with unsweetened-yogurt would taste.HalebidAbout 30 minutes drive away is Halebid town, which is known for its Hoysala art and Hoyseleshvara temple. I thought this temple wasn't as impressive especially after seeing the Gomastheswara statue and Chennakeshava temple but it's surroundings make it a pleasant place to be.
Inside Hoyseleshvara temple
Tour guide at Hoyseleshvara temple
Hoyseleshvara temple
Took us about 4.5 hours to get back to Bangalore. The last 2 hours was terrifying because there were no streetlights and big buses and trucks were over-taking each other. I had a great time with P. I especially like picking on his brain about India. I think I found myself a travel partner, or as P would call it "frienemies".
More pictures.
