By Monday, I was feeling much more comfortable in this new place. I spent my morning planning out the next couple of days of my trip before embarking out to do more sight seeing with my Dad's coworker's driver. The plan at this point was to leave for Mysore the next day by train. Spend a few days there doing Mysore sightseeing as well as take a day trip or two to some of the near by attractions.
Once I had my plans set, I went too book my train. Lo and behold, it's Indian regulation to not book any train tickets between the hours of
8 am and noon. Most excellent. But at this point, I'm used to all this backwards-ness. After all, this is why I came to Asia right? Experience something new.
The driver picks me up around
11:30 and we're off. First stop, another temple. This one is ancient, and also in the hustle and bustle of Bangaluru. This temple is no fancy stone structure, but it is stone.....this temple is in a cave. Yes, as in you go underground, to enter this holy place.
Side note: I am at this very moment I am being very India, as i am on an uncomfortable and crowded bus, on which I realize how lucky I am to have a widow seat such that I have enough elbow room to type on my iPad, which more so situated on my crotch rather than my lap, by sticking my elbow out the window. Why do I mention this? Well, I could look on my phone for the name of this temple, but honestly, it'd be near impossible right now given how closely I am seated next to someone......it just not worth the difficulty. So look it up, if you'd like to know the name, and then be grateful you have the capacity on your phone, cause guess what. Most the world doesn't. Also, unless your on a delayed CTA train during rush hour, you're not as cramped as I am.
But anyways, this cave temple was very cool, unground, in a major city, and incredibly old. Later I learned that one day a year, the suns rays reach deep into the cave and fall at the main deities feet. An astounding feat for something set up a thousand-something years ago.
Next we went to Tipu's Palace. Tipu's was a sultan back in day when the British decided they knew what was better for India then India did. This particular palace of his is not as grand as his summer palace, which is in Mysore, but cool none the less. The structure is two stories and mostly open air, with several rows of pillars before you get to actual enclosed rooms in the middle of the building. Honestly, I thought it would be bigger. Reading up on Tipu, he did seem like a persevering, organized, and intelligent leader, who did a lot to improve the condition of his people's lives. He even defeated the british in a few battles before they finally took over.
Next I had a quick lunch with my father's coworker, who I met once in Chicago. It was great to see a familiar face, as well as someone who knew about how things are in both the west and here in India. We chatted about how the trip had been going and she provided more advice and suggestions for my travels. Which is always eagerly accepted as my learning curve about how things operate here has been slow, and mostly figured out on the fly. She has been a major help with getting my feet on the ground here. I continuously cannot thank her enough.
After lunch, me and the driver went over to Lalbagh Garden, which is a huge garden that was established a few hundred years ago. In American terms, its best described as a park rather than a garden. It's pretty large, and unfortunately we didn't there until later, closer to when it was closing, so we were only able to stroll around for maybe 45 minutes or so before it was time to head home. Of what I saw, it was a beautiful place though, with ponds and different gardens throughout the park, including a massive rose garden.
Once I got back to the hotel, which was well into the evening at this point, I sat down to book my train to Mysore. I begin booking only to be prompted to create an account with the India railway authority. Ok, I think to myself, just another seemingly unnecessary step in this process. I go to create an account, I enter my address and mobile number only for it to tell me that what I entered is incorrect. Excuse me computer, but I think I know my own address and phone number better than you do. I look into the problem to discover that I'm required to have an India address and India mobile number. This seems ridiculous, given that training around the country would be an easy way for a tourist, who spends money in the country, to continue to tour around and boost their economy by spending.
At this point though, I am a bit frantic, given that I had already made hotel reservations in Mysore for several nights. I used a random, but real India address, but I couldn't so easily fake the mobile number, as they send a confirmation code via text message that you need to confirm your account. I run down to the lobby of my hotel and ask the people at the front desk if there is a place close by that I could get an India sim card, but they look at me with a blank stare. I take my phone apart to show them the sim card.....still nothing. Luckily, one man in the lobby knew what I was talking about and sent me around the corner to a cell phone store.
I run around the corner and walk in asking for a sim card, and they tell me to come back tomorrow. I tell them I really need a sim card tonight. He tells me he will get me one
tomorrow morning. AGAIN, I tell him that is not an option for me, but he insists that for me he will do it first thing in the morning. I ask if he doesn't have them in the store. He tells me no, which i found hard to believe, because really????? YOUR A CELL PHONE STORE. I ask if there is somewhere else I could go to get one right now, and I guess this potential loss of business changed his mind about getting me one tonight. He tells me to come back in 20 minutes with a copy of my passport and he will hook me up for 300 rupees.
I presume this is significantly more than they would normally charge, but considering 300 rupees is not even quite 5 dollars, it's basically on part, if not cheaper than what a sim card would cost in the US. So, I of course agree and run back to the hotel to get a copy of my passport.
I return well before 20 minutes has passed and walk in passport copy, 300 rupees, and cell phone in hand ready to go. He sees me, walks over too a drawer and pulls out a sim card. Given that maybe only 5 minutes has passed, I have a hard time believing that he had to run out to get it, but whatever, most importantly, i'm getting my sim card. He pops in the new sim, makes a call to get it programed and I'm good too go.
Back to the hotel, set up my seemingly unnecessary India Railway Account, book my train, and sigh. The most successful sigh that has ever passed my lips....well at least since the college days when I would finish papers minutes before class started. The real satisfaction from this win came from the fact that this was the first time I was able to maneuver through the backwardness of India successfully--I finally found my feet firmly planted on the ground.
This day, this event was a major turning point for me on this trip. I was no longer anxious about being in a place that I just didn't understand a lot of the time. Will I get into more situations that make me want to curl up into a ball and cry? Absolutely, in fact I already have. But after my initial freak out, my first thought won't be catching the next flight home. It will be that I overcame once, and I can do it again.
I'm not going to lie, traveling alone has been a lot harder, and at times more lonely, than I thought it would be. And it probably doesn't make it easier that I can't really communicate with more than half the population. But so far, I have experienced so many new and wonderful things, I have met so many people who are incredibly friendly and kind, and none of that would have been possible if I stayed home. Not only am I seeing a new kind of world and meeting a new kind of people, but in the times of struggle, I'm figuring out how to deal with it, and all of this is making this suburban white boy a stronger, better, and more worldly person.
BEE TEE DUBS, from here on out, I probably won't be trying to write every day. Between exploring and planning, there just isn't enough time or energy. However, I have been taking pictures, so maybe I will get some of those up on the blog by not trying to write my face. Also, I realized the parts of my writing seem more like a laundry list of what I have done, which is simply not good story telling, so by writing less, you'll just get the interesting stories and reflections.
With love, confusion, and strife from abroad,
Colin
