Taj Residency Hotel Bangalore

... went out to the Lal Bagh, a 240 acre botanical garden. We spent quite a lot of time there which was nice after little sleep from the night before. There was a huge rose garden that was fenced off to visitors because "the Indians would steal all the petals off." Bangalore’s population is just over 6 million and it has the drivers on the road to prove it. It has by far the worst traffic congestion I ...

... light up and play music⎯of many Hindu gods but also of Jesus. A local artist was in the newspaper for crafting a scene of the last supper in leather. Shrines to Virgin are rare but festooned with lights and fabric.

Muslims of course are much more subtle, and there are any of them in Bangalore. The city is intermixed as much as is possible in India, and known for a certain harmony that can be missing elsewhere. I revel in the call to prayer, the dignified ...

... it’s comparable to Carnival in Rio. Perhaps, if the Brazil floats didn’t move, and celebrants kept all their clothes on. I think it’s perfectly Indian, and in Koramangala -- a fashionable neighbourhood of expats and wealthy Indians, good shops and restaurants -- we found the richest pandal of the night, a venue with fine food, a brilliant idol display, and entertainment by a well-known Bengali singer.

The veneration of Durga goes back ...

... Hindus want bigger and brighter idols and are no longer happy with the ones made from eco-friendly materials." Oxygen levels drop as the paints and other toxic materials work their way through the water killing fish and tainting drinking water. There are also issues of how many birds are needed for feathers to decorate the dhak, the ceremonial drum: four for one instrument, and an estimated 4,000 storks and egrets are killed in West Bengal alone.
Bangalore, Karnātaka, India darkstar

... humility along the way.

But at a certain point in the day it was time to get my own life sorted. In my research of Bangalore I’d found that the city boasted one of the only Mac stores in India. I needed a duck head, the interchangeable plug, in this case a B-type head, so I dragged the indefatigable Prem Kumar all the way to the Forum, a fancy, western-style shopping mall in the city’s south. The drive was worth it though.

Prem drove ...

Once again, the mosquitos thoroughly enjoyed eating me that last night in Udaipur. Our room was very hot, and I slept in the window box with a fog of bug spray around me, but Jae gasped the next morning when she saw all the bites on me. We had an early flight to catch, so we got up just as the mosque was broadcasting it's call to prayer. Not wanting to disturb other people sleeping, I whispered a request to Miles to take the suitcase down to the ...

A planned morning between coaches turned into a two day stopover as Bangalore won us over. It is very busy, has horrendous traffic and pretty bad pollution, but is also a good mix of India and the West. The city obviously is wealthy compared with much of what we have seen so far, and seemed more Western than Mumbai, saris where ...