India has been amazing so far! I arrived on the 15th in New Delhi. It took a bit of time to get everything situated but I finally made it to the hotel that the Fulbright program had booked for us. Its called the Taj, which is probably the nicest hotel I have ever been in. They literally treat you like royalty, it's a bit awkward actually. But I did make friends with the elevator guy, his name is Surander! Every time I said his name he lit up with a giant smile and warm handshake. My conference in Delhi was the 16th and 17th, so I managed to get the entire 15th to explore. And as it turns out... it was Indian Independence day! How lucky! I headed off to this place called India Gate, which is a giant monument in the center of Delhi. I checked that out and then walked to the parliament which is in a straight line from India Gate. This is IDENTICAL to the walk from Capitol to Washington Monument in DC!!! So weird! The best part was that people were all out celebrating Independence day, it was a great first India experience. Kites everywhere, smiles everywhere... ice cream vendors everywhere!
These are referred to as "Tuk-Tuks" or "auto-rickshaws"... a very easy way to get around the city and very affordable. Unfortunately, in cities like Bangalore where the traffic is heavy, so is the pollution. It's tough to breathe when sitting in one of these bad boys in traffic.
KITES!
Parliament
That night I ended up running into a big group of Fulbrighters who had just arrived, a lot of them I knew from the orientation I had in DC a few months ago. We talked for a while and decided to meet back in the lobby to head out for dinner. We ended up in a pretty upscale place because it was one of the only places that was open! Very delicious food though, I had ... I don't remember now... but essentially it was butter chicken in a red curry sauce with white rice. Very delicious!
The next few days were spent in conference and meetings, a lot was learned and fun was had, though it is nothing to write here...
We did, however, go out to dinner on the 16th as a entire Fulbright group. We went to the American Ambassadors house! There were probably 180 people there, including 30 waiters who constantly came around with intricate finger foods, wines, scotches, anything you could think of! The food was extravagant as well, very tasty. I had a scotches or two, a glass of wine, and chatted with some folks. It was a great experience. Afterwards a group of us went out to the local hotel bar and had a drink and talked until the late hours of the night. It was actually sad saying bye to everyone on the 17th! I had made such great friendships in such short amount of time... but I am sure we will run into each other again, lots of places to go in India :).
When I arrived in Bangalore [sadly I have not taken any pictures yet!!] on the 17th it was fairly late at night. There was a total of 3 of us going to Bangalore, myself and a couple, Bevan and Eliza. We have become friends over the days and will most likely end up getting a place together in Bangalore. We went our separate ways out of the airport and I found my hotel pickup. I had been working on learning Kannada, the local language spoken in Bangalore, so I said the few words I know. Instantly he was happy and we had a great conversation the entire way back (in English, of course), he showed me around the city a bit as well. My hotel is pretty sweet, once again, and I ended up chatting with the receptionists for half an hour. They gave me a welcome drink of "Leeche(?) Juice" which is absolutely delicious, quite possibly the greatest thing ever. They also gave me a few words and phrases to learn and said they would test me in the morning! Ha! I was so excited to be in Bangalore finally and settle into the city i'll be in the for next chapter of my life...
My first day in Bangalore started early, went to the breakfast buffet where I also made some friends by speaking Kannada, and then headed off the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) where I'll be working for the next 9 months. I met with Dr. Pal, who is a neurologist there and one of my supervisors, he showed me around a bit and then introduced me to Dr. Jamuna, who is a neuropsychologist and will be supervising the assessment part of my research. She then introduced me to a few of her PhD students, Narinjana and Divya. They have showed me around the campus the last two days and I have got to know them fairly well. Also helped me to get a SIM card, which is priced fantastic, it basically costs me 20 rupee for an hour. I also get internet! The first day we headed to lunch at a nearby mall-ish type spot called "the forum", a definitely westernized spot of Bangalore, I don't know if they thought I couldn't handle Indian food or what, but there was a KFC/PizzaHut/Chinese/Anything you can ask for there. I ended up getting some Indian food anyway ;). Today we ended up having lunch in the canteen as they call it, the local cafeteria of the hospital, which is absolutely huge by the way. It's easily 1 square mile. Now, this is going to shock some of you, but I had a meal and a half-meal for 20 rupees. The current exchange rate is $1 to 42.25 rupees. Hmm... I could get use to this.
I had been in contact with Bevan and Eliza through email, but only briefly, they said that their accommodation was out in the middle of nowhere, so I told them to come to my hotel as it is in the center. I ended up running into them in the hotel lounge! We had a drink and discussed what our living situation has come to... we made a few appointments for tomorrow, and hopefully will find a place! I'm excited to live with them, they are both great people and I think it'll be both fun and a great learning experience. They are also a little older than me, and when I mentioned my age, there was a little shock, but hopefully that won't be a problem :P.
We met up for dinner having a place called "Sunny's" in mind. It was recommended to them by a friend who they met in Bangalore. Turns out it was an upscale Western food restaurant. Not yet sick of Indian food, we headed in a different direction. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) we didn't find anymore appeasing places on the street we walked down. We ended up settling on a local street shack, which served a variety of dishes. It was extremely packed outside the window, and there wasn't any seating area. This is the kind of place that everybody and the entire conference we just had warned us not to eat at. But, since it was so popular, it couldn't have been too bad, right?! We tried to order two dishes of something that resembled bean curd and chile sauce, as Bevan put it (found this out after eating it), and I ordered a plate of Veg fried rice. We ended up getting one dish of the bean curd deal and my rice, 2/3, not bad street shack, not bad. This came to about 60 rupees. Now, I want you to imagine a 15" pizza. A very large pizza, right? Now, make that a plate, and then make that plate filled with rice which is 2" high! Whocaneatthatmuchrice?!?!?!? Needless to say, the three of us failed to put away all of the rice. We left in defeat, but with happy tummies. Well, sort of, there was that thought in the back of our minds that we just poisoned ourselves and would die before returning to the hotel.
But, I can tell you now, my stomach is in prime condition. Bangalore day 3... starts tomorrow.
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