Bangalore / Home sweet home!!

City Market, Bangalore


Flower Market, Bangalore. Scents and colors are so intense that you get dizzy walking around in the market.




Shredding coconut the Indian way


One of the many delicious dinners


u talkin to me??


Kannan & Mythili @ Karanji Park, Mysore


Maharaja's Palace, Mysore




Two nymphs and two demons


Kannan loving on an ox with beautifully decorated horns


A game called Chowka Bhaara (Four Eight), played with seashells as dice


Of course I won :))


Father & Daughter Pretty in Pink

*Pictures are taken by Lakshmi Jayaram (the pretty girl in the pics)


My next stop after Goa was the fastest growing city of the South, Bangalore. As a relatively new city it doesn't have much to offer to tourists but I had been looking very forward to this stop to see my friends Kannan, Mythili and their family. I met the Jayaram family while camping next to each other in Hawaii, and we had the opportunity to see each other many more times when I coincidentally moved to the same state they were living in. Seeing my friends whom I didn't think I would get to see again after both they and I moved back to our home countries permanently, was one of the nice surprises of life. In addition to the joy of seeing my friends the visit was a great opportunity for me to experience the Indian culture and lifestyle in its natural environment without the usual touristy distraction. During the two weeks I spent with them I had unique experiences ranging from family visits (they have a large family, I was constantly meeting cousins, nieces, nephews, uncles and aunts during Kannan's sister's house-warming party) to neighborhood’s social gatherings (every Sunday the neighborhood meets at a facility and organize various events. They were holding a badminton tournament the week I was there. My friend Kannan, who is officially 60 years old but has the soul of a 25 year old, made it to the semifinals), from temple visits (we took a trip to Mysore, which is couple of hours away from Bangalore, for a couple of days with the family. In Mysore, which is a peaceful and pleasant city with its 2000 year old temples, palaces and parks, we visited an ancient temple with the relatives we were staying with at 6:30 in the morning for the morning ceremony. I accompanied them with all the rituals (except for the Sanskrit prayers they were reciting) throughout the ceremony, of which I wouldn't be able to attend as a tourist anywhere else) to their domestic life (food is eaten on the floor by hand (right hand only, left hand is used for dishing up the food to your plate). You drink the water without touching your lips to the glass. Dirty plates after dinner are first rinsed through at a separate sink in the house, then brought into the kitchen sink to be washed. Nothing that touches the mouth goes directly into the kitchen sink since that's where they get the water they present to gods. There's a section in each house decorated with god pictures, figures and offerings where they perform their daily rituals and recite prayers. And the list goes on but impossible to write them all here) from their local games (you can see one such game in the pictures above. Did I mention I won! :)) to home cooking (Mythili was constantly in the kitchen preparing delicious dishes for me to have something different at every meal. My shyness and politeness disappeared after the first couple of days and I started gorging myself with the food. Few pounds I had lost during my journey were soon replaced in their place on my belly. I kept watching Mythili in the kitchen, hoping to learn some recipes but found it impossible to keep track of the endless variety of spices, veggies and grains she mixed in the dishes, so finally I gave up and decided I was better at eating the dishes than cooking them).
Another thing I was focusing on during my visit was learning more about Hinduism. Even though I had an idea about the daily rituals through many temple visits on my journey, I hadn't had much of a chance to learn about the philosophy of the religion. Kannan, being quite knowledgeable about his religion and eagerly learning more, patiently answered my numerous questions and gave me an introduction to the thought system, reasoning and progress of the religion.
Settling in comfortably it was hard leaving my house (as one of the household members I adopted their last name Jayaram in addition to the nickname "Prakash" I had been using in India. As Prakash Jayaram, I started pretending to be an Indian, but soon realized I had a long ways to go when I got busted by the security personnel at one of the museums while trying to sneak in with a cheaper local's entrance ticket instead of the much more expensive foreigner ticket :) ) after two weeks. Unwillingly I got on a train that would take me to Kerala, where I would be spending my last ten in India, and left these beautiful people behind with the hope of seeing them again someday.

Arambol Beach, GOA!

I travelled to Goa in what they call a sleeper bus. These buses don’t have any seats, but instead have little bunkers on each side of the aisle. Each little compartment sleeps two persons, so if you’re traveling alone as I am you end up sleeping with a stranger without much of a personal space. I was hoping to be placed next to a gorgeous Indian girl, but of course that wasn’t the case : ) Luckily though I shared a space with a nice older American gentleman with whom I ended up spending a lot of time hanging out with during my stay in Goa. My plan was to spend a couple of days in each beach along the coast but quickly changed my mind and decided to stay in Arambol beach for the whole period (one dollar a night hotel room (a mattress on the terrace actually) played a major role in my decision making naturally). Goa has such a relaxed atmosphere that you can spend your days doing nothing and not realize how fast days go by. My initial plan of staying for a few days turned into one week, then turned into ten days, when I decided I might end up spending a few months there if I didn’t move on. A brief summary of a day (or of everyday for that matter) would go as waking up to sun shining through palm trees and birds singing (I stayed on the rooftop of a hotel in open air), having a yummy breakfast of fresh tropical fruit with muesli, yoghurt, and honey, going to the beach for a morning swim, buying fresh fish from the fishermen while they unload the catch of the day from their nets on the beach, having a fish fiesta then a siesta, going for a afternoon swim, watching the sun set over the ocean, and listening to live music at one of the many jam sessions taking place throughout the beach. Alright, I think that’s enough to make you all jealous so I won’t even mention the dirt cheap drinks, backgammon parties, colorful interesting crowds of people (including drop dead gorgeous chicks), and scooter rides through other beaches and cities of Goa (which was hell a lot of fun riding, even though I had no previous experience and got close to minor accidents quite a few times but never got into one). Good times, good times…

Mumbai (Bombay)

Mumbai has been the most westernized city I’ve visited so far in India. It stands out from the rest of India with its British style buildings, wide roads, somewhat more organized traffic, and especially its residents. Seeing young Indian women dressed in fashionable western clothing and socializing with men in pubs was quite a different scene than what I had witnessed so far. Mumbai actually sits on a large area of landfill that integrated many small islands scattered around into one large island. I would have liked to spend some more time in the city to explore the different parts of it better but it was by far the most expensive city I’ve visited, so ended up staying for only a couple of days. Luckily I met a German guy on the train coming into Mumbai with whom we decided to share a room, so was able to keep the cost relatively down. Spent the first day visiting the usual sights, and the second day visiting the art galleries which was a nice change. After purchasing my bus ticket to Goa (trains are always my preferred means of transportation but they were all full) I could feel the excitement of laying on the sandy beaches building up within me.

Rajastan

Jodhpur Fort

Jodhpur Bride

Jain Temple in Jaisalmer Fort

View of Jaisalmer from the fort

Jaisalmer Fort

Scarry looking fish

Intricate carvings on facades of buildings in Jaisalmer

I arrived in Pushkar and checked into a hotel which I thought had a fun name: Milkman Guest House (I wouldn't take my wife there!!). Pushkar is a tiny village in central Rajastan, but an important one at the same time since it's one of the stops for Hindu pilgrims. It's also famous for its annual camel fair where country's biggest camel trading takes place. Unfortunately I missed this year's fair, but still had a pleasant stay in this calm and relaxed place. I rented the cheapest room in the hotel, which was a tent on the rooftop. Also on the rooftop were hammocks, cushions and other comfy seating areas, so I spent most of my time sitting, sleeping, eating, reading, chatting and watching the view at this cosy terrace. After getting recharged for a couple of days, I wen't to the "blue city" Jodhpur. Jodhpur was much larger than I had thought of it being. I was expecting another small village, but it actually was a mid-size city. It didn't have much charm, so I only spent a day sightseeing the usual tourist spots and left for Jaisalmer the next day. Jaisalmer was the most western point of India I would get to on my trip, close to the Pakistan border in the Thar desert. It's a beautiful town with spectacularly intracate carvings on the facades of the buildings. They worked on the stone as if they were crochetting on a piece of cloth. As beautiful as the city was, highly unpleasant encounters I had first with a drunken restaurant owner who tried to cheat me on the bill, then with the hotel owners who turned ugly and rude when I didn't go on their camel safari tour, ruinedthe days I stayed there. Udaipur was my last and turned out to be my mest stop in Rajastan. Discovered for its beauty by the wealthy, biggest luxury hotel chains of the world are opening five-star palace hotels year after year in this mesmerizing city by the Pichola Lake. I was glad to have visited it while it still kept its authentic charms and reasonably priced options. Although there're many historic buildings and other sights around the city, one doesn't really need to do much but enjoy the serene atmosphere. Watching the sunset over the lake surrounded by buildings reflecting the pinkish light and centuries of history off their walls is a rejuvenating experience.