Bangalore!

To help me recover from the trauma of the ending of Dasara, which meant no more parades or processions, a childhood friend (now all grown up and fashionably employed by the name-brand Indian B(usiness) P(rocess) O(utsourcing) giant Infosys) decided to take me to Bangalore and show me how India's changed since I was last here nearly 5 years ago. I've been missing books, music and Thai food since I've been here and I was promised all three of them. Infosys Grrl also promised to take me to Fab India -- if you've never been to a Fab India store in your life, check out the website and start saving airfare -- it is one of the things about the new India that I love. How could I resist?! Even the notion of departing Mysore at 7 am (!!!) failed to deter me; and if you know me at all, you know that I'm a night-owl, and that I don't willingly wake before 9.

Superefficient Infosys Grrl made me set my alarm the night before and then called me at 6 am "just to make sure" that I was actually up. The plan was to make a dash for a Volver Bus and having seen the Almodovar film, I was tempted to pack a steak knife or two. But I'll just say that we made it onto a *Volvo* Bus for 7 and bumped our way into B'lore for a back-breaking, nausea inducing 3 hrs. For the record, I hate buses and travelling on buses in India raises that hatred to a whole 'nother level. Gah. But. Books. Music. Fab India. Thai Food. Rumbly Volvo bus followed by an Auto driven by a young punk (this is clearly a sign that I'm getting old) led us to them all.

Re: Lunch. Tofu, how I have missed you. Also you, broccoli. Mmmm. Someone remind me when I bad-mouth malls and mall-culture again (as I will) that I enjoyed this trip to the Forum.

The music selection was kinda lame at the big mock-American bookstore we went to at the big mock-American mall but I picked up Mira Nair's The Namesake, which I'd been meaning to see since before leaving Toronto. An odd little book called The Astral Alibi by a woman called Manjiri Prabhu caught my eye and I picked it up: the cover blurb claims that it's the tale of a detective agency run by a woman -- big hoohah, you're probably thinking -- but it's supposed to be set in Pune.... that armpit of Maharashtra that's semi-Bombayized. I'm intrigued. Preethi Nair's 100 Shades of White, Anita Nair's Ladies' Coupe, and Amitabha Bagchi's Above Average all seem slightly more predictable but I've brought them home for a read anyway. There will be reviews soon. I also bought myself lots of fluff reading -- including the new William Sutcliffe book, New Boy -- but I'll spare y'all. There will be no reveiws of fluff here. Unless I change my mind. Oooh. I also picked up a book by debut novelist Advaita Kala: Almost Single, which I'm tempted to call "chick-lit" on the face of it. Again, I'm intrigued. We'll see how long the intrigue lasts but this trip is going to be perfect time to catch up on Indian writing in English. Maybe someone somewhere will let me teach a course on it someday.

I promised you elephants so my elephant related news for the day is that I bought a skirt with elephants on it. Also other non-elephant printed kurtas (for the days when I need to pretend to be a decent Indian woman) and long flowly skirts (for the days when I can appease my inner hippie). And a scarf/shawl/dupatta that I've fallen in love with. It's pretty and that's all I can say in my defense.

After all this, and some more Auto-ing and traipsing around, I refused to climb aboard another bus -- Volvo, Volver, whatever -- so we took the train back. I love trains. Traveling in trains in India is fantastic. Ok, if you can ignore the smells and the dirt and find yourself a seat or two, traveling by train in India is fantastic. And I love it so much that I'll deal with the stink from the loos and silently roll my eyes at the discarded plastic bottles along the track and climb on board and search for that elusive thing: a seat. Once you have a seat, then the pleasure begins: you open the windows and watch the houses flash past as you munch on "time-pass snacks" and gossip the trip away. Sheer joy to do that again. Tonight, we whiled away some time eating Maddur vadas. If you don't know what they are, I'm sorry for you. If you do: mmmm. Mysore came before Infosys Grrl and I had done more than sketch out our plans for world domination but there will be other trips and other planning sessions. And fear not, dear Reader, you'll be treated to more of my raptures on train trips in India.

The books are calling out to me now so that's all for tonight.