Arrival on the Subcontinent + Adventures in Bangalore

The first few days in India have been filled with new experiences. The thing that immediately struck me as we left the airport in Bangalore was the activity on the streets. Along with the hundreds of people crowding the roads, stray dogs and cows roam around, undisturbed. The drivers in India do not stay on one lane in the road, swerving to avoid people and rickshaws in their paths. Gaurang, one of the trip leaders and an Indian national, said Indians are the best drives since unlike American drivers they always have to be on alert. The scariest part of that first day in India was crossing the busiest street I’ve seen, staring down a bus as it hurtled towards us, holding each others’ arms for dear life.

We also went shopping in the markets of Bangalore and bargained down the prices for our kurtas. I also tried the spray toilets for the first time, which involves a water jet that you use to clean yourself up in lieu of toilet paper. At first we all thought this was disgusting, because how could you spray yourself without thoroughly wetting your pants and underwear, but after I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that it’s a ton better for the environment, and probably more hygienic than paper wipes anyway. It’s still taking some getting used to, but we still have more than two weeks here, and many of the toilets are Western-style.

The saddest part of these first few days has been seeing barefooted people and children banging on the windows of our buses, pointing to their mouths or shoving little knickknacks into our faces, trying to get a few rupees. Bangalore experienced a huge strike on the first day we got here, which shut down all the transportation and kept us in the hotel til 6pm. There’s a lot of tension in this city between the rich and poor, and such strikes have been known to get violent. Overall, the first few days have been overwhelming and kind of intimidating, yet also intriguing. I’ve been missing home and my people there, but I’m excited by this city and wonder how the rest of India will be similar and/or different.

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