Though I am starting to get used to the chaos and oddities of Bangalore, I felt it was time to take a leave of absence for a weekend and head over to Mysore. It had been a long week filled with the common frustrations of working in a foreign country and I finally felt ready to brave the transportation system all by my lonesome.
As I have told some of you already, Chethan likes to monitor my every move. I realize it is with the best protective intentions, but it drives me mad. I am constantly reminded to wear sunscreen, drink water and must always be walking two steps behind him. Those are the ‘do’s, but don’t you fret, there is a whole other list of do not/cannot/should nots. Apparently, I cannot carry my own bag, cannot choose what I want to eat at a restaurant, should not hail my own rickshaw…and the list goes on. How do they think I function when they are not around? I am fully capable and this gender differential makes me angry. To top it all off, Chethan feels the need to insist I visit the hospital for something as little as a mosquito bite and does not take no for an answer. He will continue to call my phone and send me text messages at an incredibly persistent effort. If I refuse, he will go as far as to call a doctor to visit the office. Catch my drift? I am the vulnerable little white foreigner constantly under supervision from several Indian watchdogs. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that so many people are looking out for me but it makes me feel smothered and incapable. Anyway, thus was the reason for my exodus.
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| Roadside tender coconuts for all! |
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| David and I in the Big Banyan Tree |
Luckily, David heard of my plans and remembered that he had a meeting to attend there on Friday and offered me a ride. I figured it was a safer bet than taking the bus. He also suggested that Chethan come along (joy!) so we could meet with a focus group expert and visit some PHCs along the way (neither of which happened). It shouldn’t have surprised me, but we left at 10am and only arrived at 4:30pm….it’s a 3-hour drives distance. There were several stops made along the way (roadside peeing, tender coconuts, drinks…etc) and then once we finally started getting close, David wanted to turn around and visit the Big Banyan Tree which was right outside of Bangalore. It was major backtracking….I was frustrated but the tree was 400 years old so I figured it was worth a visit! On our way, we ran into a Bollywood celebrity…very exciting stuff! Don’t ask me for his name.
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| Chethan, Felix, CELEBRITY, and me |
Once we finally got to Mysore, we ignored David’s request to stop for lunch and went straight to Ashodaya – the sex workers collective where Elayne works. We hung around there for a bit…and got some interesting demonstrations on how to secretly administer a condom during oral sex. It was very interesting to see the drop-in centre and hear a bit about the work they do. The condom negotiation strategies they teach the sex workers were particularly interesting.
Once David and Chethan headed back to Bangalore, I could finally relax a bit. The next day we visited the palace and an incredible market with tons of flowers (and bees), perfumes, incense, tiffins and bangles galore.
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| BANGLES |
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| Perfume/paints/incense shop |
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| Tiffins! |
We ate a lot of good food and just roamed the city shops. Though we got a pedicure from hell, and a rock was thrown at Elayne while we were watching an amateur cricket game, it was a very enjoyable trip. Mysore is so beautiful and much less crowded and congested than Bangalore. Very refreshing.
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| Elayne and I in one of the many sweet shops. (mmm Mysore pak) |
My plan was to board the Bangalore bus at 2:45pm on Sunday and I was naively convinced that there were no difficulties involved. I was SO wrong. I must have said goodbye at least 5 times to bolt to an approaching bus desperately trying to reach the door in an angry mob of local travelers. It took forever to successfully make it, despite the fact that I had a ticket and no one else did. Note to self: there is absolutely no need to buy a ticket in advance.
So that concludes my adventure report! There is so much more to say but I’ll leave some stories for when I get back.
I’m boarding the train again tonight for Koppal field visit #2 for the week. I shall try and keep this blog thing going but its starting to annoy me so the posts may come a little less frequently in future. My apologies.
