Bannerghatta National Park

On Friday, as mentioned, Wade required "a day off," having submitted his vacation request via email and near the end of his rope on Wednesday. I similarly submitted my vacation request to my boss and we were set... start the day with a family visit to the Park (thinking like the zoo back home) and then Wade could have the afternoon to do as he saw fit, free at last.

This was the plan, but this is India. We set off early to avoid traffic, with our driver who showed up late, but not as late as the maid, who didn't show up at all. Bannerghatta Park is 22kms away, and, in hindsight, takes one turn to get there. Of course our driver didn't really know the way (this is more than suspected, we stop to ask for directions along any journey at least three times). So, we made it there just shy of two hours after departing and a little frazzled. But the park was open, as were the bathrooms, an unimposing structure where I paid two rupees to squat and luckily brought my own toilet paper (I've been around now and I think this is ok).
The zoo portion was a little less than the MN Zoo, with the animals mainly behind concrete and chain mail structures with dirty water, but at least it wasn't crowded.
Caden had fun with the peacocks.
And like any good zoo, it had a park where Caden had a fun time playing while the stray dogs watched.
And any good zoo needs a stray monkey, right?
We wrapped that up quickly and went on to the bus for the safari. The bus was a very Jurassic Park feeling thing (but old and with no shocks) that whisked us off to the safari, complete with the series of gates to ensure the bus got in and no animals got out. Caden inquired: "why are they locking us in here? Are we tiger food?" Of course, the first enclosure was where the deer were kept.
Finally (and a little shaken, literally), we made it to the tiger enclosure. I had told Caden (not very nice mommy I know) that anyone with their fingers out would get them bit off. So when we saw this tiger and I pointed at him, Caden grabbed my arms and held them back for the rest of the journey, scolding me "don't put your fingers out there mommy!" Super cute, but I managed to snap a couple photos under his watchful eye after my reckless pointing.
It was pretty cool, and I was glad the tigers here at least looked better fed than the cows...
Out the "window" of the bus...
So the safari was fun. The ride home, which involved piling dirty, tired and hungry into the car, very persistent begging, a brief car accident (our third in six weeks), getting turned around not once but twice despite our "expert" directions, and just an hour long car ride with a three year old who insisted he wanted the windows down to let in the "fresh air" (there's no such thing in Bangalore), was not fun.
But hey, it was a good outing, and helped Wade to thoroughly enjoy his afternoon off while Caden and I went up to the pool and also enjoyed ours. Not coincidentally, today, we decided to go...nowhere.

Rhythm of Life

Every place I've been, and through each phase of life, there is a certain rhythm to it. It's generally pretty easy to describe all of the places in general, and even in specific, and straight-forward to describe different phases - college student, married, mom, etc... This will be my attempt at the somewhat more difficult exercise of describing that indescribable part - the rhythm to being an American expat in India. (For those of you that "read" the blog only for the pictures - check out here!)
The roller coaster analogy is probably the most helpful at illuminating the general feel of it in most things. Some days are awesome - relaxing in Palm Meadows, exploring the Vijayanagar ruins of Hampi, celebrating Holi with a giddy three year old, champagne brunch. Some days just suck - sitting in traffic next to a cow, the utter dirtiness of India, days spent in the bathroom and the subsequent lingering fear of eating, the frequent cold showers and warm beverages. But the roller coaster is about more than just cool adventures and minor (and some major) annoyances. There's just not much middle here - no gentle sloping part to this ride where you go peacefully around the corner and reflect on the rest of the park. That's because it's entirely unfamiliar - there's so little that isn't extremely cool or really crappy; living here generates a near-constant unsettled feeling.
Trying to identify with things generally just makes it worse, so I'm re-reading my yoga book and trying to learn to just accept it as it is. For example, having a driver, cook and maid seems simple enough to explain. What's hard to explain are the days I hate it. You are never alone here - driven around with no control over when you leave or when you get there, never alone in the car to turn up the music and jam out to a song you can actually understand, or alone to fight with your husband about his crazy driving. Our cook now is actually really, really good, but there's days where I would kill for a bowl of grape-nuts for dinner (with brown sugar and tasty milk, mmmmm) and not wondering what it is I'm eating or if it will kill me. The maids sound nice, and generally are - but they are there constantly. In six days of two people working nearly full time, they get less done than our old cleaning service did in two hours. Now, since I realize this sounds like me bitching about our pampered existence, I am bitching about a full-time staff of four people in a palm-tree lined resort. I know. There's times it just makes my American blood boil - I CAN DO MY OWN DAMN LAUNDRY AND DRIVE MY OWN DAMN CAR!!! And (in my opinion), better than it's getting done here. It drives me nuts some days to the point where if one more person calls me ma'am....
Anyhow, the lack of a "middle" applies also to classes. And this is confronting as I've always been a solid part of that middle, and I like it there. It's hard to teach Caden humility and respect for others (and remember it yourself) in a place that really doesn't seem to expect it. I can only imagine the blog comments I'd get for going too far into this subject, but socio-economic reality pervades the "rhythm" here nearly everywhere you go. It's hard to describe, but not something I thought about much (or appreciated nearly enough) living in a wealthy country. I'm simultaneously annoyed with the begging and the lack of sanitation and basic infrastructure, and annoyed with myself for being annoyed.
Last observation in this theme, is the sense of time. There's really only two times here - now, or later. Not too many clocks (why would there be when the power goes out every day?). Either there is a sense of urgency, real or imagined, that it must be done NOW (this sense happens mostly at work with emails coming in at all hours of the night expecting immediate response - could someone tell them we're in a different time zone?). Or there is a complete lack of now... it will get done later (this also happens at work but I won't elaborate - it's sometimes clear that we are in start-up mode, and there are many priorities, apparently not all of them mine). Our days at home too are either a whirl-wind of activity or a complete lack of it (refer to above and the stigma tied to doing your own chores).
I'm not sure if that cleared anything up, or just won me a plethora of blog comments, but there is something to the rhythm here that is really hard to describe. When everything seems just different - even things you'd never expect would feel so uncomfortable. There's days where I really do visualize myself as Elizabeth Shoe in The Saint - running toward the US Embassy at full speed, screaming "I'm an American... Open the gate!"

Missed Caden pictures

Caden's new favorite obsession - the face painters they have at every party, brunch and event here in Bangalore... he'll sit patiently (yes really) while they paint his whole face, arms, etc... they are really quite talented.

From Wade's camera... a cute photo from Holi - such a mess and such fun!
Super cute - Caden smelling the flowers. A good reminder to us all...
And a smiley, happy picture to close out the night... Caden enjoying the pool.
Good night (day) everyone! We miss you and we love you!!
~Wade, Angela and Caden

Hampi - third edition

Picture of the ruins by Hampi, near the river...
In the entrance to the Virupaksha Temple...whoever thought bare feet were a good idea must have had some super solid soles... ouch! (Caden had the right thought/response to this challenge. Smart kid.)...
Outside the Lotus Mahal building... apparently in its day, a favorite of the queen one of the few "air-conditioned" buildings in Hampi, an effect accomplished by having men pour water through piping which wound its way through the building. Also smart.
The tour group...
The Vitthala Temple, grandest of all the religious monments in the sacred centre (dedicated to Vishnu the preserver); the columns emit different musical tones when tapped (allegedly - this was guarded for preservation!). But still cool. And I can't even really use an iPod!
That concludes the pictures of Hampi... hope you enjoyed!

More photos from Hampi

Starting Saturday's tour of Hampi in the auto-rickshaws. Apparently riding in an auto rickshaw is not cool if you are from India. I thought it was cool. And so did Caden. So there.
Thought this picture was so sweet - Caden and his five year old hero Jimmy.
As the day got long, Caden hitched a ride on Saravanan...
On the way home (this didn't entirely upload in order), yet another testament to widespread health and safety regulations. Dad, thought you'd appreciate this a motivator to "pass on the left" - except of course, it's India, so you're supposed to pass on the right....
The elephant stables... thought this was cool. Can you imagine the spectacle of the Royal Elephants housed in this cool and totally grand city?
Still more to come...

FINALLY - some photos from Hampi

Ok, before this becomes a series of "updates from two weeks ago" posts... here are some photos from Hampi (and a promise to update from the weekend by Monday night - I'm taking tomorrow off and we're having a family morning at the park before Wade has the "day off".)

So back to Hampi... starting with the town on the way (Tumkur I think) and the enormous statue of Hanuman.
The "hotel" room... mosquito net hanging. Our bed looks that comfortable too, but at least it's our own dirt. Yes, I did just say that out loud...
The infamous monkey that took my banana...
And the result of Caden's successful defense of his banana... getting to feed it to the temple elephant.
At the end of the bazaar, overlooking the ruins on the back side of the climb...
More to come...

Happy Ugadi!

Monday was a holiday for our state, Karnataka, called Ugadi. Apparently this is something like lunar New Year for Hindus in our state and two nearby. Bottom line, it was a day off and the reason for our excursion. Monday we had arranged for auto-rickshaws and a guide. This happened as we had been instructed (as foreigners) to register at the police station, which consisted of signing a book while a guy tried to sell you guide services. Interesting. But we were foreigners in need of a guide…

After checking out of the room and having breakfast at the rooftop dining, we boarded the auto-rickshaws and headed out for a morning of exploring the ruins and Hampi. It was a ton of fun, the kids loved the rickshaws (even the big kids) and it was cool to learn more about India and the civilization. It must have been an awesome place to behold in its heyday. Presently, it fits the bill for a really cool place that time seems to have forgotten, save for the locals, tourists and hippies (there were really some still there). When I tried to explain ruins in 3-year-old terms, Caden nodded knowingly, and said, “don’t worry mommy, I can fix those ruins” and comment on pretty much every one that it was ok it was broken now – he’d fix it up. By afternoon, it was getting REALLY hot, and most of us had had enough. We loaded back into the cars for the ride home. Tired and dirty, we had a little more luck with naps this time. Traffic was a little less for the Holiday (a bit fewer near-death experiences, maybe only 286) and we made it home – home sweet home where I never thought I’d be so happy to have a 2 ½ minute hot shower and settle into my rock-hard, but layered with a 2 inch pillow topper, bed. The power was on, and the fans were working. We’d been out to India, been cultured, and were back to sweet Bangalore. Caden had asked the entire ride home – “are we in Bangalore now?” Yes, it was good to be home.