Are We Lost Again?

October 4, 2008

What can I say about today?  Well, today was a little too crazy for my liking.  I got to experience a whole new side of India.  It started off just crazy and ended with me wanting to get back to Visthar more than anything in the world.  We were told that the bus for Bangalore left at 2:00pm and we rushed up to the bus stop.  Like everything in India, the bus was late.  It was so hot and sunny that waiting for the bus was pretty ridiculous.  The bus didn’t show up until about 3:15pm.  By the time we got on the bus I knew it was going to be a long afternoon/evening.  The bus wasn’t full at first but that changed pretty quickly.  There was a woman standing so close to me that she was touching me.  I hated it.  I was getting so angry that she was touching me.  I tried to move away from her but each time I moved she would get closer.  I started thinking about why this bothered me so much.  I hate when people I don’t know touch me.  It drives me crazy.  I think its because in American culture there is a definite bubble of personal space.  People are not allowed in that bubble and when they violate the rules I feel like I’m being violated.  I think this is something that I’m going to have to work on.  It’s just really hard for me because it is so ingrained into me.  It amazes me how much I am a product of US society, but why shouldn’t I be?  I spend the last 23 years living in it.  I only have months two and a half months to get comfortable with this personal space thing.  I better get going on it.  But I digress.

We got of the bus about 5 stops to early and had to ask around for directions.  It was really crappy because we had to cross the street a bunch of times (my favorite thing to do in India…NOT!).  We finally reached MG road.  I feel like I’m always rushing to keep up with everyone.  I have no idea why everyone was in such a hurry.  We didn’t even know where we were going.  We walked around MG road for a little while and then headed to Commercial Street from there (more road crossing, yay).  It was really fun just walking around and finding out more about the city.  I bought some cool stuff.  After a few hours we headed back to MG road because we were going to meet the rest of the group at Hard Rock Café for dinner and drinks.  We didn’t know where we were going and got really lost.  I noticed that a man was following us for a long time.  He started walking really close me us.  He started getting a little grabby with me and another girl in our group.  I got really upset.  He was in my bubble and trying to get a feel.  I ended up pushing him really hard and yelling at him to leave us alone.  He walked further away from us but he followed us all the way to the restaurant.  He was such a creeper.  Dinner was good but expensive.  After dinner we just walked around MG road.  I was getting really frustrated with the group because no one was staying together and I was worried that we were going to lose someone.  I couldn’t wait to get going back to Visthar.  The taxi showed up at about 11:30pm.  I was so happy when everyone was accounted for and on the bus.  I don’t think that I want to go back into the city with the entire group again like this.  It was just too stressful.  I was so happy to finally be back at Visthar.