In the City

September 28, 2008

I left for India one month ago today.  It’s hard to believe that it has been an entire month since I left home.  I think about how much I have changed and how much my view of the world has changed.  Today I made my first trip into Bangalore without an Indian guide.  It was really great.  I was happy to finally get through the city without much help.  It gave me a new sense of freedom in India.  For the last month I have felt like I have been locked up and every hour of my life has been planned out for me.  This was different.  We got into the city and were left without a guide.  I was a little nervous at first but everything went just fine.  We had a little trouble getting a rickshaw to take us the MG road (a major shopping area).  I’m not sure if the drivers just couldn’t understand us or if they were being jerks and trying to get more money out of us.  It’s sometimes hard to tell.  Finally, we found one kind soul who would take us to MG road for a reasonable price.  We wondered around the city and did a little bit of shopping.  We ate dinner at a Pizza Hut.  It was so good.  I didn’t think that I would miss American food as much as I do.  It’s been a hard transition.  Plus, I’ve pretty much stopped eating rice and drinking tea (2 staples of the Indian diet). 

We needed to get back to Visthar and this proved to be a lot harder than we would have liked it to be.  It took about 30 minutes to get some rickshaws to finally accept us.  We rode for almost an hour to get back to Visthar.  I was so happy to get back.  I know that I’ve said it before, but Visthar is my home away from home.  If you had asked me a month ago how I felt about Visthar there is no way that I would have called it home.  I find myself saying “home” for Visthar now.  It feels funny to say it, but it’s so true.  This is home in India.