Today I miss:

• Turkey dinner and all the fixings (it’s Thanksgiving back home today).

Hard to believe that there are only a few short weeks left before I head back to Canada. It seems there’s not enough time to do everything I’d like and see all of the places that have been recommended. It’s already the beginning of week 4, and that means there are only 3 more weeks before the trip is over. I know that long before I leave India, I’ll be working on plans to come back for a vacation with Drew sometime in the future.

After another extremely long day yesterday, Anand and I met downstairs and headed to Divya’s house. Divya’s brother runs a medical clinic in the same building in which they live. He’s named the clinic ‘Divya Clinic’ – she says she has no idea why he named it after her – and having a clinic for a landmark makes it easier to find.

This is my second trip to Divyas’, but Anands’ first. It’s traditional to take off your shoes before you enter a house in India, so off come the shoes and in we walk. After visiting for an hour, we learned that Divyas’ brother has traveled to Amsterdam with work a number of times, and that in school they are taught a minimum of 3 languages. The primary language is usually either Kanataka (I hope that’s spelled correctly) or Sanskrit and the secondary language is normally English. Students then have a choice of a third language to learn in school. We’re told that there are a number of international schools in Bangalore, including a Canadian school. Many of the students are children of ex-patriots, but the schools are open to anyone who would like to attend.

There have been a number of initiatives in outlying communities – such as a school lunch program – that the government hopes will increase enrollment and encourage students to stay in school and not work (mainly on farms or in textile shops). The ‘fall-out’(drop-out) rate in Indian schools is still very high and attempts are being made to have children stay in school for as long as possible.

I’ve noticed in the newspaper that all public schools are required to offer English and that the government hopes that this will put the public schools on equal footing with the private schools, which have a better attendance and graduation rate than the public schools.

Lunch was Chicken Biryani (a rice dish), a spiced chicken cooked in oil and chicken curry with rice. Of couse, I was stuffed after the first two courses and it was left to Anand to taste test the curry. We ate traditional Indian style – with our fingers – and for a westerner, it looks easier than it actually is. Anand was able to manage it with no difficulty, since his mother in Indian and he often eats with his fingers at home, but it took me quite a while to get the hang of it without having naan or roti to help me gather up the food.

When we left, Divya presented me with s bunch of tiny bananas, a peach, betel leaves (yum), and dotted my forehead with the red dust (I really need to learn what that’s called). She explained that it’s the traditional way of sending off a married woman after a visit to the home. Unfortunately for Anand, there are no such traditions for saying goodbye to men.

On our way home, we stopped at a grocery store so I could pick up some pop and I found some traditional Indian cookbooks to bring home. The recipes seem to be very easy to follow and I’m looking forward to trying them out. After leaving Food World, we headed to a small textiles store where we picked up some additional gifts to bring home. Anand has offered to bring some back to Winnipeg for me when he returns, so that I don’t have to ship them from Edmonton. Since most of the things I’ve picked up so far are meant to be Christmas presents, I think I’ll be sending something small back for Roseanne with Anand and then ship the rest out in December.

As we returned home, Anand called Faisal to find out what the plans were for the evening. We were supposed to go see a Hindi movie, but weren’t sure of the time or where we would be meeting. The movie was sold out and Faisal wasn’t able to get tickets – so we decided to call Faisal from the room (rather than continue the conversation on the cell phone) in order to discuss plans further. We dismissed the driver for the evening with the intention of traveling by auto should plans solidify but both agreed in the elevator that we were sleepy and would prefer to stay in the hotel and crash rather than going back out again tonight. Since Monday is such a big day for us at work, I don’t think either of us have any intention of missing out on sleep tonight.

Bindu called and we made arrangements to see the Iskon temple on Tuesday. Iskon is a large temple dedicated to Krishna and was founded by a number of foreigners. The temple is famous and Bindu is adamant that I can’t leave Bangalore without visiting it. After Iskon, we’ll be heading to her house for lunch before traipsing off to work.

Linda and Bill should be arriving in a few short hours and Anand and I debated trying to stay awake long enough to welcome to the hotel after their long journey. Four am comes very early and I’m not sure either of us will be able to manage it. I think that we’ll both be visiting with the Sandman long before their arrival.

Today I miss:

• Tenderloin and Corky’s BBQ Sauce
• Catching up on Cdn news and events via TV, newspapers and internet web sites.
• Watching ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ before bed.
• DVD player and movies
• Working a 10 hour shift instead of a 14+ hour shift!

Thanks to Amy and Paulo for identifying the flower in my room. It is a Bird of Paradise. According to Amy, they grow all over San Diego (where she grew up) and are one of her favourite plants. They are a large Grass like plant standing about 4 feet tall and about 5 in diameter. The flowers bloom in groups of 3 and 4.

From Paulo: On the spa link for The Leela hotel (http://www.theleela.com/leelabang/spa/index.htm) it has a song playing. Could you ask someone there if the know what it is?

Both Anand and I are searching away for you Paulo and hope to have an answer (and CD with the song on it) for you soon.

This week it was a struggle to keep my journal up to date. Most of the week I jotted down notes on the back of an envelope and am only now adding the entries for Monday through Saturday. Since I’ve spent so much time at work today, it’s been very difficult to find the time or energy to keep the journal updated on a daily basis. Hopefully, next week will be a different story.

Friday was a very late night and we didn’t arrive back at the hotel until almost 5am. The breakfast buffet is included in the price of the room and is served from 7am – 10am. We decided to head to the restaurant and grab something to eat before our heads hit the pillows. Shortly before 9:30 am, we headed back up to our rooms to get some much needed sleep.

I finally got a chance to visit the Leela Galleria (shopping centre) attached to the hotel. First stop – the Oxford bookstore. I picked up a book of Indian ghost stories and another containing some traditional folk tales. I’ve also picked up an introduction to Hinduism to increase my knowledge of the local culture and religion. There are a number of post cards in the book store, so I’ll have to come back and pick some up before the end of the week. I’d like to get them in the mail before Friday, so that they arrive at their respective destinations in North America before I do! After leaving the bookstore, I wandered in and out of the rest of the shops before heading back to my room.

Finally, Faisal and I manage to get our schedules straight and the trip to the disco was arranged. Anand, Faisal and I headed to Hypnos for dinner and dancing. We met many of Faisals friends and had a great time trying out the Greek food on the menu. The music was a mix of North American techno and Hindi dance mixes and made for an interesting evening out. Bars close early in Bangalore, and we were headed home before midnight.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we had an early night and lots of sleep. Working the night shift has its’ downfalls. It’s hard to go to sleep early once you’ve been up to 4am for a week. Instead, Anand and I spent a few hours just gabbing away – ok, I’m the big mouth talkative one…most of the gabbing was done by me – before we were fit to crash in the early morning hours.

I’ve offered to provide Anand with some space on my website should he want to start a journal of his own. We’ll have to wait and see if he’ll be adding his own impressions of India to the site. Otherwise, I’ve joked that he may be offered special correspondent status and be assigned the Herculean task of attempting to describe driving in India to everyone. I’ve been talking about it for weeks now, and I know I’ve not been able to describe it adequately.