In search of Saraswati…

Last Friday night, Bobby (Double B) and I went and saw the Bollywood film, “Love Story, 2050”, as we weren’t in the mood for going to some July 4th, Independence Day house party, with the rest of the crew.

We learned a lot about watching a Bollywood film in a Bangalore theatre that night.  Such as:
a) They don’t start on time.
b) The majority of audience goers at 10pm are men, independent of the film’s subject or title.
c) Before/after every ad (prior to the movie starting) you see a scanned image of some legal document that I assume provides assurance that the product or service being advertised is legally valid.
d) During the ad/preview session there was a music video, featuring what looked like fairly well-respected Indian singers, singing the national anthem, which everyone stood up for.
e) The big kahuna…Bollywood movies go for three hours and have an intermission!

I really wasn’t into the movie, so by intermission (an hour and a half in) I suggested we leave; Bobby didn’t object.

I think the movie we chose was a dud.  There was not a lot of dancing and singing, which we were hoping for.  I was, however, pleased with the fact that I got to see a lot of Western Australia, seeing WA acted as the film’s back-drop.

***

On Saturday, I woke early when my new roomy, Harsharn, arrived.  We set off on a walk to MG Rd. via some ritzy hotels for toilet breaks/a “look, see”, starting with The Park, then The Taj, then The Oberoi  When we arrived at MG Rd. I took Harsharn to the India Coffee House, where we sat and had breakfast (Masala Dosa and chai).

I had a head massage Saturday afternoon at the beauty salon around the corner from Shirley’s.  VERY different from my last massage experience.  Oil was still involved but there was no undressing ;-).

On Saturday night, a lot of us went to a rooftop club called Taika, on MG Rd.  Nerrel and I thoroughly enjoyed the 80s music that the DJ was rolling with.  I don’t think the “young-uns” appreciated it as much as we did ;-).  Bobby secured himself a spot on the club’s list of performers/rappers for Tuesday night.  Oh, and Shaun drove the auto home.   Nerrel and I edged him on from the back seat (see photos).

On Sunday morning, Shirley’s house reached capacity with the arrival of all the rest of the new-comers; Julia and Laura from Paris, and Nadia and Claire from London.

The rest of my Sunday is pretty much covered in the post below.

***

On Monday…Monday…what happened Monday?  Nothing special I don’t think.  Pre-school and class with the elder girls, as per usual.  We covered the vowel, “O”, but I’m struggling to think if we did anything else?  How horrible of me.

For lunch, Nerrel and I joined the new volunteers and the i-to-i country coordinators at some hotel downtown; nothing overly impressive.  I then took the French girls and another newbie to the Mysore Silk store and some other fabric store on Commercial Rd, and gave them the low-down on how fabrics are sold and how kameez and salwar are made.

***

On Tuesday, after class, I was taken to the other Concerns Universe Foundation’s community center in a noticeably more underprivileged district of Bangalore.  During my afternoon there I observed some distressing situations.

One was a 16 year old girl who had dropped out of school to find a job to support her family.  Her parents, for some reason or another, can’t work, and the responsibility to support her family of five has become hers.  She can’t speak English nor perform basic computing tasks, which severely limits her employment options.  The community center girls bought a local paper and started scanning through all the employment ads with her.  I don’t think they found anything.  Another limiting option is her unwillingness to travel too far from home.

The second situation was a woman suffering from TB.  She was as skinny as a rake, and from what I gathered, she was having problems with understanding how and when to take her medicine.  The community center girls helped clarify the situation for her.

The third situation was a distressed woman looking for her son.  He was supposed to be downstairs, but wasn’t there.  She was concerned as her son suffers from epilepsy, and she was looking to collect him so that she could take him to the home of her relatives in some other town.  Her husband had kicked her out that afternoon after a drinking episode.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that she’s suffering from some blood-related illness also, and can’t afford the drugs to treat herself or her son.

So Tuesday was pretty heavy.  I didn’t feel like going out that night, but I built up the stamina eventually.  Bobby was performing at Taika that night, which I couldn’t miss.  Approximately 18 of us (all i-to-i volunteers) went and it was lots of fun.  I felt more like I was in a Hip-Hop/Rap club somewhere in the US, than in Bangalore, India.  Bobby’s performance was short but awesome.  His stuff went down well amongst what I thought was a pretty tough crowd.

***

From Wednesday to Friday I was pretty busy with preparing classes, conducting classes and revising the Concerns brochure.  I don’t have long to go now in Bangalore, so I want to make sure I get everything finished that I promised I would, to Concerns and myself.

On Friday, yesterday, Nerrel came to watch me teach and to watch the class rangoli competition.  The girls produced some pretty awesome stuff.

As I said in my post below, tonight I’m off to Pondicherry with some other volunteers, so I’m sure I’ll be returning with some good stories and photos to share.

Tags: Travel

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