Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary

I had a very relaxing and enjoyable visit to Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary while on the Mysore trip. Mysore and Bangalore are in the same state of Karnataka. This bird sanctuary is the largest bird sanctuary in the state, and even though it was the “off season” for many birds (I missed it by a month!), note that there are 50 pelicans that have made this sanctuary a permanent home. Birds migrate here from as far as Siberia, and during peak season there are up to 40,000 birds of various species, from many locations. Lots of birds nest here as well. I was unable to get any pictures of birds worth posting here, though I took some other worthwhile photos. While walking through this most quiet area of India, I began seeing signs of exactly what types of “wildlife” I would find here. It was a somewhat isolated place, and the trail was very close to the bank of the water. Suddenly, I see a “Crocodile” sign, and then..... I take notice again, of just exactly how close this trail is to the water...... Then....I see, a sandal left behind! I wonder if it is, indeed, croc season. I picked up the pace. Lovely day at this Bird Sanctuary, with a little adrenaline at the end.

Mysore Part 2: Tipu's Death Place

When I visited Mysore, one of the first places I visited was the “Death Place of Tipu” on advice from a colleague. It was an interesting visit for sure. Tipu Sultan was the ruler of Mysore, born in 1750. He died in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore while defending his fort of Srirangapatna. He was 48 years old. When Tipu died, this was the end of the battle, and the British gained this victory. The British had 50,000 soldiers while the Kingdom of Mysore only had 30,000. Tipu was referred to as the “Tiger of Mysore”. So the story goes…he was with a Frenchman, and they came face to face with a Tiger in a forest. Tipu’s gun failed and as the tiger jumped on him, he killed him with a dagger. If this is true (and I am not doubting, only stating!), then the nickname “Tiger of Mysore” is certainly well-deserved. This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as info and rich history on Tipu. As a colleague back home says, to learn more, you will need to "Google it out". This place of death is guarded by staff (at least when I was there) and you could not get too close to the gravemarker to take a picture. There is a palace near this Death Place, and I walked the short distance from Death Place to Palace. Along the way, there are a lot of people selling items (of course wooden elephants are popular! Trunk up means “Good Luck”) and also horse rides available. There is a picture of some really cool small houses along the way pictured BELOW (I am not sure if these are occupied by people or just old places?), and you can see the "trenches" in front of these houses. These ditches/trenches/crevasses are found in every area I have visited so far in India, on my way to work, etc. and you have to be SUPER CAREFUL when you are walking near one. They seem to be a bit deep!

Abbey Falls

This past weekend, I travelled to Mysore, about 150 kms from Bangalore. As an aside, if you had told me a year ago, that I would be thinking and calculating distances in kms and not miles, I would have thought “that is absolute nonsense”. However, here I am, calculating distances for weekend trips in kms, and figuring out how long this will take by car/bus/or train. Mysore is one of the closest cultural delights to Bangalore, and so I decided to travel there first. It is considered “The City of Palaces” with Mysore Palace being a main attraction. They light this palace up for only 1 hour every week, on a Sunday evening, and it is supposedly “gold” in hues, and breathtaking. I was due back in Bangalore by this time, but planning to visit Mysore again in the future, and include a Sunday night visit in my plans. For this trip....Colleagues at work had given me lists of places to visit, and so I was able to have a pre-planned agenda. I will write several blogs about places I visited, as it was a very full weekend, with about 7 different destinations. The one that I will share first, is my visit to Abbey Falls, about an hour’s drive from Mysore. I had a very…ahhhh…efficient (!)…driver, so I think we made it in about 30. He was my own personal Mario Andretti, and we overtook every car on the way to the top of the fall. This is a bit of a joke of course, as if you read this blog for any period, you will know I have a sarcastic sense of humor, and I can “turn the mirror” on myself and laugh just as much, as often. The driver was amazing, a referral from a colleague, and I hope he will take me more places during my stay. So, the info on Abbey falls from the literature is much like every other “falls” that you read about……that you can “hear it” when you arrive, and a short walk down the steps and Voila, you are there. That was (mostly) true. It was raining, and luckily my driver had an umbrella for me to use. So did everyone else on the path to this fall. Mine was super big. I found myself lifting my umbrella to try not to poke people in head, while handling my Nikon (WHY did I not get this neck strap in place before this trek?? Am I just a chronically unprepared person?), and keeping from slipping on the wet steps down. I would keep “hearing the falls” and thinking “I am almost there” and then turn a corner and see “25 more steps”. I wondered at one point, “Will I make it back up all of these steps if there are 300 more?” Luckily, it was not that bad, and the falls appeared before I knew it. They were very picturesque and worth the climb. These falls are only 70 feet from boulders to below, yet very WIDE with a neat head current into the “fall” that photographed well. I really enjoyed my time down at the base of the falls taking pictures. Oh, and watching out for LEECHES. Yes, they are there, and my colleague warned me about them. Ascending, I took lots of little breaks heading up the stairs/path to the car and SWORE that I will become more conditioned! If you have ever been to Highlands, NC, you see many beautiful waterfalls that are comparable to Abbey falls. The thing that made this trip different, was….it was me and about 1K Indians on this wet march (here, as an American, you are always in the minority, and therefore have a chance to engage with complete strangers. You get lots of neat attention and friendly smiles). Oh, and there was a cow tied to the bathroom facility. A very lovely weekend, and more to come about Mysore…

The Elevators

Cherie Killian Berry is the current North Carolina Commissioner of Labor, a member of the North Carolina Council of State and head of the North Carolina Department of Labor. Her picture (copied from Wikipedia, above) is posted in every single regulated elevator in NC. Living in NC all of my life, one of the first things I noticed when I got on the elevator at work in Bangalore, was the missing "sign off" from Cherie. Plain steel wall inside each one. Still, I get on. Every day. Our building is packed and people want to get to their floor. I did not realize that there were as many impatient people as me here! Also, it is so neat and unexpected when someone days "I like your blog". (A guy at my lunch table who I had never met said that today! Exciting that someone who does not know me, knows me, a little.) Another girl (that saw me in the elevator!) said the same thing. So nice to hear "a hello" from such a nice group of people, and random kind remarks. OK......sooooo... Back to the elevators. There is a bank of 6 where I work. 3 on each side. If you press an UP or DOWN button, an elevator immediately lights up, and so you move to stand right in front of this elevator. Yet, suddenly, you see everyone moving towards a completely DIFFERENT elevator! The plan has changed and new buttons have lit up on a completely DIFFERENT elevator. It is like this one that you had your eye on, has suddenly shut down. It happens very fast so you have to be ready. We all stand around like nervous cats, looking back and forth wondering which elevator door will open first. I have never seen anything like it, and it is certainly a time to remain alert. Another thing about elevators in India is that you can press a button for a certain floor, and if you have made a mistake you can take it back! Just press the button that you erroneously pushed, a second time, and the light goes off, and you have accidentally inconvenienced no one! It is the "edit undo" of the elevator. So, while Cherie K Berry is not here, Bangalore transport from floor to floor goes on...

Part 2: The Bovines

Riding down the streets of Bangalore, I have seen many, many, many...cows. The first week I was here, I was so worried that I would see one get hit, as back home cows are just simply not on the sidewalk. I would cringe as we passed one who was dangling a hoof off the sidewalk.....about to make her move. I was constantly thinking "Oh, no". Expecting the worst. And if I see a cow get hit, I will simply not.make.it.to.work. (from an emotional perspective!) And upon seeing cows in the medians of busy streets, I wondered, "How did they cross this busy street to get there?". During the first 2 days I was here, I discussed these cows, again, with everyone I met. After being here, at present, over 30 days, I have not seen one get hit, and also have found out that there is a hefty fine if you do hit one. So this fact, along with the people loving the cows as a rule, keeps them out of a lot of the danger and a little more protected, as they are higly regarded. Also, most interesting, when cows DO make their move.....and head into the street....and the traffic is obviously still moving.....I have seen them pick up the pace in a way that I had never imagined a cow could. The pictures above are of the cows that graze behind the building where I work. They are literally 200 yards away from the building! I took these pictures today from the 3rd floor. There is a daily migration of a herd that passes through, with a cowboy and little herding dog, rope (?) and everything. I love it when I see them all go by. Somehow I don't think this particular cowboy is listening to Kenny Chesney on his headphones.....

Street Animals Part 1: The Canines

I received 7 or 8 vaccinations that were required prior to travelling to Bangalore. There were 2 items in the health and disease preventative literature that would be more difficult for me to decipher, personally: Rabies and malaria awareness and prevention. In this blog, I will talk about rabies. I talked to everyone I saw, non-stop, for about 3 days, once I knew I was travelling to India, about what to do about rabies prevention. I mean, people in the US get rabies all of the time. How safe could the streets of India really be with all of these purported rogue DOG PACKS roaming?? I did not sleep at times, trying to figure this out. I especially approached people from India that I knew. And people in HR. And people who are healthcare professionals. I STRESSED A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT with my worries. Disrupted their days with my fears….. Should I get the series of 3 shots that are considered a preventative? I googled “India rabies”, I am sure, no less than 50 times. Finally, 2 pieces of valuable information helped me to shape my final decision. My Internal medicine doctor from the US is an Indian. He said “There is no reason to get these”. “They will not help anyway”. The internet, of course, interpreted best, what he, as a medical professional was trying to convey to me (as doctors know so much, and just don’t have time to explain every little thing that they know): “It is important to know that having pre-exposure rabies vaccination does not eliminate the need for future vaccination if you are bitten. If you have had the rabies vaccine previously and are bitten or scratched by a rabid animal, you need two doses of rabies vaccine, on days zero and three; no rabies immune globulin is needed.” In addition, the cost of the (several) preventative rabies vaccinations I would need costs 1K in the US! That is a lot of money, considering if I was bitten by this crazy dog pack, I would still need to find treatment ASAP. So, I made my decision not to get this series, and am so relieved I did not spend  money on this, as my confidence level now, is that I have a better chance of getting rabies from a wild fox in the US (I saw one in my neighborhood) than from these wild dogs in India. Yes, there are stray dogs, but 1) most are lying down when you see them and 2) they are outnumbered by PEOPLE. Your chances drop considerably if you are in a city like Bangalore with so many people. The chance of YOU getting rabies in the middle of thousands of people around you is just a little laughable to me now. What you fear most is rarely your worst reality! 

To come…..Street Animals Part 2: The Bovines.

Tunic Time

During the first week that I was in Bangalore, I went to a shop that carried silks and other fabrics, that could be chosen and tailored into a "Sari", or tunic and pants, etc. Tunic and pant sets are like wearing pajamas, basically. High comfort level for the look you get. I picked out 3 different fabrics, and was taken to the basement to be measured. 3 people took about 20 different measurements, and the next week, I picked up my 2 tunic/pants sets and 1 really amazing blue Sari. If I ever find someone who can get this Sari placed on me correctly, I will certainly take a picture and share! There is lots of PRECISE FOLDING required. The lady at the shop told me to "Google it". haha. The picture I took here is of the top and part of the scarf of the Green and Red outfit. I love the green and red and gold, as it reminded me of Christmas. In the green matching pants, I do look "cool on top, yet kind of like an elf on the bottom". It is Christmas in July in Bangalore! I truly love the outfits that I see women in my office wearing and plan to buy more as time goes by....

In with Turmeric...Out with French Fry PICNIC

Prior to re-locating to India, I sold my house and moved my furniture into storage. There are always so many items that you don’t want to pack and store, but you can’t take them halfway around the world with you either. One particular group of items that I was initially struggling with, was my vitamins and supplements. I am a personal believer (my opinion) that a “mix” of Vitamin Shoppe (in US)/(including an ayurvedic approach) of supplements and spices, mixed with Western meds is a good balance for me. I mean, you cannot go wrong by adding some spices to your diet (cinnamon, turmeric, cardamom, oregano, etc), right? And I swear, my hair growth did slow considerably when I started taking curcumin. (As a woman, preservation of a good salon day is only being practical. If I can wait 3 weeks longer to get my hair done, great!) Of course, slowed hair growth is just the tip of the iceberg, and not even a contender, when many researchers are working on formal approaches to “studies” that include turmeric being linked to prevention of certain cancers and quite a list of other chronic illnesses. I have no direct knowledge or proof of this obviously, but I personally take a “Cant hurt, Can only help” (unless outwardly allergic) attitude towards things like this. So…..Keeping in mind….. I brought about 10 different vitamin/supplement bottles to India with me…..The one thing that I laugh about in hindsight, is that one of them, was indeed Turmeric/curcumin. India is the world's largest producer of turmeric, i.e. nearly 90% of the world's total production. Soooo…while India is growing, producing and exporting loads of turmeric into US, I am crossing back into India with it in my bag. Tweezers, I found I needed (blog on that later). Turmeric, certainly I did not. I have eaten turmeric in some form every single day while I have been in India (in food), as I am eating the Indian cuisine for lunch. Above is an example of a typical day’s meal. The “gravies” are light and filled with spices. I have had an adjustment period (for sure, yes), yet now look forward to lunch, as the “hotter spices” can be addictive. I was positive that one of my colleagues was having some fun with me, in telling me that the “purple ball” item (above) is made of bread. (Hey-- It really is.) I would be lying if I said that if I had access to a car and a Bojangles for one day at lunch, that I would not be eating a “picnic French fry”. (I can hear them over the loudspeaker now. “French Fry….PICNIC”). But I am in a groove now with the Indian cuisine, and may actually come out of this healthier than I went in....perhaps! A final note, I really appreciate all of the comments and notes I have received from home. Being in India on July 4th weekend was different, though a very nice colleague today (A.S.) wished me a Happy 4th!! I have a LOT more to report on so many things that I am seeing, eating, reading (newspaper), and just "kicking off" this blog now, so thanks for reading it!

Rider in Bangalore INDIA

If you have been wait-listed on your motorcycle purchase recently, it is most likely because an Indian in Bangalore just bought it. There are room for about, truly, 2 more motorcycles, on the streets of Bangalore. Any more, and the traffic will most definitely come to a gridlock. Having a driver is important here, if you are a foreigner. A colleague here said that the traffic is the most dangerous he has ever seen anywhere, and he is a frequent world traveler. It is interesting. The first week, I would be so nervous while riding in the back of the car, I would involuntarily throw my hand up and make a weird noise, or somehow verbalize a word such as “BUS”, thinking to myself “who is the last person I told where I was going?” as I knew I would be in a serious accident. Tailgating in the US is “closer than 2 car lengths” while here in Bangalore, 6 cars/rickshaws/bikes can ride in a lane and a half, and no one is stressed (except, first week, me……”BUS!”). What is so odd and unexpected to me, is that, within 7 quick days, I am completely de-sensitized to all traffic scares, tailgates and tangles. It is like I have been “Bangalore-ized”, and I actually can almost fall asleep in the back of a car now. I NEVER expected this to happen, and during the first week, thought I would need a lot of Losartan to survive India. It is really amazing how quickly you adapt and don’t realize it. I wonder how this will translate to driving back in the US? Definitely here in India, drivers are different. They are aware that they are RIDING CLOSE to other drivers, and are keen on not making sudden wheel jerks. They also look out for motorcycles, and everyone is honking their horn. This means “I am coming” and gives a heads up that someone is literally within 3 inches of your vehicle. Keep hands at 10 and 2 and everyone survives! Indian drivers are certainly impressive to me, so far. Or maybe I am just happy to be ALIVE after 30 days. 