The New Silicon Valley

electronic city
Originally uploaded by qiubuo.

This is where we buy our computer supplies in Bangalore. Gilles bought a wifi card there and still hasn't gotten it to work on his linux system, so we went back yesterday and bought a long ethernet cable. We asked for the longest one they had, then realized that they had a huge spool of cable under the counter. We watched as the man from the shop cut off a 15-meter piece and then attached the connectors at the end.

We also visited the Lalbagh gardens, where we were gaped at by large families and then informed about the wonders of Kerala by a group of drunken men from "God's own country." The gardens are quite beautiful, a real haven of greenery in the middle of the city. There is even a huge reservoir with interesting rock formations around it, and a giant glass pavilion. It's clearly a popular spot for an afternoon walk, and we can see why.

me at Lalbagh gardens

When Nishaant was in Bangalore he visited the ISKCON temple, which is a huge modern structure that houses Bangalore's International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which I think is better known in the US as the Hare Krishnas. They were holding a "feast of India" buffet today to raise money for charity, and Nishaant got talked into buying a ticket even though he wouldn't be here, so he gave it to me. We decided to go along to the feast, and were quite surprised by how huge and organized the temple is. It's set up for long lines, with those snake lineholders they have at Disneyland (I'm sure there's a real word for those...) and metal detectors. We were spotted right away and asked to donate one hundred and eight rupees, for which we were given a speedy entry through the shoe-drop and a special pass that let us go through all the exits and bypass the lines. We reached the top and were admiring the smoggy view when a young man named Abhi asked us if he could talk to us. He took us into the main hall and let us sit with the temple members to watch the ceremony. It started out quite sedate, but then erupted into a loud procession, with much chanting, singing and jumping. It was kind of like Hare Krishna hip-hop. Gilles was invited to join the procession but he wasn't too sure about it.

As we left the main prayer hall we walked through a series of gift shops and then into the buffet hall, where we were served a very odd Aruyevedic "welcome drink" made from ginger and orange juice; it had medicinal qualities and coincidentally tasted like medicine. The videographer seemed a little too excited to see us - I'm sure we'll be on television tomorrow somewhere, or maybe just in the temple archives. A very nice Gujarati man befriended us and took us from stall to stall introducing us to the "tastes of India," and Gilles bravely tried everything. I was not quite as successful. The only real difficulty was walking barefoot through a food fair with carpeting on the floors - our feet were just a little bit sticky at the end.

After the dinner we somehow found our shoes (I was worried they were keeping them) and walked outside, and a rickshaw driver immediately came up to us and said "Would you like an auto?" Other drivers tried to take us, but he insisted, saying he had gotten there first. We couldn't understand the conversation that followed once we were in the backseat, but we were somehow sure that the driver was bragging about how his English skills had snagged him a nice couple of foreigners. I think we were the first foreign passengers he's had. The other drivers shook Gilles' hand and wished him a happy new year. Anyway, it was a fun evening. Thanks, Nishaant.