We all got up in the morning and made our way to the rooftop
of the guesthouse, where we did some yoga practice for a while before getting
started for the day.
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| Up on the roof |
We decided to visit Lal Bagh, the botanical gardens in Bangalore.
The gardens comprise 240 acres of land, containing almost 2,000 species of plants
and some tree specimens which are around 200 years old. There is also a prized formation of ancient rock with a monument at the top.
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| 200 year old cotton silk tree |
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| Introducing the rock... |
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| The Rock |
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| At the top |
The people of Bangalore
seem very proud of these gardens, and even though it was not the season for
flowers there were still a lot of visitors there when we were looking around.
As well as the gardens, we seemed to become a bit of a tourist attraction
ourselves as several groups of Indian visitors wanted to spend some time
talking with us and to have their photos taken with us!
The gardens were not quite as cleanly kept as gardens I have
visited in the UK and Australia, and it was not the best time to visit either –
we were advised to return in August when there will be a flower show – but there
was still a real stand-out favourite there: the cutest little Indian Palm Squirrels
scampering about everywhere!!
After the gardens, we made our way back to the Commercial Street
area. Baba had promised us kahwa, a traditional Kashmiri saffron tea, mild tea brewed
with almonds, cardamom, some sugar and of course saffron. Baba explained that
this tea is mostly used for special occasions, and for showing hospitality (hospitalitea!)
to guests.
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| Mudasir preparing the kalwa |
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| Boiled almonds and saffron |
After tea, Baba also helped us by showing us a nearby
restaurant where we could get lunch, Sheerie and I had a delicious thali. The
yellow pot we saved as dessert, we’re not sure what it was but it tasted like
some kind of banana custard filled with pieces of fresh fruit.
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| Delicious thali |
Then Baba found us while we were shopping for Punjabi dress
of kurti, pajama, and dupatta (the long top over trousers, with a scarf) and
helped us find somewhere that we could choose from a small range of fabrics and
have the outfits made-to-measure.
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| Photo by Alex |
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| Photo by Alex |
After this, he took us all to another shop where Alex was
able to look through a plethora of men’s kurtis in fabulous colours and patterns
so that he too could get some traditional clothes.
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| The men's shop |
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| Alex and Baba |
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| Alex in green and gold! |
Baba also went off to pray at the mosque, and then
afterwards we went again to his shop where we had Indian milk tea, and talked more
with Baba, Mudasir, and Shakeel, and we got to introduce Sherrie to everyone
properly.
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| L-R: Baba, Sherrie, Me, Alex, Shakeel |
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| L-R: Baba, Sherrie, Me, Alex, Mudasir |
The day ended with us feeling like we had achieved a good
deal in terms of settling in and getting the items we’ll need for when
placement starts properly.
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