One more from Mysore

 

A bit out of focus, but nice light on her face, so I'll throw it in here anyway... 

Tying garlands at the market

  

Grams and spice

 

All you need for a good dal. 

More market colors

  

Colors for sale at road-crossing market

 

Same location as the previous entry, the betel leaves. 

Betel leaves

 

At the market at the crossing in the road north of Hosakote on the way to Nandi. At this crossing you turn west to go to Devanhalli which is close to the hills. 

Location: 13°16'14.37"N 77°50'55.36"E

Holi Colors

New Mexico or Mysore?

  

Making it all look pretty

  

Flowers in the Mysore Market

  

Betel nut -- Mysore Market

 

The main ingredient in pan, and the part of the mix that turns your teeth red. I didn't know there were so many varieties and colors of the nut itself. This is where the pan vendors come to get their betel nut in bulk. 

Mysore Market, Sunday Morning

  
Sunday morning in Mysore, jump in a rickshaw to the city market. Get fleeced by the rickshaw driver (as usual) but only put up a small fight. What's 10 rupees between friends.

Enter the market and shortly find this lady sorting betel leaves. She's sitting elevated on a central platform. What I find so remarkable is the resemblance to native American women. Grey hair like this is actually not so common in India, as most people dye their hair to hide it.

She's caught up in her work, unaware of the light, the beauty around her.

Dreams for sale

  
A pile of old Lambretta scoots. Just waiting for someone to pour money into them and bring them back to life. Given that they're in India, it doesn't take a huge pile of money, just a little. The problem is then getting them to a country that will pay real money for them.

They run as little as $100 here but usually closer to $300, and require around $1000 to rebuild. Bring them to the US and they'll bring around $3000 or so depending on rarity and condition.

Dream on...

Coconuts

  

Windows for sale

  

Waiting for a rebuild

  

Pizza in a cone... I kid you not...

  
I don't think I need to comment on this... Somewhere Steve Martin is laughing his head off.

Behind Russell Market, Bangalore

  

Bangalore meat market

 
Who says they don't eat beef in India? Maybe the Hindu's don't, but the muslims sure do. 

Touring Bangalore at 2 miles an hour

  
I've been told that oxcarts have been officially banned from central Bangalore, but hey, no one follows any traffic laws in Bangalore, so why should these guys. And I kind of like it when we run into one. They seem so improbably silly. Why would you put the load so high? Why make the load-cart so small? I can understand the reason for big wheels but you can make the load lower and larger for easier loading/unloading. I guess it's all a moot point now, as no one will be building any more of these carts.

Back roads of Karnataka

  
Went out with my buddy Donny on a ride this Fathers' day morning. We cut through to old Madras road, went out to Hosakote, and then a bit north from there. My bike didn't like how fast we were riding so we took a break at a very old stone bus stop. Then in a brilliant thought we took some back roads in the area. I wouldn't have done this had I been alone, but with a buddy along, it was fine. We ran across some cool stuff I didn't get photos of, but hope to return later and get some snaps.

At one point the road made a sharp turn left, then right up onto a berm where it became this small path around some farmer's field. It was as if the big Karnataka road-building machine ran into someone who couldn't be bribed off (yet).

I gave a hearty "Namaskaara" to the lady as she passed with her load, but I think her mouth was too full of betel to reply.

I love my India

 
Enough said, I suppose. 

valuable cargo

  

Royal Enfield Bullet, 1962

 

It's not a Vincent, 1952, but it's still pretty darn cool.

Now, if I can just find a red-headed girl in black leather, I'll be living a dream... 

waiting for a train

 

Near Sai Baba center near Whitefield. The world's slowest train rumbles through, packed to the gills. Traffic is eerily quiet as everyone turns off their engines as if to show respect for the master... 

roadside tea stall

 

Just outside of Bangalore on Old Madras Road. Sunday morning, early, but not too early. Rode the Bullet out to see if there would be some countryside to see. I apparently didn't go far enough. What I would give for a GPS with an accurate map of the roads around here. I need to explore the back roads some more but don't want to get completely lost or have the bike break down in the middle of nowhere without mobile phone coverage. 

Fruit and Veg Market in Thiruvananthapuram

market in thiruvananthapuram

  

you wanna piece of this?

  

Not here you don't

  

coiled up

  

ganesha under construction

  

holi festival

Our neighborhood exploded with festivities this Tuesday night and Wednesday. It was the holiday of Holi, normally celebrated more in the north of India. But these southerners wouldn't miss an excuse to party.

I cought these local kids hamming it up for a photo on top of an oxcart.

I like his pose.....

Paan paan paan paan

Paan.

For foreigners, this has to be one of the weirdest culinary items in India. I'm not sure I can even call it edible.

It's not really anything but spice. There is no real volume to it; it's not filling; it's sort of like chewing gum in western culture. Sort of like an after dinner mint, but don't confuse it with that.

Paan is essentially a betel leaf with spice pastes smeared all over it, more spices sprinkled on top, and then all wrapped up and held closed with a toothpick. It comes in two types, sweet and bitter. You see the leaves all piled up in the process of being made, and each of those jars or cans contains another spice to add to the mix.

I've had a sweet paan one night after dinner at a nice restaurant. It was sitting next to the minty seeds that you normally get after dinner.

It wasn't sweet. It was bitter. It was so bitter. I cannot imagine what the officially bitter ones are like.

Some of them have tobacco in them. Again, I tried chewing tobacco in junior highschool, and well, I don't think I want to throw up like that again. So I won't be trying that one.

Some of them (I'm told) have hashish or ganja in them. Sounds to me like a good way to ruin a buzz.

Anyway, I'm sure that my views on paan will change over time in India (watch this space) but for now, it's something that I find amazing but unappetizing.

Central Market Colors

 

Nandi Hills

We drove to the Nandi Hills today. They are solid granite monoliths about 75kms north-east of Bangalore, and the top is 1479m (4851 ft) above sea-level. I think that makes them about 500m higher than the surrounding plains. They remind me of the eastern Sierra's in California.

The drive there was more interesting than the hills themselves. The road north was actually pretty good, a divided highway for most of the way, but it (like everything here) was under construction, which means that half the time you are squeezed onto one half of the road, and the much of the rest of the time people drive on the wrong side of the road. It's as if they have a license to do whatever they want when there is construction going on.

It was a beautiful sunny day, cool and clear, but once up on top of the hill, the haze was too strong to get any good distance images. There is a small temple, a guest house, and a small restaurant.

The restaurant was operated by the Karnataka State Government, which may explain why it was the first veritable "bad" meal I've had in India. Really just kinda nasty. I will definitely be bringing my own food if we go back here with visitors in the future.

The area around the bottom of the hills is full of grape-growers. Grapes, not vineyards, so don't go thinking you can road-trip out here Sideways style... Nice looking grapes, on vines supported on stone posts, but no wine to be found...

Central Market Stainless

I went into the central market area of Bangalore this week, not really looking for anything specific, but with a lot of potential items to buy.

Wandering around, I found a lot of interesting things to photograph, and took some quick shots. It was mid-day so light was lousy, but the subjects were interesting.

I did buy some plates, cups and utensils at a store that specialized in stainless steel. The folks were extremely friendly, not too pushy, and they didn't rip me off. It was all in all a pleasant experience.




Some of the stuff I bought was sold by the kilo, which was for me an interesting manner of selling items like this. I snapped a fuzzy photo of the boy who helped me find what I wanted, and then one of them weighing my plates.

Bangalore -- The Garden City

My first week in Bangalore is now history. Very little sleep, at least good sleep. Way too many late night meetings, even later dinners, and then early mornings to beat some of the traffic.

I will hopefully be documenting some of the interesting things I see, hear and do in the city of Bangalore (Bengaluru).

Here's an old garage-like structure, more or less abandoned in the middle of the city. Behind it is a large house that was probably pretty grand when it was built, but has fallen into disrepair. It's still inhabited, but I'm guessing they are squatters.

If you look carefully you see two signs, one saying "Halasuru Road", and the same in Kannada. The other says "Ulsoor Road" which is the anglicized version of the first one. All around Bangalore are signs of a language conflict. Signs in Hindi have been vandalized in the past, and English is used almost as much as Kannada. There are so many immigrants to Bangalore that do not speak Kannada and have no desire to learn Kannada. Whenever I mention to someone that I would like to learn Kannada, they inevitably respond with "why bother, just learn Hindi". Kind of sad.