Touring part 1

Two weeks to catch up on!
Friday October 18: The first thing to mention is that this was the Diwali (or Deepavali) holiday weekend. Work was closed Friday, and Tuesday, and nearly everyone took Monday as a vacation day.

Ellen was arriving late Friday night (actually Saturday morning just after midnight). I spent Friday relaxing, laying in some food from the grocery store, etc., and worrying a little about picking Ellen up at the airport. I'd not used any transportation other than the work shuttle van before. For the two weeks she would be here, I decided to "rent a car". Not what you think. You would never catch me driving in Bangalore nor anywhere in India that I have seen. I think I mentioned the traffic situation, not to mention that the written rules of the road are seen mostly as suggestions. The actual rules are unwritten, and they work very well, but woe to the driver who does not know them. Anyway, the rental car came with a driver named Stanley. This same Stanley was the driver for a US friend who was hear several months ago and was highly recommended so I specifically asked for him.

Stanley was all that my friend said and more. He immediately came across as trustworthy. He was easy to talk to and listen to. He was not as 'servile' as many service workers are, although he certainly played the part verbally (I was always "sir", my wife was always "ma'am", as in "Sir, how is ma'am?"). Ellen was due to arrive at 12:20AM. I was worried about missing her so I told the dispatcher I would like Stanley to come at 10:00. Indeed he came at 10:00, we talked about when we needed to leave, and decided leaving at 11:30 was fine. He came back at 11:30 and off to the airport we went. The area inside the terminal is not that large, so you must buy a ticket (for Rs. 60 or about $1.20) to go inside to wait. Otherwise you are outside in a huge crush of relatives, taxi drivers, and who-knows-what-else. I went in and had to wait quite a while, but Ellen showed up eventually. The lines were long, and two planes had arrived quite close together. It was great to see her after nearly 3 weeks!

Saturday (after a well-deserved sleep for her!) we were invited to the home of one of my co-workers. Stanley drove us and we had a nice time seeing their house and having lunch. We did not do much else that day except go out to dinner at a place near the apartment. It was beautifully decorated with lights outside and some beautiful sand mandalas on the floor inside (see pictures at web site listed below). Sunday, we toured Bangalore. Stanley kept telling us he had a surprise for us. He took us the the Vidhana Soudha (the Karnataka state legislative building...it's beautiful!) in the evening and at 8PM insisted we face away from it. When he let us turn around the building was all lit up. It really was a wonderful sight. You can see pictures on the web site (http://burnsfisher.com/India2006/Touring1/)

Another day of the long weekend we went to several places around the town of Hassan. First was Shrivanbelagola, a Jain shrine...it is a statue of a Jain saint on the top of a hill with 700 steps carved out of the rock of the hill to reach it. You must go without shoes, so I did not do so. Ellen did, however. The monolith at the top is carved out of a single piece of stone, we are told. There are some pictures taken from the bottom and from the top. They actually have wicker chairs with bamboo poles which you can have people carry you up on. Sometimes the bearers literally run up the stairs! The statue was carved in the vicinity of 900AD. (Warning to the sensitive: if you look at the pictures, you will see the statue is naked and anatomically correct.)

We also went to two Hindu temples at Belur and Halebidu. These are also ancient, and there is SO much beautiful carving on them. You can see some of it in the pictures. A lot of carving is weather-worn and some has been defaced by various invaiders (the Moghuls did not like the depiction of human figures; the British wanted some for the British Museum) but there is a lot that is still intact.
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I'll continue with more travelogue later. For now, I just want to comment on long-distance travel. Some of our trips were on 4- (or 6?) lane divided highways. However, they were not limited access. What a difference that makes! It means that despite all the space and relatively good paving, the driver still has to dodge around pedestrians, bullock carts, rickshaws, 3-wheel trucks, slow busses, etc. You get used to it in the city, but at 60MPH, it is harrowing. A seatbelt is mandatory since you are frequently being thrown to the left and right during the dodging maneuvers. Ellen and I went to Hassan and Mysore on two different days and decided that we did not want any more long trips. It was just too difficult.

India is building some big limited access highways parallel to the normal routes. I think one was just announced from Delhi to Channai (a LONG distance). Some may exist now, but if so, I don't know where.