Wednesday -
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| Our Roof-Top View |
Waking up, Debbie and I explored the guesthouse, finding access to the roof.
Debbie, a masters student who will be undertaking her placement in Penukonda with me, was more accustomed to the house, as she has been here 2 days before I arrived. We fondly watched the squirrels play with pigeons across from us on another building.
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| The Streets of Bangalore |
Debbie was then kind enough to show me around the streets near our current residency.
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| Augustine outside our Bangalore residency |
We then returned to the guesthouse to wait for our placement coordinator, Augustine. It was my first time meeting Augustine, so we chatted and got to know each other a bit while we waited for the third student, Sherrie to arrive.
Sherrie was meant to arrive before me, but due to unforeseeable events, her flights were delayed and she had to spend the night in Singapore.
When Sherrie arrived, we went up around the corner to a local restaurant, named Udupas Veg Restaurant, where we ate and talked and got to know each other more. Eating with your hands is the common practice here. I had previously learnt the skill when I had done an informal exchange to Indonesia as part of my program, but admittedly it had been a while since I have tried eating rice with my hands. For lunch I had a dosa, while the others had thali. EVERYTHING IS DELICIOUS. I remarked "I will not be able to return to Australia" due to the deliciousness of the food.
We returned home, where Sherrie understandably decided to rest.
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| Commercial Street |
Debbie and I then embarked to Commercial Road, which as the name suggests is a large commercial district. We wandered, looking at all the stores. It was at some point in this journey when I went into a shop to look and Debbie went into another to look at fridge magnets. When I ventured into the store that Debbie had entered, I found her in deep conversation with two men, named Baba and Shakeel. She had been extended tea, and it was not long after that, that we had both been extended friendship. As Debbie and I have both worked with people with disabilities, we were asked some general questions on how to assist people with disabilities. but the conversation soon grew into discussing conversational taboo topics, from religion, politics, economy, people, traditions and comparisons of different cultures. The men were so friendly, telling us of their home, Kashmir, welcoming us to Kashmir anytime, as well as welcoming us back tomorrow for Saffron tea, a speciality tea from Kashmir. After what seemed like a maximum of 45 minutes, 3 hours had passed and we all knew we must return to our busy lives outside our conversation.
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| Shakeel, Baba & Mudasir |
We all exchanged our gratitude of sharing time, and how we all felt such positive energy from each other.
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| Udupas |
Debbie and I then proceeded to catch a tuk tuk home, where Sherrie was still too wiped out to join us for dinner. Debbie and I had a delicious dinner of Dosa's at the local restaurant, then home and bed for our weary bodies.
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