in Bangolore. I was doing some google research on Bangalore and found on this. Someshwara temple.
1 Like
Google Madurai templeâŚ
Madurai is further south⌠In Tamil Nadu
India is a sensory overload, in every sense of the word.
Stay in the hotel, with its well deserved 5 stars and youâre surrounded by sumptuous food and opulent luxury, all at a comfortable 20 degrees
Step outside and youâre immediately latched onto by a train of pathetic child beggars, whoâll practically break your heart, their poverty is so abject. Theyâll gently pull at your clothes and quietly and respectfully ask for money, throwing you into an extreme moral dilemma.
Perhaps youâll decide to have a look around so youâll walk a few blocks, but the heat is utterly stifling, so you may instead choose to take a taxi. The taxiâs are themselves a sensory trip. To say theyâre unroadworthy is a major understatement. The shock absorbers stopped working sometime in the 70s or 80s, the steering has more slack than a Durham coal lorry and if you thought it was hot outside, the Finnish sauna youâve now stepped into makes the outside air seem positively balmy.
The taxi driver may offer to show you the sights for what seems like a pittance, so its off to the harbour and the famous fish market. You wind the window down to take a photo, and the smell that hits you is so overpoweringly horrible that you wind it straight back up and shoot your picture through the scratched glass. You could litererally weaponise that smell. You complete your fish market tour from within the sweet, sweat smelling confines of your cabâs interior, which sets off for the altogether sweeter smelling Dhobi Ghat laundry district. Here, in the Worldâs largest laundry, Dhobis work in the individual concrete cells, each outfitted with its own âflogging stoneâ, against which clothes are pounded to dislodge the dirt. Old men arrive pushing impossibly heavy carts piled high with bundles of dirty washing. Once youâve seen Dhobi Gat, youâll never complain about wash day again. I promise!
Next port of call is the fascinating Zoroastrian âTower of Silenceâ. The top of the round tower is flat with a slightly raised perimeter. 3 concentric circles provide space for the corpses of men, women and children. The corpses are placed in the sun to putrefy and allow the local vultures access to feast on the rotting corpses. Once sufficiently decomposed, the bleached bones are thrown into the central lime pit where the quicklime and rainwater completes the recycling process. I canât tell you anything about the smell as i donât recall actually breathing.
Following this breathtaking tour, its back to the hotel for a lovely refreshing shower to remove all the insect repellent Iâd bathed in before leaving, followed by a scrumptious, beautifully spiced dinner in the hotel restaurant, waited on hand and foot by a multitude of attentive waiters.
After a good nights sleep its time for another adventure.I usually buy my wife a small present so i visited a few local retailers, paying the street food vendors enough to feed my string of little beggars. (Weâre given strict instructions not to give them money, which simply feeds a vicious industry of child exploitation)
Walking around what is essentially a prosperous city with many new emerging industries, youâre struck by what it actually means to the ca. 300 million people who live on the street and often possess nothing more than a sheet of cardboard for a matrass. Public conveniences are not an Indian thing, so passing people defacating in the gutter is an everyday occurrence. Shops are often small open fronted affairs, (if you ever want to buy a old horn phonograph, India is the place)âŚyouâll even be given a demo to evaluate the sound quality. Cows, being sacred wander freely around the streets, so watch your step and goats may be seen enjoying a meal of a tasty wet newspaper. India is certainly an interesting place
i am always a bit reticent personally to go in areas , cities, where the contrast between rich and poor is so dramatic.
Bangalore is very probably a nice place to go, but not for me.
It was not our call. You are correct no doubt; wouldnât we all prefer a Paris vacation! But we intend to be there. Wild Horses could not drag us away. We love the couple and they are scheduling it around our availability. How could you decline an invitation like that? The groom is from Arkansas, USA, and the bride from Bangalore. We would not miss the event.
India is a damn bureaucratic country, though, I must say. We sent a couple of our CD favorites over from Amazon and it is major paperwork on the receiving end. IDâs. Customs. Etc. Makes the USA seem wide open by comparison, as it surely is.
In that purpose itâs difficult to say no! Enjoy !
you must either
a. take back your money from your tour guide - as the sites you mention are normally not where tourists go to
b. If you did decide to go to a cemetery as part of your tourist venture - i have nothing to say - you deserved everything you got.
The contrast between the rich and poor is always stark - be it Paris or Bangalore or Mumbai or NY city.
The poor and homeless in the cold climes of the USA in winter are especially a sad sight to seeâŚ
We have no right to talk about what the poor experience - we think nothing of buying black boxes worth many thousands of pounds - on a fancy.
regards
1 Like
@skip - hope you have a good trip.
I am out of this thread - i tried to help as did some others but i suspect we will soon be engulfed by lunatic responses in this thread which will detail this thread - which was information about Bangalore.
some forum members have given excellent points on this thread.
as with any place you go - stay calm, stay positive and stay safe.
Atleast in India - no risk of guns and bullets.
This much is certain.
have a great day !
best regards,
Well, other than Kashmir.
comparing apples - apples - allows for an intelligent conversationâŚ
i will say - even in Kashmir - no risk.
Only terrorists are shot here and no civilians - quite unlike the ones we see in the USA.
Well, try Bombay a few years ago.
Or Hungerford in England
Or Dunblane in Scotland.
Or Norway.
Here in Canada the gun laws are more relaxed than in the UK and, AFAIK, more relaxed than in Norway. We donât seem to encounter the same degree of wanton carnage as those incidents that I highlighted above. Regardless of population density.
Iâm not endorsing American gun culture, but itâs not entirely unique in the developed, democratic, world.
Oops,
Looks like this thread and the US gun tradgety threads have become intertwined.
My mistake.
1 Like
Really? I think the Coca Cola and lace tablecloth sellers may disagree. 
The contrast of very expensive and tall hotels vs the 90% living condition in Bangalore is nothing to compare with Paris or even USA.
Itâs just that i feel not relax in such towns. I would prefer to live in little towns in India , with the inhabitants for some days, rather than in big hotels.
1 Like
appreciate what you say⌠and agree as wellâŚ
It is known that we are only 72 years - as a nation - on our own
When people compare to Paris or London or USA - its a bit unfairâŚthese are older independent nations / capitals.
Through out history - India has been plundered for her natural resources / wealth
The British / French / Portuguese etc⌠have all dipped their hands into this pot of gold.
Even now - the plunder happens - but economically and politically.
It will take a few decades for us to reach where we want to reach.
edit - erased un-necessary stuff.
regards
You need to speak to your local taxi drivers about that. Iâd never heard of the place until we pulled up there. The fact is I thought it must be some sort of bird sanctuary until he explained
I am sorry you did not have good memories of India.
There are such people amongst all of us ( refer my note in the end ) and in all cities who take advantage of tourists.
There is certainly poverty as well and your post did shine the torch there.
But its not all gloom and doom eitherâŚ
As an Indian - i like to see all tourists treated respectfully and for tourists to have a good stay here in my country.
Maybe if you would come again - your impression might change.
Maybe if you put a thread like this - you might get lot of information which helps you.
PS : I hate to use the word Black sheep ( in reference to taxi drivers or anyone bad ) because then we indirectly associate the color Black with Bad which is a shame.
Love you & take careâŚ
best regards
1 Like
Absolutely. The doom and gloom is ridiculous.
Iâm a Brit. and have toured India in total for approx.4 months. Have stayed in 35 different cities/towns/villages. All my experiences have been fabulous. Every day was a great experience - never dull ! Your country is wonderful.
Of course, there is the bad - the poverty visible in the big cities for example. But for every bad, there is a mass of good - intense charm and staggering beauty, allied to warm, friendly people.
If people wish to visit India, they must do their homework first - plan your route carefully, and know what you want to do/see in the places you visit (donât leave it to a taxi driver or you will spend most time in places where he getâs commission for taking you !!) . Educate yourself on how you can travel around from one place to another - I often rent a car and driver - even for a journey of over 250 miles - itâs relatively cheap. Get out of the big cities and see the real India. And donât stay in the cocooned, posh, expensive, hotels - you will get a much more interesting experience of real India by staying in medium standard hotels.
Youâve all seen the advertisements for âIncredible Indiaâ - well after getting to know the place pretty well now, I can confirm⌠it really is.
4 Likes
Oh I donât have bad memories of IndiaâŚor Mumbai at least . It is what it isâŚexceptionally quirky.
My post was supposed to be amusing. As for the cab driverâŚthere were loads of tourists at every place we visited and I took loads of photos⌠so i had no feeling that he was anything but genuine. And no one was paying commissions at the fish market, laundry or Tower of Silence, where I first heard the term Excarnation.
Some other memories: the fishing village, where families fish by day and live under their upturned boats by night.
We arrived at the airport at 2am. Great I thoughtâŚitâll be quietâŚHa ha. I could barely see the front of the arrivals hall for all the âhumanityâ When we finally got into the luggage return area the chaos was even greater with luggage piling off the conveyer belts to form jumbled mountains of suitcases. No problem for the porters, who simply ploughed in and had our bags in no time. The trip to hotel was my first taste of the homeless situation⌠Normally at 3.00pm a city is asleep. Not Mumbai. But the thing I remeber most? The smell. On arriving home I opened my suitcase as was immediately transported back.
1 Like