Predawn motorcycle ride to Soundarya's function

Although I was still terribly jet-lagged as a result of the 41 hour trip to Bangalore from Alaska and did not go to bed until nearly 1:00 AM, on the morning of May 10 - Soundarya's wedding day - I arose at 3:00 AM.

There was going to be a "function" at the home of her parents and the auspicious time to do it was before dawn. It would take about an hour to get there by taxi, so Murthy had called the day before and had made an appointment for a cab to pick us up at 4:00 AM.

That cab did not show.

I did not want to miss the function, so, after about 45 minutes of waiting, Murthy fired up his motorcycle, I climbed on behind him and off we went.

We zipped past a man driving a bike with three children as passengers...

...and soon scooted past a man standing in front of a bus with his arms folded...

...we continued on past signs boasting of the Metro that is now under construction, but which one day should make a big impact for the good on Bangalore traffic...

...we shot swiftly through a tunnel...

...and passed a man walking a dog in the early hours...

...and then, just in time, before the dawn, we were in the home where Sandy had been living with her parents. She showed me the temporary wedding henna tattoos that had been painted on to her the night before.

She also wore her bangles. This function would be about bangles.

Soundarya with her dad, Ravi (left) and her Uncle Murthy, just before the function began.

A saree for Melanie (part 2) - traveling and snacking in Bangalore

I pick up where I left off - on the bus, the same one that carried Sanju and Jesse in the last post, but a little further back. That's Vasanthi, of course, smiling at the right, and if you look close, you can also see our buddy, Buddy. See the hand that grips the yellow overhead rail to the right?

That's Buddy's hand. Now, follow the arm downward into the crowd of men and there you will see one eye peering out from behind another arm. That's Buddy's eye.

We would be on this bus for about one hour before we reached our destination.

This was our destination, or at least one of them - a saree shop. The salesman said that this was a most beautiful piece of saree fabric and, while no one had any problem disagreeing with the salesmen, in this care, everyone agreed.

Vasanthi made the purchase.

Elsewhere in another shop, Buddy sits, enthralled by the whole process. I think that it does not matter what nation you are in, what culture you come from, we males tend to pretty much react the same when we go shopping with females, especially when it involves clothing and fabric.

Or just about anything else that females buy - except food, for we males to eat, in a restaurant.

Out on the street, Melanie works her way through the bustling crowd. No matter where we went in India, from the tiniest village to the heart of the biggest city, the place always bustled.

India is a bustling place. India is on the move. Absolutely.  And the place that it is moving to is called the future.

Vasanthi buys bananas to eat. As you will see in a subsequent post when we get to Chennai, India has all kinds of bananas that we never see here in the USA. 

Every banana that we tried was good, but my favorite were the little tiny ones with the thin, delicate, skins.

They are too delicate to be transported far, but, my goodness, are they good!

Especially with Indian coffee.

We go into a refreshment shop, where Vasanthi buys us flavored milk and sweets.

Vasanthi shovels sweets into the eager mouth of Sanju.

The sweets were very sweet - and very good.

We return via an "auto-rickshaw." Buddy, Melanie and I rode together.

The view from the ric.

I see another way to photograph the three of us.

The ric carrying Jesse, Sanju and Vasanthi pulls up alongside us.

Add to these visuals the sounds of the hustle and bustle - a continuous fusillade of horns honking, engines, big and small, revving up and falling back, birds squawking and calling, throw in a high degree of heat and humidty, plus the fumes of two stroke engines wafting through, coupled with the ever present scent of incense and spice.

Traffic in Bangalore is frenetic.

At about 4:00 AM the next morning Melanie dons her saree, accented by gold earrings that Vasanthi loaned to her.

It is May 10, 2009 - the day that Soundarya and Anil will wed.

A saree for Melanie (part 1); two girls show me their bull; Sanju rides the bus

Melanie needs a saree to wear to Soundarya's wedding. Vasanthi, our most generous host, has saree material just waiting. She shows a sample as little Sanju walks through the room. If Melanie looks tired, just remember that the two of us had just finished a 41 hour trip from Alaska to India.

We were both tired.

Vasanthi drapes a saree-in-the-rough over Melanie. Melanie likes it. Next, we must go to the tailor to get it fitted.

We are going to walk to the tailor now, and then we will catch a bus into downtown Bangalore to do some more shopping for saree material. Jesse, Buddy's mom, helps little Sanju into her sandals.

Jesse, originally from Malayasia, runs a small school for little children. She used to hold it right here, in the living room of her sister and brother-in-law, Vasanthi and Murthy. Sanju was one of her students. Sanju has graduated now and moved on, but she sees Murthy, Vasanthi, Jesse and household as her own family and so comes over almost daily just to hang out, to love, and be loved.

Sanju walks with Jesse as Melanie follows.

Vasanthi leads us to the tailor, but his little shop is closed for the day. So we walk a little further and there is another tailor, in a tiny, open-faced shop. That's how it is in India. Little tiny shops, everywhere. 

As I photograph Melanie, I feel someone tap my elbow. I turn and see these two girls. Although they do not speak much English and I know nothing of their language, they let me know they want me to photograph them with their *bull.

Murthy tells me that India has more than 700 active, indigenous, languages. 

After I take their picture, I show it to them on my camera's LCD monitor. They are most pleased. "Beautiful!" they say, "thank you." Then they walk away, waving as they go.

Sanju, Jesse, and some other little kid at the bus stop.

Sanju and Jesse ride the bus toward downtown Bangalore. I will continue this story shortly, meanwhile...

...I jump ahead to today, right here in Wasilla, Alaska, USA, where I took a ten-mile bike ride after I ate breakfast at Carl's Jr. My first two days back home were filled with warmth and sun, but today it rained.

The rain in India is warm, but this rain was cold. It felt good. I thoroughly enjoyed it. When I got home, I took a hot shower. I enjoyed that, too.

*I originally referred to this little bull as a cow, but was corrected by Sandy's cousin, Kavitha V. Kavitha wrote:

"In India the bulls are used for ploughing the fields, the bulls that are born with large humps and disablities are not used for ploughing.  These bulls are decorated and brought from house to house accompained with music. It is considered aspicious when a bull visits a house. In ancient India, people used to worship thier livestock. It was only after the white revolution beef eating came into picture. Now it is considered as a form of beggary."

Melanie and Buddy at the banyan tree

This is Buddy, my nephew-in-law, but I just call him Buddy, or nephew - I don't waste time with the inlaw part. As I move through my India take, I expect Buddy to become a familiar sight in this blog. He is a college student, studying hotel management and in the not too distant future hopes to land a training job on a cruise ship.

Maybe he will then cruise to Alaska. If he does, Melanie and I plan to go a port that he will land at and take some ice cream to him. Chocolate ice cream, with little chunks of donut and raspberries frozen into it.

He is standing inside the multi-sectored trunk of a banyan tree near Murthy and Vasanthi's house.

Cobras are known to sometimes hang out here, especially during heavy rains, but Buddy is not afraid and neither am I.

Nor is Melanie afraid.

She is not wearing a saree. She will need one for the wedding. Where will she get it?

I was going to show you, but I am just too damn tired. Jet-lagged big time.

I will show you tomorrow.

Unless I sleep all day.

That would be nice.

I don't think it will happen.

My computer screen grows blurry in front of me.

My eyelids keep falling down.

Maybe it would help if I ate cake.

But there is no cake.

What am I to do?

I'm back, exhausted, too tired to post

But, no later tomorrow night, I plan to begin posting furiously - both India and Wasilla. What a combo!