Indian Dancing

I can't believe it: I finally managed to upload both the videos Paolo Brusaferri recorded during the Cultural Show that took place on July, 21th.

It looks like you gotta be very, very patient with this network.

Enjoy the videos!

From a temple to malls, to a garden, and to posh restaurant

Day #2: completed.

Once done with breakfast we got on the bus to go to the Tourism Exhibition in Bangalore. Pretty neat, uh? Unfortunately we came to know that the exhibition was "cancelled", or was already over, I'm not sure about that.

Ok, full of resources as we are, it didn't take us a ton of time to elaborate a B-plan. A very different one. We visited a temple (a Hindu one, I'd say) and what an experience it was.

It wasn't as crowded as I'd have expected, statues and pictures of gods pretty much anywhere. People inside were actually very welcoming as usual (I can't stress this thing enough), not intimidated or annoyed by our presence. As a matter of fact, a nice family sitting in front of one of the many temple's chambers told me that I should take a look at a statue of goddess Shiva, dominating another statue of a lying god, whose name is not clear to me, nor I can say I know it (I just can tell it had a bunch of extra arms and it was red-skinned).

After that we went to visit a small mall and - hey! - it was 3:00pm. So, hungry as we were, we got into a sort of "fast food" (you wanna forgive the very unappropriated use of that expression), a place where "spicy" seemed to be the key word. I can't tell pretty much anything about the food, since I decided to skip the lunch (GERD isn't funny), but honestly a lot of folks liked it.

One thing I'd have never, ever expected: a guy who was selling fresh drinks just behind the place people had lunch in actually recognized one of the tutors, Federica. He saw her at the flower market the day before. Now, how on earth is thins thing possible, in such a crowded place? We live in a very small world, don't we?

Time for the afternoon activity: a visit at the botanical garden.

At first I couldn't see what the "botanical" was about, since the main thing I saw was a huge stone (a very interesting one, actually) with a - let's say - Hindu thing on top.

But then, moving forward, a vast green area appeared, with huge trees, monkeys a lake with lotus flowers (at least the leaves). Exhausting.

It turned half-late afternoon. You may think we were done. And you'd be wrong. Another mall (an enormous one) was waiting for us.

This one was very different from the other one we took a look at in the early afternoon. Once in, I felt so much at home, since very popular brands were at every corner. Brands like Louis Vuitton, Ermenegildo Zegna and many many more.

Starting from that, you can easily imagine the type of people targeted. What a difference from the flower market we went to just 24 hours earlier.

Dinner time was coming. After having to wait for the bus for 20 minutes or so, we went in one of the most famous places in Bangalore (I totally forgot the name, and I do apologize). I finally had something to eat that couldn't have burned my throat and had a very, very nice evening with all the folks attending the Summer School. Included a Stefano's friend.

Again: you may want to excuse the lack of pictures and the fact I don't remember important things/names/places, but - man! - it's 2:38am. Gotta jump to bed.

Classes are starting tomorrow and I still need to practice with Windsor tie knot (just kidding, no way I'm gonna try such a complicated knot so late. Hope a regular half-Windsor one may meet the needs of the context).

Gotta love formal Monday!

Blossoming India

Well, finally we've arrived in India!

After spending many hours travelling, we all meet in Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME) for lunch. In a couple of hours, every student is matched with another in each room, a breaf appetizer is consumed and a bus is ready to leave for the downtown...

The whole group has been risking life experiencing the indian motorways to reach the destination: two hours to cover a distance of 10 kms only; overcrowded buses; motorbikes with at least three riders each; noisy and continous horn blasts; dangerous overtakings...
Wet but safe we arrive in the centre of Bangalore and we go to the flower market: million bodies are running everywhere grabbing weard stuff; plenty of sellers and buyers are dealing on their goods! Moreover, have you got in mind the famous picture of the slim cow standing steal in the traffic jam? It's definitely true: we have seen a cow crossing the street once the traffic light turned green!
We pass through different types of vegetables, fruits and spices and then we get in the heart of the market where we are welcomed by the intence parfume of exotic flowers, the brightness of their colours and the way they are presented!


Once out from the market we start walking down the streets without a destination but we suddenly stop: some girls of the group have disappeared! Do you know where we find them? In a silk shop staring at marvellous sarees!
At the end of the day our war chest is composed of: one pinky saree; two panjabis and many sweet saunfs named BAMBAIYA!
We go back to XIME tired but happy for the journey and also exited for the arrival of the last few mates that came by plane in the evening.
Now, all togheter, we are ready to start the adventure!

Francesco & Cinzia

Getting things done

When it comes to get ready for such an adventurous journey, it may be tough to fell truly "ready".

Bags that needs to be packed, vaccinations, medicines (hell yeah!), papers (tons and tons of) and stuff.

It looks like it was yesterday when selections were goin' on, ain't it? And it's July already.

So, how am I getting ready for this thing?

Well, apart from the fact I've taken out basically all my clothes from the wardrobe (you never know what you're gonna need), and bought every medicine available (see what I've written earlier), I'm starting to look closely, to pay real attention to the regular routine, to the things I do pretty much every day (the usual stuff you never care about).

Why?

'Cause I wanna truly feel the difference between now and what's gonna happen. And not just because "it's gonna be different there" (I've heard this thing way too many times), but also to get the chance to feel how different is life there.

I don't know too much about India, I can just say I know what people told me about it. And while that can kinda prepare me to what I'm gonna see once arrived, I want to truly feel (taste, smell, see, touch, hear) every single piece of my life now.

That's the only tool I have to compare.

What's yours?