Culture shockin' in the Garden City

What an amazingly epic journey from north to south. I took a 48 hour train from Varanasi to Bangalore. My lovely friend Shiva accompanied me to the train station, which was very nice considering it was late and I didn't know where I was going.

Let me just say, I am so in love with India. I particularly love train rides. I brought 2 large books but only red about 4 pages throughout the entire journey. I boarded the train late Friday night and managed to find my lower birth amongst the tiers of snoring men. One guy woke up and was assisting me, giving advice about where to put my bags and asking about me. Most people don't like the lower birth because it is shared space during the day time compared to the solitude of the upper birth. I love it because at night I can look behind my head and watch the stars dance by. I made many new friends on the train, mostly older business men. I managed to teach them how to play sudoku (kind of) and we had a tournament! We also talked about everything...my life, their life, womens rights, food, religion. They bought me loads of chai and we had a lovely time. I found myself smiling and laughing the whole way to Bangalore. 48 hours wasn't 48 hours at all, but a timeless space of joy and contentment--a moment that embodied something a crazy yoga teacher once said, "no aversion, no grasping."

I managed to make it to the hostel late last night and met my roommates. Strange, I had some pretty weird culture shock being around other Americans in the south of India, which has a very different feel than the north.
I must admit, I miss the healing winds and holy waters of the Ganga (among all the beautiful people I have met along the way) but I know Bangalore holds another kind of beauty.

Today was the first day of our program, a bit of a shock to my brain. I was assigned a hypothetical research assignment and have been exploring a particular neighborhood here in Bangalore. I will write more when I get the chance!

Muuuuuuah,
lala