So I'm in Bangalore now. I suppose Bangalore is my base-camp before I head out to the uncharted territories of small-town India. It's my equivalent of the Jesuit missionary shack on an island full of natives...except that my mother-in-law is making something yummy for me to eat in the kitchen as I write. (We "native anthropologists" are spoilt silly, aren't we?!)
I arrived here 3 days ago. I'm still horribly jetlagged, though. I tried to go to bed last night. Managed to fall asleep at around 1:00 AM. Then at 3:00 AM the neighbourhood mutts started howling and I couldn't go back to sleep. Then my allergies kicked in today with all the desi dust. But all said and done, it feels good to be in India. It's nice to turn on the TV and see men in blue pajamas running accross a strip of dirt; it's nice to open the newspaper and see that the Karnataka women's Kabaddi team is on a winning streak; it's nice to be able to eat Chickoo and wear jasmine in my hair. Things will be less comfy once I head out to Gulbarga next week. The weather is guaranteed to be terrible...goodbye gentle Bangalore breezes; hello heat.
In other news, a newly founded group, the Sri Ram Sene (right-wing Hindu moral policing club) has been overactive this month in Karnataka. The group allegedly kidnapped and harrassed this girl in Mangalore for being chummy with a Muslim boy. They're also getting super excited about the opportunities to moral police on Valentine's Day. I plan to keep a low profile and studiously avoid men who call me "sister".
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