Bangalore

Ah, home. I was excited to return to Bangalore, after having been away for six years.  Bangalore, especially the area around the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), still feels a bit like home (we lived here for a year in 2008-09).  This week, I am in Bangalore with a group of Dartmouth colleagues to explore a potential academic relationship with IISc, and for me it is also an opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and friends from our life here 16 years ago. Read on!

I walked around the vast campus, past the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) building where I had had my office, and through the neighborhood where we lived.  I discovered new apartment buildings and new shops to support them; new academic buildings under construction, and more.  It was surprising how familiar it all felt, and how my 15-year-old mental map of the campus still allowed me to find my way.

I exited the walled campus through the temple gate, because that allowed me to walk to the familiar neighborhood of Malleswaram, down Sampige Road.   After all, was lunchtime, I was hungry, and I wanted to see my favorite shop for masala dosa.  I walked past the spot – what I thought was the right location – three times.  My shop was gone!  Finally I decided I was indeed in the right place, and another restaurant had taken the space. I ordered a masala dosa and a cup of tea from the cashier; 95 rupees ($1.13) later, I had two slips of paper: one for the dosa counter, one for the tea counter.  I watched the cooks in the kitchen, realizing that this place was indeed my old dosa shop, just redecorated and renamed.  As I ate my dosa, standing at a high-top table on the edge of the sidewalk, other customers milled about in twos and threes, sipping their coffee and discussing news of the day.

Two men were next to me at the table; one pleasantly smiled and suggested that I really needed a coffee to go with my dosa.  He explained that coffee is, in his opinion, “best in this climate.”  I thanked him for the suggestion, but explained that I preferred tea – indeed, I’ve never had a cup of coffee in my life.  (Here in south India, coffee is the norm; chai (tea) is more common in the north.)

Finishing my quick lunch, I strolled further down the street to the market.  Best known for its elaborate flower decorations – for your home, your car, your business, or (for women) your hair – it is a photogenic delight.  On one side is a fruit and vegetable market. Behind the market, I remembered, was a warren of little stalls.  However, a multi-story concrete building had emerged there, in place of the old market. Only the sidewalk-facing flower vendors remained.  Progress?  Maybe, but it will be sad if this beautiful little market disappears.

 I stopped into Asha Sweets to select a half kilo of assorted sweet delicacies, something for now and some for later, and then into a housewares shop to seek a new tawa (a small frying pan suitable for cooking dosa).   Mission accomplished.

Later that evening I spoke at a Dartmouth Alumni event in the center of town, where I had the opportunity to wear my new Dartmouth-green vest made for me in Delhi just a few days earlier.  It was fun to meet with Dartmouth alumni, students, and parents, here in Bangalore!

Please check out the gallery for a few more photos of my visit to Bangalore.