Woke up, still feeling full on all the love. Was sad to be leaving. Knew it was time, but was still sad. I’ll be back. I think I’ve more or less decided that, barring circumstances, I’ll be back in India next summer, perhaps making it the sole focus. Was much more relaxed this morning. Did the morning Y&M and made my way down to breakfast. Had two plain dosas and sambar, and one boiled egg. Was still trying to keep it light after all, and I mean ALL, of the eating I’d been doing recently.

Came back to the room for the final packings and making sure I had the most important things like my passport, wallet, cell phone, puter and associated electronic chargers.

Made my way downstairs and my driver, Ashogan, was ready to go! He didn’t speak a lot of English but we had a nice time riding to the airport.

Got in, passed my bag through security, and made my way to the ticket counter. As it turns out they had an offer to upgrade to first class for around $35. I thought “you’ll never get this opportunity again”, so we upgraded to business class!

Our flight was delayed by about 40 or so minutes, which gave me an opportunity to chat with Kamalesh, a professor at ITT Madras. What began as me politely asking him to watch my things as I used the restroom turned into a vibrant conversation about Indian history and politics.

I always remembered Chennai as Madras, and Mumbai as Bombay. He told me that these shifts in nomenclature occurred during my previous visit in 1992/1995, and were about building regional-nationalisms in the various states of India (there are 29). They began to move away from the colonizer names and move back to the original names of these cities. We then touched about Modi and the current BJP party and their rights orientation. For Kamalesh, he likes Modi in that he is trying to make things happen as anyone else may not. However, he had issues with demonitizaiton and its impacts on people (many people died standing in lines trying to get their money exchanged/taken care of). Really nice guy and wonderfully informative conversation.

After we chatted it was time to board. Now, I was that guy who got to board first and get on the plane, with ALLL the extra leg room, and watch people walk by to take their seat. I did not like it at all. Felt weird. But, it was legit.

All I wanted to do was sleep on the plane. But in BUSINESS CLASS, they stay waking you up to give you food or beverage. The flight was only an hour from Chennai to Bengaluru, and all the food was unnecessary. After I said no the first 3 times they got the idea and let ya boy sleep.

I landed and texted by Athai (Aunt, Dad’s sister). She is from here and now lives in Mannipal. Her niece, Natasha, lives here as she went to university, works, and continues to study here. She arranged that I would be staying with Natasha. I had never met her, so I was super excited to meet my niece!

Athai had arranged for a driver, Mohamed, to take me from the airport to Natasha’s place. I gathered my bags, made my way out, and Mohamed instantly recognized me with a huge smile.

We walked to the car and made our way from the airport to the city. We enjoyed some wonderful conversation about traffic, Bangaluru, and certain points around town.

We got to Natasha’s at around 5:00PM, traffic was nuts!

I gave Natasha a huge hug as this was my first time meeting her! We came into her apartment and she asked me what I’d like to do. Yoga, I replied. Even though I was in Business Class, my left hip was all types of tight.

Did the Y&M, and Natasha said that we’d head to a microbrewery and have a drink and a bite to eat. We hopped in an auto (auto rickshaw) and made our way to the bar. Thankfully the rain that was coming down earlier ceased and we had a beautiful night with some stars and the moon!

We looked at the menu and I decided on a sampler while Natasha got a pint of the Hefeweizen.

She then ordered a veg platter for us to start, and then we got a pizza half veg half non-veg.

 

We came back to the apartment and I promptly fell asleep, ready for my first full day in Bangalaru!