GRAND SAFARI. Bangalore, India.
We came back to Bangalore. the mosquitos were too much (I should include a picture of my arms... *ick*) and the bus journey sounded so unappealing that we bagged the trip south and flew home to Bangalore, to relax in the bosom of "home". It was nice to be back, albeit unexpected. The first time I was in Bangalore, after the wedding, Lekha and Jayaram and I tried to go to a "biology park" that sounded like a cool wildlife preserve only about an hour outside of Bangalore. It was a tuesday, and we were very excited the whole way there, since it shouldn't be too crowded on a tuesday and we made reasonable time. Things looked fishy when there was a street fair on the road to the park, and when we reached the gates we understood why: Tuesday holiday. Could that be right? What holiday? No, no... EVERY tuesday is a holiday. Park closed. Animals relaxing. Crap. The next day we left for the tree house, and it was a sad loss....

This time, when Lekha and I were waiting on monday for our flight to Bangalore, we excitedly realized, "Hey, now we can go to Bannerghatta Park! How about tomorrow?" Perhaps you've done the math: tomorrow became.... Tuesday. It seemed this park would remain a mystery, since I was to fly to Delhi on Wednesday. Finally, a brilliant last minute effort by Jayaram and Lekha brought us once again to the familiar green gates of Bannerghatta Biological Park, and this time, the Safari was open for business. It sounded great: a one hour tour on a wire-grated windowed bus through a 25,000 acre wildlife preserve with elephants, lions, tigers, all manners of herbivores, and birds.... What we saw was surprising- to me...

What we SAW was way more zoo than wildlife preserve. There was this vast park, with greenery and water and plenty of room to roam... And we drove a reasonable amount through this area. But the animals were at best, confined by geography and at worst, by cages to teeny parts of it. It seemed that as the bus approached, or once an hour, they would open the cage of a token tiger, so it would walk out and find a cozy perch near its cage, and as we would rumble by, the guide, would signal the driver to stop, and grunt, "Danger! Free tiger!" pointing, and signaling for me (one of two white Madamas on the bus) to fork over my camera so the driver could take a good picture for me. I was even offered the best seat in the bus, up front next to the driver, just because I am a Madama, and I declined, trying to indicate that there were plenty of little kids on the bus or others who may like that seat (and had equal right, being that we all signed up for the same). In any case, the tour was pretty eye opening.

Free or not, it is pretty exciting to be so near to a tiger. I mean, a TIGER. With its enormous paws and majestic disposition, it makes your heart race a little. But the fact that there is this enormous park that the animals would be happy to enjoy, that they must be caged in to please the tourists who pay the approximately $2 US Dollars for the Grand Safari Experience, gives pause. Why shouldn't we tourists pay our fee and hope for the best, and let the animals get what more closely appoximates the best treatment? That would certainly be more interesting for humans, too, since that is nearer "wild" conditions. But our sense of injustice and not getting our money's worth propagates this arrangement. It left all three of us (Lekha, Jay and myself) with mixed feelings about the place, and the sense that it was a bit of a shame... We talked about it a bit on the way home...























It was an interesting day to follow on the heels of our last in Kochi, because I had the same feeling when we finally visited the synagogue there. We paid 2 rupees (about 5 cents) to get in (apiece) and there were loads of signs, saying not to touch anything or sit on anything... And there they were, tourists of various backgrounds, posing on the alter, or wherever they fancied... After all, they had paid their dues... We had met an older Jewish lady named Rima on the Sabbath who had told us to come back and chat after Sabbath... and I couldn't escape the feeling after we finally met her and talked to her that Monday that she must feel like the "free" tiger, since as one of only a handful of Jews left in Jewtown in Kochi, people (more or maybe less well meaning and interested than we were) must come round all the time, asking for pictures or tours of her home. She actually said to us, "Photos are ok, but no video photography is permitted." I felt simultaneously very happy to have met her and sick to my stomach, for being even a well meaning and tiny part of that machine, the Grand Safari.

Today was my first day in Delhi, and so far, I can't say that it even close to measures up to the South. Again, my first impression was by plane at night, and in contrast to the comparatively random sprawl of lights in Bangalore, it looked like someone had used a ruler in laying out Delhi. The streets were straight and seemed to be connected and arranged purposefully. But in the daylight, they were congested and dirty (it's a big city, too- a bigger city...) and there was even more of the Madama treatment in the "suckah"/target sense, since I am now travelling with my obviously Irish-Catholic friend Sarah Mahoney for the coming few days. We two had an intriguing day of (mis) communication with our taxi driver, who purported to speak English but it turned out, didn't really speak English at all. It was frustrating and upsetting for all. Still, we managed to SEE a lot of the center of Delhi, and we visited the Red Fort, a spectacular old Mughal palace and installation, and a bit of Old Delhi called Chandni Chowk, a bustling crowded old market full of EVERYTHING, teeming with life of all kinds, trading in all manners of human service and goods. It was certainly a challenging day, and probably more for Sarah, whose FIRST view of India was today. But we are headed back in tomorrow, and then we'll head out for Rajasthan. I have just found out that the trains I had planned to take (but not actually planned by booking them) from Rajasthan through the middle of India to Calcutta before I fly out to China are fully booked until 4 January. This will require some serious thinking and adjusting. And hoping hoping hoping that the buses aren't as crowded as I think they will be. Ah, life...