We are trying to get as much sightseeing in as possible as we are all too aware that the half way mark of our stay here in Bangalore has come and gone and before we know it, we'll be on a plane back to England. The traffic here is reduced to a third of what it normally is on sunday, so obviously this is a good day to visit places that are a little further away. Yesterday we went to the ISKON temple (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) which is located on one of the city's only hills. It was a fascinating experience to witness the throng of devotees pulsing through the temple, praying and receiving blessings along the way.
One of the important Hare Krishna principles is that nobody should go hungry and there is a massive programme going on in and around the city whereby thousands of under-priveleged children are fed a simple but nutritious vegetarian meal each day by outreach Krishna believers. Even at the temple, we were amazed to see that once people have been inside and prayed, they are greeted with a large area of food, and you don't have to pay for any of it. It was a little crowded and since Lily zooms off at brakeneck speed the second we put her down, we opted for the more tranquil restaurant, also serving up an array of delicious food. There was a yummy buffet costing 70 rupees (less than a pound) - amazing value.
This is what Andy, Lily and I ate: Vegetable rice, plain rice and curd rice, coconut and cardamom paneer, spicey lentil and carrot soup, fragrant daal, sambar, poppadoms, mini naans and I'm sure a hundred and one other things I've forgotten.
This is what Maya ate: Rice smeared in sticky sugar, sugar coated rice crispies, raisins and a large slab of toffee that came with the meal as our dessert. Oh, and she also nibbled the corner of a bit of raw carrot after much coaxing. So yes, as I have mentioned before, Maya doesn't really dig Indian food. Shame.
Speaking of food and lunches, we miss our sunday lunches we often used to have with friends and family back in England. (In fact, did you know that the word 'companion' derives from the latin 'with bread' - cum: with & panis: bread, showing how important it was to break bread / have a meal with the people you knew.) We got into quite a pattern - Andy would often do the first course, I'd do the pudding and Maya & Lily would do the table banging and mess making. I mention these lunches because we recently learnt about The Big Lunch campaign going on on 19th July which we are very sad to be missing. If you are reading this in England and haven't heard about it, it's a great idea dreamed up by the Eden Project and asks people to have a street lunch party. How great is that? Click here for more details. I would LOVE to do it here but it's either too hot or too wet at the moment and then there's the issue of the dog poo on the streets aswell. But maybe we'll go back to the ISKON temple on the 19 July to help celebrate The Big Lunch vicariously and join the crowd of lunchers outside the temple this time. After all, you can't get much more community-spirited than that.
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