Get this India!

Happy Australia Day, India Independence Day or Sri Lanka election day, depending on where you are.

We arrived in India on the 11th January and have been walking around goggle-eyed with our jaws dropped since that day. India is a feast for the senses (especially the smells). On arrival at Bangalore airport we were extremely relieved to be greeted by our good friend Prasana and his friend Prakash. Tim immediately hit it off with Prakash, mainly because he laughs at all of Tim's jokes, most of which everyone else has heard 1000 times before. Tim sure does know how to exploit a fresh audience! Prakash invited us to stay with he and his wife Shamilla while we were in Bangalore and cooked us some amazing Indian food, which included the most meat we've eaten in a month!

On the second day after our arrival we went to visit another friend at his school, St. Germaine's. Tim was in his element as he played the didgeridoo for 400+ Indian students, none of which had ever seen or heard it before. The reception afterwards was fantastic. We spent a few more days getting aquainted with Bangalore through the lovely hospitality of Prakash and Shamilla who we already consider old friends.
After Bangalore we headed with Prasana to meet and stay with his family in Kola Gold Fields (KGF). It was the first town in India to receive electricity and train servicing thanks to the extensive mining that took place (I think it was opals???)
You could almost see the weight lift off Prasana's mothers shoulders when we insisted on eating food authentically Indian and we assured her that our motto for our time in India was "Death by chilli".

Ironically, after time in four other countries, India was the place we decided to brave the traffic solo on motorbikes. Fortunately it was during the time of an eclipse when all the Hindu people lock themselves indoors because of superstitious beliefs. It was strangley eerie to see the streets, usually crawling with people, now virtually empty.

While in KGF we visited many villages and experienced traditions of the Pongal harvest festival celebrated by Tamil people. This included many games and celebrations with the highlight being an Indian version of 'The Running of the Bulls'. Basically they paint and decorate all the cows in the village, sauce them up on arrak, stir them into a frenzy and then race them down the street. Very amusing (as long as you were viewing from the safety of a tractor trailer like we were).

We also took a day trip to Mysore to visit the palace and Brindavan gardens. The interesting thing about tourist sites here is that Indians pay 10 rupees and foreigners pay 250 +. I sure am glad Tiana is Indian! Wink, wink.

We saw many other wonderful things in KGF, and were even formally invited to an Indian wedding, but the highlight was definitely spending time with Prasana and his family. They were monsterously generous in accomodating and feeding us and giving us a crash course in Indian living (including mastering the finer points of Indian style squat toilets. Tiana still wakes up crying).

From KGF we boarded the train to Chennai and were met by yet another of Prasana's friends who kindly offered to put us up for a few nights. We had a lovely time getting to know Balajee, his wife Dahkshyni and his parents. Balajee took us around Chennai and to Mahabalipuram where we saw 7th century granite rock carvings that were truly amazing.

We took the overnight train from Chennai to Cochin where we are at present. We hope to plan a trip in the north of the country before gearing up for the UK. We'll keep you posted.