Back to the Subcontinent – Southern India – Part 1: Bangalore and Diwali

Ahhh – India. Our first visit in 2002 was our first big travel experience spending 7 months in Southeast Asia with most of that in Nepal. At that time, we walked across the border from Nepal to India and then took trains across the country through Varanasi, Delhi, and Rajasthan. That alone was an experience.

Our next trip to India was in 2007 to Ladakh and Sikkim. We spent 6 weeks in Ladakh with most of that doing dental clinics for kids with Tom Grahams and then trekking through rural villages teaching handwashing and tooth brushing and giving out toothbrushes. We had an amazing experience learning and teaching. Tom was later executed by the Taliban while doing dental work in Afghanistan with a British humanitarian group. It is impossible to be back in India without him in our minds.

We have never traveled through South India. We were excited for this trip and a big part of that excitement was for the food. It is hard to get South Indian food in the US, but that is the food we prefer.

It doesn’t seem like much has changed in India since our last trip. The traffic is still crazy and the roads are a mix of asphalt, rock, and dirt and are shared by cars, buses, motorcycles, cows, and donkey-drawn carts. Street food is everywhere. It ranges from something we should probably not try (or risk getting sick) to street stalls that are mostly clean, and busy, and the food is all freshly cooked. We ate most meals at these stalls where the 2 of us could eat a meal for ~125RS per person ($1.50) and it is better Indian food that we can get in Utah.

Thindi Beedi Street Food Stalls – Dinner on Night 1

Thali Meal for just over $1.

Bangalore is a green city. There are lots of parks and huge trees. It is so different than a city like Delhi where I don’t remember parks and much greenery.

Diwali – the Festival of Lights – “victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance”. It is like Christmas meets the 4th of July. We were excited to spend Diwali in Bangalore. To see one of their biggest holidays in a city of over 11M people was surely going to be an experience. We were also invited to celebrate the holiday with Emily’s past boss and her family. We were excited to see how the locals celebrated. We started our Diwali early walking to the KM Market (Krishnarajendra Market) which is the flower, vegetable, and fruit wholesale market. The market was crazy and overwhelming. It was at least 6 blocks in both directions and probably 500,000 people. Amazing flowers everywhere and people buying huge bags of them for their celebrations as well as for reselling.

KM Market with people stocking up for Diwali celebrations

As we walked around the street on Diwali, we walked into a Hindu temple where we received our first-ever Hindu blessing. It was an amazing process of the Hindu Pandit (priest) reciting something as he moved a tray with a burning flame around a shrine 5 times. We then had to put our hands in the flame smoke and touch our foreheads 3 times. This was followed by him putting the red powder on our forehead then a tablespoon of sweet milk being placed in our hand to drink and then a tablespoon of coconut water in our hand to drink. It was a great experience.

We donned our Indian attire for an evening Puja and celebration with Mamatha and her family. It was amazing to see. They had a puja to worship Lakshmi and bring good fortune. The shrine at the house was amazing. A ghee lamp needs to burn for 24 hours. At the shrine, they give 5 fruits and 5 desserts. There is a burning of some type of material that you bring the smoke to your face and then carry through the house. After the puja, 51 oil lamps are lit and placed at every door and window to honor Lakshmi. We ended the evening walking around Commerce Street which was all lit up for the holiday and packed with people.