bloglovin Saras India - Living and Loving in India

The dream life

I am kinda living the dream life right now. Lots of travels, and it is so much fun. Tonight I am off to Kerala and after that it is straight to Pondicherry, where I have been wanting to go forever. 
Here are a few selections of my trips to Hampi and Thailand.
 
Hampi: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thailand:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Indian trees

Or as I call them; The Garbage trees. Aaah, what a lovely sight!
 
 

Lovely roadtrips

After Amritsar I actually went to Delhi. Well, I  came back to Bangalore, repacked, booked a new ticket and went to Delhi for a few more days with the boys. But I am waiting for some nice pictures from that place, so even the post will have to wait. 
 
I had plans of going to Pondicherry this weekend, it is a long weekend here because to day is the Ganesh festival, but it was apparently raining a lot over there so we had to postpone that trip. Instead I went to a waterfall, Hogenakkal, in Tamil nadu, which is the state next to the one where I live, Karnataka. We started early morning, around 7 am, and I had been out the night before that, so I slept very few hours. I was really tired and slept almost the whole ride to the falls, so much for that roadtrip! 
 
It was very warm in Tamil nadu, but the falls cooled us down a little. It was a totally relaxing day, with many beautiful sights and a lovely boatride on the river. We were back in the city around 8 pm, but I didnt get back home until 11pm because I went for dinner. My absolute favourite pizzaplace in the world; Papa John´s. Their garlic sauce is to die for!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Amritsar - My favourite

The train to Amritsar only took some 4-5 hours from Chandigarh. We reached around 12 in the night, and by then it was raining a lot! And it had been raining a lot too! Roads were flooded and it was impossible to walk far to get a cheap auto to the hotel. As soon as we reached the hotel we just went to bed. The morning after was an amazing day. Well, it didnt start out well for the mexican, he stayed home because he was a little sick, so me and the colombian went to the most amazing place ever - The golden temple. It was a 5 minute walk from our hotel, and this place was just outstanding. I dont have words to describe this place, or pictures to give justice to it. Since it is a temple, for sikhs I think, we had to remove our shoes and be barefoot inside, and cover our heads. 
 
The golden temple is my absolute favourite place in India so far. It was even more amazing than the Taj mahal. It was so peaceful inside and it was just magical. We spent a few hours here, which was too less time. We wanted to enter inside the golden temple, but the line was too long, so we decided to do it late in the evening instead. We needed to get back to the hotel, the mexican and the cab that we had booked to take us to Waga border, the border between Pakistan and India. 
 
We went to the border on August 15th, which is Indias Independence day. I dont know if there were more people than usual, but I guess so. Once we reached, and our driver found a parkingspace, we started walking towards the border but we were told to wait in the crowd. I have no idea for what we were waiting. But once the police told us we could walk, everyone started running, well except for me, the mexican, the colombian and all the oldies. There was a securitycheck for everyone, one line for ladies and one line for men. I had to wait for the guys for a very long time, ladies line is always shorter. And by this time, it had started to rain. A lot. And we were all without rain phonchos and umbrellas.
 
We were at the border for around 3-4 hours to watch the ceremonies and during these hours it rained non stop! Heavy, heavy monsoon rain and thunders. We were completely drenched, not a single inch of us were dry, our passports were completely wet, and my name and passportnumber is no longer visible on my indian visa (little scared of leaving the country now). The colombian were brave enough to use his mobile to take lots of pictures and videos, which I am still waiting for, by the way. It was an amazing experience to be at the border, it was, believe it or not, even more amazing and memorable with all the rain. Now when I look back, I cant help but laugh at the memory. 
 
When the ceremony at the border was over we went to the car, had dinner while freezing in our drenched clothes (yes, we kept teasing the colombian for the espicy food he could not eat) and kept freezing in the car on the way home because the driver insisted on having the AC on. When we reached the hotel we decided to go to the Golden temple again. It was even more amazing in the night than in the day. There were very less people in so we could even enter inside the temple. It was just magical, unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pictures inside, so you just have to go there and explore it yourselves. But it will definately be worth it. I would any day go back to Amritsar just to visit the golden temple again. 
 
When we came back to the hotel late in the evening, all of us had the best shower we ever had. We were still completely wet, cold, dirty and sticky from the day and it was just an amazing shower (I mean, we all had one each, not one in total). The next day there was only time for lunch, I wanted to go to the temple again, but I had a flight back to Bangalore to catch. It felt really bad to leave, I had had so much fun and I didnt want the trip to end. But like I said, I had a flight to cath, to my next destinaton - Bangalore.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chandigarh

The train ride to Chandigarh was so much fun. We were watching all the fun and weird pictures and videos we took in Jaipur. I laughed so much that I started crying. While the mexican was writing, me and the colombian were talking. He talkes a lot! Its like never-ending-talk with him. And he needs to hear sounds all the time. If its not the sound from talking, he has to listen to music. Whenever he is sleeping or taking a shower, he listens to music. Anyways, back to my story. We stayed up half the night and just talked, before we decided that it would be a good idea to get atleast a few hours of sleep before our one day in Chandigarh!
 
We arrived early morning. So early that nothing were open, not even a restaurant to have breakfast. We went all over the city to find a restaurant, the autoguy couldnt find anything and anyone we asked didnt know of anything that was open. I guess people do not eat breakfast in Chandigarh. We eventually did find a hotel that were nice enough to serve us some food. We were there for 2 hours or so, to freshen up, eat food and decide what to do. The guys came up with the great idea to drink alcohol. But since it was 9 am in the morning I had to tell them: "Lets do some sightseeing instead". Luckily they agreed to that! 
 
So we went to a place called Rock garden or also known as Rock-estone by the spanish-speakers. It was kind of a weird place, but we still had fun. The boys were performing on stage, singing "The time of your life" to me and dancing. It was not only me who enjoyed it, they were asked by another lady to sing more songs and some guys were recording them and taking their pictures... After Rock garden we went to Sukhana lake. Thats where we spent around 5 hours before we needed to go to the train station. Chandigarh is like Bangalore, I guess. A great city to live in, but there is not much to do as a tourist. It was really hot this day, and just next to the lake there was a restaurant, so we decided to go inside and sit in the AC. I couldnt stop the boys any longer, so they started drinking beer. It was after 12, so it felt okay. And it was Chandigarh, apparently people from there drink a lot. 
 
So this was where we were all day! In a restaurant. I think the people working in the restaurant and those sitting there eating were quite disturbed by my very loud laughs. But I couldnt help it, they boys were just too funny.For example, The colombian can not eat any spicy food. And I mean not even a single tiny, tiny bit of spice, of course we teased him about that too. "I think I am getting better, this was not so espicy" was a comment by the colombian after having some ketchup, haha! (Poor the colombian, we teased him not only for his colorblindness, but his inability to eat espicy food, and his way of talking; "espicy, esleep, estatement, estupid, rock-estar, rock-estone" etc..)
 
After dinner and beers, some sleeping and photosessions in the sun it was time for us to leave for the train station and our next destination - Amritsar.
 
 
 
 

Jaipur

Quite long back, my ex-roomie told me that her 2 very good friends where coming to India and that I had to go and meet them. They were going to travel to Delhi and Jaipur which are cities that I really hate, so I told her "yes, maybe" which in my head meant NO FREAKING WAY! But after a lot of forcing from ex-roomie, "Sara, you HAVE TO meet my friends" "You have to travel with them" "You will have so much fun, I promise" and a promise from ex-roomies friends that I would have "The time of my life" I finally booked my tickets. Had I known how much fun I would have had, I would never have hesitated so much. 
 
So I started this trip in Jaipur. I didnt like Jaipur because last time I was there, well, it wasnt very nice, lets leave it with that. But now, awesome place! First day, we hardly left the hotel. I arrived late in the afternoon, so we decided to stay in the hotel and have dinner and some drinks on the roofterrace. One of the guys (The mexican) are really good at singing and playing guitar, so thats what we were doing all night. He played, and me and the other guy (The colombian) were singing. I know how that sounds to everyone who knows me. "Sara, singing?!" I didnt really have a choice, and it was actually fun. Even the other guests on the roofterrace joined in singing and applauding. I guess it was mostly thanks to the mexican. Since I was hanging out with lations, I was also taught how to dance Salsa and Merengue. I had a super-fun night and I started to think that my ex-roomie was right...
 
The second day we spent sightseeing. We were walking around in the pink city, which the colombian could not enjoy since he is colorblind, (yes, we teased him a lot about that). We later on went to Amber Fort where we spent a few hours and it was amazingly fun. After that it was the water temple, Hawa Mahal and some other place I forgot the name of. This sightseeing would have taken me two days, but since we only had one full day it had to be done. I was extremely tired after Amber fort, could have been because we were climbing  on very high and steep steps in 30+ degrees and blazing sun! 
 
Eventhough I was extremely tired it was an AMAZING day in Jaipur, we had so much fun, or atleast I had so much fun, I cant speak for the boys. After all the sightseeing we had to hurry back to the hotel, have dinner, change, check-out and leave for the trainstation and my second destination - Chandigarh!
 
Amber fort
Water temple
Hawa Mahal

Roadtrip

Not very long ago I was travelling up north with new friends of mine, I will write about this later. And after I came back to Bangalore I felt like leaving for a trip again. Since all of my friends here are working and are not able to travel to that extend that I would want, weekendtrips is all we can do. So after a lot of persuasion from my side, we went to a place called Sangam yesterday. Just a few hours outside the city of Bangalore you reach this heaven. I had the most amazing day ever!
 
 
 
 
The bus was full, so me and my friend had to sit on the roof for 3km. Adventures ♥
Luckily my insurance cover all kinds of extremesports, I would count this as an extreme sport.
A good friend of mine thinks I am having very short patience,
so I am attempting my first yoga-pose to try to relax.
 
 
 
 
 

You have got to love Indian security

The other day I was in MG road for some shopping. It started to rain, and since I hate the rain I decided to go back home. I went to the metro, went through the security, and they scanned my bag. When I was walking towards the gates I hear someone calling "M´am", I stop and turn around and a security lady is running after me.
 
Security lady: M´am, do you have a scissor in your bag?
Me: Ummm, no.
Security lady: Okay. Then you can go.
 
The questions is, why didn´t she just check my bag?
 
 

Frustrating part two

I have had some problems falling asleep lately, it is taking me a few hours these days.. Every person in India has their own solution to all the problems in this world. I have already tried a few, and another solution, according to my friend was to have a massage. Well, even if that doesnt work, a massage is always nice. So off I went, to a nice and lovely spa in Koramangala and booked a fullbody Swedish massage. And when I say full body, I mean fuuulll body! my ears, my eyebrows and my armpits got what it needed. And to be frank, if it was not a lady giving me the massage, I would have felt very, very  uncomfortable. I even had to tell her, please do not massage my thighs that high up, I am very ticklish. 
 
Anyway, the massage was lovely and afterwards I had plans of going home and relax. I bought some mangoes that I was planning to eat while relaxing in my big and comfy bed. But little did I know what was coming my way...My ex-roomie texted me on my way home and asked me if we could book some traintickets for her friends who are coming to India in August. Nice as I am, I said I would do it. We had to book 4 tickets. 4. Not 40, only 4. It took us 2 hours! 2! And when we were finished, it turned out we had only booked 3 tickets! 3! So we still have one more ticket to book! And before this, ex-roomie had already tried a few days to book these bloody tickets. I mean, how bloody hard can it be to book traintickets in India! And out of a million sites, only 1 site works with non-indian credit cards! Cooome ooon,why are they making it so hard for foreigners to travel in India?
 
Me and ex-roomie needed a break after those two hours, we decided that Monday will be a good day to book the last ticket! Hopefully we will both have a long and relaxed weekend before...

Frustrating, oh yes!

I went to a liqour shop today, I wanted to have a bottle of rose wine at home. I dont really know my area very well yet, so I was walking around a bit before I found a small, quite shabby store. I went inside, where old men where drinking whiskey, and asked for a bottle of rose wine. 
 
Me: Do you have rose wine?
Man: Full or half bottle?
Me: Full bottle.
Man: What do you want?
Me: Rose wine, full bottle.
Man: Okay. Red or white?
Me: Rose wine!
Man handles me a half bottle with red wine.
Me: Not red wine! ROSE! You have rose wine? Pink wine?!
Man: Sula (brand name) is okay?
Me: Yes. Full bottle please.
Man handles me a full bottle with white wine.
Me: Not white wine, not red wine! I want rose wine, it is pink! 
Man: Sorry, we dont have rose wine madam. 
Me: Aaah! Then please say that right away! 
 
So home I went, without my rose wine. I have to ask my roommates for a better alcohol store...

Bangalore not so hot these days

Perfect temperature inside and perfect temperature outside. The only thing missing is the sun. I cant even leave the house in this weather. If only I had my own car...
 
 
 

I was served by who?

Haha, got this funny receipt when I was in Kolkata.. This girl better not move to Sweden. Her name is not a very nice word in swedish.
 

Keerthinas birthday

It has been kinda hectic since I came back from Kolkata. Since my werid day on Friday,I have been out for lunches and out for dinners and drinks with some friends. I have been out shopping, I rode the metro for the first time and absolutely loved it! I live just 2 minutes away from the metro so I can just walk there, hop on the metro and be on MG road in 5 minutes! I have been unpacking, hanging out with my new roommates, cooking food etc. 
 
Today, I met some friends for lunch close to MG road, so I obviously took the metro, I left them around 2.30 pm and went for my second lunch - to celebrate Keerthinas 7th birthday! 
 
Keerthina was still in school when I came, but her older sister Mamtha was there so I got a chance to talk to her. She was so happy to see me, I got the longest hug from her. She told me all about her wedding, her husband, her life and her house. When Keerthina came, it was fuuuun. She opened all her gifts, a badminton-set from a friend, Manicure-set from her sister and Walkie talkies from me. She had to play with all her gifts right away! I had to do Keerthinas nails, glue them on her fingers and paint them, every other pink and purple. Then Mamtha wanted her nails done also, so I did hers as well... When I finally finished, Mamtha went to get the cake, and eventhough it was not my birthday I was the one who ended up with most cake on my face! I hate the cake -on-your-face thing, I guess thats why... 
 
It was a lovely, lovely day! I had so much fun and when I left, Keerthina hardly noticed because she was busy playing with her walkie talkies with her friends♥. 
 
Mamtha, Keerthina and me ♥

A different day

This was a weird day. I was out shopping some stuff to the new house, like blanket and laundrybag etc. It was raining so I brought my umbrella that I bought in New York back in 2008. While walking around I got 2 compliments for it. When I got back home, I just left it outside because it was so wet, thought I would just leave it there for few minutes. I forgot about the umbrella and few hours later, when I needed to go out again, it was gone! Oh, I cant believe someone stole my umbrella! 
 
Its a one of a kind umbrella, so if I see it I know it will be mine! And this is not all! I have been unpacking my bags today, my room is a total mess and I am still far from done. But I have gone through all my belongings and I see that candy is missing! One tablettask - Svarta katten and two packs of milkduds!  Seriously, who is stealing all my stuff? My friend told me I must have hid it somewhere, but I have only had my two bags! Ah, well atleast I have my Grillchips, thats most important.
 
Sweet lassi and onions marinated in what tastes like vinegar. I looooove those onions!

Home sweet home

I am back in Bangalore again. As soon as I landed I took the airportbus to Indiranagar, where my new home is. I moved in last night and it is a huge house and I have my own huge balcony and there is a rooftop terrace as well.I brought the rest of my stuff this morning so I now have everything here. All I need to do now is unpack, which I hate, so I will do it later..
 
So I came home around 7 yesterday, left my stuff in the house and went to see my friend. We were supposed to go for dinner and drinks, but we decided to just have amazing dinner instead. We went to one of my favourite punjabi restaurants in Koramangala, Chandni chowk, and I had a sweet lassi, masala papad (finally, this is my all time favorite), murg bhuna - chicken gravy dish and a butter garlic naan! The food was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I dont think you realize just how awesome their food is.. 
 
I sent this picture to my old roomie, Chandni chowk was our place, and asked her; Where am IShe replied with; I feel like you are cheating on me!
 

My two days in Kolkata

What can I say? Kolkata is extremely hot and it is so humid that even when you are not moving you are sweating. And I mean REALLY sweating, it runs down your back and chest, your face is completely moist and you’re sweaty under the sunglasses. Due to this and due to some heavy rains, I didn’t do much! I went to see the Victoria Memorial, a British monument, walking around on Park Street and went to shopping malls. The malls were where I spent most of my time, unfortunately, but it was just soooo hot outside. And raining at the same time. So it wasn’t very much fun to be outside. And on the top of this, I was extremely homesick! It was way too early to leave my safe, beloved, fresh, cool and awesome Bangalore after just 2 weeks!

But if Kolkata ever gets little cooler, I can think of coming back just because I didnt see very much this time..

 Even the flowers were so tired in Kolkata...
 
Victoria Memorial

Reaching Kolkata

I slept most of the time on the train to Kolkata. I don’t know what it is with Indian trains, but you get really sleepy. It is rocking so nicely that you just can’t stay awake no matter how hard you try. It’s the same on Indian flights; I fall asleep in those too. When I was about to get off the train some older man helped me with my bag, he asked where I was going and when he realized we were going to the same part of the city we decided to share a taxi. He paid the full fare, I guess he just wanted my company and some help and advise on how to move to Sweden.

I checked in to the hotel, they had managed to oversee my online booking, but luckily there was still a room for me. Once I left the check-in desk, I heard that someone got a huge scolding! I just left my bags inside the room, went outside to have dinner at McDonalds, came back and slept for 12 hours! It was so nice to finally sleep without anyone waking me up with a; “Sara tea, tea, TEA IS READY!” Since I came back to India I have slept between 5-7 hours a night. I fall asleep very late, and I am woken up quite early with the “Sara tea, tea, TEA IS READY!” and have to get up right away!

 


Leaving Jamshedpur

When it was time for me to leave Jamshedpur, I asked the hotel owner how to get to the station. He said either I could take an auto or he could drop me. Since I don’t like train stations in India, I never know where to go and where my train will be, I asked if who ever dropped me could help me find my train.

No problem, the owner called the sweetest auto driver who didn’t speak a word of English, but he really tried and he was very nice to me. And as we were driving, all of a sudden I feel a hard push! An auto behind us had been hit by a big car, Scorpio, and pushed into our auto. Their auto was packed with 6-7 people, and as soon as they saw that I was sitting in the auto, they all came running out to see if I was okay! Which I was, it was not a serious crash. The auto that hit us had more damages.

After just a few minutes we were on our way again, there were no insurance talk between the drivers, it was just some small talk, like whose fault it was. The driver kept his word, he parked his vehicle outside the station, took my bag and followed me inside the station, found out which track, and took me there! I gave him some extra money and he got so happy.. 

 
 
 

Pre wedding

The hotelowner said he was a photagrapher, so he was having many photoshoots with us. Here are some of the pre-wedding pictures..
 
 
 
 
 

The Wedding

Finally the day arrived, July 14th the weddingday of Kathrine and Manish! All the guys left around 4, to go to Manish house and dance outside in the heat! Once they left, some girls came to drape our sarees. None of us knows how it is done, so we all needed help. 
 
 
When I was draping my saree the words coming out of my mouth was "Down, not so high up, more down, this one higher, show more skin, under my belly, etc etc." They finally understood how I wanted it, and so I went out to the hall to have a photoshoot with the owner of the hotel, the sweetest guy who has been nothing but loving and helpful our whole stay at his hotel. 
 
Around 7 we left for the wedding, as soon as we came there, we saw all the boys dancing their way to the tempel. They were all sweaty and tired since it was like 35 degrees and very humid. I love these kind of things so me and the three indiangirls I was hanging with started dancing with all the boys. After 10 minutes I was drenched in sweat and my saree had started to fall off, so I had to stop. 
 
The ceremony was long, fun and it took many hours before the couple was actually married. But at 12.30, after 3 marriage proposals, countless of Pani puri and ice cream scoops, dancing, hiding for cameras and posing infront of cameras it was time for all the swedes to go back to the hotel. 
 
The tempel was overcrowded with people so it was hard to get any good pictures. I will wait until I get some good ones from the photographer and show you then, but here are a few.
 
 
 
 

The getting ready

The bride is all nerves, and I do understand her. Standing infront of 800 people is nothing we do everyday. Sarees are being draped, make up is being put on, hair is getting done, nails painted. All the boys left for the grooms house and as soon as the girls are done, we are leaving for the wedding ♥
 
All the beautiful boys
 
 Tonights outfit

The mehendi night

Yesterday, we were all invited to the grooms house to see the rituals and have some food. It was a long, sweaty and fun day (Only 4 hours but felt like it was the whole day).
 
In the evening all the girls were invited to the Mehendi, putting henna on their hands. We were supposed to start around 8, but since it is India, and since our food came after 1,5 hours, we didnt start until 10.30 pm. And for those of you who have done mehendi, knows that it takes a long time. Specially the brides mehendi. Around 2 am we were all finished, and off to bed we went! 
 
Beacuse the mehendi was finished so late, we all slept with it on our hands, otherwise you can start peeling it off your skin after an hour or so. I have always been told that I sleep like a dead person. I lie on my back, hands on my belly, and hardly breathe. Once I slept at my sisters place, she woke up in the night and had to check if I was actually alive! So it was a totally surprise for me to wake up and see that my whole bed was covered in peeled of henna. It was everywhere, and thats not all! I have had my hands in weird places, like my armpit, my chest and on my butt. How do I know this, you wonder? Well, I have henna in those places as well. Not as dark as it is on my hands, but I do have a light hennadesign in my armpit, on my chest and on my butt!
 
 
 
 

In Jamshedpur

When I arrived to Jamshedpur my friend and her husband to be, came to pick me up at the station. According to Internet, my train was late but I was actually right on time so I had to wait for half an hour for them to arrive. I sent a text to my friend "Help! Come fast! Im hiding in a corner!"  I had forgotten just how much smalltown people stare and make you feel uncomfortable! 
 
Anyways, we came to the hotel and I got the chance to freshen up a little after my stressful day. We all went out for dinner in the evening, the dinner consisted of awesome food (I had fish), and pictures being taken of the food! Not one, not two, but maybe 50 food pictures! I dont know what they will do with all of the pictures...
 
We came home around 1am in the morning (Oh, how I miss being able to have late and long dinners), and most of us went to sleep!
 
Jamshedpur seen from our roofterrace

The going to Jamshedpur

Before I begin my story, I will start to mention my timings. My flight was scheduled at 09.55 arrival time 12.25. My train was scheduled at 3.05 pm.  The traffic between these two places are mad, so my friend had told me it would take between 1-1,5 hours.

 

As soon as I checked in, I asked if my flight was on time. “Yes madam”, was the answer I got. When I got my boarding pass he said “departure is at 10.15am”.  So much for the no delay! Anyways, the flight was obviously later than that, 10.45 am we were in the air, so almost an hour late.  I fell asleep and slept lightly the entire flight. Before landing I started talking to the guy next to me, to make sure how I would go from the airport to the train station. The best bet was to take a pre-paid taxi. And since the arrival time was 13.15 I had plenty of time to get a taxi and reach the train station. Oh, how wrong I was!

 

When the luggage finally started to come on the belt, it didn’t take long before it stopped! So there I stood, little stressed and without my bag. After 15 minutes, I was almost in a panicy mood! I ran after a Spicejet lady (The airline I flew was Spicejet) and asked her where the heck my bag was, I need it now! “Oh, some technical error is there” Okay, well change the belt then. I need my bag now otherwise I will miss my train.

 

Since I was close to panic (being in a situation I am not used to, and not knowing exactly what to do next and where to go, stresses me out if I don’t have enough time, which I did not have!) my voice got louder and told her that if I miss my train, I am going to take a taxi to Jamshedpur and Spicejet will have to pay my bill! And since my voice was louder, people started coming and wanted to help out. The time was now 13.55 and everyone told me there was no way I could catch my train! (At this time my bag came on the second belt, yeeey)!

 

The lady was not at all helpful (from now on, no more Spicejet for me) so I decided to give it a chance, I started running towards the exit, gliding in the curves on the slippery floor,  pushed my way through the que for pre-paid taxi, ran out of the airport, ran over the street with my hand out, showing the cars to stop, pushed my way through the second que to get my pre-paid taxi. Ran like a crazy to find my taxi, yelled at the taxi driver “Jaldi, jaldi” (Skynda på) and when he realized we had only 50 minutes before my train left,he left in a hurry!

 

After the crazy drive in the mad traffic (which he called pagal traffic, mad traffic in hindi) I arrived at the station 15.00 pm! I was soooo stressed and I had no idea where to go! I thank God for India and the cheap labour, a man came up to me, put my bag on his head and started running towards my train while my driver yelled out my train number for him! We ran and we ran and we ran, and finally we reached! Oh, the happiness when I realized I didn’t have to go through all the hazzle with getting a new train and not knowing how the heck to do it! I was on the train 15.04 and the train left the station at 15.07!

 

Before the man left me with my luggage I thanked him and thought I was generous when I gave him 20rs. He looked at me and started to say something in hindi. Some guys on the train started talking to him and eventually, after laughing (at me or at him, who knows?) told me to give him 20 more rupees.

 

I left a cold and raining Bangalore and arrived to a humid, and extremely hot Kolkata! The run I did to the train, for four minutes, totally drenched me. Thank God I didn’t have to carry my luggage as well!


The farewell party

So tomorrow morning I am leaving for Kolkata, for my sweet, sweet friends Wedding! I will be away for almost one week, Friday to Thursday so we had a farewell party for me tonight at Arbor Brewery, which is my new favourite place. I had the best time, hanging with some new and old friends. We left at 11, even before they closed, because we all need to wake up early tomorrow. 
 
Tomorrow I will be busy travelling, flight and train, so it will take me all day. When I have the time I will update here, but dont expect to much of it until I am back in Bangalore again.
 
A preview of my lovely saree

An attempt to break the rules

I went for a movie today, the only one they showed around the timing I came was Despicable me 2 (Dumma mig 2) so I decided to see it. But before all this, I had some chocolate cravings and was running around like a crazy in all the foodshops to find Twix (have they stopped selling twix? No one I asked seemed to know what I was talking about). After I eventually found it in Landmark, I carefully hid one in the sidepocket in my bag, and the other one I wrapped in my stole, also this one kept in my bag. 
 
Reason for hiding it? Well, no eatables or drinks are allowed to be taken inside moviehalls in India. I was trying to beat their system! I was so looking forward to smile at me breaking the rules and eating my forbidden Twix! To my horror, the securitylady went through my bag inside out! She took out everything I had, makeup, socks, camera, stole, money, toothpicks, waterbottle, tasty nuts, toiletpaper.. I had to remove the battery from my camera, give her my waterbottle, tasty nuts, cheewing gums?! and my two Twix! Inside I was crying. And like the stubborn person I deep down inside am, I started arguing about the cheewing gums! I claimed they are not eatables, in a loud voice, took them back and put it back in my bag! I gave her an angry look and told her to take good care of my Twix! Poor securitylady.
 
Is it just me or has the moviehall security improved? As far as I can remember I have been able to smuggle some goods inside the moviehall before. Next time, I will put some Twix in my pants! Nothing makes me happier than breaking the "no eatables in the moviehall-rules"
 
 
 
 
 

When does one become a regular?

Yesterday I visited my favourite icecream bar, where they serve you in the car, for the third time. As soon as the staff saw me, they came up to the car and said, "1 bananasplit, and what else?"  "Where are your friends?" So I guess the third time I visit a place, and have ordered the same things, they know me, my order and my friends. It feels nice to be recognised. 
 
I did actually not order a bananasplit last night, because I can not finish it on my own, it has to shared by two. So now I guess I have confused them. I mean, what will be my next order?
 
The guy went home before we had finished our icecreams, "Goodnight madam, see you tomorrow" 
Pff! I dont come there eeeeeveryday!
 
 
 
 

Lovely, lazy Monday

After a long and hectic weekend, I am going to have a lazy Monday! Im staying home all day, reading, writing, watching movies and eating swedish candy! Im not going to move from bed until evening when I have some work to be done. 

The birthdayweekend

My birthday weekend has come to an end. It started on Friday, I forced my friends to come to Ice with me, since I havent been there in ages and I really liked that place! The music was great but the crowd was not as good as I remember it. After clubbing we went home to an all american house and celebrated 4th of July. We stayed up chatting till around 3. 

 

On Saturday I went out shopping a gift for my birthday that my friends mom wanted to buy me. I found a lovely Salwar Kameez that I wore for my actual birthday. In the night me and some new and old friends went to Arbor Brewery Company! It was packed, but it was so much fun! I had the best time with my friends, and I also met some people whom I have known from before. Arbor is definately my new favourite hangout place! Food is good, ambiance is good, crowd is good, music is good! After being kicked out at 11.30, we went to Ulsoor lake where my sweet Nitin surprised me with a lovely chocolate cake. 

 

After the mandatory "putting cake on the birthdaygirls face" cops came and asked us to leave! I gave them some cake and they let us stay for another 15 mnts. 

 

Sunday I had decided that I wanted to go for gocart! It looks like a lot of fun, but I was very disappointed! I didnt like it at all and I wont do it again. I went for lunch with friends at The only place and we had dinner at Monkeybar  and ended the night with a bananasplit at Lakeview! My friend Xavier bought me a lovely flowerbouque, and my sweet Nitin bought me a bunch of roses! A perfect ending to my lovely birthdayweekend!

Payback time!
 
 

Happy birthday me!

When I blew the candles on my wonderful cake I only had one wish, okay two. No cake on my face! For some reason my wishes never seems to come true. 
My hands, my face, my (newlywashed) hair, my neck and my dress was covered in chocolat. 
This is one tradition in India that I really dont like! And I told my friends that if I ever
celebrate another birthday here, I want white chocolate on the cake!
 
Ps. My second wish was as always a horse! 
 
 

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