Happy Tamil New Year!!!

Yesterday we celebrated the Tamil New Year which is called Vishu. The year is based on the lunar calendar from what I understand.

Vishu is actually one of my favorite festivals in India because of the way it's celebrated. Here goes the description. My mom usually wakes us up at dawn, and asks us to keep our eyes closed. She then takes us (eyes still closed) to her where she keeps an altar. She then gives us some water in our palms, and asks us to wash our eyes and open them.

When you open your eyes, you are greeted by a mirror right in front you, flowers, fruits, rice and other grains, basically all the things that are beautiful and essential to your life, including yourself. It's such a great way to start the new year!

A couple weeks back we also celebrated the Kannada new year, called Ugadi. The custom here is also really cool. You start the day by taking a shower, wearing nice clothes, etc. The first thing you eat is a mix of neem flowers which are bitter, and jaggery (raw sugar). Its points to the fact and probably reminds us to accept that life is bitter-sweet. Another really cool idea!

Here are some pictures from both the festivals. Needless to say yummy food consisting of whatever is in season is part of the parcel! Yay for mangoes! :)

Update of A Random Update from Bangalore

Summer is Upon Us: The rains never came and it still has not cooled down yet. Yesterday, it the thermometer topped out at 100.2 deg F!!! Thankfully we have a back up power source and can sit under that high speed fan all day long!

RCB and the IPL: We went to the game and RCB won against the Kolkata Knight Riders. RCB is 4 for 4 when we go to the matches. I think they should pay us to show up and watch it live.

Taco Bell: We have still not eaten there yet, but continue to see advertisements all over the city that are enticing us to 'make a run for the border.'

Trekking: We leave for the Himalayas via Delhi on Friday. Due to the late snowfall in the mountains this year, Kuari Pass is about the highest that we can do next week without any mountaineering skills or equipment. The trek the trek that we have booked through Red Chilli Adventures still has open slots if you want to join us! If you are interested, click here and select the trek that departs on April 19.

A Random Update from Bangalore

It’s been a few weeks since we have written anything substantial on the blog. Here are a few random bits about our life in Bangalore…

Summer is Upon Us: It’s hot. Maybe not hot by Indian standards, but definitely by Bangalore (and DC) standards. Temperatures are hitting 36+ degrees C (95+ deg F) on a daily basis and the sun is very intense during the day. We are happy to spend most of the daylight hours indoors under a high-speed fan. Last week, it rained one night, which resulted in some amazingly cool weather the next day (cool enough that we could play tennis at 4 in the afternoon!). Today's weather report says that it will rain again in the next few days…yay!

RCB no longer rules the IPL: The Royal Challengers Bangalore cricket team has been on quite a losing streak since we wrote so fondly of them a couple of weeks back. They have lost 4 out of their last 5 matches and are now on the cusp of losing their playoff spot. We’re going to the game tonight, so maybe that will bring them some good luck, as they have never lost a match that we have attended.

Taco Bell is Now Open: Those of you reading this in the US are probably wondering what the big deal is, but here the opening of the first Taco Bell in India is a huge deal! It is located on the other side of Bangalore, so we have yet to check it out. However, yesterday, we did see the first Taco Bell advertisement – Tacos for just 18 rupees (40 cents). It’s likely that the food will be better than the ‘Taco Hells’ scattered throughout the US, but stay tuned for a restaurant review.

We’re Going Trekking: We signed up for an organized 9 day trek to Kuari Pass in the Himalayas for the end of this month. We have been training hard by climbing about 9 floors of our apartment 8 times every day in our hiking boots. While most of the trek will be done at elevations between 1500-3000 meters (5,000-10000 ft above sea level), the next to last day will bring us up to about 3650 m (12,000 ft). Unlike backpacking in the US where you have to lug all of your food and supplies yourself, organized multi-day hikes in India come with a guide, a cook, and porters that carry everything except your lunch! This is going to be an amazing experience for sure, and we imagine that some amazing photos will soon be uploaded to a blog near you.