Bangalore
Facebook friends and fountains
We originally planned to go to Bangalore in order to see one of
India's most modern cities and because it was one of the closest
airports to Hampi and Badami, which we wanted to visit.
After the trip was booked, though, we made some Facebook "friends" who
live
there and we were fortunate enough to meet them too -- a wonderful
event! We all went together to see the Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain,
which we would not otherwise have known about.
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| Colorfully lighted fountains at the Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain in Bangalore |
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| Amina and Siv |
Amina, John, Akram .. and Kaamran |
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| Amina and son Kaamran at the Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain Park |
Amina in our hotel lobby - back from the park |
In one day, we did not see a whole lot of Bengaluru, as it is now
officially known. But John took a walk around the neighborhood near our
hotel and it was, as usual, quite interesting. Bengaluru contains lots
of different religious edifices of all sorts. From our hotel-room
window, we could see at least one protestant church and several mosques.
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| Protestant church and mosques visible from hotel |
Minaret of a nearby mosque |
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| Street shop selling apparel for all |
Government building |
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| Huge decorated Nandi at the Bull Temple |
Dodda Ganesha Temple |
We spent a delightful evening with Amina and her family at the
fountain. And the next morning, we met her brother. Such friendly,
intelligent and enterprising people. After that, we set out in the car
for Hampi, remembering only at the last minute (literally) that the
hotel had not yet returned our passports after check-in -- something
always to be careful about.
On to the road (worst we have ever seen) to Hampi or back to India 2009.