It was the first time that I came through Bangalore. We were going to have a regional meeting on traditional medicine. The arrival hall of Bangalore international airport was a shock. Though the Delhi international airport is quite a let down but Bangalore was even worse. All the thoughts about Bangalore being the silicon valley of India and an international symbol of the new resurgent India seem like a joke when you arrive in that airport. They are building a new airport I was told but a city that hosts the new infotech giants seems to be taking a rather long time in getting its act together!
Outside, the narrow streets of Bangalore choking with traffic and blaring horns and unfinished fly-over close to the airport is in sharp contrast with its bright shops selling top international brands. We were staying on Brigade road off the famous MG Road. The row of shops selling computers and latest infotech gadgets, and the swanky malls seem out of the first world, squeezed in the third world of old poor India. Below is a view of Brigade road.
The traditional medicine meeting organised in collaboration with People's International Health University and Ayurvedic medical college of Bangalore had participants from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. It was very interesting and provided an opportunity for reflecting on the dominance of western thought that relegates everything else to "old, traditional, indigenous". That ancient wisdom of milleniums that have resulted in systems of medicines like ayurveda, yunnani and sidha, are forced to "prove" themselves "scientifically" is a sign of that dominance. The picture below is from a visit to the Ayurvedic medical college of Bangalore.
Naturally we found time to go around the city for some tourist visit. The old palace of Tipu sultan completed in 1791 is beautiful with its dark browns and mahagony.
On the last day, on my way to the airport, Krishna, our driver, insisted on taking me to the Shiv temple next to the Kids Kemp shopping centre. The giant statues of Ganesh and Shiv in this temple are very imposing.
Visiting Bangalore was also an opporunity to visit family - Bukul, her husband Tony and their daughter, Ariel, as can be seen from the two pictures below.
On 19th, I flew to delhi. I had some work but mostly these days in Delhi are for family reunions. Kuldip ji and Manjit ji, our daughter in law, Atam's parents came to Delhi especially to meet me.
In Delhi, my joy is Mika, my young niece. I love spending hours with her. In the picture below, Mika is getting ready for a school function.
Delhi is the new home of Luca and his wife Polly. Luca is my old friend Enrico's son and has come here recently. So it was natural that to visit him and to check if everything was ok for their settling down.
Om Thanvi, editor of the Hindi newspaper Jansatta invited me to his home for a party, introducing me to his other guests as "he runs a webzine call Kalpana". Surrounded by his literary friends, I felt as if I was playing a new role, used as I am to be seen as a doctor! It was a lovely evening with wonderful Rajasthani vegetarian food cooked by his wife Premlata. In the pictures below Om with a small part of his huge DVD collection and two of the guests (Renuka Vishwanathan and Madhu Kishwar).
Finally I saw the new central park in Connaught Place. The new metro station of Rajiv Chowk has been completed and all the "work in progress" boards have been taken off, replaced by green lawns and flowing water. There was a beautiful exhibition showing off the changes in C.P.
