Busy Busy Bangalore

So Tuesday was my first real day outside of the guesthouse, and what a day it was.

Got up early to catch the bus with my roommate since I had no idea how to get to my job. Oh I wish it were as simple as just knowing what bus number to look for. First off, only some buses actually have numbers, the rest have text in Kannada (the local language of the state) so its almost impossible to recognize which one to go on. The only way to be sure, I discovered, is to ask the bus driver and if you're lucky he'll understand and wait for you to get on. The most interesting thing I noticed was that the bus separated men and women - women sit in the front and men in the back. Then a conductor goes up and down the bus asking for your destination and issuing you the ticket.

If only one bus could get me to work. I'm not that lucky.

We got off at the first stop and had to transfer to another bus. This involved running across two lanes of traffic during morning rush hour - I almost got hit by like 3 buses and 5 rickshaws - only to have to follow my roommate and run onto a moving bus! Yea. Apparently that doesn't only happen in movies.

Work was pretty uneventful the first day, my boss was out so I didn't have much to do but read some articles. After work, my roommate came with me to buy some Indian clothing. As modern as Bangalore may be in comparison to the rest of India, I still prefer to not stick out as a westerner. I bought some kurtas (pic below - basically a loose shirt that falls to just above the knee) and some loose pants (including red ones! I thought about orange with sequins, but I had to draw the line somewhere). The shopping also included me bargaining for the first time (I only got 100 rupees off, but hey its a start).As I was exiting one of the shops, I was stopped by an Indian security guard and asked to show the receipt for my purchases. Of course, my roommate had just passed him and he didn't ask her at all (I should also mention that she is blond and blue-eyed). Naturally I couldn't find it and was getting all flustered, and my roommate came back and yelled at him for making such a ridiculous request. He smiled (I guess he agreed) and we just walked away. Did I mention my roommate is badass? Maybe I'll be that badass after three months, we can only hope.