bean town & television

we have reached bangalore, which according to our nifty lonely planet book means town of baked beans. the ride from outer bangalore to the inner city with the congesting traffic seemed longer than the trip from mysore. it is the computer center of india and center of technical support in the united states. 

after checking into our hotel, we wandered the local area, which is packed with western stores and restaurants. it was haunting in a way, it was a lot like home, but out of place and strange in a way i cannot identify. it really seems like a poison; i'm happy i have not found this in the small cities. recognize anything?

we took some time to recover in the hotel and turned on the television for the first time in a month. in my multi-month long gaps without television i have taken this year, turning on the tube is same amount of surprise each time. i found myself entranced with the discovery channel, though it was not the only show in english.

we watched this amazing show. i don't know what it was called, but it was a sort of hybrid of a nature show and a study on the local people high in the himalayas. there were long hair goats and yaks, some wild pony-like horses, and cranes. zoë wanted all the above, especially the pony-like wild horses. the crazy part of our television experience is we are actually going there.

we have done quite a bit of research for dharamsala and have both grown quite excited. there are lots of things including hindi classes, buddhist philosophy, tibetan and north indian cooking classes, hikes, volunteering opportunities with schools, magazines, environmental programs, and cultural centers. by chance we are timing it just right, the dali lama will be in town and giving talks that i am sure we will try to go to.

it should be a great introduction to north india and tibet, and development in my interest in buddhism.  it is so tempting to wander off into those mountains and shepherd some long-haired goats. i can almost feel the mountain floating over me, ready to swallow me whole and spit me out a different person, or that's all i could hope for.