One of my favorite films of all
time is “3 Idiots”. I’ve seen it several
times with and without subtitles. It’s a
coming of age film featuring the journey of incoming freshmen students at the
prestigious Imperial College of Engineering or ICE. Much as I want to tell you the story, I
prefer that you watch it instead. One thing’s for sure, after watching it; it
will make you take stock of your life.
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| Source: Wikimedia |
So how does this movie relate to
this post? My Boslet and I attended an
international conference in India and the venue was at the campus where the “3
Idiots” was filmed, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB). So it was
like a pilgrimage of sorts for me.
Unlike my previous post, I had
three months to plan the trip. What to
wear was not an issue. The trip was for
an international conference so it was business attire for us. It was also during winter so we definitely
know what to bring.
The biggest issue was, what to
eat? Not because we were clueless about
what we will be served but because we knew what we will be served. It’s no secret that Indian food is on the spicy
side and it’s an acquired taste. It was
a challenge because Boslet and I do not like spicy food. So, what did we do about it? One magical
answer: De Lata! Thankfully, our Christmas Food Basket has
already been distributed before we left the country.
But the story does not end
there. Let me share with you some tips
and snippets of our (mis)adventures.
The Hotel
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| Source: Arama Suites Gallery |
Tip No. 1: If you are not familiar with the place, stay
near your intended destination. The conference was for three whole days so we
decided to stay just right outside the campus.
We actually had the option to stay on campus but the place I booked
turned out to be much cheaper. The
following tips will also show why I chose this option.
Tip No. 2: Stay in hotels that offer free shuttle
service to nearby destinations. One of
the very reasons we chose the hotel was that they have a shuttle service that
took us daily to IIMB. We also used their shuttle for our grocery run. And
because the hotel’s driver was already familiar with us, he was also our tour
guide when we went around the city.
Tip No. 3: If you have food issues, choose a hotel with
a microwave oven. Or better yet, get a serviced apartment where you can cook
your own food. Aside from having kitchenette
in some rooms, our hotel also has a Guest Kitchen where you can request the
onsite chef to help you cook your food.
And if you want to have food delivered from outside, the front desk can
arrange your order. They can even pick
up your food from nearby restos free of charge. In my case, this service helped
in addressing the language barrier but not our respective definitions of spicy
and no spicy.
Tip No. 4: Be nice to the service staff. Yes, it’s their job to help you and they are
getting paid to do it. But, courtesy and politeness go a long way. They’re your best asset when you are in a not
so familiar place. They can give you
travel tips and advice that you won’t see in guidebooks. More importantly, you can gain new friends
and family away from home.
The Food
To give you a background, Boslet
and I are extremes when it comes to food. I am a picky eater (sensitive tummy)
while she’s what you can call a “cowboy”. She’ll eat anything. But during this
trip, the tables turned. I was still a
picky eater but surprisingly, this time, I had higher tolerance for new stuff than
Boslet who almost throughout the trip “survived” on canned goods.
It all started in our flight from
Bangkok to Bangalore (Thai Airways).
Being a picky eater, I know the drill. I pre-ordered my food. I usually order “Bland”. Knowing that Boslet
does not have food restrictions, I did not pre-order a special meal for her. My mistake. It was a good thing that we ate dinner during
our layover in Bangkok because Boslet did not like the airplane food. Not only was it spicy but she did not like
the way it smelled.
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| Breakfast with a view. The hotel's rooftop resto/kitchen. |
The breakfast choices served at
the hotel were traditional Indian dishes.
Thankfully, breads and eggs were part of the selection. Oh by the way,
eggs were served based on your order. But ordering
egg was a bit of a challenge.
Wait staff: Madam, would you like some omelet?
Me: Can I have it sunny side up, instead?
Wait staff: Is that boiled egg?
Me: Ok, omelet for me!
I’m easy to please.
To be fair to all the staff, they
were very accommodating and attentive to our needs. They even allowed Boslet to teach them how to
cook the canned sausages we brought. And
their rooftop resto/kitchen has an amazing view to think that it was actually
in the city.
Off we went to the conference.
Our registration fee covered snacks and lunch. Unlike in the Philippines where snacks tend to
be on the heavy side, theirs was light – cookies, biscuits, coffee, tea and water.
And then lunch came. It was in a forest-like setting. Lunch was a buffet of a wide-array of Indian
dishes. It was our first lunch so we tried to pick some food we knew we can
eat like rice! We really didn’t get to eat much. Skyflakes to the rescue. In the
case of Boslet, she had some sliced bread from our breakfast. After that
experience, we knew what to do the following day. But before we proceed to that, let’s talk
about dinner.
Boslet knew better. She just
ordered rice which she ate together with her canned goods. I, on the other hand, tried to be adventurous.
With the front desk staff making the call, I ordered Chicken Tikka and Butter Naan.
I’ve had them in the past, and at one
time in Bangladesh, another South Asian country like India. Because they were aware that we do not like spicy food, I
heard the front desk guy tell the person on the other line, “no spicy, ok.”
After an hour my food arrived and I was so excited to eat my dinner. Knowing that we ordered no spicy, I took a
big bite of the chicken (hey I was so hungry and India is 2 ½ hours later than
the Philippines). It was epic. Tears
were rolling down my eyes as I ate. No, the food did not make me sad. It was so spicy
that my eyes couldn’t help but tear up. Thankfully, I also ordered Naan
(pronounced nan), a bread similar to pita. So if you ask
me what I had for dinner that night, I’ll answer that I had naan.
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| The lush woods were lunch was set. We had to go deep into the woods. |
With lessons learned from the previous
day’s lunch. We made a work plan. During breakfast, we had our canned goods
such as Spam and vienna sausage cooked at the hotel’s kitchen and packed them
in the microwavable containers we brought with us. So for lunch, we each got a plate of rice and
bottled water. Then we searched for the
farthest table in the forest. One were nobody could join us. And then voila, we
brought out our spam and sausages! Lunch was good.
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| Potato Overload |
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| Hot Gulab Jamun with Pista Ice Cream |
But there's one Indian dish that I really liked and it's a dessert. And there is a place in the campus that serves it and with ice cream at that! The dessert is called Gulab Jamun. I even brought home some mixes.
The above anecdotes sum up our
food experience in India. I finally understood why our visiting Indian
counterparts always tell us that they barely have anything to eat when they’re in
the country and that our food is bland. And
I have a feeling that whenever our Indian colleagues (based in the Philippines)
serve us their national dishes, they try to adjust their cooking to suit our taste.
The City, The Campus
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| Boslet was hungry that she thought the "W" was a McDonald's "M". Look closely and you'll actually see the real McDonald's. |
Because we were avoiding the
Christmas Holiday rush in airports, we didn’t take extra days to explore Bangalore. So our activities were just limited to the
conference and a very short visit downtown.
Tip No. 5: If there are things you would like to buy and
you have limited time, research the stores ahead of time and get the advice of
your trusted, tour guide/new friend.
Prior to arriving in Bangalore, I had already researched the places
where we could buy local goods such as traditional tops, pashmina and of
course, bangles! So off we went to MG Road and Commercial Street. One word to describe these shopping
areas: Colorful. We had a grand time haggling. The pashminas
were really soft to the touch. The jewelries were such a sight. Was so
surprised that some traditional attire are not that pricey. I actually spent my
last day in India wearing a Kurti which got me into a certain situation at the
airport. You’ll read about it later.
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| Stones and lush plants |
Let’s go back to the campus where
we spent most of our time. The conference was composed of various technical
sessions. Honestly, it was draining. Things we do for the love of learning and professional development. But the beauty of the campus was enough to lift the spirit of somebody with affinity to beautiful architecture and landscaping. It has an all-stone architecture enclosed in lush woods. Add to that the cool
weather. The total effect provided an old world feel that I truly liked.
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| See, I really liked the old feel of the campus. |
The Umbrella
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| Water tank at the back |
Side Note
I mentioned the Kurti, right?
During our flight back home, I decided to wear the Kurti. More often than not, people who do not know
me always mistake me for a South Asian because of my physical features. So in the airport, after I’ve gone through
immigration, I went through security check. The attendant spoke to me in the local
language. I politely replied in English telling
her that I didn’t understand what she said. But she kept on speaking to me in
the local language. I had an inkling that she thought that I was a local
refusing to speak the local language and that irritated her. After several
tries, she spoke to me in English and said that my carry-on did not have the
tag of my airlines and that I should go back to my airlines and get the tag. My
eyeballs almost fell out of theirs sockets! It didn’t occur to her that I have
already gone past the immigration. Thankfully,
there were kind attendants (from other airlines) in the area who helped solve the issue. They gave me a tag. I learned
that it is in the tag where they put the mark that the carry-on has passed their
security check. I’ve traveled to several countries already and it was the
first time that I had the tag issue.
From then on, I never leave the airline counter without a tag. I even
request them to put a tag even on my very small pouch (paranoid much?).
But as Rancho says, “All izz
well.”
Up Next
The Titas of Manila Go to Macau
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