Sightseeing in Bangalore

On Monday, February 23, Jae, Joanie, Mike, Adrienne and I toured Bangalore with my host, "Hari" Iyer. We teammates hiked up a hill to visit a huge Krishna temple.
Bummer that cameras aren't allowed inside!


Here you see women selling flower garlands at a Shiva temple. Yesterday was a huge Shiva god holiday so many people visited temples!

We also walked inside the Bull temple and saw this huge, stone bull idol. Wow - that's just all I can say. Wow.















For lunch, I ordered the "special" with rice, puffed bread, and various sides dishes. A doughnut hole in a sugar water finished off my meal.

Celebrities at the Rotary district conference

My Rotary buddy, Badri, helped me arrange to be photographed with two of Sunday's featured panelists. Sharmila Mandre, dressed in black, comes from a family of movie producers and distributors. She is a leading star in the regional kannada film industry. All her movies are hits including her newly released film, "Venkara in Sankata.'

"Radhika," sporting a fabulous orange sari, is a renowned television personality with her very popular "Ladies Club" program. She has worked with Zee and Udaya TV and now is the newsreader and anchor for TV 9, Bangalore's largest TV channel. Cher, Madonna, and Prince don't use a last name either . . . .

Sunday morning communion worship service at St. Mark's cathedral

This morning, Hari, my host, dropped me off for the 8:30 Sunday morning communion worship service at St. Mark's Episcopal cathedral at 1, Mahatma Gahandi Blvd. It was a beautiful service and as I watched people walk up and down the center aisle to receive communion, a parade of gorgeous saris unfolded in front of my attentive eyes. Some people removed their shoes before communion in reverance of the sacrement.
GSE teammate, Jae, and his host couple, who are 40 year members, met me there and we enjoyed church coffee after the service.

Evening entertainment after the first day at Rotary conference

Indian dancers and music were the highlights of the evening. I even managed to get my picture taken with a regional movie actress who was there, Pooja Gandhi.

Rotary District Conference on Saturday, February 23

The Rotary District 3190 held its 32nd annual district conference at the Nimhans Convention Centre in Bangalore with over 1,000 people attending.
Dr. Nitish Bharadwaj, a famous tv and movie celebrity in India, gave the keynote speach. Our GSE team gave its first presentation to the group at 5:40 pm.

Friday evening dinner party with Rotarians

Dinner party at the Royal orchid Hotel. Joanie and Adrienne posed with the women in their beautiful saris after dinner. It was a lovely time!

GSE team with first family hosts

Here you see me in the back row with my GSE team, a few of our host couples and the president of the Bangalore East Rotary club which is hosting us during these next 5 days.
My host couple is Harihar ("Hari") and his wife Ramni Viswanath. He's a retired engineer from Siemens and she's a retired teacher; both of them are very kind and interesting persons.
I just updated my blog to India time on their home computer.

Auto rickshaw and wedding party

Yesterday, we hired a small taxi to drive the 5 of us to Mike's company office. En route, I shot a picture of this "auto rickshaw." A three wheeled taxi which we see everywhere on the roads. In Thailand, I remember that they called them "tuk-tuks."









Back at the hotel, this extended family was dressed up for a niece's wedding party. One aunt came from Switzerland and another aunt came from Malaysia. I was lucky enough to talk with the chatty one from Switzerland! Delightful lady in red.

First day in Bangalore

Namaskara! It's Friday morning as darkness still covers Bengaluru; my clock says 5:50 AM.
I'll be happy when I'm over jetlag!
We enjoyed a full day yesterday with our first driving traffic adventure in a small taxi in late morning.
We went to teammate Mike's local company office to update the group blog and for me to add to my personal blog. We enjoyed a late afternoon Chinese buffet @ India Joe's Chinese restaurant, complete with a life size Dracula statue.
Last night's dinner was hosted by K C Sukamar, an India native, fellow Eagan resident and Minneapolis Rotarian. K C comes regularly to Bangalore with his Indian I T export company.
Today, we'll move from his hotel to our first homestay. The District Governor and others from District 3190 will meet us and discuss our itinerary and other details.
I'll keep you posted!

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Arrival in Bengaluru on February 19

Badri, our Rotary GSE chair, and G K Murty, the GSE team leader for the group coming to Minnesota in April, met us all at the Bangalore new airport. Badri gave me a "Maharaja hat" to wear and a welcome lei to everyone.

We just landed safely in Bangalore!

All is ok. But we are tired after a 9 hr flight from London.
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Breakfast in London, England with Swedish cousin, Jenny Lundgren

During my 7 hour layover in London on Wednesday, February 18, en route to Bangalore, I arranged to meet my cousin from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, Jenny Lundgren. She lives and works in London. We saw "Big Ben" and Westminster Abbey and a few other places. Now I have to dash back to the airport! Fun times!

Boarding flight to London ....

Well, we'll be boarding our flight for London soon. Luckily, this Britsih Airways flight looks to be only HALF full - yippee!

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Dancing in the rain . . . .

Another lively, dancing movie sprinkled with rain! Check out the extra movie clips posted at the end of this one!  Meanwhile, I'm soon on a plane en route to Bangalore . . . . . 

British Airways via London to Bangalore

We'll fly Minneapolis - Chicago - London to Bangalore, India!

Departure on Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Minneapolis - depart 11:25 AM American Air #454 (1 hr)

Chicago - arrive 12:50 PM (Tuesday, Feb 17) (Md- 80 plane)

Chicago - depart 5:05 PM British Airways #294 (7 hrs)

London - arrive 6:40 AM (Wednesday, Feb 18) (Boeing 747-400 plane)

London - depart 1:50 PM British Airways #119 (9 hrs)

Bangalore - arrive 4:50 AM (Thursday, Feb 19) (Boeing 747-400 plane)

Off I go on my Rotary International GSE adventure in INDIA!

Rotary District 5950 GSE India farewell party - Eagan Community Center

On Sunday afternoon, February 15, the Eagan Rotary club threw a farewell party for my GSE team and me at the Eagan Community Center.  

The final 2 days before India!

"Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" movie trailer

Take a glimpse into another Indian wedding . . . .

Enjoy! 

Just 3 days left in snowy Minnesota . . . 

Radha Krishna statue

Check out his Radha Krishna statue!  Could one get that in a carry-on bag?! 

Credit is due another "blogger" (Rajesh Dangi in Bangalore).  His "daily photo from Bangalore"  web blog is linked on the bottom of my blog page.

4 days until airport check-in . . .

"Yuuvraaj" movie trailer

Here's another Bollywood, music filled movie trailer from India . . .
I surprised they didn't ask me to play my violin!  Enjoy anyway!

A visit to the Taj Mahal

The Agra Rotary Club invited my GSE team and me to visit them in their city. The Taj Mahal, one of the great wonders on Earth, dominates the center stage in Agra. Joanie, Adrienne and I are scheduled to fly up to New Delhi after our month in Bangalore and then hustle over to Agra.
Michael is staying in Bangalore for an additional week and Jae is flying on to Bangkok, Vietnam and Cambodia.  Our visit in Agra should be amazing!  Then I zip back to New Delhi and fly home via London and Chicago.

5 days . . . .