After getting about one hour of sleep, we were off to visit the city of Mysore. This day was strictly a cultural sightseeing day which allowed everyone to get adjusted to the time zone changes. We left the hotel for the 2 hour drive to Mysore and surrounding areas.
A few things became blaringly obvious during the bus ride. First, India has an enormous amount of people and they are everywhere. A crowded NYC street has nothing on Bangalore. It doesn’t even come close in comparison.
Second, many folks are living well below the poverty levels. People were living in makeshift houses that were nothing more than a tarp and some brush. These “houses” and it’s a stretch to call them that were probably the size of an average American bathroom. It’s quite disturbing and emotional seeing people living in these sorts of conditions. I saw people bathing in the local rivers, washing clothes on the rocky shores and using the bathroom outdoors and in the open. These are not homeless people but folks that live in houses with no indoor plumbing or outhouses. Even outside of the tarp living, the housing here are very small and nothing like you’ve probably seen before. I would say that the average house is about 300-400 square feet. I should point out that the city of Bangalore is a bit less impoverished that the road to Mysore but still many folks are living well below poverty levels.
The other interesting observation is that animals are everywhere. Many folks have cows or ox grazing in front of their houses. As a matter of fact, you see cows, horses, ox and a lot of stray dogs just roaming the streets. Several times today we had to stop the bus to let a stray ox roam across the street. It’s also sad to see many of these animals well below their ideal weight. It’s somewhat overwhelming to the senses.
Make sure you check out my pictures above. If you click on the photo, it will take you over to Flickr for more trip photos.
The Feinbaum Chronicles 
September 17, 2006 at 4:32 pm |
Glad to hear that you made it safely to India. Today is Mia’s birthday party (she turns 7 tomorrow) as we head to “Build a Bear Workshop” in a large suburban mall. I note this because your blog entry makes us realize how lucky we are to live in this country. We’ll save a piece of cake for you. Hope you finally got your luggage. Keep posting your interesting pieces. Your brother, Bart
September 22, 2006 at 2:55 pm |
Hey, looks like your having fun and learning alot of interesting stuff. Its interesting to see the big Target logo in India, you just don’t think of them being there – but it makes sense for all they inport I suppose.
The pics are great, keep them coming. Hope you find Ruth’s Chris in time before being consumed by too much Indian “culture”.
See you soon –
John