The South

I'm currently sitting in a REAL Internet cafe in the hip, hi-tech city of Bangalore in Karnataka state...and I'm about to be delivered some freshly brewed coffee which comes complimentary with Internet usage. :-) We are now enjoying some down time after a full day touring the city and one of the hi-tech business parks here.

Our southern adventure started last Friday when we flew to Mumbai on Indigo Airlines, one of the many domestic Indian airliners that exist. The flight left an hour late from Delhi due to smog-related delays. It was a flight with one stop; the airplane made a stop in Vodarabad, Gujarat, before heading to Mumbai. The flight was put into a one hour holding pattern in the air above Mumbai due to the runway being closed for some random reason.

The next two days were a whirlwind of touring the best that Mumbai has to offer: the coastline, an energetic lifestyle, and a vibrant nightlife, and of course the climate. The high temperature in Mumbai was 35 degrees Celsius each of the two days that we were there; but it was not unpleasant as the air was FRESH with little humidity.

In my opinion, Mumbai puts Delhi to shame in terms of standard of living. The pollution is MUCH less: there is no haze overhanging the city, and the skies are actually blue. The city seems much cleaner with less dirt everywhere, and the ocean brings in fresh air to the city. When sitting in traffic, I didn't feel like I was going to suffocate. The people seem more liberal in terms of their views, their style of dress, and their way of life.

Of course, we had to experience the Mumbai nightlife, so we hit a trendy lounge on Friday night, and a nightclub on Saturday night. The places that we visited were relatively expensive, and thus not really any different from venues in other cosmopolitan metropolises.

Yesterday, we bid adieu to Mumbai and arrived in Bangalore on the domestic carrier GoAir (via one stop in Hyderabad). Bangalore is a clean city, teeming with young, urban professionals due to the world-famous hi-tech sector that is located here. There is a huge cafe culture here: young people crowd the urban cafes here after work . Public socialization is the rule rather than the exception here.

We visited a hi-tech business park today and checked out the main cafeteria during lunch time. Everybody was eating hardcore desi food at lunch time, and we emerged out of the cafeteria after 2 minutes smelling like masala.

Tomorrow, we head back to Delhi on SpiceJet airlines, with 3 days for some rest, relaxation, and shopping!