The itinerary for today is a full day out of Sumanahalli, where we were supposed to spend the day visiting the slums and the commercial areas in Bangalore, away from Sumanahalli. The day started out slow though, with our driver delayed by having to send the Sumanahalli kids to school
But we soon got on our way, where we visited an area that was set up in the outskirts of Sumanahalli, an area built by Sumanahalli to house those that have recovered from their illness and attempting to place them back into society. Went into one if the schools while they were having classes, and sang "Twinkle twinkle little star" (dun judge, it was impromptu). Sadly, the kids didn't seem to understand it and were more excited when we said "goodbye". We went further into the slums, which wasn't as bad as I imagined. There wasn't the dilapidated attap houses, or the abundance of beggars on the streets. On the other hand, most had shelter (though a little rundown but definitely livable).
Moving on, we visited a real slum. The previous one was more like a official shelter, while this is the real thing. Still, it wasn't as bad as I imagine, though there were like cows sharing shelter with people, dubious greenish puddles of water which we steered clear. One of the Sumanahalli elder served as a guide to our slum visits, where he brought us to the different areas like the clinic, day care centre and schools etc. Here's the funny thing. Though they were living in slums, they were very warm...and for a lack of better word, very human. Most were very forthcoming when it comes to taking photos, and were delighted to see themselves on our camera. Of course, some of the elderly folks rejected it. Oh! And ya ya, I got a parrot on me too! :)
Leaving the slums, we were to have lunch at a local hotel. But the driver suddenly suggests lunch at his house. Apparently, the area was originally a city slum, but in an effort to remove the slums from the city, the government upgraded a lot of the facilities. We were served in disposable plates, which came in the form of a knitted mix of paper and leaves (sorry, but it's a little hard to describe. We were told that it was not welcomed in their custom to share plates, and thus were served disposable ones. Lunch was homely, though the curry was slightly too hot for the stomach.
Next up was a visit to "Mobility", where they create prosthetic limbs for the disabled. We were required a pay a small fee, though some of us thought it might be more like a bribe. So we were given a tour around the facilities, with one of the staff from corporate communications serving as our guide. I must say that they do have very well-rounded facilities, with playgrounds to keep children entertained, a training ground for patients with newly-installed prosthetic and slopes instead of stars.
Dinner and the visit to Commercial street was next up on the agenda. Sadly, we were informed by our drivers that they had to return by 730, so it was either Hardrock cafe or commercial street. Eventually, we came to a common consensus to have dinner at Hardrock cafe and make our own way to Commercial street and then back to Sumanahalli. Oh gosh, we ate as though it was like the final day and we were celebrating (I guess this is wad 3 days of curry rice will do to you). So it was like steaks, burgers, pasts, cheesecake, ice-cream and pitchers! Really spent quite a bomb...I think the bill came up to abt $20 per person
XL joined us after dinner, and we took our maiden auto-rickshaw ride to commercial street. Though we negotiated for 60 rupees, we ended up paying 100 rupees due to a lack of change. So we just walked around the street...shopping has never been my kind of thing. I guess the highlight of commercial street came when we were abt to leave, where we had to bargain for the auto-rickshaw ride back. I guess we were a little overbearing, trying to squeeze 6 into an auto and avoid paying more. Ultimately, we managed to settle for one and a half, though we were slightly scammed when the meter went much higher than expected.
Just as I thought the day has ended, there was dinner/supper waiting for us, so we forced a little food down, kind of need to show some respect that we had the food. Haha, the day seems to end later and later. It's almost 1am!
Nights
Mark!
PS: I think I forgot to mention that Sumanahalli means "The village of people with good hearts"
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