2nd day and Bangalore city centre.

Second day in India, and it was the day to explore the ever increasing and Hi-Tech city that is Bangalore. The city was a pre-colonial town which became a city with British influence, and since independence it had flourished into a city with over 13 million people and with a leading modern science and IT industry, bringing much wealth to the city and state. We started off the day by visiting the flower market which was a beautiful collection of various different colours and smells, all intrinsically inter-twined together for all celebrations. Following that we walked through the busy streets, taking in all the sights and smells, and avoiding being run over by tuk-tuks. We took a metro to our lunch destination, a restaurant on the 13th floor of a building with fantastic views of the city. The food was as brilliant as the sights from the terrace. Following this we made our way to Commercial Street, which involved hundreds of clothes, food, jewelry and artifacts shops, and really showed us the retail side of the city. Many people bought their first gifts (either for them-selves of family/friends), and gave us time to explore in our own time and pace. After the shopping experience we went to the opening night of Roshan's Art exhibition (the younger brother who runs Stepwell with Karim). It included great paintings of the local area, and some very relaxing traditional music. Subsequently many of us bought card prints of Roshan's work before heading back in the traffic to The Land. This evening we were treated to a tasty soup and homemade bread, followed by a interesting take on rice pudding. Tomorrow will be our introduction day at the school, and to Baale Mane to begin our activities with the girls. Looking forward to tomorrow!