Today was the day I d been looking forward to, a stay at the exclusive Bangalore club in leafy gardens in the heart of the city. With a pool and library and the (now framed) debt Winston Churchill never paid.
Oh what a let down.
Margaret’s son drove me here this morning after one last relaxed family breakfast, eggs, idly, home made pineapple and chilli jam, (which is so good I have the recipe) washed down with copious mugs of sweet tea.
My dreams were dashed.
The club is a) like all of Bangalore, under reconstruction b) has no wifi, just an internet centre with PCs dating from the eighties and c) the pool is shut on Monday. So there went my plan to spend tomorrow, my final day here, relaxing.
I should never have got my hopes up. This is INDIA.
I hide my disappointments as well as possible given the president of Soroptimist club had arranged this specially...though at 30 pounds a night its way over my budget normally. But these women have supported me from my first email way back before Xmas and continued to do so today, Sunday.
After leaving my luggage and smiling cheerfully through gritted teeth I was taken to the club meeting which took place in a very upmarket restaurant. More food!!! First starters, which just kept coming, then a buffet where, joy of joys, salad. Waldorf salad, green salad, mixed salad. I dived in with delight. Salad is either not worth risking salmonella for or invisible here so this was an unexpected treat and helped salve my disappointments.
Desert followed, sweet paneer, which I’ve never tried but despite loving savoury paneer I disliked this. Paneer is the nearest I get to cheese here, it makes me laugh to see it labeled 'cottage cheese' but I guess its close.
Tiny cakes, ice cream and chocolate sauce completed the feast. And I was not allowed to pay, although at 7 pounds a head it was a bargain by English standards. But a fortune here where food is so cheap.
Stuffed to the gills we staggered out to attend an amateur performance of The Vagina Monologues. As one of the members was involved, complimentary tickets and, I got a feeling , obligatory attendance. Um.
The cast were young, passionate and energetic. Unlike me. At two hours without a break in a hall sauna I had lost the will to live. An English production, luckily for me, and rapturously received.
I felt as if I had slipped back in time twenty years. I first saw this so long ago. Then it seemed appropriate. Now, and here where the position of women is still a major issue, I have very mixed feelings that sexual liberation will help advance the cause. A complex dilemma.
I am now pottering in my old fashioned room in this odd club, a relic of India’s colonial past. Sod the past. I’d prefer a present day place with present day amenities, especially for this price. Ah well. The Soroptimists in Bangalore have been wonderful so in the end not swimming is a very small price to pay for their friendship.
Off to Calcutta at an unearthly early hour on Tues. No idea how that will go. It'll be an experience.
Oh what a let down.
Margaret’s son drove me here this morning after one last relaxed family breakfast, eggs, idly, home made pineapple and chilli jam, (which is so good I have the recipe) washed down with copious mugs of sweet tea.
My dreams were dashed.
The club is a) like all of Bangalore, under reconstruction b) has no wifi, just an internet centre with PCs dating from the eighties and c) the pool is shut on Monday. So there went my plan to spend tomorrow, my final day here, relaxing.
 |
| The exclusive Bangalore Club. People put children's names down at birth for membership! |
 |
| Bangalore Soroptomists plus guest |
I hide my disappointments as well as possible given the president of Soroptimist club had arranged this specially...though at 30 pounds a night its way over my budget normally. But these women have supported me from my first email way back before Xmas and continued to do so today, Sunday.
After leaving my luggage and smiling cheerfully through gritted teeth I was taken to the club meeting which took place in a very upmarket restaurant. More food!!! First starters, which just kept coming, then a buffet where, joy of joys, salad. Waldorf salad, green salad, mixed salad. I dived in with delight. Salad is either not worth risking salmonella for or invisible here so this was an unexpected treat and helped salve my disappointments.
Desert followed, sweet paneer, which I’ve never tried but despite loving savoury paneer I disliked this. Paneer is the nearest I get to cheese here, it makes me laugh to see it labeled 'cottage cheese' but I guess its close.
Tiny cakes, ice cream and chocolate sauce completed the feast. And I was not allowed to pay, although at 7 pounds a head it was a bargain by English standards. But a fortune here where food is so cheap.
Stuffed to the gills we staggered out to attend an amateur performance of The Vagina Monologues. As one of the members was involved, complimentary tickets and, I got a feeling , obligatory attendance. Um.
The cast were young, passionate and energetic. Unlike me. At two hours without a break in a hall sauna I had lost the will to live. An English production, luckily for me, and rapturously received.
I felt as if I had slipped back in time twenty years. I first saw this so long ago. Then it seemed appropriate. Now, and here where the position of women is still a major issue, I have very mixed feelings that sexual liberation will help advance the cause. A complex dilemma.
I am now pottering in my old fashioned room in this odd club, a relic of India’s colonial past. Sod the past. I’d prefer a present day place with present day amenities, especially for this price. Ah well. The Soroptimists in Bangalore have been wonderful so in the end not swimming is a very small price to pay for their friendship.
Off to Calcutta at an unearthly early hour on Tues. No idea how that will go. It'll be an experience.
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