It ain't half hot MUM

Acclimatisation is a strange thing – in the North East one way it manifests is thorough recognising that whenever you go swimming at Whitley Bay the sea will be almost literally freezing and cause that sharp intake of breath when gentlemen reach a certain level of immersion – especially with the traditional first dip over the Easter Weekend. The ‘temperate’ physical climate in Bangalore is one of the reasons it grew originally so that the British soldiers could be more comfortable but it tends to get lost in the teeming human eco-system. Cars, trucks, buses, bicycles, pedestrians, handcarts, dogs, cows, goats, rubbish, discarded food, random building materials, all coexist on a typical road or pavement, - though the distinction between the two here is pretty nominal at best. I am hoping that the distinction will at least be observed for a while next Sunday morning as I am braving a local 5k run @ 7am (yes 7 am!!) – those who are about to get very very sweaty salute you.

I hope the course is well marked out as it appears that they don’t do maps here – navigation to anywhere unknown is done more on the AAPARD ( ask a passing Auto-Rickshaw Driver), an address or map with the location marked on it generally just results in a blank look from your driver – travelling hopefully is definitely the watchword. After such a journey on Sunday to try and find Fabindia’s flagship store in Koramangala - which turned out to be nett journey of ca 1 mile which took the best part of an hour – we were pleasantly surprised to find the it was indeed both Fab and Indian. Mrs Reivers shopping genes kicked in (purely therapeutic of course) and the experience was all the more enjoyable as we encountered the fastest folder in the East who was working the till and packed the clothes with speed and deftness that would shame a card sharp.

India will continue to be full of surprises I am sure not all pleasant – but in full cross cultural mode we are now looking forward to Oktoberfest here which will be celebrated in November – nah unglaublich aber wahr – as we say here - MfG - Dave