I was like a dog with my head out the window

I finally got to see downtown Bangalore/Bengaluru. I prayed I would see some white people, I don't know why. I was mostly excited to get out of the flat (no, I promise I won't come back saying little colonized terms. fun game! try to guess what 'dickie' and 'geezer' mean!) and see the city. I actually live in the Arlington of Bangalore and the hospital is in Crystal City, so it's a pretty ideal situation for me. But it's removed from the real urban, downtown stuff.

First, we went to ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) Temple, which was beautiful and quite interesting. They had culture camps for kids, programs for adults, and an organization to feed children in India. There was a pretty long line to get to the shrines, but everything was so beautifully decorated (and smelled AMAZING) it  was well worth the wait.  It took longer to get out of the temple past all the books, malas, food, incense, Krishna murtis, etc. etc. tables to navigate through to get to the exit, than it did to get to the shrines. Also, the temple was on higher ground, so the entrance provided a fantastic view of the whole city.

In true urbanite tradition, we proceeded to go the the Mall. I was mostly curious about what it was like, rather than having any real need to buy things. Again, I was interested to see if there were any white people around. I found Asians, so I'll call it even. I also found a LUSH, which was more surprising to me.  However, the most momentous moment of my downtown escapades was not the religious pilgrimage, experiencing Bangalore traffic, or witnessing the same above ground metro construction Tyson's is enduring. No. It was the moment we drove by "The Square, a single origin cafe" or something like that.. I literally went

as we drove by and then calmly turned and asked "Uncle, how far are we from home?"
"about an hour"

I had seen young Indians and non-Indians sipping coffee and reading books. Steeping tea and writing the next great American Bollywood Screenplay on their laptops, while actually cruising facebook or reddit or whatever they do in India. I don't know how or when, but I want to go to there. I've been missing coffee despite  drinking 3+ cups of chai a day. More than that, I really want to schmooze some Indians who like to waste time with good coffee. And, I feel like a great deal of my in-India laptoppery should happen in a coffee shop, since I wrote most of my grant between Baked & Wired and Dolcezza in DC.