Finding My Feet

The police asked me to hang out in Mysore for three days after just in case they found out any information!! Fantastic!

As it turned out there were riots on the road from Mysore to Bangalore due to a water ruling in Bangalore which saw Karnataka lose a lot of its water allocation to neighbouring Tamil Nadu. No buses were running, and the train was the only way out! I was a little reluctant, but managed to make a few friends over the couple of days spent hiding out in Mysore (for some reason the locals figured out who the "new zealand girl" featured in the newspaper was, and took to following me, I could not figure out whether this was for my protection (which made no sense since I now had nothing worth stealing) or.........I prefer not to think) who escprted me wherever I wanted to go. Two Americans were heading to Bangalore by train and were happy enough to have me bug them on their journey.

So after a 3 hour train ride which turned into 6 becasue of protests on the train tracks which consisted of ppl blocking the tracks then jumping on top of the train and runnng along yelling.........we got into Bangalore. I arrived on my friends doorstep (actually the taxi driver called them after he got lost trying to find them, so they had to come and pick me up.........conversation went something like Taximan: "I have English girl here, she wants to come to your house" Pradeep "What english girl" Taximan "What is your name"..........apparently something had been lost in translation and although I had been ordered to head straight back to Bangalore to rest for a couple of days, no-one had told the intended hosts.

I spent the next three days at Barthi and Pradeeps house (Family of ADATS) and was fed fantastic food, taken shopping and generally well looked after........to the point of feeling like a cow who was being fattened for slaughter. Indian hospitality is LEGENDARY, they really know how to make you feel welcome and treat you with so much warmth it is overwhelming....NOTHING is too much trouble (even if they were not aware you were coming)

After losing momentum for a couple of days (possibly something to do with the idyllic pampered existance I was leading)........as well as trying to sort my life out, sorting out money, passport proceedures and finding a new phone, I booked a flight from Bangalore to Delhi.