The Republic of India~

FINALLY~!! After almost 3 months here, I'm updating my blog. *blows away the spiderwebs* There's just soooooooo much to write about my new experience here in India. Studies have been okay thus far though I believe it has been disrupted quite a few times when I was sick. During the first two months, I got diarrhoea almost every week -.-'' I guess after all that, I'm finally sensitized to the food here. I should do better in the second internals as well since I'm all adjusted to this place already. Other than that, I believe India's a great place to LEARN new things. Everyday's like an adventure here.

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The weeks leading up to my departure, mama n papa cooked alot of amazing food. We even had a small family gathering on the last weekend I spent at home before leaving. Almost everyone was there so it was awesome! It was a pity I didn't manage to go to Taiping and see my uncles and aunties over there. One of the last few meals I had at home was NASI LEMAK (lol..I'd go crazy if I see it now) and Bak Kut Teh. ***************************************************************************************
Trip to the airport
We left the house rather early, just to be safe of cause (after picking Keevan up from college). Shabi akka came straight from school to send me off at the airport too. Haha! Not too long ago, I was the one sending her off to UK...but this time it was my turn ;) Alot of my juniors from KTT came too( cyaa guys next year)

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The Aeroplane
The plane was very small. Just a Boeing 737 and the seats were very cramped. I sat beside Rahim and Joanna . How ironic to have all 3 Liverpool supporters sitting side by side :p . I remember the lights of Putrajaya and KL just after taking off before were flew into darkness. The food served during the flight was good. I enjoyed it anyway (though I've read some comments from other people saying they hated the food) The thing that I remember most during the flight was the drunken old indian man in front of us. At first he was ordering glass after glass of wine. He soon started singing some songs in some unknown language and he was then mumbling to himself before falling asleep. When we were flying over the Indian Subcontinent, there was all darkness ; just a few patches of light here and there and all of a suddenly we were descending and TOUCH DOWN! BANGALORE!!
We were in INDIA already!!:) I could feel that everyone was excited as well. All the tears at KLIA seemed to have dried up by the time we reached Bangalore International Airport.

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Bangalore

The first think I noticed as soon as I landed was the different types of people here. (duhh..im in India ) Our luggage safely arrived and we were soon off to the hotel to stay for the night. Another great difference that I felt was the really cooling weather here in Bangalore. As soon as we stepped out of the airport, the cold wind greeted us. Of cause another thing you will notice soon after landing is the Honking here. For people first time here, it would seem as if they're honking for no reason whatsoever. But the honking is essential for their style of driving here .I would say they're organised on a disorganised way. O.o
The hotel was comfortable and I think I managed to catch about 5 hours of sleep. I was feeling really cold throughout the night of cause. I woke up at 6am (obviously because I wasn't used to the timezone here) . It was already getting bright at 6am and when I opened the hotel window, I just couldn't make out which was colder , the hotel room or outside. I saw lots of pictures of this hotel from my other friends who left earlier then us. The breakfast in the hotel was good.The thosai, poori, and naan was good. I was careful about the water though, I basically bought mineral water throughout the first week in India. I spend the morning looking out from the hotel room window getting excited when I see these colourful lorries with weird sounding horns. It was soon time to say goodbye to the Kolar and Karad group and we were off to Mysore! WHEEE:) The road from Bangalore to Mysore was good but of cause nothing like the highways in Malaysia. The traffic was slow. No one seems to go fast here. and Oh! how could I forget the first time when I saw an auto here . I think I was super excited that I nearly dropped my camera. How things have changed! I hate those yellow 3 wheelers now :)

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On the way to Mysore, we stopped over at Coffee Day (India's Starbucks) and had a hard time dividing the bill. Most of us brought Rs 500 notes and we weren't familiar with all the notes. We passed by Mcdonalds too on the way to Mysore . During that time, not excited to see it because they're everywhere in Malaysia and we were fresh from Malaysia. I do miss it abit now to be honest. Havent had it at all in India. I've tried KFC and it sucks! There seems to be a few spices missing in the chicken there. Weird but true especially since we're in the 'Land Of Spices'.

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Mysore
It took us 4 LONG hours by van to reach Mysore from Bangalore. Google Map said 2.5hours plus...never trust it! Anyway, we had lunch in some banana leaf restaurant. It was ok-ish la, but the banana leaf food back home is tastier. Then we headed to the college. On the way to college, we passed by the Mysore Palace side entrance( got really excited) and the St Philomena's Church ( the twin towers here). Finally...JSS MEDICAL COLLEGE. The first thing that came to my mind was Wow! This place is really green.! We met the vice principal and some other people and were served with some vegetarian sandwich that tasted quite nice at that time ( now bored of them already)
After the short meeting with the Big Shots of JSS, we went to get some stuff from a supermarket called More. We were not really sure what to get at that time because we haven't seen our house at that time. While paying at the counter, some people just cut the que . If it was in Malaysia, they would have been verbally slaughtered already, but not here. My Kiasuism kicked in and I didn't let anyone pass me by blocking the path with the ironing board and buckets.

After rushing through and buying stuff, we headed to our new home. It was an appartment in some kampung-ish area. We opened our apartment door and I think all our faces lit immediately. It was certainly better then we had expected. Much Much better then KTT's apartment.

That night, as we were walking from our house to Kalidasa Rd the whole area experienced a blackout. The first real blackout in INDIA! Many more ahead I suppose. We walked through the darkness in unknown territory and had to becareful not to step on any cow dung. As we maneuvered through the dark streets, we had to avoid passing vehicles too. The drivers of cars, lorries and buses were honking for no reason. It is annoying at first but everyone will get used to it after some time. We had our dinner in Casino Park (12.5 minutes walk from our apartment) and I ordered chicken kebab . Chicken kebabs at home will come out as chicken wrapped in bread/roti. Here, just some tandoori chicken looking dish. Anyway, it tasted good. Definitely waaay better than the ones in Malaysia . 3 months here, this place is now very familiar to me. I think I can even walk blind folded there.

Another thing we had difficulty in during the first few days was crossing the roads here in India. ( As I wrote the above sentence, 2 monkeys just entered my apartment!! LOL..SEE! LIKE I SAID, INDIA IS FULL OF SURPRISES !!
Anway, back to the traffic, well, the traffic here is really chaotic. Though people say Mysore is not so bad. I cant imagine how it is like in cities like Mumbai and Chennai. Bangalore is quite bad too. The vehicles seem to come from all directions and you need to becareful not to bump the into many animals and the PEOPLE. There are loads of people everywhere !!

Our first day in class was a real SHOCKER! The local students seemed really really smart and they answered all the questions when bombarded by the lecturers. It was like someone slapping you in the face. I always knew the Indian students were VERY good. But I was still extremely shocked by their ability to memorize stuff here. Sye akan lawan dan cuba utk mengalahkan diorng mulai skrang!

Anyway, I think I've gotten used to India already and I'm also starting to like this place. I'm too lazy to post any pictures here , you can just see them on my facebook page. I think I'll stop writing now, I've got to go and study. The main point of writing this is so that I don't forget all these in the future. I'll continue writing when I'm free.
P/S : Can't wait to go home during Xmas!!!