Let's getting started

Finally all the team is here! The last participants arrived early in the morning, and the class is ready for the first day of touring in Bangalore. On the bus to Cubbon Park the male section engage is some rehearsal for the cultural show, and the trip fly over the notes of Bocelli and Verdi.

The garden is small and charming, and while walking among gigantic bamboo we stumble upon the Venkatappa Art Gallery. The exhibition is various, from Neolithic find to paintings and sculptures of different ages. A big representation of the episodes of Ramayana gives us the input to discover some more about Indian mythology and old history, thanks to the expertise of Stefano and of a very kind Indian visitor.

With our eyes full of such beauty, we decide to go and get our bellies full as well. We choose a very posh restaurant near MG Road, one of the main commercial streets of Bangalore. Koshy's is a internationally looking restaurant, serving nice and not so spicy Indian dishes, but we have to get out a little too quick because the air conditioning is definitely too efficient for our standards.

Off we are, back on the road…and MG Road is fully active, with dangerous traffic and lots of business to be done. Monica exercises her bargaining skills with a street vendor, and gets away with 2 garlands of Rudraksha beans. They are used to count prayers and even treat diseases in traditional Indian medicine. Getting rid of the seller is one of the most difficult part of the task! But we are now skilled rickshaw riders, and we arrive, divided in little groups, to the city market. Hidden behind a little green mosque is the beautiful flower market, just what you would expect to find in India, but at the same time an experience one cannot imagine before having being there. We are swept away in the flow of people, colors, noises, smells (a lot of them, some nicer, some less agreeable). The students are conquered by the multitude of unknown items on the offer, and feast on colored powders, bangles, and flower garlands. But on the offer is a small world of fruits and vegetables, cooking tools, sacred images and much more.

Next stop is the Forum Mall, where we are thrown back to modern, western like style of life. The building hosts boutiques of global brands and more traditional products, and a worldwide variety of foods.

Tired but very happy, we finally head back to Xime, where, after dinner, the last challenge awaits our brave students: they will have to prepare a 3 minute speech for the inauguration day that will take place tomorrow.

We are really happy of being here and already sure that this first experience as tutors at the Xime summer school will be full of challenges and will enrich us both academically and humanly.

From now on we pass on the torch of this blog to the students.

Giulia, Matteo, Monica