Bangalore Trip & How to remove a Henna Tattoo

India isn't in my target list of destinations but I had an opportunity to visit Bangalore last month for a business trip.  I was actually half-hearted to go because it conflicted with a personal trip to Yangon which unfortunately my friend and I had to cancel.

Because of this, I had very little expectation of the Bangalore trip. There were actually only 2 things I looked forward to - (1) the learnings I would get from the conference I was attending and (2) Indian food! :)

I think having little expectation worked to my favor because the trip turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  I actually had a great time in Bangalore.

We stayed at The Leela Palace which I heard is one of the nicest hotels in Bangalore.  Because we were in a hotel, it was buffet everyday.  Happy tummy.  Haha...

I learned a lot from the conference.   Startup founders from India and some parts of the globe shared best practices and insights.   Amazing experience.  Can't share any though because most founders requested that the information discussed be off-the-record.

Part of our business itinerary was also a tour at the Infosys compound in Bangalore.  Infosys is India's second largest tech company.  How big?  It has 200,000 employees worldwide and an annual revenue turnover of USD10B. Whoa...

Below are some photos from our tour.  Infosys Bangalore compound is 80.5 acres big and it has 50 buildings.  

If I heard it right from our guide, they have 20,000 employees in the compound.  But team members from other offices also train here so they have a hotel that could accommodate up to 18,000 on a twin-sharing capacity. Wow.  

Infosys hosted lunch for us in their executive dining room.  Super yum. :)

With the conference and Infosys tour, the 2 things I looked forward to in India got ticked ticked off. :)

But I had some bonus.  My return flight to Manila on the last day was close to midnight so I had a few hours to explore the city.   The driver who drove for me was very efficient so we were able to cover a lot. Check these out - 

This is called the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. Lalbagh translates to Red Garden.

Lalbagh is famous for its glass house (the photo below).  The glass house hosts 2 major flower shows every year - the first is every January 26 and the second one is every August 15.

Here's a photo I googled on how the glass house looks like during the annual show.

Source

When you stroll along the grounds, don't take the trees for granted.  On each tree, there's a marker that shows the tree's birth year.   This tree's birth year for example is 1904 which makes it 112 years old.  :)

There's a popular white silk cotton tree inside the Botanical Gardens.   This tree is 200 years old!

200-year old White silk cotton tree

There's another popular tree which you can't miss because it's ultra tall.  It's a pine tree by the fountain.  Its height is double the height of a regular pine tree!  See photo below.

 Not only that - its birth year is 1456 which makes this pine tree 560 years old. Whoa...

I was also able to visit some Hindu temples.  The driver who drove for me was a Hindu so he asked me if I would be interested to visit some temples. Close to 80% of Indians are actually Hindus.  

Here's one of the temples we visited called the Bull Temple.    The bull is the statue of the Hindu demi-god called Nandi shaped as a bull.  The temple was built in 1537 and the bull statue is made from granite, cut out of a single piece of rock.  It's about 15 ft high and 20ft long.      

Do you notice that Indians sometimes have red or white or colored dots on their foreheads?  When you visit a temple, you usually find some colored powder called "kumkuma" (see the white piece of block in a bowl above) where you can dip your finger and apply a dot on your forehead.   The exact location of the dot should be on the forehead between the eyebrows which is believed by the Hindus to be the holiest part of the body. The dot symbolizes the 6th chakra or the third eye.

We were able to visit 2 or 3 other Hindu temples.  One is the Shree Dodda Ganapathi Temple, the other I think is the Dodda Ganesha Temple but can't remember the name of the last one. :(  BTW, if you plan to visit a Hindu temple, shoes are strictly not allowed so get ready to walk barefoot. 

It's amazing that in all the temples we went to, each temple always had a priest in the altar who bless worshippers.  I asked the driver if Sunday was their worship day and he said, they don't have a designated worship day but everyday is a worship day for them. How nice.

See the statue of feet below?  Those are believed to be the feet of one of their gods.  Can't remember though which god.

So Hindus have a lot of gods with different powers. For example, they also consider snakes as sacred.  They offer flowers to snake statues which look like tombs (lower right photo below).  To pay respect or as a form of prayer, they go around the perimeter of the snake statues. 

Saw this trike parked outside a temple.  I asked the driver what the big garland is for and he said that when you see a vehicle with a big garland of flowers, it could mean several things - it could be a wedding, a new car, a celebration of some sort or the passengers are going to puja (worship). 

I was also able to visit Tipu's Sultan Summer Palace.  Tipu one of India's rulers in the 18th century.  The palace is made entirely out of teak wood.  

When you google for top places to see in Bangalore, some of their government offices are actually on the list.  Here are the more popular ones - 

Top  - Vidhana Soudha or India's Legislative offices.
Lower left - Attara Kacheri or High Court.
Lower right - shucks, can't remember what this building is! :(  

Not sure if you can actually go inside but I was there on a Sunday so they were all closed.

Another palace I was able to see was the Bangalore Palace. It was built in 1887 and its architecture they say was inspired by England's Windsor Palace.  

Here are some interesting things I saw inside the palace -

Similar to the Mona Lisa, here's a painting whose eyes follow you whichever angle you look at the portrait.

Here's another similar portrait.  I took the photos from 3 different angles. 

And here's an antique weighing scale.  These visitors were trying to test it if it still works. :)

Check out this antique refrigerator.  It doesn't use any electricity but you have to put ice in the topmost compartment. 

The royal family also liked to hunt before so you'll see some souvenirs from hunting trips.   :(

Since it was Sunday, I also took a chance to visit a church to attend mass and chanced upon a wedding at the St Mary's Basilica.  

Near the church is Russel Market, a flower market. So this is one of the places where Indians buy the big garlands.  

That's my express city tour of Bangalore. It surely didn't feel like it was just a few hours. Haha...

BTW, while in Bangalore, I was was able to catch some Bollywood dancing and got a henna tattoo.  I actually didn't want to get a henna tattoo but our conference hosts egged me to get one for fun.  The Indian artist painted this from memory in less than 5 minutes. Amazing.

When I got back to Manila, I always got asked about the tattoo - from the immigration officer at the airport, to people I knew, and even strangers. Then I realized, I was also scheduled for meetings in Singapore in a few days and I didn't want to explain every time! That's the introvert in me! Haha... So I googled on how to remove a henna tattoo.  The trick?  Just rub some toothpaste, let it dry for about 10 minutes, then gently rub with a soft toothbrush.  The tattoo lightened and I did the same procedure for 3 consecutive days and it was hardly noticeable by the 3rd day. Whew. 

That's  it - my Bangalore trip.  As I said, I wasn't excited about it initially especially since I had to forego my Yangon trip but Bangalore turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  :)