Let's call the driver who drove me around Bangalore as Rao. As a hotel driver, Rao's only duty is to bring me to target destinations but he accompanied every time I got off the car. When we stopped by the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, he walked with me and brought me to the points of interest which saved us a lot of time. This also made me feel safe especially since India isn't the safest place to explore for solo female tourists. Though in all of the cities of India, Bangalore is actually considered the safest city.
I could sense that Rao was a devout Hindu by the way he prayed when we visited Hindu temples. I asked him what kind of prayers do Hindus pray - if they have standard prayers they recite or if it was in free form. He said they just say whatever they want to say to their gods but that particular day, he said, he prayed for blessings since it was his birthday.
Come meal-time, I told him to bring me to a restaurant with really good Indian food. He brought me to a restaurant called Tandoor.
I said he should join me for a meal so we could celebrate his birthday but he politely refused and said that he would just eat outside and wait for me. I was persistent but he kept on politely refusing. But I think he realized I wouldn't stop until he said yes though I could sense he was a bit apprehensive.
I wonder was he apprehensive because there were social rules imposed by their caste system? For example, in India's caste system, if you belong to different castes, you never share the same source of water, or if you're from a higher caste, you never accept food from a lower caste. I wasn't sure if there are some unspoken social rules in their local restaurants. Or maybe he was just shy. But anyway, since I'm caste-less and simply put, we were just 2 hungry people who wanted to eat, there was really no issue. Haha..
We ordered the restaurant's bestseller - Tandoori. Veggies for him since he was in some kind of religious fasting - and chicken for me. Super, super yum! :)
The restaurant's staff was very welcoming and friendly. The manager even approached our table for a quick chat (maybe since I was the only non-Indian customer at that time).
I got to know more about Indian culture through Rao. One of the things I've always been curious about Indian culture is their tradition of pre-arranged marriages. In this day and age when people have a lot of options, I wonder how people feel about it now.
So I asked Rao if his marriage was a pre-arranged one and he said yes. He said that he only met his wife-to-be a few months before the wedding. They now have 2 beautiful daughters.
Out of curiosity, I asked him if any of his friends were runaway grooms or brides! Haha...
He said there's none because they trust their elders. He explained to me that the people who know them best are their elders because they saw them grow up - they know their values and character, the way they behave, their strengths and weaknesses - thus, it's their elders who are in the best position to find them their perfect match. Elders know best, he said, so they obey and respect their decisions.
I do remember reading a study in the past that sometimes, a pre-arranged marriage's chance of success is even higher than when you choose your own partner because the parties in a pre-arranged marriage know that they don't have a choice but to make the marriage work, whereas in a regular marriage, when a person's concept of ideal marriage or soulmates doesn't pan out, the relationship slowly fizzles out. Not that I'm considering the concept of a pre-arranged marriage. Hahaha.... Besides, even if I were Indian, I am way past the age threshold of 18 to 25 when they usually give the daughter's hand for marriage. Wahahaha.....
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Anyway, Indians usually have big weddings which last for days. I asked him how many guests he had on his wedding and he said about 1,000. Wow. But guess what? 1,000 isn't actually a big number by Indian standards. In another caste, the minimum is like 3,000. And it could go as high as 10,000 for another caste. Crazy, right?! I can't even imagine myself entertaining 30 guests in a simple party. Wahaha...
I also learned that it's very common for an Indian family to have a cow. Cows are actually considered sacred by the Hindus. In fact, they have a Hindu goddess in the form of a cow called Bhoomi who represents the earth. This is also the reason why Hindus don't eat beef.
A small cow, he says, can produce 4 to 8 liters of milk a day and a big one, pointing to a cow we saw on a street, can produce up to 20 liters of milk day. That's a lot of milk for a day!:) What a nice thought that Rao's family especially her two daughters are able to enjoy fresh milk everyday.
Other than the interesting snippets of conversations with Rao, he also did one of the kindest gestures.
At the time of my visit, India was having some changes in their currency system. Establishments stopped accepting 500 and 1,000 rupee notes so there were long queues in banks and ATMs. In short, I didn't have any rupees. I was totally relying on my credit card for expenses.
Before I left the hotel for the city tour, I actually checked with the front desk if I needed cash. They said that the places we'll go to like the palaces accept credit cards so I shouldn't have any problem. Unfortunately, they don't. At Tipu's Sultan Summer Palace, good thing Rao had enough cash so he advanced for me.
When we reached Bangalore Palace, they didn't accept credit card either. I saw Rao count his remaining cash but they weren't enough. I told him that it was really ok and that we should just go. I said I was happy already just to see the palace from the outside but he didn't want to give up.
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| Bangalore Palace |
He said he saw a friend outside the palace and he will check if he could help us. I think his friend didn't have money either but he asked if I had euros or US dollars because the cashier would accept those, he said. Unfortunately, I only had Philippines pesos in my wallet. :( However, Rao's face lit up and he got his wallet out of his pocket. In a small compartment of his wallet, he pulled out two neatly folded US dollar bills - a USD 5 and a USD10.
Those bills must be precious to him. Maybe he kept them as souvenirs. So I told him that he didn't have to use them and that I was really ok if I couldn't enter the palace. But it was his turn to be persistent. He walked back to the cashier and used his USD10 bill to pay for my entrance fee.
How many hotel staff would do such extra mile? His only duty was to drive me to destination points. Note that he was wearing a thick, long sleeves' hotel uniform and he could have just stayed within the comforts of an air-conditioned car but he accompanied every time I got off the car - on a hot, humid afternoon. And he could have easily driven off to the next destination every time we found out that the cashier doesn't accept credit cards but he didn't. He even gave up his precious souvenir bills so I could just enter the Bangalore Palace. The thing is, it didn't even seem that he was exerting any effort. It was as if he was just doing the most natural thing to do. A proof that he was really a kind soul.
When I got back to the hotel, I was able to pay him back for all the expenses he advanced for me plus a good tip by asking the front desk to swipe my credit card. But really, no amount of tip could repay such sincerity and kindness.
When the hotel sent me an online survey the day after I checked out, I excitedly answered it and relayed about Rao's excellent service with a note that they should commend him. I told them that Rao's kind gesture was my best hotel experience ever. Sadly, I never got any reply from the hotel. :(
But I do hope and pray that more blessings come to Rao and his family's way. :)