I arrived in Bangalore last Friday at 5am. Confident on the exterior but mildly apprehensive, I stepped out the airport, concerned about the high chance getting lost in the 3rd biggest city in India with only a few printed out Google maps, some contact details and marginally faulty British mobile phone. After failing to make it to SELCO's Bangalore office, I managed to get a auto-rickshaw driver to take me to the hotel I was going to be staying at that night. I crashed out when I got there due to getting no sleep on the plane and 2 hours later grabbed my maps and valuables and started to walk to the office, sadly too late to avoid a huge downpour of warm tropical rain.
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| My first trip on an auto rickshaw |
I spent most of the day at the office, meeting people, calling Sam at the Ujire office, getting an introduction to SELCO and eating my first south indian meal: some kind of veg curry and rotis (like a thin dry naan). Tasty and spicy, but difficult getting the hang of eating with my hand.
Back at the hotel, I went out in search of something to eat and found a guy who made delicious kati rolls which are a street food which supposedly originated in Kolkata. I set my alarm for 1am to be awake to watch the Olympic games opening ceremony (with entertaining Indian commentary).
At the office the next day I met with Shruthi who was an architecture student doing an internship with SELCO looking into cookstoves. She shared plenty of information about cookstoves in both urban slums and rural poor areas. As it came towards lunch time I was invited to a celebration meal at a local temple which was being held by Harish Hande, SELCO's founder. I met an American guy called Headley who'd been in Bangalore for a year and a half and a girl called Surabhi who is from Bangalore and has been working at SELCO since she came back from doing her masters in London.
It was my first visit to an Indian temple so I found it refreshing to have a walk around- it was extremely peaceful compared to the mad hustle and bustle in Bangalore (although it was situated in a very smart neighborhood). Later we were asked to come for food. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect - or what to do. As we sat down we were each given a large banana leaf, and the caterers promptly started to dish out many types curries and exotic mixtures of coconut milk, spices and rice onto them. It was both delicious and slightly baffling, but fortunately I was guided by Headley and Surabhi as to what to do and when! Fortunately Surabhi was there to correct us as I followed Headley into mixing my main course into a dessert bread.
After lunch, Ananth (who heads up SELCO labs in Bangalore), Surabhi and I got ready to go out to a slum in the city where SELCO has done some work. We were joined by two girls, Danielle from the US and Emi from Finland, who were in Bangalore to look at related projects at another organisation. We were going to look at a SELCO Energy Centre (basically a small building with solar panels on the roof) from which two of the people living there hire out solar lanterns and can offer charging facilities for mobile phones. The energy centre seems to be having a fantastic effect on the slum community. It was interesting to hear that no one buys kerosene any more since they are able to use solar lanterns (although this currently means that they are using plastic bags to light wood fires - which is not ideal in an enclosed space!).We delivered some replacement lanterns and Surabhi spoke to the couple who run the energy centre. The wife demonstrated use of a three stone stove and an improved cookstove which she had help do field testing on.
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| A standard 3 stone stove which most people cook on |
We were able to understand better the problems with smoke that are encountered when cooking in a slum. The room filled with smoke which stings the eyes. Its hard to believe that people live with several hours each day in these conditions. We later had a quick coffee in a man's house, met lots of lovely smiley children (who mobbed our car as we left) and got pestered by a local drunk.
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| In a classy french café in UB city |
In the evening we went to get some dinner at a place in the centre of Bangalore which had a photo of Gandhi and staff who dress up in old fashioned traditional clothes. To kill some time before my bus to Ujire, Surabhi and I spent some time in UB city, which is incredibly grand and featuring some classy French cafes. Its all owned by the guy who owns the Kingfisher brand - famous for its beer and, bizarrely, a failing airline.
I took an autorickshaw to the office of the bus company to wait for my bus... which was about 45 minutes late. Eventually it arrived and I clambered on to my top bunk of the "luxury" sleeper. It was definitley not long enough for me to lie down- especially not with all my luggage piled up. I got myself as comfortable as possible- ready for the 7 hour overnight trip to rural Ujire.
