Tour Guide Talents

Today, my mother came with me to IISc. I gave her the grand tour, showed her the ropes, and have come to a few conclusions:

1

1.   I’m not the only one who thinks campus is incredibly beautiful.
2. The restaurant on campus is delicious.
3. The crazy monkeys are never there when you want to show someone. They only seem to arrive when you’re eating particularly good rice.
4. I could make quite a good tour guide.

We came in the morning by Auto – my mother was subject to all of Kalanatha’s stories; namely the life stories of his ten siblings and all of their children – and since no one was in the AE department in the morning, we decided to walk around campus.

We circled campus as I pointed out various buildings (like a boss) and after showing her the trees and the dirt pathways and all the different canteens, we decided to spend the rest of the morning at the library.

My previous – and only – experience with this library was not the best, but this visit proved worse. I had to leave my bag with the security man (after convincing him to at least let me keep my laptop) and my mother was only allowed to sit in a specific chair in the front lobby while I had to go inside to the tables. When I came back out for lunch, my mother told me that she was reprimanded for stretching her legs. Apparently, after sitting in a chair in the lobby for a couple of hours, you’re not allowed to roll your ankles because you might offend a professor.

Right.

After this bizarre library experience, we made our way to the campus restaurant, Nesara. (The name of the restaurant was quite the debate because the ‘esara’ part was in English while the N was a fancy, stylized “ನ”. I still maintain that it looks like it should read ‘Sesara’.)

We eventually made our way back to the AE Department, I showed my mother the infamous toilet, and she met my supervising professor. (She was a little taken aback when she was asked to remove her shoes before entering his office. Looks like she’s been in the US for too long…) Kalanatha came not long afterwards, and we headed back home.

Just another day in the life.

When we came back home, we decided to try out a new restaurant, the Kandi Tree. Unfortunately it started drizzling, and we had to decide whether or not we would brave the drizzle in order to go to 4^th block for a thali meal.

I thought I was the queen of indecisiveness. (Rebecca Black’s conundrum of ‘which seat shall I take’ is a very legitimate concern, in my opinion.) But my grandmother takes it to a whole new level. I think I walked up and down the stairs more than 7 times as she changed our plans.

One minute we’re going, the next we’re not, because my uncle’s hearing aid might get ruined. Then we’re still going, because my uncle doesn’t mind covering it with his hand. Then we’re not going because I might get a cold. Then we decide to go, because we might run out of time to eat there.

But actually, we’re not going, because walking in the rain is “pitchy-pitchy”.

Just as we were about to go, it started raining heavily, finally making our decision for us.

Someday, maybe we’ll decide whether or not to eat at a hotel in less than five minutes. But I highly doubt it.

-June 30th