I remember the night I first got here. Right as I got off the plane I needed some local currency. Having not done any research on the conversion rates, I took a wild guess as to how much I'd need and pulled out 3,000 rupees. Not a bad guess. That's around 45 U.S. dollars. The taxi guy charged me half of that for the ride into the city. Not the best deal. I now know I could have done it for around 500 rupees, easy. The ride was nice, though. It was around midnight so the streets were empty and the air was cool. I rode with the windows down. His vehicle was made by TATA, a car company I had never heard of. I remember feeling kind of nervous. Did I really make the right decision? What if I don't fit in anywhere? What if I made a mistake? Could I really live here? Will I be happy?
It's interesting how much a place can grow on you. Because if you asked me a year ago what I thought about Bengaluru, India, I'd have asked you where in the world India even is. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously, nothing would come to mind. Ask me now and you'll get a very different response.
When I think about Bengaluru now I see faces. I see the guys at Easy Tiger playing foosball. I see the smiling woman selling momos (dumplings) on the corner of the street.
