Arrival in Bangalaru, India

It is 2:40 am in Bengalaru, India (formerly known as Bangalore) which means that it is 4:10 pm in Boston right now. It feels good to finally to relax at Fireflies Ashram, after a 4-hour van ride from Bridgewater to Newark, 15-hour plane ride from Newark to Mumbai( formerly known as Bombay), and an hour flight from Mumbai to Bengalaru, and an hour ride from the airport to the ashram.

During the flight from Boston to Bangalore I watched two Bollywood films and listened to Punjabi music. One of the movies had Akshay Kumar as the main character who is one of the more recognized actors in Bollywood. The subtitles helped me understand the movie. I was very impressed with AirIndia's quality of the food, entertainment choices and the complimentary drinks. We had dinner, breakfast and a few snacks in between. I feel like I got a quick introduction to the Indian cuisine with rice noodles with vegetables and curry as well as yogurt on the side.

All the advertisements in the airports were in English which I was surprised but shouldn't be since English is the second official language in India since they were ruled by the British until 1947. Even though it was dark outside, on the way to the ashram we can already notice the obvious differences like driving on the left side instead of the right and the continuous beeping of cars as a way of saying excuse me. Our eyes are trained to see car coming on the left side instead of the right. Also, I saw a lot of street dogs just like I was used to seeing when I was a kid in Colombia. We arrived at Fireflies ashram around midnight so I am not able to see my surroundings. All I can tell is that it is located in the rural areas of Bangalaru. I don't feel as tired as I expected, perhaps it is because I napped during the flight or I am excited to start exploring India.