Today we went to the market, which is in the old part of Bangalore. We started off the tour with coffee from a coffee truck. Coffee here has a unique flavor, as it’s made using chicory. The coffee is made into a powder which is mixed with milk and sugar.
We continued our walk around the market, seeing lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as flowers. We purchased fresh jasmine to put in our hair, as it’s commonly done here.
We visited two temples in the area, the first Hindu, the second Jain. The Jain temple was entirely made of marble, each piece hand carved. The core principal of Jainism is non-violence. Because of this, they follow a strict vegan diet and also don’t consume root vegetables, as removing the root vegetable from the ground kills many insects in the process.
At night we went out to dinner at a nice restaurant in a more upscale part of the city. It was a stark contrast from the littered streets of the market; at the restaurant, we felt like we could’ve been back in Minneapolis. Diversity shows itself in many ways in India. The different areas of town, and the people that occupy them, only add to the list.
-- Jacqueline W.
