Mysore India Part I

Thrill of adventure prevailed over allure of rest and I found myself on a Sunday bus to Mysore. The ~140km trip would take an hour in most US locations. In India this is three plus hour endeavor. Again, reset clocks to India time.

The slower pace is welcoming. At times it is reminiscent of my upbringings in the deep south of the United States. The values of time, materials, and personal interaction are, shall we say, different. At breakfast I was at first shocked by a pretty native menu; no more continental cushion.




Balancing the menu, communications, and time constraints of a tour bus schedule was a good test of new skills. I'm happy to report a positive breakfast experience with an egg dosa and coffee within the time allotted and subsequent negotiation of celebratory Coke.

Getting a Coke sounds simple. I haven't found the equivalent of "pop" yet so begin with brand discussions. Then clarify it must be a bottle and not fountain in keeping with dietary recommendations. Then get the bottle brought to the table unopened rather than pre-opened and poured. Then get a straw to avoid direct contact with the mouth of the bottle. Then limit water exposure via wet dishes and duplicate dishes. Staff are fastidious in ferrying away dishes and push fresh "clean" dishes at every opportunity. This sounds nice if somewhat wasteful. Then consider, as a foreign traveler, that each dish comes out still dripping with water. Those "harmless" drops of water are a gateway to days of digestive discomfort. Ever paranoid I limited my contact to as few dishes as possible and preferred dishes that came with hot food aiming for as much sterilization as possible. I reused one spoon, one plate, and one glass for the whole meal much the chagrin of my hosts.

The physiological reality is that local water would lead to medical illness. How do you tell someone their "clean" water makes you sick? How do you do that without offending? How do you do that across a language barrier? Educated professionals comprehend the dangers of water born illness. Concurrently it is offensive at a basic human level to refuse a drink. That same water is dripping from dishes. Ever tried re-wiping dishes in front of a host or even wait staff? Mental recognition of dangerous water is one thing; emotional acceptance is quite another; applying that daily operations and explaining it is very nearly a bridge too far. Some realities are better left known and uncited. I can reuse my one dish limiting exposure and appear a heathen. This feels better than offending my hosts by insulting their water.



The coke was a nice flashback. The glass bottle was familiar from an earlier time. The ridges were somehow different from the glass bottles of my childhood but the weight and firmness of glass were long lost friends in a modern world of plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The label was visually worn from numerous bouts of shipping, storage, and refill. There are a few pockets in the US that still appreciate and collect glass bottles. This bottle could easily have been plucked off the shelf of a small town drug store which most would deem a junk shop. Only in the US the bottle would be empty rather than in production use for daily circulation, delivery, and reuse.

Accessing the tasty treat inside the bottle required a genuine bottle opener. Sure we still have and use bottle openers in the US; only they are associated with more adult beverages. No plastic or twist tops here. Again, an artifact from a simpler time in my US based life.

The bottle contents were another treat. The glass was cold and the liquid inside chilled to the point of crystallization. Ice floating in the neck of the bottle made pouring and gulping impossible. A straw tunneled through the blockage to the tasty treat below. Coke is okay. Icy Coke is better. Icy Coke made with real sugar is wonderful. Truly taste the difference. I really enjoyed this Coke. The road beside the restaurant was an atypical Indian thoroughfare with smooth surface and fast flow. I might as well have been sitting in small town USA.



Only I wasn't in small town USA. The glass bottle had been recycled in tact numerous times. Waste reduction, recycling, and conservation were everywhere. US economics make it "cheaper" to use lots of new and disposable everything. India economics make conservation "cheaper". I wish this economic model would migrate westward. Unfortunately I suspect this economic model is inseparable from an underpinning of unimaginably cheap labor. I think breakfast complete with generous tip came to $4 USD.

Cashing out in Rupees (220 INR) and a trip to the facilities goaded me back to the present reality of my first solo trip slightly off the beaten path in India.