So something strange happened to me today....
Today our driver (yes my driver; feels strange having one, as if I am like Driving Miss Daisy all over Bengaluru...but that's for another story entry....) took me site seeing around the city. He picked me up at noon and off we went. First place we went was the Botanical Gardens. It is a huge park, lots of people visiting it, but not many foreigners.
So I make my way through it; feeling overwhelmed a bit as I am by myself and walking among locals, as well as strays dogs, some monkeys and lots of trees. Even at one point I felt I was being followed so I made my way back to a more centralized part of the garden. It could have just been my "Newark awareness" kicking in, like Spiderman with his spidersense. As they say "you can take a person away from Newark, but you can not take Newark away from the person." Anyhow, I kept enjoying the garden, taking pictures here and there amongst the locals.
At this point I notice two guys taking photos as well and one of them comes up to me saying "Photo?"
I reply "oh, you want of pic of you both?"
He says "oh ...no. A photo with you"
huh?!?!?! with me?! ...um sure. hahaha
Strange, but they both wanted a picture with me. I must stand out like a crazy person dressed differently. Of course, since almost no one here wears shorts and every male wears a button down or plaid shirt. Those that know me very well know that I despise feeling hot, and I always wear shorts when it is warm. So it will take some time for me to start wearing jeans or slacks on a regular basis on these warm days.
So I end up taking pictures with these guys individually and they say thanks. I guess I do not mind, but it did catch me completely off guard.
After the gardens, I went to see other spots around the city. Now I am back at the hotel; just had a delicious dinner with Mariana and time to relax and think about what to wear tomorrow so I can stand out even more .....