Day #2, Adventure #1: Bangalore Ultimate

As many of you know, I have become moderately obsessed with Ultimate Frisbee (shout out to the FOYAS!!).  When I was googling Bangalore and checking out all of the options it had to offer,  naturally, I checked to see if there was any Frisbee going on in the area.  And to my pleasant surprise I found 2 Bangalore team websites.  I quickly emailed them both and was delighted to hear back from 1 almost immediately, "Learning to Fly".  Cliff, the creator/captain of the team was super welcoming and told me to get in touch with him when I arrived. 

I followed up when I arrived, and was pleased to find out that they had practices during the week at 6:30 am but also play games on Saturdays at 7:15 am as well.  Yes I had only been in Bangalore for less than 48 hours, but why not jump in full force?  So I worked out a complex plan to get to the fields with Fern and Hamsini, to of the girls on the team, using Sister Mini’s phone on Friday night and headed off on my adventure at 6 am on Saturday morning.

What a trip! I arrived 30 minutes early at the bus stop where Fern was to meet me, so I stood there waiting, watching my clock, trying to look as confident and nonchalant as I could.  Hard not to stick out though as a tall white girl wearing ultimate shorts and our fly Foya sublimated uniforms.  

Boy was I excited to see Fern walking down the street, garbed in Frisbee clothing and an infectious smile.  All the nerves that built up during that 30 minute wait were relieved.  We took a series of other buses and rickshaws and arrived at the Loyola School ground around 7:30 to find a sparse yet eager looking  group of Frisbee players.  Apparently everyone was out of town for the holiday weekend (Monday is a Muslim Holiday and Independence Day was on August 16^th) and this was a pretty weak showing but we were still able to field a scrimmage with multiple subs!! Apparently there are now 7 (SEVEN!!) ultimate teams in Bangalore and they usually have multiple games going on Saturdays.  Tons of fun running around and getting back into the swing of things.  Lots of potential talent out there (read: athleticism, speed, etc.) but many were pretty new to the sport.  Apparently the Learning to Fly folk are the older, more experienced players well versed in strategy and plays.  It will be interesting to see when the whole team is together but I was SUPER impressed by the level of play.

After of few hours of play, eight of us jumped into Babay's car and headed into the heart of Bangalore for some breakfast (now brunch since it was 10:30).  We went to Indian Coffee House, apparently pretty famous.  The ride was way longer than I expected but I enjoyed talking with all my new teammates.  Its funny-- they are speak English because thats the only mutual language they have in common (Bangalore is a "melting pot" of people from all over India since it is the IT hub of India and has tons of Universities, opportunities, etc.)  I had an omelette masala (aka egg with onion in it) and a plain dosa (South Indian pancake type thing).  Pretty good, but nothing nearly as good as the cuisine I had in Calcutta.  I'm still on the search for a place where I can get some naan and Paneer Tikka Masala.  Great company- I'm excited to get to know these people more.

The trek home was probably the greatest adventure of all.  Fern dropped me where I could catch the 500c bus back to where we had gotten on together but it most DEFINITELY did not drop me by anywhere I recognized.   Asked a few random strangers before getting on one bus (in hindsight- definitely the wrong one) which took me a few "blocks" before the driver instructed me I had arrived.  Hmmm..  Got on a new bus that was luckily going in the right direction. Started to see some semi-familiar places but there was a road block at the train tracks about 2 km from Snehadaan campus, so I got out there and walked the rest of the way.  That bus ride was also one of the crowded buses I ever been on-- luckily the weather here is so mild!!  The crowded little combis in Gaborone were easy as pie compared to these.  Hopefully I'll get used to it/figure out the system!

Anyways, I am so excited to have found a frisbee team!  Now all I need to do is sort out my tasks and responsibilities here at Sneha.  Internet is more intermittent that I thought it would be, but so it goes in India!  Expected the unexpected, right?! 

Love to all and hope everyone at Georgetown is gearing up and ready for the new fall semester!