January 30, 2024
The Best Weekend Yet
This holiday weekend, the first weekend since starting our journeys to entrepreneurship with our individual organizations, was filled with many exciting firsts. For some of us with a less rigorous schedule, our weekend began on Thursday when we went to the local Turf Club and experienced our first derby. After navigating our way through the crowds of avid fans placing bets, we reached the podiums and sat down. A few of us placed small bets, basing picks off tips received from locals eager to help our little group of naive watchers lose some money, or in my case, off the coolness of the horse’s name. While neither strategy resulted in us winning big, we got to eat delicious pastries, hang with the locals, and watch some horses race.
On Friday, a group of us from those who hadn’t left to Goa went on a hike. An hour and a half away from the city, the Handi Gundi Betta (or Hundi Bundi as someone mistakenly called it) was an unforgettable time. Despite having chosen the hottest time of the day to make the trek, we made it up the summit with only a few complaints and stops for water. On the way back, we stopped at an unassuming restaurant by the roadside for a feast of Tibetan food. Mountain dew margaritas and warming tomato egg soup fueled our sleepy ride back to UTC.
Saturday started much slower. After another filling UTC breakfast, we lounged on the roof sunbathing (some of us forgetting to apply sunscreen and later regretting it) before deciding to take a short walk to the local fruit vendor for fresh fruit slushies and lassi. A nap and a shower later, we were on an auto ride to dinner at a GCIL favorite ice cream/pizza spot. After some delicious pizza, pasta, and a hot cup of joe, it was onto the final destination of the night. I had found an event hosted by the local LGBTQ organization aptly named DUDE PARTY. At first we were timid in going into an event attended by 95% queer South Asian men, but our worries quickly melted away. What followed was one of the best nights out of my life. Many of my previous experiences in male-dominated spaces here have felt uncomfortable and slightly predatory, but here I felt nothing but welcome (if anything people were just confused as to how three foreign girls found this event). We met so many people who wanted to dance with us and teach us how to properly move to the Kannada hits. We danced for hours until our bodies ached, and we were covered in a sheen of sweat. Bidding our new friends goodbye and promising to meet up again before we go back home, we headed back to UTC to try to get a few hours of sleep.
Sunday, our day of recovery, was rather simple. Having woken up late, we leisurely made our way to a small Thai restaurant which has quickly become one of our favorite places to eat on a free day. Spicy papaya salad, hearty pad thai, and a sour tom yum to wake us up after a long night out. Back at UTC, we sunbathed and napped on hammocks on the roof till dinner time. The chosen spot for dinner was a unique train-themed restaurant which served us our dishes on the back of a speedy electric train. Though packed, this weekend was one that ensured we savored the rapidly passing time we have left in Bangalore and left, with many moments to remember it by.
By Audrey