UPDATE: I have posted all relevant pictures on relevant posts and am finally totally caught up! Check it out further back :)
Joanna and I decided to check out the "Tuesdays with the Bard" scene at Urban Solace again, having enjoyed it so much last week. I took an auto home and then another one to Urban Solace, where I met Joanna, who came on the back of Xavier's motorbike (Xavier being the Goan climber she's befriended here, who is very nice).
The featured poet was Ryan Brooks, a girl around our age from Chicago! I was expecting a lean American man, and instead Ryan stepped up to the stool and mike, complete with afro and perched hat, double Monroe piercings and sick kicks. She had a great voice and we had fun listening, my favourite poem of hers being one called "My Poverty is Better Than Yours".
Next was an elderly man, one who had read last week from his book. This week he read again from his book, and again, and again. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of his poetry style and it was just a total inundation of his work...I was relieved when he handed over the mike to the attractive Indian man at the table behind us!
I forgot his name, but he read his poems in almost a murmur off of his phone. Not really the best style. Then there was the girl who had opened the show last week, and I wasn't totally appreciative of her either. Another girl around our age (also American) read poems about her time working with women in Rajasthan, but sharply criticized some cultural nuances in a way probably not suited for her present audience.
Overall, the poetry was less satisfying. After everyone was done though, I headed over to a table in the corner where three of the foreign girls were sitting- there were around 5 or 6 present, and introduced myself. We got to talking, and it was so nice to meet these 'other Americans' breathing Bangalore air at the same time as us.
They were all students of a Global College, an initiative they described to me. It is based, I believe, out of Long Island University and takes students through a whirlwind and very literally global education, where they spend each of their four years in a different country. Last year for this bunch was Costa Rica, and now after India, they are all headed off to different places including China, Croatia and the US.
They had traveled a lot in India, places like Varanasi and Kerala, Goa, Mysore and Rajasthan, and were staying in apartments in Bangalore that their university had put them up in. They described their teachers as fantastic and told me the school had connections that provided them with guest speakers doing really exceptional things. These girls were so interesting! They talked about farming initiatives they had seen in Kerala, and about starting their own water research in Bangalore. They told me about a Valentine's Day protest they had attended in Bangalore against the police who had arrested couples holding hands, and about a concert they wanted to see of a local music group.
We talked about Dartmouth, and what it was like going to a more 'old boys school'. Their program didn't attract a lot of males- one, in fact, in the entire year of 100 students. Of these 100, only 13 are in Bangalore now, and most of these 13 are leaving within the next week or so. We exchanged contact information and will hopefully be in touch.
After a while, Jo came over to remind me of time and we went outside to catch an auto, which was accomplished immediately and with zero difficulty. We sped off home, utterly satisfied with another night at the cafe for the soul.
Joanna and I decided to check out the "Tuesdays with the Bard" scene at Urban Solace again, having enjoyed it so much last week. I took an auto home and then another one to Urban Solace, where I met Joanna, who came on the back of Xavier's motorbike (Xavier being the Goan climber she's befriended here, who is very nice).
The featured poet was Ryan Brooks, a girl around our age from Chicago! I was expecting a lean American man, and instead Ryan stepped up to the stool and mike, complete with afro and perched hat, double Monroe piercings and sick kicks. She had a great voice and we had fun listening, my favourite poem of hers being one called "My Poverty is Better Than Yours".
Next was an elderly man, one who had read last week from his book. This week he read again from his book, and again, and again. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of his poetry style and it was just a total inundation of his work...I was relieved when he handed over the mike to the attractive Indian man at the table behind us!
I forgot his name, but he read his poems in almost a murmur off of his phone. Not really the best style. Then there was the girl who had opened the show last week, and I wasn't totally appreciative of her either. Another girl around our age (also American) read poems about her time working with women in Rajasthan, but sharply criticized some cultural nuances in a way probably not suited for her present audience.
Overall, the poetry was less satisfying. After everyone was done though, I headed over to a table in the corner where three of the foreign girls were sitting- there were around 5 or 6 present, and introduced myself. We got to talking, and it was so nice to meet these 'other Americans' breathing Bangalore air at the same time as us.
They were all students of a Global College, an initiative they described to me. It is based, I believe, out of Long Island University and takes students through a whirlwind and very literally global education, where they spend each of their four years in a different country. Last year for this bunch was Costa Rica, and now after India, they are all headed off to different places including China, Croatia and the US.
They had traveled a lot in India, places like Varanasi and Kerala, Goa, Mysore and Rajasthan, and were staying in apartments in Bangalore that their university had put them up in. They described their teachers as fantastic and told me the school had connections that provided them with guest speakers doing really exceptional things. These girls were so interesting! They talked about farming initiatives they had seen in Kerala, and about starting their own water research in Bangalore. They told me about a Valentine's Day protest they had attended in Bangalore against the police who had arrested couples holding hands, and about a concert they wanted to see of a local music group.
We talked about Dartmouth, and what it was like going to a more 'old boys school'. Their program didn't attract a lot of males- one, in fact, in the entire year of 100 students. Of these 100, only 13 are in Bangalore now, and most of these 13 are leaving within the next week or so. We exchanged contact information and will hopefully be in touch.
After a while, Jo came over to remind me of time and we went outside to catch an auto, which was accomplished immediately and with zero difficulty. We sped off home, utterly satisfied with another night at the cafe for the soul.
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