My homestay family in Bangalore

I was just thinking today that I've been posting a lot about the various places that I've been to in India but have not posted anything about some of the most fabulous people in India that I've met - my homestay family!

My homestay mother's name is Anju and my homestay father's name is Sudarshan/Uncle/Sudi. They run a little cafe in a theatre that has the most amazing food. Anju's philosophy of cooking is to cook from the heart and to cook organic healthy homestyle food! Here's a short article about her cafe that explains it better than I can:

http://bangalore.metblogs.com/archives/2007/07/anju_at_ranga_shankara.phtml

Anju and Sudi are both very very warm and friendly people. In fact, we've been joking around ever since Julia (my roommate) and I arrived at their house. For example, one day, Anju didn't come back to sleep for the evening. I asked Sudi where she was and he told me that she was off on vacation in another part of India for the week. Of course, surprise surprise, the next day when I got back to the cafe after school, there was Anju as usual working! Apparently, she had just gone to her brother's birthday celebration (which was in the same area of Bangalore, in fact), had talked until 3am and decided to spend the night there. Of course, Julia and I gave Sudi "the look" when we saw him later. :)

With Anju and Sudi, we've gone for ice-cream, attended a wedding reception and even went to a family lunch with them! I had been warned in Switzerland that we would have no ice-cream in India or China, but wow, the ice-cream place that we went to was simply unbelievable. I think that it's definitely one of the best (if not THE BEST) ice-cream place that I've been to in my life so far. It's name is Corner House. I ordered a "Brown Bomb" which was essentially TONS of fudge on top of chocolate ice-cream on top of a very warm brownie swimming in fudge. Mmm...I was in chocolate heaven! Definitely by far one of my greatest dining experiences in India so far!

On Monday when we return to Bangalore after our vacation, our entire study abroad program will be having a farewell dinner with all the homestay families. Anju has agreed to dress Julia and me up in beautiful saris/sarees. I cannot wait to see what I look like!