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We arrived in Bangalore after having spent a few days visiting dear friends in Den Haag, Holland. Den Haag is clean, orderly, quiet, calm and beautiful. Bangalore is the complete antithesis. And, as it's the tail end of the monsoon season, our first 24 hours in the city coincided with 100mm (4 inches) of rain.

That most Indians speak English is a myth. We got into this auto-rickshaw for a short trip from our hotel to the tourist office. The driver wobbled his head from side to side, as they do here, signifying "yes" - as if he knew exactly where we wanted to go and it would be no problem. But after dodging cows along narrow winding, pot-holed streets for a half hour, we finally jumped off and found our own way.