Fergalicious

After not doing much in my first weekend (I was still exhausted from the time change), I had a fun second week in India. Apparently big acts come through Bangalore about once per year. That's "big" in terms relative to Bangalore. They still talk about the time Deep Purple played here (about 10 years ago) and when Pink Floyd's guitarist came (two years ago). So you can imagine my surprise when I was invited to the Black Eyed Peas concert on Tuesday.

They had an extra ticket, so I was happy to go along. Concerts in India are a trip. There are no seats, so standing areas are first-come, first serve. And people are packed together hours before the show starts. It reminded me a lot of seeing Radiohead at Bonnaroo - people shoulder to shoulder, front to back, no personal space and lots of body heat. We managed to squeeze ourselves up nearly to the front (10 people back), and a little off to the right. As soon as the concert started, it was a sea of humanity - everyone jumping up and down to the music (there was no room to dance) and throwing their hands in the air. The Peas put on a great show. It was really high-energy, and I was surprised they could keep it going for three hours. By the end I was exhausted.

By the way, have I mentioned how early everything shuts down in Bangalore? Legally, everything has to close by 11:30pm. There are some small bars that skirt the rules, but almost everyone abides by them. Concerts are no exception to the rule.

In any case, the end of the concert was not the end of the night. My friend made some calls, found out where the Black Eyed Peas were staying, and then we rushed to stake out their hotel bar. Sure enough, the Peas were downstairs within a few minutes. So for about an hour I drank Kingfishers and hung around with the Black Eyed Peas. There are no photos, and I don't have any wild stories. They seem like pretty normal people.

On Wednesday I went to a dressy, invite-only Jack Daniels party (Jack's 157th birthday). Whisky is very big in India, and Jack is trying to break into the market. I'll admit that I had a few drinks, but nothing to explain the hours and hours of illness that followed. I ended up missing work the next day. It had all the hallmarks of food poisoning, and it was a bad case. What made it worse was that I didn't have a working cell phone, and I don't know many people in the country yet. So I spent Thursday feeling vulnerable, out of place, and gross. I spent a lot of time there rethinking my decision to come to India. I'm sure those feelings will come and go. In any case, it was a draining, exhausting week.