India and the 6:30am soap bar

I was recently in India, to attend a conference in Bangalore. Even though I was ready for the place I still had some surprises...

It was freezing cold. I arrived at night to Bangalore, and I swear the temperature was below 10 degrees Celsius.

On my first night there I hear somebody knocking loudly on my door. I ignore it because I am half-asleep and I assume it must be the middle of the night. I actually try to convince myself that the knocking is in my neighbour's door. But after four rounds of banging on the door I realized whoever is doing it is not going to stop, so I get up, check my watch, see that it is 6:30 am, and proceed to the door. I open the door to find a smiling receptionist who offers me something. I take the thing, say thank you and close the door in his face (I was slightly  pissed off at this point). I then turn around and look at the object in my hands. A bar of soap. A herbal bar of soap. After the initial shock I laugh and go back to bed shaking my head. Unbelievable.

Thaffic is chaotic. At the begginning I thought people were very aggressive in their driving, blaring the horn every three seconds and making for extremely noisy roads. I later realized that the horn is simply a proximity alert device that people use to warn others. Most trucks have painted in the back the words "Please use horn".

Anyway, India is a beautiful place with welcoming, warm people, and I hope to visit again.