ABOVE: traditional south indian meal served on a banana leaf!

After a long train ride (33hrs), I arrived in Bangalore! This would be my first time in a few years that I was visiting Bangalore without my immediate family and thus was a bit different than my previous visit in January. Since January, my aunt (father's sister) moved with her daughter from Delhi to Bangalore. So I now have all of my immediate aunts and uncles in this city, which is great but also means I need to divide my time appropriately. My first night in town was lovely. I went over to my aunts place and hung out with my two cousins (one who had come in town from Chennai) It was nice to catch up with both of them and visit the new flat. I spent the night there and the following day we celebrated my cousin's birthday, another aunt and uncle came over and we ordered in some food and had some good ole family fun.

On Sunday, I made a trip to my mom's hometown Mysore with my maternal uncle and his family. We visited some of her relatives who stay there and stopped by a very old temple just outside of the town. I always love visiting Mysore, it's much different from the 'big bad city' of Bangalore. Mysore is quiet and peaceful. Growing up I spent a good amount of time in Mysore since my mom's mom stayed there. I would spend at least one of my three months in India there. The drive to Mysore is also pretty fun, mainly because along the way we inevitably stop for some delicious local food! 

The following week was pretty packed. We had a few religious family functions to attend as well as a wedding (which I found out about a few days before the event)! In between all of this, I tried to meet with friends and make sure I visited with all of my family. I definitely got my fix of South Indian food and filter coffee (something I had been missing in Delhi)!