Bangalore is manic at the best of times, and today was no exception.

Over the past three days I have slowly grown accustom to my new surroundings and today was my first proper venture out into the heart of the city.

I was accompanied by Jasper and Sandeep, two employees of SPT and it is becoming apparent that the latter will probably become one of my most valued friends during my time in India.

Once out of the tranquil surroundings of the SPT Academy we immediately set about concurring the dusty Sarjapur Road into the heart of Bangalore. The road itself is definitely not one for the boy racers of this world, pot hole litter the ten kilometre road into the city like spots on a leopard.
With Jasper as my navigator though we made our way along Sarjapur Road with relative easy, and with Sandeep racing on ahead of us on his motorcycle I felt sure my stomachs growing pleas for more spicy food would soon be answered.
Besides this though, one of the most difficult things about driving in India is trying to keep track of all of the motorcycle around you at any given time. There are quite literally thousands of motorcycles in Bangalore and not one of them is what you could call a 'conservative driver' (Dad and Tony, you would be in Heaven). As you get further into the city, the growing crowds of people and the ever increasing number of motorcyclists make driving in Bangalore tougher than any city iv ever had the 'pleasure' of driving in.

Nevertheless we made it to Kodathi Mall in reasonably good time and it was only ten minutes after parking the car that I was sat down gouging myself on yet more curry, Biriani to be exact. Once you get used to the spices in Indian food, which I am yet to do, Iv been told by Sandeep that it is the tastiest food I will ever eat! To be honest after almost a week of eating a variety of different Indian dishes,I am beginning to see why he believes this to be so.

Once id performed my amazing 'full plate to clean plate in five minutes' trick we had a wonder around the mall to buy a few bits and bobs. But this trek around the mall had a different purpose as well, that was it gave Sandeep time to convince me to take a ride around the city on the back of his bike! On hearing his proposal initially I not only shot Jasper the most concerned look possible, but my heart rate seemed to increase to a worryingly high level. After witnessing the shear madness of Bangalore motorcyclists on our journey into the city, my hopes for San being any different were minimal.
He did in the end though prove me wrong. Racing through the city on the back of the bike was a great experience, and at no point did I feel unsafe. Weaving in and out of traffic was the most satisfying feeling every, especially when you pear into the cab of a stationary car where the pink squashy thing sat behind the wheel is on the verge of turning green and growing guns (muscles) the size of breeze-blocks.

My joy though was to be short lived. As we pulled away from yet another traffic jam, we inadvertently drove straight into a anti-George W. Bush which consisted of well over a thousand angry Muslims. At this point one phrase when through my mind... 'Oh Dear'. The reason being not only was I a western looking guy sat on the back of a motorcycle open to whatever abuse they chose to throw at me, I was the ONLY western guy in the vicinity!
To San credit he tried his best to keep me away from the mob who continued to hurl abuse at me, I'm not fluent in Arabic but I'm quite sure they weren't inviting me out for a drink once they were finished with there protest. It was only after we'd turned away from the main centre of the trouble that things got a bit serious for us both, unfortunately we got caught up in yet another traffic jam and it was at this point I was set upon by a guy we threw a punch to the back of my head. He then decided it be best to shout... something about Allah into my ears. Now it was at this point, I believe, I made one of the best decisions of my life. With his face right in-front of mine I had the perfect opportunity to place a beautiful head-butt in between his eyes (trust me I've dreamed about this quite a bit this evening). But I decided against it. Not only would it make me just as pathetic as him but there was also a thousand or so strong mob ready to back him up. Luckily for me my decision was made seconds before a gap barely big enough to fit a two pence peace opened up for San to somehow squeeze through.

Once San had put some distance between us and the mob he pulled over and began to apologise profusely for what had just happened, his apologise by the way continued well into this evening. I really do feel sorry for San, he above anyone else has made me feel so welcome here in Bangalore and for him to have to be the person who experienced that with me was the worst part of the whole incident. Once I'd assured him I'd received worse punches from my brother (and that's saying something... haha, love you Kaka) we made our way back to the Academy.

I'm sure you can guess what the topic of conversation has been tonight when me, San, Milton and Jasper sat down for a couple of drinks. In a strange way I can sympathize with the protester though, I possibly dislike Bush as much as he does, and the fact remains that Muslims are treated just as bad in the West if not worse. But besides all of this political nonsense today my friendship with Jasper and San has grown and that's the thing I will remember.