I've found the wealth

It's easy to see the poverty in India, be it the beggar on the corner or the makeshift home set up down some alleyway, but it's not so easy to see the rich. Sure you constantly see people walking around with the latest smartphone, but just walking along the footpath looking at what is directly in front of you it is the poverty that is glaringly obvious.

I have ended up in a somewhat different situation - I am living in the wealth. It's not somewhere I expected to be, yet here I am living in a sixth floor apartment with a cook/cleaner and going to art exhibition openings and being introduced to some of Bangalore's most elite.

I've already touched on this, but basically mum worked with someone who was from Bangalore, who knew someone, who knew someone, who knew Nina - the woman I am staying with. We keep getting asked how we know each other, we both look at each other, shrug, and reply in unison "we don't". I initially felt guilty for calling on the help of people I didn't know - but since getting here I've realised that's the way this world works and it all evens out in the end. I am sure someone I have met over here will one day end up on my couch in Wellington.

Living with Nina has certainly been an eye opener. She has been great at including me in things she does, including the other night when we went to an art exhibition opening, followed by dinner at Bangalore Club. It's hard for me to describe the Bangalore Club because I cannot think of any New Zealand comparison. It's basically a space with bars/restaurants/pools/tennis courts/library, anything you could want in one area. It costs an arm and a leg to be a member, and takes forever to become one (it took Nina five years of being on the waiting list to join). This particular club - there seem to be a few around the city - is famous because Winston Churchill was once a member and he owed the club 13 Rupees - the debt has since been written off. You can practically see the money oozing from every building, it isn't somewhere the average tourist would be able to see. But because of my unique living situation I've been able to see this other side of Bangalore.

And then there's Lewy - the cook/cleaner. This has probably been the hardest thing to get used to, and not just because he doesn't speak English. I often feel like lady muck sitting in my room reading my book as he brings me a cup of tea and fills up my water bottle, before coming in and giving me the sign that dinner's ready. It's so far removed from what I am used to and I have to stop myself from saying "sit down and have breakfast with me," - not that he'd understand anyway.

I know the wealth is in India, and boy is it there, but now not only do I know it, but I've seen it, I've lived it.