After a long flight with a stop over in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, I arrived in Bengaluru. My plan was to just withdraw some money and then take a bus to the city. It turned out not to be as easy as I had hoped.
Because of the recent government decision to get rid of the 500 and 1000 rupee notes, nothing was working as usual. The ATM at the airport was out of order. At the exchange office they didn't take cards and the minumum exchange amount was 70 Euros. I did not have that much with me. Searching outside I found more non-working ATMs. There was a "manual ATM" where a man swiped the cards and gave out the cash. This however only worked for national cards and not for mine. In the end I met a bank director, who kindly helped me to the front of another ATM. I felt guilty about skipping the line, but must admit I was glad to finally have some cash.
After that taking the bus into town was easy. Sitting in the local bus with wild driving styles and motorbikes stuffing the road, I realised I am back in India. I saw the typical sight of a cow standing in the middle of the road. Cars were hooting, but that was all they could do. It was kind of a feeling of coming home. I am glad to be back.
