China Chronicles
Wok-ing and Wandering in Bangalore to discover Chinese experiences
When an Instagram follower suggested China as one of the countries I should explore as a part of my Traveling the World from Bangalore project, I was excited. I knew very little about our mammoth neighbors and I had no definite plans to visit the country.
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine mentioned Chinatown in Kolkata and how a lot of the Chinese population immigrated to India around the 1920s, pre-independence. I started my research for China from that thread. And my intuition was right! Few of those Chinese immigrants had moved to Bangalore too. Today the population in Bangalore is pretty small, and the Chinese New Year just passed (29 Jan), so I missed the chance to see a celebration in action. Nevertheless, I researched and made a threefold plan to “travel” China and learn more about this fascinating country.
Let’s slurppppp!
Culinary experience
Every good adventure starts with great food. Bangalore had a bunch of Indo-Chinese restaurants, most of them rebranded or shut down. But I managed to find a small workable list. My initial plan was to do a Chinese food crawl but then my brain decided to think better. I went to two of the four places on the list, Chung Wah and Fortune. Full disclaimer, I do not like Chinese cuisine much and have not explored any of the famous dining spots in the city.
Even though I do not have strong reference points, I loved trying food at both spots. The soup at Chung Wah was probably the best hot and sour soup I have ever had. Stopping the habit of ordering Knorr soups in winter!
Hot and Sour Soup, Dragon Rolls and Steamed Wontons at Chung Wah! Fortune was more Desi! The restaurant closes at 9 pm and we were getting late. My friend requested the owner to stay open for an extra 15-20 minutes quoting, “we are trying to discover and write about Chinese cuisine” . He not only happily agreed to do so but also chatted with us for a good half an hour after our dinner. It had an open kitchen and we were the only customers surrounded by tiny Chinese antiquities. Looks like being fed at a Chinese home.
During our conversation with Mr William, the owner of Fortune, I noticed a Chinese calendar at the back. He shared this is brought from Taiwan as the Chinese government simplified the strokes and changed the Chinese script in 1949 to make it easier to read and write. Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau still use the Old Chinese script! While China and Singapore use the new system. He also mentioned two Chinese language schools in Kolkata and one in Bombay, which got shut down due to the declining population of the community in these metros, as more and more folks migrated to Canada for job prospects.
Religious/Spiritual experience
My next pitstop was a Chinese temple in the heart of the city:)
Maitreya Temple or Hong Ci Monastery is located in Austin Town. I got down a narrow lane with a church on one side and a temple on the other. I asked a couple of residents for directions until a guy pointed out it was next to “Jesus ka school”. Turns out the huge building was obscured by trees and some cars parked. I went inside the temple around 4 pm on a weekday so it was mostly empty. I spent some time reading Tao philosophy texts and admiring the Chinese paintings all around. The residential quarters were out of access for me so I checked the event calendar. Turns out the temple has a huge celebration on the nights of Amavasya and Purnamashi.
I missed conversing with anyone but thanks to a mention to Mr William, he shared about the monastery as he volunteers there regularly. Tao or the truth is more of a way of life, not endorsing any religion. The volunteers at the monastery are not monks but practitioners of Taoism. Many years ago, I read a book called Tao of Pooh which was a very interesting meditation on this way of life. Here’s a fun, crisp summary of the book. One visit is too short to learn about Taoism but I was happy at this circling-back moment in my life.
Cultural experience
Most of the art and media in China are controlled by the government. So I decided to explore one that looked more independent - Today Art Museum in Beijing, China. It is the first not-for-profit private museum in China.
The Augmented/Virtual Reality technology is still not as accessible for me to be in the space but I did the next best thing - took a virtual tour of the museum through Google Arts and Culture. I have tried exploring a lot of places, especially during the pandemic and I have discovered, if you give yourself enough time and sit in a distraction-free mode, you will begin to unpack the benefits of actually being present in the space. The delight of discovery, learning something new, and being moved by art!
One of my favorite works was Follow him in which the artist searched the entire Beijing to collect used books and magazines and then stacked them on bookshelves. Although it was a photograph, a part of me aches to dive in and explore. It also brings forth the comparison of the expansive digital information at our fingertips and how would that look if it was all tactile, surrounding us.
My one-week timeline is up and I am left with more questions than answers! But also much more understanding of this beautiful, enigmatic country than I had before. Someday I would walk the Forbidden City and Summer Palace, light an incense stick in a temple in China, and be exhausted looking for vegetarian food options. Someday I will visit our neighbor with an equally grandiose history as India. But till then, I will remember this week of research and explorations, of conversations and connections.
Zài jiàn!
Meet you next week in Bhutan!