Aadab Uncle Sam..Goodbye Mother India

The D day had arrived. 23rd of July,2009 Bangalore International Airport. I was all set to begin what was supposed to be a new chapter in my life. I was there with my family : my mom, my dad, my sis, bhaiya, bhabhi and of course my cute little niece, Poorvi. Those that mattered the most to me where there to bid adieu to me. And for some reason they were more excited for me. And me? I was not really sure what was going on in my head. I was anything but excited. I was just looking back. The journey that had started about an year back with that ridiculous test that goes by the name GRE (and I am not saying this because I am arrogant or something. I actually believe this.) , that then continued with searching and skimming through university web pages during office hours, that resulted in an exchange of a huge number of emails to seniors/profs/lecs/friends/family, that branched out towards that unnecessarily hyped up event called the  US visa interview had finally come to this.

I walked in towards the Air India counter a little while after it opened. As expected there was some confusion regarding the extra check-in baggage.

Guy at the counter: Sir, your total check-in baggage weight comes up to 64 kg and only 46 kg is allowed. You will have to pay blah blah blah.

I did not even bother listening. I reached out for the excess baggage ticket and showed it to him like some param-vira chakra that I had earned. Guy at the counter starts making calls and talking to other AI staff. Clearly he had no clue what to do. I was all cool and gave the person enough time to sort his confusion. I was in no mood to yell at him. I guess I felt sorry for these people given what has happened with Air India in the last few months. Unforturnately some other passenger did not share the same view point. He started losing his cool and yelling at the top of his voice, blaming the staff and calling them incompetent.

The confusion was finally resolved and we did not have to pay a single buck. I was all set to go to the next counter. But before that I decided to go and wave goodbye to my family who were standing on the other side of the glass door. I looked into my niece’s eyes. She also smiled back and said ‘ta ta’. I was not even sure when was the next time that I would get to see her. She would probably not even recognize me. I was touched and with a heavy heart I waved one final goodbye and started towards the next counter.

I dont even remember when was the last time I traveled using Air India. It must have been when I was six I guess. I was not really expecting many things to change. They had those entertainment units on the back of each seat this time around. But apart from that, everything else was just the same. Aunty Air Hostesses who had clearly forgotten to see a mirror when they dumped their make-up on their face. Cabins that were not properly pressurized etc etc.

I was too bored to be bothered. I switched through all the channels on the entertainment unit and there was nothing interesting. I then decided to watch that cricket movie starring that young actor called Harman Baweja (I think). The guy who tries to copy Hrithik Roshan in every sense (Can’t blame him of course, he is an actor. He should try and be someone that he is not). Dont ask me why I was watching this. I guess I wanted to have some fun by watching this bogus movie.

Anyway we reached Delhi within no time. Took a bus. Reached IGI. and within no time we were on our next flight heading out towards Chicago via Frankfurt. As it turned out, the Indian hockey team were also on board. Atleast that is what their jerseys said. I dont follow hockey and I did not really know anyone from the team.

I did not bother playing with the entertainment unit this time around. I figured it was a long flight and I better get some sleep.

I woke up to watch the beautiful mix of colours in the sky caused because of the sunrise. We were close to Frankfurt. We finally arrived at the airport and were asked to wait at a airport before we could catch the next flight to Chicago. Judging by all the !ncredible !ndia posters hanging on the walls of the gate that we were waiting at, I guessed that this must be a common waiting terminal for all flights that come from India. The highlight of the terminal was a german shopkeeper who had managed to chalk out a nice message and the menu for his place, all in shudh Hindi.

Two hours later we were on the flight again. Next stop Chicago. This time a plump looking German teenage girl was sitting next to me. This time I decided to play around with the entertainement unit. The German sitting next to me tried to do the same and by mistake pressed Hindi as her desired language. He he he!!! It was hilarious to actually see her trying to figure out what was being written on the unit. I finally had enough and helped her set the language back to English. She decided to watch some sad German movie. I decided to watch some of the sitcoms that were being offered.

The food in the journey so far had been lousy to say the least. Looking at the German girl trying to eat the rice with some typical Indian curry was real fun though. After playing around enough with the entertainment unit, I decided to turn towards my pod and watch some movies that I had copied onto it at Bangalore.

We were nearing Chicago. I could see the Sears Towers from a distance. We were just about to land when all of a sudden the pilot decided to take the plane to the skies again and give us all another tour of the Chicago city and Sears Towers (Actually he later announced that he could not see the runway clearly and wanted to try landing again, but I think he was lying and wanted to have another look at the Sears Towers.)

As expected at the Chicago airport, the American Airline official asked me to pay 100 dollars for the extra baggage. I had to flip out the param veera chakra out again (the excess baggage ticket that is) and mentally said ‘Up yours!’. All settled. The wait at the Chicago airport was agonisingly long. I had started my journey with a slight cold from Bangalore. And unfortunately that had intensified at Chicago. Swine flu?! I decided to spend my first buck in US of A. I ordered a cup of hot coffee. That helped me get through the agonising wait of almost 8 hours for the next flight.

I was way too tired by the time I boarded my last flight to Tucson, Arizona. I did not even realise that I was sitting next to a very pretty American girl. I was too tired. I slept throughout the journey, even through the landing and take off which had been very very routine events by now.

And there I was. Tucson, Arizona. Got out of the airport to be greeted by the hot breeze reminding us of the blazing hot sunny days that were waiting for us.

Routine stuff buddy. Seen enough of it in Sharjah and Dubai. Bring ‘em on!

More later….

10 reasons….

…why Bangalore is going to be close to my heart. That is what this post is going to be all about. Why this post? Well, because I am going to say goodbye to this city after staying here for the best part of the last 6 years. Why 10 in particular? Well just a marketing cliche that I like I guess

So here are the reasons:

1. I have spent the best years of my life at this place.
2. I started my career here. I got my first job at this place.
3. I have made some very good friends here:  Mota, daku, keshu, tamil sardar, subbu, UD, nayak, yadav and many more. This city has also offered a chance for me to meet some of my old buddies from school : vikram, ani, ramya, Gd and many more again. These are people whom I will probably not forget for some time to come.
4. All my memories associated with V are also indirectly connected with this city. Just like she is going to be an important part of my life forever, Bangalore is not going to be any different.
5. The tree lined roads. The ride down Nanda road is something that is a very very unique experience that not many cities in the world can offer.
6. The traffic. Surprised?? Yes I like the traffic. I think it is fun to get to ride fast on a crowded road rather than an empty road. And I know it is a genuine head ache when you want to get to some place fast but I have used it as an excuse when I reach some place late as a cover for my laziness. The latter is more frequent.
7. The pubs. Purple Haze and the rock music, J cubez near college, Sticks and so many more.
8. The idli-vada combo at SLV mess near Banashankari, the coffee at India Coffee House and the rava idli at Mavali Tiffin House. They are all unique to this city.
9. The weekend get aways like the ride to Nandi Hills, Skanda Giri and so many more.
10. The weather. Somehow people have taken this for granted in my opinion. Unfortunately, the weather has changed a lot because of the growing population in the city and the growing traffic.

Explore Bangalore – 3

Last Saturday was unique for two reasons. It was going to be the first time I was going to watch a Bond movie( Quantum of Solace) at a theatre (Urvashi) . And I had also decided that since I am near Lalbagh, I might as well have my breakfast at Mavalli Tiffin Room (aka MTR), a place that I had never visited before.

So I started early from my place at Thippasandra in order to beat the Saturday morning traffic through Richmond Road.

MTR is a pretty well-known brand. Their ready-to-eat packaged food items are popular amongst Indians who are very particular about their food-habits and who have to travel abroad frequently.

The place was packed! It was a real struggle to get in and find yourself a seat. I somehow managed to find myself a seat and then started looking around for someone who can take my order. Unfortunately, the place seemed to be very understaffed. I finally managed to catch a staff member’s attention and placed my order : one masala dosa and a coffee. The coffee was something that I was really looking forward to. I had heard a lot about it.

As I sat there waiting for my dosa and coffee to arrive, I looked around. I noticed that rava idli was a popular choice here as every fifth person seemed to be ordering that. The staff, though smaller in number, were efficient. I noticed the kitchen on the corner. There were people walking in and out, most of them the staff as expected but there were other people too.  The rest of them were just seated like me were laughing, casually chatting , seriously discussing whilst enjoying their breakfast.

I did not realise this but I had waited for 15+ minutes easily and my order had still not arrived. Luckily I had enough time to spare before the movie began. The order did arrive eventually. The dosa was nothing much to write home about. Pretty standard stuff. It was different from the regular dosa available in Bangalore in the sense that it was a tad bit thicker and served with just the chutney minus the sambhar ala SLV Coffee Bar. The same thing, however, did not apply to the coffee. It was mind-blowing!

Overall, MTR is a nice place. I think a bit over-priced at the end of the day but thats just my opinion.

Oh and in case you are wondering, the Bond movie was a total disappointment.

Explore Bangalore – 2

As a electronics hobbyist I have to go hunting for components that I need for some of my hobby projects more often than not. In Bangalore, SP Road is a well known place for people like me to procure components at a relatively lower price.

Not too far away from SP Road is the well-known Kalasipalyam market in Bangalore. I have not really had a chance to visit this market. There are plenty of reasons for this. One of them is that this place is unbelievably crowded! You can try your best but you will still bump into someone while walking.

Last Sunday was different though. I had surprisingly finished my work on SP Road much more quicker than what I had expected. With nothing to do and lots of time to kill, I decided to walk through the market and explore like a part of Bangalore that I had never ever visited before.

Apparently the market was first created in the 1920s. By the looks of it, it does not seem to have changed too much since then.

The market was not very different from any regular market. Bustling with so much activity. People seemed to be lost in their own work. One would find it hard to believe though that this place actually existed very close to what arguably is the heart of the city.

The area that I walked into was a Muslim-dominated area. And as is so typical with Muslim-dominated areas, these places house the best eat-outs when it comes to non-vegetarian cuisine and tea. Since I had given up eating non-vegetarian food (for boring reasons that I will highlight in some other post), I decided to try out some tea at a crowded shop. After all, I was really tired after all the walking that I had done for the major part of the day.

The tea was out of this world. Simply amazing! It is very different from the tea that you would normally get at some of the darshinis that are so popular and widespread in Bangalore. It was relatively closer to the masala chai but it would give you a different kind of kick altogether. I could also see why every third person who walked into this shop was asking for a tea. I spoke to the old friendly chacha behind the counter there and he told me that he has been running this place for the last 30 years. The shop does not really have a name as such! So I am going to find it hard to actually direct people who might be interested in checking this place out.

The tea is available with masala bread and with some rather weird-looking but tasty cookies.Overall it is the best tea that I have tasted in my life so far.

So I move on and  walk right across a small gully that leads me to JC Road right in front of the SKC mall. All of a sudden it seems like a completely different city, a completely different crowd, a completely different atmosphere.

The market also houses so many packers and movers. Most of the trucks that you see in various parts of Bangalore invariably would end up at this place for the purpose of off-loading luggage.

Kalasipalyam market is not one of the those ideal tourist spots that one would think of when picturing Bangalore. It is far from it. But if you really want to explore a city, especially a city in India, you have got to go have a walk across places such as these to try and observe the two different extremes that a city has to offer. I guess a peek into the lives of the people who do business at this market is a nice way to start.

Back home ! :)

Yup. I am back in Kundapur. And I really deserve this mini vacation of sorts to escape the madness that so many of you call ‘Bangalore’ or ‘Bengaluru’ or whatever.

This place is heaven! And not just because it is my home and I get to meet my parents and eat some of nice food for a change, but more importantly I get the opportunity to stay disconnected from the rest of the world here.

Unfortunately, that is not going to be case for too long now. I can see how the look of this place is changing. It is still no where close to a full-fledged city, but at this point it bears the look of a small urban town gradually losing its charm with every day that passes by. Sad but true!

Got to go now. Will touch on this subject sometime soon when I am back in Bangalore. Ciao!

Explore Bangalore -1

‘Explore Bangalore’ is a new series that I am starting on this space. My objective is to be able to cover some of the lesser known places in and around Bangalore that I have had the privilege of visiting over the last five years of my stay here.

In this particular post, I will be mentioning about two eat-outs.

Sri Laxmi Venkateshwara Coffee Bar

aka SLV Coffee House is located at BSK 2nd stage, near BDA complex, opposite to that lovely BDA park. Anirudh suggested this place to me and I thought I should give it a try. Now I have gone past this place on innumerable occassions and always wondered as to why this place is so crowded. At first sight, you wouldn’t realise that an eat-out exists at that place thanks to a large tree present right in front of the entrance.

I somehow managed to squeeze myself in, avoiding the crowd, to try and have a look at the menu on the wall besides the counter. I couldn’t see more than 8 items on that list. I decided to go for a vada.

After another round of struggle with the crowd, I managed to get myself and my vada , soaked in the watery chutney, outside the place.

Aha! Time to eat! And as I digged into that vada, I could see what Anirudh was trying to say. The vada was brilliant! Period. I hadn’t eaten a more crispier vada at any other darshini in Bangalore. The chutney was watery yes, but it was spicy and tasted like chutney for a change. Interestingly, there is no sambhar to go with the vada or idli along with the chutney. Just the chutney.

No wonder this place is crowded! When I gave a search online, I found out about another place that is similar to this one. This one doesn’t seem to be too far away from SLV coffee house.

All in all, if you are a foodie and a foodie who loves the typical south-indian idli-vada-chutney combination, a visit to this place is a MUST.

India Coffee House

India Coffee House on MG Road is like a blast from the plast. The old building, the old tables, the waiters dressed in an attire so unique…everything about this place gives you a feeling that it has not changed since the place was opened for the very first time. The surprise package is the rates on the menu. They are all dirt cheap for a place that is located on MG Road, the heart of the city so as to speak.

This post has more on ICH. This is what the manager had to say then (15th of May, 2007)

“It is 50 years for our establishment,” said he, “but the building is much older; see it is still strong and does not need any repair but for a few minor patches. They did not even use any cement in the building. But next year, we are closing this place. We have a new building that is nearly ready in Avenue Road. We will be moving there.” I asked why did they have to move and if it has something to do with the Metro work. He said the owner of the building wanted them to clear the place, and will probably build something new in its place.

If you are lucky, you might still find this place on MG Road. If you do find it, do not miss the chance. Just walk in and let the place take you to what Bangalore might have looked like 50 years back!

More on this series later.

Best Friends!