Sunday, July 12, 2009

Bangalore Ahoy!

Been about two weeks since I landed here. I've ignored this little page on the world wide web for quite some time, and finally free time and boredom and a will to write coincide with availability of internet. (Sexy internet, btw!)

Well, so yes, I'm doing my PS-II at HP Labs India, Bangalore, and thus will be putting up here till December 11th at least. Now, since I am actually staying in the city this time around, and not a random place like Electronic City last year, well, a few things did catch my eye, some amusing, the other rather trying.

Anyway, in no particular order, here are the TOP 5 observations about B'lore (or B'luru, if you prefer your cities new-name abbreviated.)

1. It IS a cosmo, and very much so. Unless you are living in weird places like e-city and the like. You'll probably hear more Hindi in B'lore malls than those in Delhi ("Hindi's so unfashionable, na?" - 'Delhi-chick', circa 2000)

2. Keeping PG's is one of the best ways in Bangalore to mint money. All you need is lots of plywood, 6 single beds, two rooms and an axe. Well, maybe 12 half-mattresses and half-pillows too, one each for the people you'll accommodate in this space. It would fetch more money if you could arrange for a loo nearby as well.

3.
  • There is no concept of a meter when it comes to auto-rickshaws, unless you get exceptionally lucky. The Bangalorean autos even leave their yellow-green counterparts in Delhi far behind in this race. Highly impartial, the 'one-and-half-times-meter' rule applies to all at night, Kannadiga or not.
  • Buses ROCK! Unless of course you are travelling at night to Electronic city which is when you'll have to deal with rather obstinate and drunk gentlemen.
4. Quite a lot of roads here have their lengths measured. I mean, there is a 100 ft. road, and then I know of two 80 ft. roads, one each in Koramangala and Indiranagar. And probably only Bangalore has roads this proud of their lengths. I can only wish they increase the width of the roads, they somehow do not fit into the whole idea of Bangalore being this big and totally cool city.

Also, there are a lot of Crosses and Mains out here, and (I think) they are supposed to be perpendicular to each other; and a place which has in its address nth Cross and mth Main, need not be at the cross section of these two roads. I guess the city-planners didn't like Cartesian Geometry much.

5. The song 'If you come today', immortalised by Rajkumar (I apologize if I got the spelling wrong) is still in vogue here. Maybe not at malls (where they play Hindi songs, surprise surprise!) but surely at laundries, and sandwich shops etc. Timeless classic, one would believe.


So long, will get back with more later.

Adios.

12 comments:

Nimit said...

Nice Post! Try the bakeries in Bangalore though. They were one of the best in the country when I was there some 8 years back. Don't know the scene now.

Chaitanya Chintaluri said...

nice one re!

try. death by chocolate- corner house. [need 2 ppl]

bobby dhaba. hulsoor road. never got in but i was awestruck at the classy crowd waiting in line to get into that lil, shanty house.

coubban park! n its amazing canopy's

nice eye on the road naming thingy. skipped ma mind.

Prashant Nagpal said...

For what it's worth, I'm proud of Delhi roads, in particular the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway. Goes upto 32 lanes at a point!! \m/ness

rashanality said...

welcome..keep an eye out for the plays,concerts here..kyra,rang shankara, alliance..

Full Of Life said...

The measured road length thingy is there in chennai as well and yeah dont even get me started about the crosses and the main.
Yeah, death by chocolate is \m/
and please have the blueberry cheesecake. It is something to die for at one of the better bakeries in the city as Nimit pointed out.

4ever a Gunner said...

hey pranshu...nice read..i was going to blog about the same topic...damn u :| :P

btw u missed the biggest thing abt bangalore....CHINKI's ;)
i have seen more of thm here than the entire north-eastern india :-/

Saniya said...

Nice post.
Keep updating it whenever u come across new places around.Javacity, the book sellers on church street, DBC all godlike.
And the buses may be convinient but the traffic in general makes me wait for the inauguration of 'namma metro'
and, 4ever a gunner: Its a free country.

P said...

=) i do hope me and death by chocolate make acquaintances very soon.

Oh, and for all ye book lovers, I hear there's a really cool second-hand book store on MG Road, and the owner has quite a story (forgot the details, will put 'em up on the blog sometime too.)

And yes, gunner, i TOTALLY agree with Saniya here. :|

Pushkar said...

you hear about the second-hand book store from me.....credits please......

and yesh, i agree with whomsoever mentioned death by chocolate in corner house...and do go to Bobby dhaba......it is salvation in punjabi food when u get sick of eating whatever ppl in karnataka pass off as north indian food

And, for pub related information contact me directly :)

Starak said...

Cool post :) The adventures of Shu in bangalore :P
Well apart from the Mains and Crosses there are Circles as well, many of them, see their geometry ain't that bad!!
And ya there are MANY Daily Breads out there too, I am sure u wanna check them out.
some Auto tips: use these while boarding:
1.DASH DASH place hogatta (means will it go to DASH DASH place?)
2. Yeshto (How much)?
3. Nilles Bedi (stop it there {with reverence} ;))
This might help to pull off the 1.5 rule :P try madi

karandeep singh alias kd...... said...

hey pranshu.. nice

its the width of the road which is 100ft or 80ft not the length.. :P

P said...

whoops... my bad! :P