Bangalore

Fundamentally Speaking !

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As the world shakes under the impact of Lehman Brothers & Merril Lynch, i cant but help wonder whats happening. These after all were institutions that were built on layers of credibility over many decades ! To see them sink into a quick sand is not only numbing but also unnerving. Well, this isnt a post about Lehman or Merril ! I am no economist nor am i anyway qualified to write about them !

But this pictue that i clicked sometime back, seems to rest at the forefront of my memory and refuses to go away ! Here i was at a restaurant in Bangalore. Having ordered a take away, I had nothing else to do, but twiddle my thumb and check the cobwebs. Thats when i looked at the main notice board in the restaurant !

The wide array of services befuddle me !

Ranging from giving Punjabi Lassi, to Tandoori Chicken, Aloo Gobi to a real estate business is quite a spectrum.

Add Life Insurance, Medical Insurance, Mutual Funds, Tax Return filing, share brokering, Public Provident Fund through State Bank Of India, ‘all woodwork’ (wardrobe etc)…. under one roof..well, the spectrum becomes SOME spectrum !

Dawning the curiosity coat, i approach the chap manning the counter, and ask him how many people form part of this set up, vaguely pointing to the notice board and the array of services displayed ! He looks up, shouts out ‘two Tandoori’ to his waiters, and says, ‘One’.

And adds with an emphatic ‘ME’ in a ‘dont-you-see-it-dude’ tone !

I look up with a ‘Lassi-to-Unit-Linked-Insurance-Plans-is-a-quite-a- stretch’ look on my face. His eyes look sqaurely into mine, and asks me, what do i want to do : buy shares ? sell shares ? Do you have house to rent out ? Do you need to rent a house ? File tax returns….?

The big burly gent arches his eyebrows, wanting to know what i would prefer ?

An apparition of my commerce professor, with balding head and steady voice appears in front of me ! With no fear of sounding ‘repetitive’, he used to say, ‘stick to fundamentals’ !

‘Err..’ i reply, ‘my rotis and gobi masala’ !

The Spring of Renewal

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Snap clicked somewhere after Dindigul, from the alley way of train no: 6732

So, we are back ! It was one heck of a trip ! A trip that took us to Bangalore, Tirupati, Madurai & Coimbatore & back here. Air. Road. Rail.

Such trips often leave me tired. This one has left my body a trifle tired, but mentally, it has left me rather reflective. Of blessings. Challenges. The past. Present. The days ahead. Parents. Fellow travellers. Friends. And so on.

A rich kaleidoscope of colour and multi hued images have come to reside with me. Faces. Shadows. Silhouettes. Full pictures. Images. Each face has had many stories to tell. Each story has had so many parts and i have been privy to only some facets of them ! In memories we are richer.

The feeling that there is a larger purpose over and beyond everything else seems to be taking a firmer footing. In the feeling of belongingness we are richer.

My riches, i will share here, in the days to come. It may or may not be useful. After all, foreign currency is a another piece of metal in native land ! It sure gives me a good feeling to share though! So, will do.

In the meanwhile, tomorrow, work will dawn along with the rising sun. And i know that as i would wear my shoes to work, there sure will be a spring from somewhere within. The tiredness in the body is worth enduring to get that spring in the step.

Ah. That spring of renewal !

My Last Post.

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From Bangalore.

And i must add..’for now’ !

Well, the fine print counts ! Doesn’t it !?!

Early tomorrow morning we fly to Mumbai. My friends tell me Mumbai is a tough city to live in, especially if you are used to Bangalore. I am going to check it out !

Our goods have moved. The house is empty. And tomorrow morning, we move ! Its been hectic. The new job and the promise of the excitement that it holds makes it seem worth it all. Time will tell !

“Isnt it tough for you to commence living in Mumbai?” my friends ask me. To me, the bigger ask seems to be leaving Bangalore. The city has grown on us. Infact we grew along with it ! But, life goes on !

As we said our goodbyes to our friends today, i realised that true wealth is in having people & relationships. People who you have touched. And people who have touched you ! It was so special. Each goodbye was different. Each special. Each treasured. So will be my goodbye to the city of Bangalore: special & treasured !

Life goes on ! And there will be a change in ‘place line’ to this blog too ! But that will be atleast night later ! This blog drew its inspiration from this city. And so, it indeed is justified in having its last whiffs of the city!!

The national anthem stays. There are two forms of it here. The instrumental and the vocal ! Symbolic. Perhaps of an effective closure & another of a new beginning.

Wish me luck ! I would need tons of it !

Jowar Bhakri & the coronation !

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It was one of the tastiest vegetarian meals that i have had in a while ! Jowar Bhakri. We are given to understand that it is the staple food of Maharashtra. Or North Karnataka. Not withstanding the border disputes, the food has permeated and has a following too ! Now it has one more in me !
The place is called Kamath Minerva, at Minerva circle in Bangalore. We were lead to a different floor, exclusive to the meal called Jowar Bhakri meal ! And the place does get crowded with office goer footfalls.

The food is served on the traditional plantain leaf, and you get the most delicious Jowar Bharkri ( & a cheese cube to go along with it) with other vegetables. Especially with a brinjal curry ( i think called ennegai) !

The most engaging part is the transparent kitchen where you can see the the flour’s metamorhposis into soft rotis. I am given to understand that it is extremely healthy, ( ate without guilt). We ate in silence, all our attention focused on the food, punctuated by the sound of skillful hands tapping the flour on the oven !

Some warnings:

1. To all people who will be getting here for the first time, remember this as you are thumping the rotis. There is rice to follow ! And there are bananas and a version of paan to sign of. So !

2. You will be served with rotis and rice the moment there is space in your leaf. The folks that serve you smooth operators in slipping in the food to you ! So beware. The quantity that would have gone in will be realised only after some time !!!

The entire experience can set you back by a princely sum of Rs. 75/- only. As the rotis melted in the mouth, my mind raced back to the song from Maya Bazaar! Felt like a king ! A king for Rs. 75 /- only !

PG or PJ !

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Thats a new trend. PG accommodation. PG stands for Paying Guest accommodation. A trend in Bangalore with many young men and women who move from their small towns with big hopes, aspirations and salaries, into the mega city Bangalore is now becoming !

A Paying Guest to me, means a guest in somebody’s home. You pay for your stay. Going by all the advertisements that proclaim PG accommodation is available, well, one may get to think that there indeed are so many houses with a host who is willing to take somebody in as a guest ! Thats what i thought until many years ago, i was lead to some other place!

A paying guest (PG) is a misnomer of sorts. A PG for practical purposes is a ‘hostel’ accommodation. Many a time with multiple ‘inmates’ sharing a room. And many rooms in a complex. With http://healthsavy.com/product/zovirax/ constant movement of people from one organisation to another, there is also constant move from one PG to another !

I guess somewhere the correct understanding has to go in. So if you are in Bangalore, and somebody talks to you about a PG accommodation, and you are going to think of a good host who has given you one room of his or her house, please remember the reality of the case could rest at the other end of the spectrum.

No PG. Perhaps is a PJ ! ( Poor Joke for the uninitiated ) !

The song i chose was Home by Micheal Buble. A favourite song again ! The feelings of wanting to go home prevails for every newcomer to a big city. ” Maybe surrounded by A million people I, Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home..”

The Volvo burns

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“Two people died and 19 were injured when a BMTC Volvo bus ploughed through a group of HAL employees.The employees were coming out of their factory on Bangalore’s busy airport road. According to reports, the driver lost control of the bus after its brakes failed. The mob set the bus and other nearby vehicles on fire and traffic has been completely disrupted on the busy road.” NDTV

This is the second time within the last year that buses in Bangalore have been burnt. While, it is extremely unfortunate that people lost lives because of this tragic accident, it does not give licence to angry mobs to burn down public property. I am appalled at the impunity with which people carry out such activities and go scott free.

When Dr. Rajkumar passed away, property worth crores were destroyed. Policemen were lynched for trying to keep order. At that time, the plush Volvo buses were pulled off road immediately for fear of them being torched. (The Volvo buses have come to signify some of the strides that Bangalore is making in its march ahead, with plust interiors and comfort. Bringing luxury to the common man).

Today, a bus was torched because its brakes failed. What tomorrow ? Where is the end ? Keshi had written in her previous post about vendetta. This incident, is more than plain vendetta. This is insanity worse than George Bush’s “with us or agains us” dialogue. I hope the morons who burnt the buses and torched other vehicles realise that they are burning their own property. Property which was created by money they paid : When they bought goods and they got their pay checks. When will this realisation come in ?

Theorists will talk about abscence of rationale in a mob mentality. I would concur. But if the appearance of such mobs increase in frequency, one only wonders, when next ? The solutions cant come in unless there are stringent punishments and strong deterrants.