Out with the Old, In with the New

So the BIG NEWS is that I have joined an NGO! I am working in the India office of a US based public charity which does work in the area of public health. I am handling a very interesting project, and I am extremely excited about the role and the work involved.

So we got back in the first week of February from our South East Asia trip, and it was time for me to get back to a full time job. I was very keen on joining an NGO; even in my previous job, I was working in the development sector, but now I wanted to work on the field. But I’m as materialistic as they come, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to take the pay cut involved (since I was earning millions in my previous job, NOT!). After much agonising, I decided to take the plunge and by mid-Feb I had started applying for NGO jobs.

Fortunately, things moved very quickly, and within two weeks I had a job offer. And it was a role I was very keen to work on. And so I said yes. The cherry on the cake was that the salary was much better that what I had been preparing myself for. Once that was final, we went off to Rajasthan for a holiday, came back to Bangalore, and after two lovely weeks in Bangalore, moved to Hyderabad in time for Ugadi and my joining date.

And that brings us to the bad news. The office is in Hyderabad. A week ago, we packed bag and baggage, and moved to Hyderabad. The bad news isn’t that I’m moving to Hyderabad, the bad news is that I have to leave Bangalore. I’ve lived for four years in Hyderabad and it’s a city I’m very familiar with and very comfortable in. A city I have very fond memories of. It means Nike and I are both closer to our families. It means I can now spend more time with some of my closest friends. In many ways, moving to Hyderabad is a good thing – and yet, I pine for Bangalore!

Without realising it, Bangalore has become home for me now. Vizag is, and always will, be home for me first and foremost. But Bangalore was home too. And I’m going to miss the lovely weather, the billions of wonderful weekend getaways, the quirky things to do in the city, the sense of laidbackness, my friends, my familiar haunts, that indefinable spirit of the city. I will, however, NOT miss the auto-wallahs. I;m also disappointed that I have had to move out before the Metro finally started - all that traffic and headache I withstood staunchly, thinking of a future in which I zip around in the Metro - and now I don't get the fruits of my labour. Gah!

Maybe if I was moving to a city I had never lived in before, like Delhi or Bombay, the excitement of living in a new city might have overshadowed the sorrow of leaving Bangalore. But there is no excitement at moving back to a familiar old place like Hyderabad, and so there is much sorrow at leaving Bangalore. Some of my happiest years have been in Bangalore – almost all my memories and associations of the city are incredibly happy ones – and it makes it so much harder to let go of a place that has given me so much love and joy.

People talk about how Bangalore has no ‘character’ when compared to older cities like Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Madras or Hyderabad. And I have to reluctantly agree with them. Yet, there is something in that city that slowly, slowly, sneaks upon you and makes you think ‘this is home’. It’s a very comfortable city, a city that graciously lets you be, a city that lets you become a part of it without you having to make any effort whatsoever to fit in. I’m convinced that once one gets used to living in Bangalore, it is going to be very difficult to move to any other major Indian city – life will get that much tougher.

Okay, now I’ve gone and made myself all sad and misty-eyed and nostalgic about Bangalore! I’m going to end this post here before I talk myself into buying tickets to head off to Bangalore this weekend. Ciao!

The Bangalore Experience

When I’m travelling, I try to take in as many sights as possible, and experience as much of the local culture and cuisine as I can in my short stay in a new place. Yet, I’ve lived in Bangalore for over four years, and have missed out on some incredible Bangalore experiences. So I decided I’m going to list all things Bangalore that I want to experience – and I am going to complete this list in the next one year (I know one year sounds like a long time for such a small list, but I’m not going to be in Bangalore from October to February, so am going to start working on the list only once I’m back).

1. Kannada Gothilla: Quite shameful that I still can’t speak Kannada, after over 4 years in Bangalore. Even more shameful considering Telugu is a close cousin. I can read, I can understand, but I can’t speak. I even went to Kannada classes for a couple of days, and picked up a smattering of the language, but those skills are rusted from lack of practice.

2. Dosa at Vidyarthi Bhavan: Yeah, you read that right! I’ve never had dosa (or anything else) at this legendary Bangalore eatery. Largely because I don’t care much for Masala Dosa – I prefer plain dosa – and I know dozens of other places much closer to where I live where I can get a really good dosa. Still, I intend to go to VB one day to figure out what all the fuss is about.

3. Kannada Movies at the Theatre: I’ve wanted to watch a Kannada movie in a theatre ever since I moved here, and never got around to it. I did see Mungaru Male in a bus once, but watching it in a local theatre is the real deal. Mostly it is because there are usually so many movies I’m desperate to watch in a week that this fancy takes a backseat.

4. MTR: Sigh! So I’ve never had lunch at the legendary Mavalli Tiffin Rooms. Went there twice, and still didn’t get to eat there. The first time, we landed up at MTR without any cash, found out they didn’t accept cards, hunted about for an ATM, and by the time we found one and drew cash and got back, they were closed for lunch! The second time we went, we were super hungry, and couldn’t quite handle the long wait, so we left after half an hour and went elsewhere for lunch. Maybe third time lucky.

5. Bangalore Palace: It’s rather sad that I’ve never visited the Bangalore palace, given how I’m really into palaces and forts and other historical structures. When I’m travelling, I try and visit as many historical places as possible – so it’s ironic that I’ve not been to a palace just a few kilometres from where I live.

6. India Coffee House: Now this is a place that tourists associate with Bangalore, and I have not stepped into its hallowed portals once in the four years I have lived here. It’s funny really – I’ve even directed foreign tourists to the India Coffee House, and yet never been there myself. Must. be. rectified.

7. Lalbagh: Okay, before you gasp, I have been to Lalbagh. But that was before I started living in Bangalore – when I was here on holiday many years ago. Once I moved to Bangalore, I never stepped into Lalbagh. Every year, I think I will go when the flower show is on, but I’ve never implemented that ambitious plan.

8. Breakfast @ Max Mueller Bhavan: Puzzling why I’ve never tried the famous breakfast at Max Mueller Bhavan, given how I love continental breakfasts, and considering I’ve lived in Indiranagar for so long. It probably has to do with the fact that I never managed to get up early enough for breakfast on weekends.

9. Bannerghatta National Park: All right, I know this is not a typical Bangalore thing to do, but I lived on Bannerghatta Road for two years, heard that BNP made for a fun day trip, and yet never got around to doing it.

10. Shopping @KSIC/ Mysore Saree Udyog: Every female I know who’s ever visited Bangalore has bought Mysore silk sarees, either for themselves, or to take to relatives back home. My unfortunate mother has certainly not been the recipient of any such gift from me in all the years I’ve lived in Bangalore.

All you Bangaloreans – is there anything else you would recommend on this list?

And for everyone else – what are the things you want to do in your city, which you think are an essential ‘your city’ experience, and which you still haven’t done?

Things You REALLY Don't Want to Know

The last two weeks have been fantastic in terms of all the things I’ve got to do. So I’m going to put it all down here to read the next time I moan about how I’m so bored, or how I want a change. Then I can be reminded of how full my life is in Bangalore.

Two weeks ago, went home for Ma’s 50^th. The day I came back to Bangalore, I fell ill. Nike very sweetly worked from home the whole week, so I would have someone to moan to about how sick I was and how I was going to just die. Of course, my impending death did not stop me from devouring the Millennium Trilogy that week.

Just as I got better, Nike’s mother was admitted to the hospital and we had to rush to Hyderabad. In a hospital, all my hitherto deeply buried masochistic tendencies come out in full force – I look at every suffering patient and try to imagine how I would feel in their position – and since I am a total wuss, the vision that emerges is far from pretty. Anyway, since this isn’t all about me (ahem!)  - Nike’s mother responded well to the medicines and was discharged.

Once back in Bangalore, we saw Udaan, a beautiful movie, with very interesting characterisation (with the exception of the Dad, who was painted all black). It is a ‘follow your dreams’ story but told with its sense of humour and light-heartedness very much intact so it never gets preachy. The movie was at PVR so we had dinner at Bombay Blues at Transit after that, and the food was AWFUL.

The next day, had lunch with the girls at Grill Room. The place is right opposite the Gurudwara on Ulsoor, and has a great lunch buffet. Do try it if you are around that area. The Friday before last we had a girl’s night out at Vids place. Lux, Eku, Vids and I. We had a blast, eating and drinking and singing and dancing and chatting.

Saturday was spent recovering from the excesses of the previous night. Girish was in Bangalore on Sunday, so went with Kat and Girish to the Chancery Pavillion for Sunday Brunch. 1200 bucks for unlimited food and drinks – fantastic spread – worth every single paisa. Go! All that eating and drinking business left us too exhausted to do anything for two days, after which we went to Inception. What. A. Movie. Stayed up all night discussing it; and started where we left off the next morning. It’s going to require some more viewings before I can decide on what I think happened.

So that was the week before last. This Friday, went to Kat’s place. We then met up with Hetro and Yola for drinks and dinner, and then went to Hetro place where we saw a marathon session of ‘Coupling’. On Saturday, we had Indu and Kumara over for lunch. But since we didn’t wake up when the cook came, rang the bell endlessly and left, Nike had to rush and buy the chicken and do the cooking himself, while I restored the house to some semblance of order. After they left, we saw ‘Body of Lies’ on television, went shopping at Lifestyle (my loots: maroon skirt, black waistcoat, blue and red checked top and two pairs of shoes), and finished with dinner at Chakum Chakum.

On Sunday, went for a haircut. Actually went in thinking of a trim, but I don’t know what got into me once I sat in the chair, but I made her chop it all off! I’m going to Hyderabad again next week, and am already dreading the reaction from the family. Anyway, Lux had invited the whole gang over for a traditional south Indian dinner at her place on Sunday night, so we all dressed up in Sarees (the women did; the men wore kurtas). Played some really weird games, laughed uproariously at Lux’s expense, thulped yummy food till I thought I would burst, and came home with gifts the girl had got us from Rajasthan.

The last  3 days have been super super busy at work. So all I’ve had the time for till now is Aisha with the girls. Maybe I went in with really low expectations, but the movie wasn’t so bad. It was actually fun watching it with the girls – oohhing over the outfits and shoes, rolling our eyes together at all the nonsense some of the characters do, aahhing over Abhay Deol – it’s great fun to watch a chick flick with your girlfriends.

Phew! That’s been the scene in my universe for the last two weeks. Tomorrow I’m off on a holiday. A girls needs time off from all this socialising. Tata.

Weekends, Football and Other Stuff

It’s tough to appreciate something when you have too much of it. And given all the free time I’ve had lately, I’d forgotten to appreciate weekends. I KNOW! But this weekend changed all that, for I had been very busy the whole of the last week, rushing to meetings, and spending about 2 hours a day in commuting; and so Friday saw me very tired, and quite looking forward to the weekend.

And what a glorious, lovely weekend it was!

On Friday, Nike’s cousin came over from Hyderabad to spend a couple of days with us. We drove down to IIMB, Nike showed her around the campus, and then we sat down to doughnuts and coffee at the campus CCD. Many of my campus memories are tied to the CCD (erm, not in terms of “oh, remember that best doughnut I ate, ever, was at the campus CCD” but more along the lines of “ooohh, remember when we were sitting at the CCD and such and such a thing happened”) so it always makes me feel warm-fuzzy-nostalgic when I go back there.

I spent the rest of the day in IIMB on work and came back home in time for the Netherlands – Brazil match. This match saw the addition of soft drinks to the usual collection of beers, breezers and popcorn, thanks to the visiting cousin. I was rooting for the Dutchmen, so that match ended on a very satisfying note. Though I must admit that the brightness of their orange jerseys sometimes makes me wonder why I am supporting them, for such bright orange jerseys. Must. Be. Outlawed.

Having helped the Oranje win, I turned my attention to Nadal on the internet. (Dear gazillion sports channels: Given there are so many of you that every other channel seems to feature sports through the rest of the year, why is it that not one you is showing Wimbledon and leaving the football reruns to the competition? WHY?). Of course, given his form, Nadal didn’t need my help (or anyone else’s either), and I felt rather sorry for Murray at the end of it all. He had me worried in the beginning with his shaky form, but now he looks unbeatable. Oh, but I LOVE Rafa.

I was hoping this stroke of wins would continue and Ghana would prevail over Uruguay; but thanks to Luis Suarez’s ugly handball, that was not to be. Well, you can’t win ‘em all. Still, no prizes for guessing who I’m going to be supporting in the Holland – Uruguay match, despite the orange jerseys.

Saturday morning was lazily spent dozing over the newspaper. Post-lunch we sat down to Jeopardy and Scrabble. Once that was done, frenetic calls were made, and much planning and cancelling and conferencing happened before a dozen of us finally headed out to Zero G to see the Germany – Argentina match. All that planning paid off because Zero G was perfect - the screen was HUGE, the layout of the place is such that you can sit almost anywhere and get a good view of the screen, it was filled with an enthusiastic crowd, yet it was not so crowded that we had to strain to see, and it is reasonably priced.

The only downside was that they were not playing the commentary. But all in all, I think Zero G was an excellent choice; and any other place would have been too crowded/ too expensive/ too difficult to get good seats/ standing space only/not such a large screen. Also, I was going back there after 3 years, and the place looks very nice indeed now that it has been refurbished.

Now back to the match, I couldn’t quite make up my mind who to support. I was leaning towards Argentina, I even had a bet on Messi; but after the Germany – England match, it’s very hard not to root for a team that played such entertaining football. And whatttayyy match this was! Germany was fantastic, simply fantastic. It was such a pleasure to watch them play. Even hard-core Argentina supporters would find it difficult to not admire the way the Germans played, and totally outclassed the Argentines.

Oh, by the way, four years ago, I was at Bottles and Chimney in Hyderabad for the Argentina – Germany World Cup match, and felt like I was the sole German supporter in a pub filled with Argentina fans.

Anyway, once the match ended, we headed out to the Chancery Pavilion for a poolside FIFA party. The party started out rather slowly, but at some point the DJ started playing Bollywood, and the dance floor started filling up. Speaking of which, I just don’t get this whole ‘Bollywood music, ugh!’ thing that most DJs have going. I mean, clearly it’s the Bollywood numbers that get the crowd onto the dance floor, so why do DJs insist on turning their collective nose up on Bollywood and playing numbers nobody really wants to dance to?

Is this only a Bangalore phenomenon, or is this true of the clubbing scene in other cities too? Fair peoples of other cities, kindly lend me your wisdom on whether it’s the same scenario in your city too or if Bollywood gets the respect it deserves as THE music to play on club nights. Okay, end of rant.

So coming back to the party, which was in full swing by this time, with people jumping into the pool and all. We got into the spirit of the things and jumped into the pool too, and started splashing about in tune, or something, to the music. This was the best part of the party, it was awesomely awesome, and when I become rich I’m going to have a swimming pool in my house and have pool parties ALL THE TIME. The short term plan though is to make friends with someone who does have a pool already so we can have pool parties there. Any of you out there reading this right now?

After I got out of the pool, I went to the restroom, and this girl in there saw me dripping wet and actually asked ‘Are you sweating so much from all that dancing?’ Huh? HUH? Seriously, woman, what were you smoking?

We left the party early, and after a quick stopover at Empire to pick up dinner, we headed home to watch the Spain – Paraguay match and play Taboo. However, everyone was rather tired, so people gradually dropped off to sleep, and no one watched Villa score for Spain.

Sunday saw friends over for lunch, and then out to the Leela for bowling. A visit to the Leela must necessarily include a stop at the Barista, so a round of bowling (and air hockey and foosball and insert –name-of-random-shooting-game) was followed by a tall glass of Swiss Mocha Frappe. Then it was on to Brigade Road for some people watching. Oh, and at some store in Brigade I came across this very cute pair of light pink cargos. Now I’m not a cargos girl at all, but this one was on sale for 125 buck, yes, a HUNDER AND TWENTY FIVE BUCKs ONLY, and it fit well and looked good, and I wouldn’t be a girl if I passed that one up, so of course I didn’t (pass it up, that is).

Also, a momos counter has opened near the Nilgiris on Brigade - veg momos for 25 bucks and chicken momos for 30 bucks. Not bad at all, especially considering I don’t know where else in Bangalore momos are available by the roadside; and if YOU know, please, please drop me a line, and you shall earn my eternal gratitude (unless you’re suggesting some place in HSR Layout/Jayanagar/Whitefield or such other far off places to which one can’t go just to eat a plate of momos by the roadside, as much as one loves a plate of momos by the roadside). We then went to Donut Baker for donuts doughnuts. Damn you, America! I love their chocolate fudge doughnuts, as well as their plain honey dipped doughnuts – do give them a try.

We headed home to watch Rafa lift the cup. Did I say I LOVE Rafa? The weekend couldn’t have ended on a more perfect note!

Weekend Diary

So ArmyBoy came down to Hyderabad from London for a month long holiday. This was his first visit back home after he left for the UK almost two years ago, and I was dying to meet him but I was reluctant to travel to Hyderabad, what with my exam hardly a month away, and another trip to Hyderabad anyway scheduled in the 2^nd week of May for Samee’s graduation. So the gang very sweetly planned a trip to Bangalore to visit me. Yayyy for my awesome college friends! 

They landed here early on Friday morning and the rest of the day was spent lazing around the house. It was a cool and pleasant day, and the guys chugged away the beers. Swetha made Chicken Manchurian and Prawn Something, both of which were gobbled up in a couple of minutes flat. Army boy made some spicy chicken, which we ate along with dal and rice. After that lunch, everyone just lay around on the carpet and dozed off. It was a great way to spend the day with old friends.

In the evening, we dressed up (the girls, that is) and headed out to Opus. We were imagining a pub/club kind of place with a big screen where we hoped to catch the DC – KXIP match, but it turned out to be more of a rather quiet, sedate lounge kind of place. We were initially disappointed with the atmosphere but the service more than made up for it and we ended up cheering them before we left. They have some great value unlimited food and drink packages, and they kept both coming even before we finished what was on the table.

Now biryani was part of the package we had ordered but we didn’t get around to it since we were all so busy dancing. The wait staff very generously packed the biryani for us to take away, without us even asking for it! How is that for service to please? So here is a shout put for Opus! So we finished the day with midnight ice-cream at BR (slurp slurp) and a late night game of Taboo! If you know Nike at all, you will also know that there will never be a time when we don’t play Taboo if there are more than 4 people in the house.

The gang left early Saturday morning to Coorg. It took me a great amount of willpower to refuse to go with them, but the darned exam! L Like I always say, a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do! So Saturday was largely spent with my books – I was feeling so sorry for myself for not being in Coorg that I thought I might as well make it worth it by really studying, and so I did study longer that I have for a while now.

Sunday was spent cleaning up by me (since our maid has gone AWOL and we are desperately looking for a new maid) and cooking (by Nike). It drizzled and was really pleasant in the evening so we went to an open-air CCD and spent a couple of hours there playing Ingenious. Tomorrow is ArmyBoy’s birthday so it is party time, before they leave for Hyderabad tomorrow night.

Sunday ended on a good note with the DD – DC match, which DC won. :-) Now my top two teams – RCB and DC – are in the semis, and I’m a happy girl! (My Dad is being randomly regionalist and is happy that all the 3 south Indian teams are in the semis) I will be cheering madly for RCB and DC in the semis, but I have a feeling that it will be a MI – CSK final this year. RCB is performing rather disappointingly despite their amazing batting line up, they have been losing wickets way too easily, and have lost matches that should have been theirs (memories of the match against DC are especially painful). 


I’m not too happy that RCB is playing against MI in the semis – it’s less to do with MI’s invincibility and more to do with my suspicions that Lalit Modi will ensure that the home team will play in the finals. It’s also sad that RCB won’t be playing at home during the semis, but given they won the away match against MI and lost the home match, it could be a good sign (yes, we are vague and random and superstitious about IPL). Whatever, it’s going to be a very exciting IPL week ahead.
 

Of Summer Showers

Today, as I got home from some grocery shopping and sat down at my desk, it suddenly started raining. You know that incredible smell of the earth cooling down, that comes before it starts raining? That’s how it has been since evening. And then it rained, and it was a sudden, short, strong burst, and now the air smells wet and clean and fresh. Sigh!

I always associate these lovely summer showers with Bangalore. In fact, some of my nicest memories of summer are in Bangalore. The first time I visited Bangalore was in the summer of 2003, which was the starting point of a trip with a whole bunch of aunts and cousins. We all marvelled at how cool and pleasant it was, right in the middle of summer. We admired how green and clean it was. We went to Lalbagh and Cubbon Park and bought saplings to take home. We walked along MG Road and Brigade Road, and had lunch at Pizza Hut, a very rare treat for us in those days.

My second visit to Bangalore was in the summer of 2004, for my IIM interviews, which were held at the IIMB campus. The first time I went to campus, it was a very bright green, and it looked brighter and greener against the grey stone and I fell in love. After my interview, my mom and I went to the charming little CCD on the campus. I remember telling her that I was in love with the campus, and it was too bad I wasn’t going to study there since I was going to go to IIMA. You know what they say about being careful about what you say, because the Gods are listening? Well, within two months I was back on campus, and this time, I was going to be there for the next two years.

The summer of 2005 remains my best summer as an adult. After a week’s break at home, I came back to a Bangalore that was raining and so incredibly beautiful. That day remains etched in my memory. I landed at the airport on a hot afternoon, but by the time I went back to campus, it had gotten cooler. I unpacked and got out on to the mezzanine area, and suddenly it started raining, and the campus just transformed into this green paradise. That night, we went to the recently opened PVR in Forum, and watched ‘Socha Na Tha’, a movie that completely floored me, and which remains a favourite to this day (and laid the foundations for a long lasting love for Abhay Deol).

That summer was lovely. I had a summer internship which was very laidback. I went to work in the morning (my work often involved spending the day organising training programmes at 5 star hotels across the city so it was rather cushy); I came out of office quite early, got back to campus, and sat at the CCD with a book in my hand and a coffee at the table till the sun went down and it wasn’t light enough to read anymore. (Till this day I  can't resist the urge to sit in an open air CCD when the weather is glorious). Later in the night, we would go out for dinner; that summer, we went out for dinner every single day, and discovered many lovely little places.

Sometimes I went skating in the tennis court. Nobody would be around and I’d skate around aimlessly for hours, just lost in the moment. I learnt to play basketball. I shopped on the streets on weekends. We got wet in the summer rain. We often had movie nights at l-square. One night, we ‘borrowed’ the projector, projected the movie on to the wall of a friend’s room, and watched a horror movie. It was an unforgettable experience. We watched a movie almost every day. We often slept on the terrace, under the stars.

It wasn’t just a carefree, happy time; those two months were almost magical, like everything else around me got suspended at the time so that I could live in that moment and experience it with an  intensity I never have before or since. Every summer since, I have thought of that summer with a sense of nostalgia and longing and wistfulness so deep that it makes my heartache just a little, for that time that is over, and will never come back again.