Bangalore Days — 2.0
A Cool City with Medium Attitude……
As I sit in the balcony enjoying the breeze and the rains in Goa all quarantined in this pandemic situation. There is a part of me left in a place that has helped me grow. I have life lessons learned and all those moments of self-realization. I can finally say I have a secret affair with this place “Namma Bengaluru”.
Two years have swept off from “Kannada Gothtila” — I can't speak Kannada to Kannada Mathadtini — I can speak Kannada.
I come from a Place where People often get High “ GOA”. I had never been away from my family or had an opportunity to stay in the hostel. I always wanted to come out of my comfort zone and experience new things. Even as I’m writing this Goa will always have a special place in my heart. Even before moving to Bangalore, I had certain expectations and questions. I was fantasizing about life similar to Meera in The Girl in the city. 🌃
Here are some moments/first times that added to me which I will cherish forever.
11th July 2018
The first time I landed in Bangalore. They say Bangalore weather is feminine, It just can’t make up its mind whether it is bright cloudy or gloomy. With very high hopes that I came thinking that the weather will be pleasant and not humid all the time like Goa and here I witness summer even in July.😩
People expect Alpha but in reality, they get Beta.
I made my first purchase in Bangalore from Muthahalli, where I was taking shelter from the rain that had become a thunderstorm and was stuck for an hour.
💔 Pleasant weather
💔 I will explore around but was dancing around to fix the laptop keyboard on the streets of HSR on the very first day.
Will I even bond with this place?
I had just started….
Figuring out which Nagar I’m heading
For the first 2 months, I figured out the city alone and would just end up going to places randomly. I would sit and observe people sipping coffee, party poopers talking about the weekend Bollywood nights to Oldies arguing about public affairs.
I had to practice pronouncing complex place names only because kannadigas would get offended and would look at me as if I had created a crime. I could relate to it…
Candolim as Canndolim.
Also the first time I witnessed the horrible traffic of Bangalore.
The Silk board traffic where any pedestrian would easily overtake 50 cars.
Like every new girl in the city, 2nd crossroad, 4th sector, 17th main road, and moo baa la la la would go above my head🤯. Because my phone would ditch me in terms of Google maps and the battery. I would actually roam around with screenshots of maps only because I thought that my network may give up, navigate, or end up asking and making everyone my bhaiya.
After all the hustle, what you expect next will never be there.
These screenshots above are a testimony of one of those days when I had to go to answer a Sarkari Naukri exam out of the city only to satisfy my parents ☹️ even after having a job offer in hand. Like any other kid, I also wanted to run away from what my parents do.
Just like back then people used to wonder Why did Kattappa kill Baahubali? until Baahubali 2 came and here
I’m still wondering…….
🤔Why Indian parents are so obsessed with Government Jobs?
From Kannad to Kannada
Maccha, Bangalore me first time ahhh..North Indian whose trying the south-indian accent.
I was always habituated to say Kannad until one of my Punjabi friend corrected me saying it's not Kannad, Its Kannada. I could see the partial south indian in her coming out.🔥
There would also be times when we would bond over soccer
FC Goa Vs FC Bengaluru but then it would end up being a draw.
For the first time, I also faced stereotyping that every Goan faces in a New City. Every other person I would meet started scanning me from left to right, top to bottom when I would tell them I’m from Goa.
“You probably must be clubbing every weekend (and maybe even during the week), right?”
Me — Most Goans haven’t partied as hard in their lifetimes as you people do on one trip to Goa.
We goans love our music, dance, and food but the fact is that goans across ages have had a culturally more civilized, and genteel tryst with alcohol and parties.
Russians ???
Me — 🤨
“ Kya hai yaar, Jannat chod ke aye ho”
Me — 🙄
“Hume koi bejhdo ash hi ash ho jayegi humari”.
Me — Bade Log 😱
Some even discussed how they would plan for their Goa trips every now and then and would always end up canceling it last moment.
Next Request
“Mujhe ek baar Goa ghumana please”
Me — You’re most welcomed to Goa. 🤗
Cool ya...Meri bhi outing ho jayegi!!
The only solution to this was to make peace with the fact that you will be judged for everything.✌️
And honestly speaking its been fun... I have made a lot of friends in this whole process, who would also bug me to get coolers only because they were tax-free whenever I used to get back home.
I have met people who have warmly welcomed me saying “Welcome da” with a smile. What struck me was the smile on their face to a stranger while the world around them went on hustling.
Smile is contagious :)
Uber, Ola to your rescue!!
Bangalore is one of those cities where people think twice before using their own transportation. There’s nothing like Odd or Even which exists in Delhi. You need to take God’s name when you actually book a Rapido because few captains have to show off their skills on the empty road and you on the other side scared and worried about your helmet flying.
You basically need to worry about your Uber rating — I’m sorted ⭐️(4.73/5)
I have explored most of Bangalore through BMTC buses and the Metro because that is the cheapest.
Diversity
You can find every kind of human being that exists in the world. From a new-born professional to an experienced person, a hardcore yo-yo fan to a neat freak, a careless slothful slugger to an inhuman workaholic. Everybody!!
Having born to parents from two different religions. People, cultures, and places have always fascinated me. I have had the privilege of enjoying different cultures. Therefore it was quite easy for me to bond and meet new people. You get habituated to a lot of their things, their cultures, their way of storytelling, their mother tongue, and a lot more.
I have had a record of visiting every possible physician in Bangalore. Like every 3 months, I would end up doing some stunts.
I have been staying with South Indians, North Indians and Of course, Bombae from Assam ( PS — Not Bombay ). These guys have been nothing less than a second family to me. I love hearing their 🏠 stories to even getting annoyed with my landlord who would address all of us as Amma.
Since most of us were engineers and all having diverse careers, we could relate to each other. They would share their gutsy stories on how they would end up being Begani Shaddi me Abdulla Deewana or even playing pranks on lecturers.
Being those 90’s Kids, We have shared a lot of common interests like humming over the country songs to playing Minesweeper.
chal gedi marane chalte hai when we had to burn our calories.
chal kuch jugaad kar lenge when we had no proper vegetables to cook.
The late-night walks on the roads even at 11.00 pm with them, staring at people exercising and playing football at Cult.fit to even getting motivated to buy a Cult membership. We have had it all.
Intention- Action gap where action has not been taken yet
Still satisfying my seafood cravings back home.
It seemed like these guys had lived an engineering life similar to 3 idiots. I was sad about the fact that I have just bunked college to go and sit on the beach, CCD or end up climbing the Verna Industrial Estate Tower…yet maintaining attendance of 85%. This may be mainstream for many of us but every time we would think of bunking college, there used to a lot of time wasted in convincing a lot of nerds and In that period of time, the lecturer would also enter the class.
Mass Bunking is always a flop
My Colleagues have been very instrumental in helping me grow personally and professionally. I have enjoyed all the Sukhsagar and Chai point treats in the bay to the team outings every quarter.
Impulsive wait for the weekend vacations
Heading out to Nandi Hills early morning at 4.00 am, over the weekend with friends and a few bikes is a real treat and a break from the monotony of everyday traffic. You find a heady concoction of clouds, mist, beauty, and 50 shades of green all around you.
This has actually made me think overall my travel plans like there’s so much in our country and we haven’t discovered yet. We actually planned quite a few trips to each other’s home town. Because I believe no one can show you places better than a local.
But ☹️
A Moment of Silence to all our travel plans this year.
In these two years, I have learned to appreciate everything around me. Everyone has something to contribute to you and you have something to learn from and contribute to them.
A lot happens over Single Vada, Filter kaapi or Ginger tea
Bangalore has some amazing food streets. Being a foodie, hanging out to try street food was our new profession. HSR Street food would be our main adda. My friend from Goa was out here for a few months and we actually ended up trying a lot of Street food from different places whether it was Mosque road or Shivaji Nagar.
I have bonded over on Puchkas, Golgappe, Paani Ke Patashee,99 Varieties of Dosas and also Bisi bele bath.
People are out on the streets early morning at MTR in Lalbagh to relish the soft idlis or enjoy the English breakfast at Hole in the Wall Cafe in Koramangala, There are cafes lurked around every corner, Uber cool bars and breweries served up handcrafted beers. The cool weather is perfect for hot soup and summers in the corner house for ice cream.
But all said Goa is always the best when it comes to Seafood !!
Thanks to BBMP, HSR food street is no more 😩
From Martin Garrix, Badshah to Vijay Devarakonda
Clubbing, Parting, and all the karaokes in Bangalore for the IT crowd are like letting go of all worries and work stress. The city is great if you just want to bang your heads to EDM all night. You will hear all the rocking English songs all day and the moment the clock strikes 10.00 pm. You will be surprised to see how everyone would start grooving over the classic Punjabi and Haryanvi songs.
I have been always fond of Live Bands more than DJ ranging from True Blue, Alcatraz, Lynx being my favorite from Goa to Parikarma, and Local Train from the North. Hardrock wins it all with all the amazing bands performing out there.
It used to be some sort of luxury even if we would find one corner in the place amongst the crowd just to save ourselves from those hits. Apart from this, everybody keeps humming songs from Vijay Devarakonda’s Movies to being the hardcore BTS fans.
Lost in action — Starring Rudolf
Bangalore is the most pet-friendly place I have ever seen. You will also find them in Cafes. Meet Rudolf, my aunt’s dog. He reminds me of my dog Pluto. He's a very loving and obedient kid. They complement this trait by being playful, affectionate, and even-tempered.
There are days when we have fed street dogs with Parle Biscuits to days where they show a lot of attitude. Every street in Bangalore, you will find a dozen of cows giving you darshan. They are not bothered about the chaos going around.
Every time you leave behind the certain for the uncertainty, you take with you some of the idiosyncrasies of the place you belong to and immerse yourself in the quirks of another ...that said, that’s Bangalore for me! And it has treated me amazingly well so far…. Please continue to be kind ❤️
If I’ve offended anyone, please help yourself with filter kaapi. You’ll feel better. In case you liked what you just read, please clap (and make my day). Stay safe!
