Thursday, May 21, 2009

Bangaluru week 1

So an year after Rahul romping his curls on the streets of this maddu-land, I find myself banished to the same fate, albiet without the curls. As expected, the first week was a hotch potch of over-charging auto drivers, dosa-sambhar, catching wrong buses and dosa-sambhar again. (Btw, you really feel the power of cultural segregations on a southie trip, all the advertisements you can see only have Deekipa Padukone, Madhavan+Vidya Balan, or Asin. Its literally scary to imagine if suddenly the Tamils declare a fatwa against all outsiders while ur there. Sheer numbers matter) Currently, we happen to be in search of safe havens where the white-collars hang out. MG road has been rumored to be one, (our office is its wrong end, so havnt been there yet), and Forum confirmed as.

Some facts to be noted:
1) All north-indian eating joints(dhabas) are punjabi house.
2) MacDonalds is cheaper here.
3) The buses actually have the front seats reserved for women, as the well-informed ladies are quick to point out, which makes you imagine a (very-successful) ad campaign by the government (sporting a very forward feminist lead) to sensitise the women of the facility.
4) Some buses have tickets, some have bills, some have neither. And the rate differs between them. The ticketless being the cheapest.
5) Bangalore is big, bigger than Delhi maybe. You end up spending 3 hours in buses if your not careful.
6) Locals can't multi-task, never. Its fruitless to ask an attendant a question while he's in the middle of billing a customer.
7) When ur taking an auto, the driver is doing you a favor.
8) Autos won't get a passanger back from your destination, never mind that its 8 pm and ur going to a hustling market place.

Anyway, the post can't be complete without mentioning the workplace. Its cool, a cafeteria, flexible work hours, high speed net, no strict supervision, doesn't take much to make us happy. Video conferencing company == cool big screens in office. PtbN, lunch makes you sleepy. Coffee half an hour later must.

We got a house, yay, we rented a flat to stay. 6 of us, 6 of us two floors up, ruchus all around. Getting in the cooking atmosphere, starting with sandwiches, maggi, french toast, tea. The bathroom tap makes an eiree noise. TV is a ban. Especially when theres an IPL match everyday and your not the biggest fan.

What else? Went to Nandi hills, Lumbini Gardens on the weekend. Timepass places, won't specially recommend to anybody, but Bangalore doesn't seem to offer much else. Learned a few planning and money managing tips from veterans.

Now to the end, I am wondering why I wrote this blog. Well, we were supposed to maintain a diary, maybe this will do?

PS: Beru, brokerage, research papers

9 comments:

Yazhini said...

The stickler for good grammar and spelling has reversed the spelling of eerie in this post! ;)

Varun Torka said...

Stickler for good gramer and speeling?? I protest!
Who are you? Why is your profile hidden..show yourself

Yazhini said...

Sorry, confused you with some other blogger. I'm just someone who landed on your blog and found it interesting, but only till she read your fav. books list. :)

Varun Torka said...

only till? ... that means u didnt like the readin list ?

well cant blame u actually, its an old quickly written assortment of some juvenile books..

Yazhini said...

No, it wasn't about my liking. It sorta explained your blog.

Varun Torka said...

;)..does it?
So you read a lot it seems...or randomly, as the posts u hv commented on r widely separated.

More importantly, so its a she! u on any social networking site? twitter/fb/orkut :D

Varun Torka said...

hey...hope u arnt disgusted.. i ws just kidding. :)
I don't want to scare away the already thin readership this blog has. ;)

Yazhini said...

Haha no, not at all! :) Yeah, yazhini01 on twitter. So this other guy on this blog doesn't post at all?

Varun Torka said...

well..that ws our motivation for the combined blog frm the start...that at least one of us wud continue posting when the other is in a slack phase...
tho this time Rahul has been inactive a little too long.....