Owing to many reasons (ranging from wanting to be away from some things/situations, playing a perfect host,it being end of month and just some chemical locha in my brain!!) I spent the 3 day christmas weekend in bengalooru. This is very surprising because I run off to chennai at the drop of a hat and as many friends would vouch, I am never in bengalooru to even plan day trips...This time I hadn't even consciously planned to be here, so ended up declining invitations to visit some beautiful places around bangalore and basically had no real plans for the 3 days.My bro was to be here on 25 & 26, but he had a bike trip planned with some 'biker dudes' and I wasnt even invited, to make matters worse were questions from my dad as to y i wasnt home, my nephew wanting to know y i wasnt coming to his christmas party and my dear friend heading back to leeds whom I wasnt giving a send-off to. All of this resulted in a very depressing 24th evening which had me wondering wat the hell I was dng and other such very philosophical questions.On 24th night I decided that i couldnt sulk on Christmas eve, and decided to take a drive to brigade road past the many churches around midnight.And I assure you, its one of the most beautiful times to be out on the streets of bangalore.The churches were lit up , families dressed in their best making their way to the churches, baloon and cotton candy sellers trying to make the most of the festive spirit,the traffic consisted mostly of young men on bikes ;-) , so basically it was the best of bengalooru! Brigade road itself was buzzing with activity, people were out on the streets just getting out of the many pubs on the flanking streets.The road in the usual style was lit up and the lighting definitely made the place appear heavenly.
I absoultely loved the drive and decided that I want to explore the city that I have been living in for 2 .5 yrs .
So the next day I looked up some places to visit and decided on The VITmuseum, Vidhan Soudha and the Bangalore palace.I am directionally-challenged and so me getting to a destination even with a GPRS facility would be a feat and in this case I didnt have a GPRS only my perception of where some landmarks listed on google maps were.Eventually I got to the museum and believe me, there is something like a bigger force or destiny that got me there otherwise how do you explain going in the exact opposite direction and still getting there....So, there i was, an early bird ( oh yes 10.30 is early by Bangalore standards) at the museum, thanks to which I got a parking spot in a suprisingly small parking lot.There was a large group of school kids in uniform waiting to enter the Museum. While I stood in the line to buy a ticket, I had the misfortune of being in between 2 groups, in front were 3 young girls and behind me was this family comprising of the parents and 2 adolescent kids. The girls caught my attention at first.They were nice looking girls dressed more like they were going to a party than to the Museum on a national holiday.I was actually quite impressed that they would choose the museum as an outing option and had thoughts about books and covers running through my mind when kapoot!! I overheard their converstation. ' I have been in delhi for 10 years, but I haven't visited the Taj mahal. Why do we have to visit the museum?? He has gone crazy really'. I had half a mind to turn around and tell her that Taj mahal was not in Delhi, but I realized that whoever that guy was who had this brilliant idea of taking them to the museum was going to have tough day already without me making matters worse by giving her more reason to pout.I had the pleasure of seeing this lad a little later when he was tring to kindle some interest in the life size model of the Wright bothers' invention but to no avail, the only retort he got was ' we all know what a plane looks like!!'. I pitied that guy, but nothing was going to make me go through the same torture and so I decided to explore the exhibits in the opposite order.I wont go into the details of the various exhibits, but the highlights were different models explaining mechanics, I liked the one on the screw and the ball point, the discovery of an exhibit from Biocon describing a technology patented by the company :-D and model on the making of silicon chips.
What I really did there, was watch people.There were kids rushing from exhibit to exhibit, not really looking at what was being described but more keen to see how the model works, well I guess thats how kids are and thats the precise reason why the models are there in the first place.Unfortunately, most of the models havent taken the enthusiastic push and pull too well. There were the parents who appeared more keen than the kids to understand the phenomena/inventions described, there were these youngsters who were there just to have some fun, there were the couples who for some reason thought this was more romantic and there was me just walking about purposefully with no real purpose.I had the eyes of many people following me, they were all probably wondering, quite rightly too if i was a recluse.Oh yes, the highlight of the visit like I said was the discovery of the Plafractor exhibit and the ancient versions of instruments like the peptide synthesizer and HPLC machines.At the risk of sounding like a lunatic I must say that I nearly knelt in front of them, well I actually did, pretending to take a picture ;-).
After this I left toward my next destination, the Vidhan Soudha, the seat of the state's legislative assembly.I have passed by it once and remember that I was quite amazed by the structure.This time around I walked the length, and yes, it is quite awesome.The building is the brainchild of the then chief minister of Mysore state 1951-56, Hanumanthiah and was intended to symbolise the legislative soveriegnity of the people.True to the idea, the structure is said to have features of British, Dravidian and Indo-Islamic architecture.The features I particularly liked were the Ashoka pillar and the grand stairs.Right opposite the Vidhana Soudha is the high court.Which is quite queerly inviting with its lush gardens.
After this I headed towards the Bangalore Palace, but all the luck I was having with navigation ran out and I couldnt figure how to get to the palace in spite of being just a few meters from it. I have reserved that for another day, so follow this blog for more on that!
Having crossed off 2 destinations from my list, I headed back home and made a stop on the way for a quick lunch. This was at a new restaurant that I spotted a while back. It turned out to be a good find.Its one of the few places to offer entertainment along with food.They had game boards and books!! I think lunch or dinner can get to be quite a drag with some people and nothing like a game to spice things up and plus for people eating alone, a book comes to the rescue.Another plus for this place is that they allow pets in.Double thumbs Up!!Quite expensive, but I suppose worth it once in a while.
With this I got back into life of domestication and came home and did all the chores and ended the evening reading 'Calvin & Hobbes' with 94.3 Fm playing in the background. A fitting end to the day.
The next day I got another opportunity to explore the city.I decided to drop my brother at AOL Ashram where he embarks on a spiritual journey.... leave the spiritual journey part for another blog.So there we were trying to get to the place in Kanakapura Road.As it turns out the place is about 20 miles down Kanakapura Road, we got there after a long drive through BTM, JP nagar and Kanakapura. After dropping him off I decided to take the NICE road back. It was an amazing drive. The road was beautiful, but unfortunately didn't stretch as long as I would have liked it to.I enjoyed the drive so much that I have decided to do a longer drive the coming weekend . Looking forward to that and exploring Bengalooru more. :-) :-)
I absoultely loved the drive and decided that I want to explore the city that I have been living in for 2 .5 yrs .
So the next day I looked up some places to visit and decided on The VITmuseum, Vidhan Soudha and the Bangalore palace.I am directionally-challenged and so me getting to a destination even with a GPRS facility would be a feat and in this case I didnt have a GPRS only my perception of where some landmarks listed on google maps were.Eventually I got to the museum and believe me, there is something like a bigger force or destiny that got me there otherwise how do you explain going in the exact opposite direction and still getting there....So, there i was, an early bird ( oh yes 10.30 is early by Bangalore standards) at the museum, thanks to which I got a parking spot in a suprisingly small parking lot.There was a large group of school kids in uniform waiting to enter the Museum. While I stood in the line to buy a ticket, I had the misfortune of being in between 2 groups, in front were 3 young girls and behind me was this family comprising of the parents and 2 adolescent kids. The girls caught my attention at first.They were nice looking girls dressed more like they were going to a party than to the Museum on a national holiday.I was actually quite impressed that they would choose the museum as an outing option and had thoughts about books and covers running through my mind when kapoot!! I overheard their converstation. ' I have been in delhi for 10 years, but I haven't visited the Taj mahal. Why do we have to visit the museum?? He has gone crazy really'. I had half a mind to turn around and tell her that Taj mahal was not in Delhi, but I realized that whoever that guy was who had this brilliant idea of taking them to the museum was going to have tough day already without me making matters worse by giving her more reason to pout.I had the pleasure of seeing this lad a little later when he was tring to kindle some interest in the life size model of the Wright bothers' invention but to no avail, the only retort he got was ' we all know what a plane looks like!!'. I pitied that guy, but nothing was going to make me go through the same torture and so I decided to explore the exhibits in the opposite order.I wont go into the details of the various exhibits, but the highlights were different models explaining mechanics, I liked the one on the screw and the ball point, the discovery of an exhibit from Biocon describing a technology patented by the company :-D and model on the making of silicon chips.
What I really did there, was watch people.There were kids rushing from exhibit to exhibit, not really looking at what was being described but more keen to see how the model works, well I guess thats how kids are and thats the precise reason why the models are there in the first place.Unfortunately, most of the models havent taken the enthusiastic push and pull too well. There were the parents who appeared more keen than the kids to understand the phenomena/inventions described, there were these youngsters who were there just to have some fun, there were the couples who for some reason thought this was more romantic and there was me just walking about purposefully with no real purpose.I had the eyes of many people following me, they were all probably wondering, quite rightly too if i was a recluse.Oh yes, the highlight of the visit like I said was the discovery of the Plafractor exhibit and the ancient versions of instruments like the peptide synthesizer and HPLC machines.At the risk of sounding like a lunatic I must say that I nearly knelt in front of them, well I actually did, pretending to take a picture ;-).After this I left toward my next destination, the Vidhan Soudha, the seat of the state's legislative assembly.I have passed by it once and remember that I was quite amazed by the structure.This time around I walked the length, and yes, it is quite awesome.The building is the brainchild of the then chief minister of Mysore state 1951-56, Hanumanthiah and was intended to symbolise the legislative soveriegnity of the people.True to the idea, the structure is said to have features of British, Dravidian and Indo-Islamic architecture.The features I particularly liked were the Ashoka pillar and the grand stairs.Right opposite the Vidhana Soudha is the high court.Which is quite queerly inviting with its lush gardens.
After this I headed towards the Bangalore Palace, but all the luck I was having with navigation ran out and I couldnt figure how to get to the palace in spite of being just a few meters from it. I have reserved that for another day, so follow this blog for more on that!
Having crossed off 2 destinations from my list, I headed back home and made a stop on the way for a quick lunch. This was at a new restaurant that I spotted a while back. It turned out to be a good find.Its one of the few places to offer entertainment along with food.They had game boards and books!! I think lunch or dinner can get to be quite a drag with some people and nothing like a game to spice things up and plus for people eating alone, a book comes to the rescue.Another plus for this place is that they allow pets in.Double thumbs Up!!Quite expensive, but I suppose worth it once in a while.
With this I got back into life of domestication and came home and did all the chores and ended the evening reading 'Calvin & Hobbes' with 94.3 Fm playing in the background. A fitting end to the day.
The next day I got another opportunity to explore the city.I decided to drop my brother at AOL Ashram where he embarks on a spiritual journey.... leave the spiritual journey part for another blog.So there we were trying to get to the place in Kanakapura Road.As it turns out the place is about 20 miles down Kanakapura Road, we got there after a long drive through BTM, JP nagar and Kanakapura. After dropping him off I decided to take the NICE road back. It was an amazing drive. The road was beautiful, but unfortunately didn't stretch as long as I would have liked it to.I enjoyed the drive so much that I have decided to do a longer drive the coming weekend . Looking forward to that and exploring Bengalooru more. :-) :-)
