Namma Bengalooru...

I have been planning to write this post for quiet some time now... one year! Why I hadn't put my thoughts on paper blog? I have a phd in Procrastination, thats why! Nostalgia has hit me once again, in such an intensity that the necessity of putting my thoughts on paper, oopps, on my blog seemed inevitable. Nostalgia is a very strong feeling... You will agree by the end of the post:

I was watching this song on television. 

Naguva Nayana Madhura Mauna
Midiva Hrudaya Kiremaateke
Hosa Bhaashe Idu Rasa Kavyavidu
Ida Haadalu Kavi Beeke

I love the song. I love Mani Rathnam for capturing Bangalore's famous places in it. Lovers in Cubbon park / lal bagh (there's the guava seller too in the song), shopping in Mahathma Gandhi road (MG road), commercial street. I was literally peeping to catch a glance of brigade road when Anil Kapoor turns at Cauvery emporium. Crazy, that's the word ringing in your mind? Agree completely...


There are a hundred more spots which make this place one of the best loved cities! Why in MG road alone I can name about fifty favorite spots which define the essence of city. I loved walking along MGs on weekends with friends. As we walked we would peep into Bombay stores and window shop and end up buying few things which we never used and some which have been truly irreplaceable. Cafe coffee day (CCD) was our favorite hang out place, the one in front of Bombay stores! We would  sit for hours, chatting, laughing and sipping cold coffee until it turned hot. There were a few regulars who were found loitering the place at all times and slowly we became the regulars. Back then, it was some kind of cult. Okay moving further down, there were a few days of our lives when our pockets were burnt, this offered a quiet different kind of situation for a 'REGULAR'. It was at this time I used the facilities of CROSSWORDS! I would dust my hands off the burnt ashes and walk into the air conditioned, well furnished (loved the sofas)paradise of book lovers - Coss words.

We all have heard about window shopping, how about window book shopping! That's exactly what I used to do in crosswords. Pick a book after spending like thirty minutes of scanning. Settle down in a quiet place and begin reading. Awesome! Hours would go by, it was like a great escape into a different universe. Solitude definitely has it's share of joys. This was a great getaway for me (what with burnt pockets and all). Other interesting places - Lakeview restaurant, Corner house, US pizza, blah blah blah... are everyone's favorites.
The best time of the year was Christmas and New year when the whole place looked so lit up and beautiful.

Things have changed drastically. Now there are many shopping malls which are filled with buyers and onlookers, buzzing around 24x7. There is the never ending NAMMA METRO which says 'wherever you go, we follow'. The traffic jams and people honking, BMTC buses, auto drivers are any 'A' class driver's nightmares.But the city, has grown beautiful down the ages. Look at the vibrant paintings on the walls along the city's main roads! A great effort. This place is more than a city, it's a way of living!