BIAL or the new Bangalore airport was a fantastic. It was much bigger and better than Delhi airport. Everything was organized; it was so spacious and could make you feel that you have landed in some foreign country!! Since it was away from the city, there were busses running from the airport to various parts of the city, which were both A.C and Non A.C. The weather was really pleasant over there being just above 23 degrees at noon. It took us a while to reach to the city from the airport. But during my way, I observed that all the traffic flowed only in one direction…everywhere! Most of the roads were unidirectional (one-way). It was due to excessive vehicular traffic. It might look a simple solution to the traffic congestion problem, but because of this unidirectional traffic, a distance of 1 km becomes more than 2.5 kms. The place appeared a lil peculiar to me…every1 including autowalas knew English, though they were not fluent in it, but could understand what you were trying to say, and would reply you back sentences that would have words from English and Hindi also. This was because we did not understand Kannad. I loved the food there; south Indian food was the main diet there & hence their dosas, idlies, vada, sambhar tasted much better than that of Delhi. In the afternoon, I went to the room on for a nap…I opened the door of the balcony and I could feel the cool breeze flowing in the room…it felt really nice, as if I was in some park…In the evening we set out for dinner at Kamat restaurant. As in every city, it’s difficult for a tourist to get hold autowalas who does not over charges and Bangalore was not exception. We asked a local about the rate to the restaurant. But no autowala agreed for that rate bcos they could make that we were tourists as we did not know kannad. Finally we got one who came most close to the rate that we expected. Once there, I was feeling were hungry & I thought I would probably eat everything that they had in their kitchen. I was too eager to get my hands on food. Once seated, they offered Banana leaf (which are very big in size) instead of regular plates…I thght how could we eat in this, would the regular dals, curries spill out? But on the other hand I liked it, since I thght it was more hygienic than plates and cutlery. (The localities do not use spoons for eating) Once food was served, I observed that most of it was in semi-solid state, so that it would not flow outta leaf. It was simple south Indian thaali, which I liked very much. But what I really liked there were the banana that they served after the meal. It was very short, about 2-3 inches long and was sweet and lime taste at same time. I ate so much, that it was difficult for me to walk now (I no I am a petu!) After that it was good night’s sleep. Next morning we went to MTR, the famous Tiffin center for our breakfast. But it was closed, hence had to go to another place for Breakfast. I again I just luved the food there, the dosas, and the bhats (rice preparations) were simply amazing. There was one particular difference with preparation of dosas, wrt to north and over here. The dosas in north are very thin, however in Bangalore, they were very thick, and hence very heavy. I did not realize that before ordering, and hence had to eat more than I could. (I was so full that on that day I skipped my lunch.) I went to see a science museum after that. I had hoped that my time would fly away in the museum, but on the other hand, I knew everything museum had to offer except for the history section, which was really nice. In the after noon I went for some strolling in the neighborhood of my place of stay. (Waise, the paanwala knew English) In the evening I went for Saarkar Raj. It was watchable movie. Then again in night we went to same Kamat restaurant were we went the previous night. But this time I did not like the food as much I had liked it the previous night.
Next morning was our flight back to Delhi. It was time to bid adieu to the city. On the airport, I actually came to see the effect of being on the airport of a tech city. Every second person was working on the laptop and almost every1 carried one. There were some who had no work on the laptop, but because there were many who were working on the laptop around them, how could they be left behind?? Hence they decided to open their laptops and sit idle. Laptops were everywhere from the people squatting on the ground to those who were eating and those who could find a place to sit & thus were standing. My flight was in morning hours; hence the rush was too much. Thought the airport is newly built, but it could not handle so much rush. The vastness of the airport I felt when landed on the same airport 2-3 days back seemed to have disappeared. All the eating joints were overcrowded and restrooms were extremely small. I had to board my flight through a particular door. The door no was known to us but not the boarding time as the flight was delayed by 20 mins. Before boarding announcement was made, there was large no, of people standing the Q. I wondered, why were they standing before the announcement was made? Instead of sitting down at empty chairs, they preferred to stand. Was it to occupy the better seat in the plane (you have seat numbers on the boarding pass)?? Or was it the fear of being leaving behind if you entered last. I must admit, it was a tough one for me to decide. Though the flight was late, I did not have to wait for a long time and soon got into my flight. The flight back home was really boring. Thank fully I had book to read which I had purchased from the airport duty free shop and as a result had to pay Rs. 100 more that the MRP!!
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