A day in the life of LIFE

After two days of zombied existence in Bengaluru, a routine that has comprised of feasting (pythonic style) and sleeping (like the IBM ad of “ideating”) I’ve finally found some time to put up a post on the latest from Namma Bengaluru.

I actually had two other posts that I was working on, in parallel – one on the Xmas celebration in Shillong (Believe me this was one of the best Christmas celebrations I’ve ever witnessed) and the Flight IT 432 and happenings on board.
I then decided to park the aforementioned posts lest the current one becomes as recent as a feature film aired on Doordarshan.After having survived the 4 degree chill of Shillong, Bangalore definitely feels warm (if not “hot’) at 18.

A lot of similarity exists between Shillong and Bangalore. For starters, both are known for the hip culture, the greenery, the pleasant weather and most importantly the dominant presence of the Rock Culture. ( Yup, bands like Scorpions and MLTR have already visited Shillong, and we recently had “White Lions” performing two weeks ago).

Back home, the atmosphere has been quite different. Ma’s on a mission to make me gain all the weight that I’ve lost owing to “Hostel ka khaana”. She’s running a viral marketing campaign and offering a service titled “7 din mein 7 kg pao warna 7 kg jalebi free” and right now the only enrolment other than myself has been the weak specimen Swami (better recognized as Munnabhai’s room mate in Lagey Raho)

Who ever said eating is an art, was definitely right. The piping hot vada sambar to the spicy paani puri on the gallis of Bengaluru has led to a ten fold increase in Pudin Hara sales at the local Chemist’s.

Catching up with friends has topped my list of priorities. While yesterday the rendezvous was Mc Donald’s at Brigade Road with Wipro Buddies, today’s hospitality was sponsored by PP – a friend since the summer of ’93. We shared the same bench in school. I was invited to his new house where authentic “Mallu” snacks lined the platter – ranging from Bennana Chips to Adapradaman (one of the most delicious forms of "payasam"). The spread reminded of the Onam Sadhya (feast during the Malayali festival of Onam) I had previously been invited to at a colleague’s house in Chennai, a couple of years ago.

Post the gluttony we visited the local chat stall that we frequented as kids with 5 rupees in the pocket (this sum was large enough to buy us a plate of sev puri and one by two nimbu soda). We repeated the order, though inflation had taken its toll and the price of the total order was now 25 rupees. GG and AH gave the mini re-union a miss, citing reasons – that were as logical as HRD minister Arjun Singh’s antics.

The memories that were revived over the next 15 odd minutes were just priceless. The pranks we played to the fights we had, “Puraani jeans aur Guitar” – we had a rerun of 15 years in that short span of time.The swift breeze of the Bangalore night blew past our faces even as we parted ways, of course with the promise of catching up in the near future.

These are some of the strongest bonds that keep you going, even when the going gets tough – As they say,”True friendship is thicker than blood”. Rock on guys!!

Pic: the snacks on offer at PP's house.