Raj and Venkat had already decided to take a break in Bangalore, coz they were not comfortable driving in the night that too in the busy Bangalore highway...what with the number of trucks that pass through that road..it is real pain to drive at night. So, they had already taken the advice of another great guy from Bangalore..Mr.Abhishek Shanbag. An architect by profession till he entered into TAPMI, this buff is into Titan Industries as Marketing Manager. Having been born and brought up in Bangalore, he claims to know all of Bangalore. Our heroes fell in for that bluff and had taken the name of a hotel ( I vaguely remember it to be some Nandhini in Yeshwantpur)....The buff had given the route to the hotel too...armed with a hotel's name and route, we started venturing into a mase called Bangalore.
I think the game of Maze would be better than Bangalore roads. If I can call the garden city as a city of one-ways, it wouldn't be a over-statement. "Engengu Kanninum one-wayada"....so many one ways and so many violations...*Phew*...I could never understand our traffic sense. Back to the topic..So, our guide had told us that, we need to take a left turn next to the Metro store in Yestwantpur to get to the Iskon temple and from there, we need to go straight for the hotel. On seeing the Metro itself, our joy was boundless...a typical MBA student...started discussing about the supply chain issues that would plague the store and the implications of it on its profitability. Came to the conclusion that the store must be running at loss for the next three years atleat, before retail is opened for foreign investment. Speaking of all these highly intellectual issues, we lost track of the track and before we could realise, we were out of the vicinity of both the Metro and the left turn next to it. We went in search of a U-Turn so that we can retrace the path...the search went for another 1 KM. Atlast found a signal with no Maama around...so took a risk of U-Turn and came back....this time, we couldn't find the U Turn only next to the Metro. We went back in the same road, as there is no U-Turn again....so, back to sqaure one...Here, we can once again see the Metro, but no Left turn. Started back again in the same road, and went to the same signal to take another risk and came back..This time, we were smart enough to ask a call taxi to guide us.. The driver asked us to follow him and as we followed him, a great Indian Lambrador came inbetween us and with it came a dozen other two -wheelers. Missed the call taxi guy and again to square 1. Take the same road for the third time and by the time we took the same risk, we ourselves were bored. This time, we parked the car in front of the Metro and enquired with the security there...Now, he showed us the "Left"..there is actually a gully there as the "Left"....to identify this left we traced the same road, to and fro three times...*sigh*...even after getting onto the correct road, our journey wasn't any better...Bangalore is in a state of perpetual flyovers....there is a flyover being constructed and that obstructed our view...so we couldn't see the Nandhini hotel name and hence an yet another U-Turn ritual. I think all Architects are so(can be some honourable exceptions)...may be the species called Architect cannot express what it thinks, may be thier communication skills are so pathetic..may be.....I have come to this conclusion after having been with an architect(as a roommate) for an year and spent some time with yet another.
But what happened after is even more hialrious...I had planned to stay in Sridhar or Boopathi's room for the Saturday night, as I was sure, they wouldn't be having office and thus, I would go for some shopping on Sunday and return back..I had already told Venkat(this one is my Engineering college frnd) that I would be coming and had asked him to convey it to them both....I was confident that Venkat would have made the arrangements..When I called him from Yeshwantpur, he tells me that Sridhar had gone to Hyderabad and Boopathi to Perambalur(their natives respectievly)..and Venkat has got his parents visiting him...I would rather not disturb him...So, here I am stranded as in the film "Terminal"....The story of Raj and Venkat was more interesting...they both went all ready for the room in Nandhini only to be told that all rooms are filled and hence our search for a place to stay begins....We went to Majestic..even the most rugged down hotel/lodge was filled...it was already 11:30 and the hotles were dowing their shutters...so we decided to eat something and then continue our search for the room...Even the food was pathetic...nothing that we could eat...managed somehow...then I suggested that may be it would be better if they can go to Hosur and search for a room. With no rooms available in Bangalore, it seemed like a plausible option. I had already decided to go to Salem..to my aunt's house...It wouldn't be nice, having come all the way till Bangalore and not visiting them at Salem. So, went to the bus-stand(after bidding bye to Venky and Raj for Hosur) and there started a saga of 2 hour wait...for a bus to Salem....I had seen buses with no place to sit...have you seen buses with no place to stand??....worse still no buses at all....When I reached the bus-stand, there was a bus full with passengers...seeing the rush, I decided to wait for the next bus..that made all the difference.. only after this bus had gone, did I thought of asking the time-keeper about the next bus....the answer was a shock to me...the next bus to Salem was at 1:30(from 11:30 - 1:30, there are no buses from Bangalore to Salem....can u beleive this??)...so waited , waited and waited...even the bus that came, had to get in via the window to get a seat to sit..otherwise would have to travel standing...thank god Iam lean....can pass through the window...
The buses had gone hi-tech with twin TV's and VCD players...but the film they show at 2:00 in the morning is not all that watchable...this bus had "Kumkuma Poattu Ghowndar" starring Sathyaraj, Rambha, Gowndamani, etc. With the songs and dialogues blarring at full volume, had an excellent sleep....the film went on till around 4:30. When I thought all is over and I can catch some sleep for the next 2 hours atleast, comes "Maatukaara Velan" starring "U Know Who"....With MGR in screen, its just impossible for me to sleep...so, ended up travelling without a single moment of sleep.
My trip to native covers the third part...to be updated soon.