Connect

Have you played "Connect" in quizzing? Its an interesting round, where you have 3-4 images and you need to find the connecting factor among them.

Sometimes, this happens in reality too. You look at something and connect to it in a strange manner.

I happened to pass by a Chinese restaurant one day. The name sounded familiar; "Peking". No, the typo didn't bother me. There was something about this place which struck a chord. I could remember a school-mate of mine who worked there.

I can take his name for sure, as I am pretty sure he is no where in my FB circle. But still, I won't. He used to miss Monday mornings and invite the wrath of our class-teacher. He always had some reason or another, up his sleeve.

The actual reason was quite disheartening. I am pretty sure, I must have been a picked few who really knew the truth. He waited tables at this restaurant. Weekends they closed late; 2AM at the least (Yes, that was a time when we didn't have the 11:30PM restriction).

He couldn't afford the school tution fees and worked on Week-day evenings and Weekends full time to make up for it. He still had the energy to sit through all the classes in school.

I don't know what happened to this guy. I never heard of him, since I passed out from school. I really hope he made it through.

For me, he was the true example of perserverance.

Finally!!

3 years back, when Harsha packed up a cooker with him for his second UK trip, we (as in V5) weren’t sure if all us could or would ever shack-up again.
Forgot shacking up, till date we haven’t met up in full strength.

Come August, this may be possible, thanks to the onsite boys going out of their way to make it happen. I so very wish it would be just were we left off. Since then, obesity, defunct lungs/liver, and not to forget receding hairlines may have changed our health/appearance, but sure when we meet up the odd sense of alienation won't affect us.

As the angrezis are coming down on a very tight schedule, we are presently struggling to finalize a trip to get "wasted". Hope things go well on this, and the other important plans for the boys are not affected...

Somehow, when I think about this, Sid’s dialogue in DCH keeps ringing at the back of my head –

"saal mein theen baar to kyaa... dus saal mein ek baar bhi milnaa mushkil ho jayega."

The Rangeela Bus

The modes of transport in Bangalore still fancy me. The best one I would vote as of now, is the Rangeela bus. These buses as you should know are privately operated and ply from the city to the nearby rural areas. We affectionately christened them as 'Rangeela', owing to their colourful and mosaic/marble appearance.

My first stint with of one their kind was shortly after my return from Vides and initial travel to a new office. I had missed my company cab, and had to reach there by all or any means. The final destination seemed unreachable with the 'ric's asking you the sky, for a short distance fare. The very efficient public buses were not to be seen.

Then somewhere near the corner of the main road, I could see a couple of colourful looking buses, parked back to back. The drivers where roaring the engines of the stationary vehicles, giving you an indication that they would start off anytime. They looked, as if they were set to drag. The green and yellow bus bodies, added to the effect, momentarily giving you flashes of "The Fast and the Furious".

Nonchalantly I walked towards one of them. I was not able to hear a thing, owing to a cacophony created by the constant chanting of the destination(s) and the engine roar.
I was able to figure out that all of them were heading in the same direction and via my office. Left with no other option, I decided to hop onto one of them.

Trouble was to decide on, which one to choose. Considering the time factor, I chose the first bus in the row, brushing away wooing bus agents, with promises of DVD, luxury seats et al. This was, hoping that it would the first one to leave. Yeah I tried to put my Engineering brain into work :)
Murphy proving that he is the best, made me wait until nearly all the other buses left. I had got me Math wrong. Of course, it didn't take me long on realising how I was outsmarted.

Firstly, as pointed out earlier, the first buses in the row, give you an impression that they would be the first to leave.
Secondly they play one of your favourite movies on DVD, and make you forget about the time.
Lastly and probably the best tactic- The whole of the rear-side glass is painted, so you wont be able to make out whether the buses behind you leave or not!

So as it happened, I reached office much late than planned, thanks to the debacle experienced by me.

I vowed that I would never set my foot on another private bus again. That vow or promise that I made to myself diminished with time, thanks to more of cab misses. With time I got used to these Rangeela buses and actually started to have a liking for them. "Come on, no one offers you free movies within city limits!" :)

With experience, as you can say, I was able to figure out the buses which left first. Simple as it would seem, the first ones to leave were the ones which were most crowded! I was also able to figure out the signals given the agents (yes, there are more than one for each bus) to the bus driver.To any new passenger, they all seemed similar and made no sense. But, on close observation I was able to figure out the final signal for take off. It would be a shrill whistle, with constant banging of the bus frame. (hey hey ah ah!)

I now even have an acquaintance with some of them, who just issue a ticket (a dull piece of recycled paper) on seeing me, and blow the whistle, when my no one gets down stop comes.

The five minute journey to office on these buses, on days when I don't make it to the cab, is arguably the most enjoyable part of the day. I would owe it to the full entertainment on a DVD movie, and to more specifically the variety of people I see. Let me not go into detail, on the latter part. You need to see it for yourself. Believe me, its worth the effort.

The picture of a typical bus shown above, was I picked up from here.

The *Star* Experience

After much coaxing or our sheer shamelessness to be honest, the plan that we hatched to 'tax'the 'brothers' did shape up.

The treat at the Taj West End had materialised.

More than the class, there something more historic about the West End. A la British styled buildings surely gives you a different experience.

I wouldn't say I am a foodie or a hotel critic, but surely something to point out;

Pros

• The Ambience for sure...Trees and all
• The Lobby...woooowww
• The fluids...they all looked so colourful, you see.
• The candles in the loo ;)

Cons

• The dark and dingy entrance.
• The lighting in the restaurant...reminded me of the street lights.
• The food...if you really look back...they sucked big time
• The loo...nothing automatic...The boys forget to flush...

I don't have to talk about the hospitality et al, as that's something implicit, I guess. Let me not talk about the moolah too, cos that didn't bother me(us). We didn't foot the bill you see!

For a fairly middle-class upbringing, my previous visits to * hotels were only during wedding receptions etctctc. That as I told some people was a gumpnalli govinda feeling.

Thanks to the gulti bros, I now KNOW. If you think, that I got a little childish during all this, the answer is YES. I was spoilt you see! :)

A taste of Biriyani

Had recently been to Hyderabad on a short trip, due to a series of unfortunate events(wait for a another blog).

My last visit to this place was some ten years ago. I didn't have sweet memories about it. Maybe I didn't see the good part of it. Or maybe it never had a good one.

At around 7:30 AM on a Thursday morning was woken up by a guy saying "Ameerpur osthi". I deciphered that my destination had arrived. Got down from the APSRTC bus which I boarded from Pune. Was invited by a swarm of ric drivers who were trying to get a "boni" (no ill meanings please !!!). Brushed apart their offers, so that I could while-away some time.
Had a flight at 11:45 AM.

Slowing started walking down the road which looked like a bit posh. Was searching for an ATM.
To my surprise all I could find was cyber centres !!! Cyber centres everywhere but not a single ATM. Anyways did come across one after a brisk walk.

Well to say about the city... Wow !!! It has developed amazingly. We used to tease people who had an acquaintance with this place. They would justify that its not the same, as we thought it was. Guess they were right..Kudos to the guys who have made this possible.

When some one talks about Hyderabad, all we think about is the filth and dirt of Golconda fort or the Charminar area or people who speak caustic. Clearly a prejudice. No wonder the Titans of the software world were impressed. Leaving apart the climate (nothing less than that of a desert) there is nothing to complain about this place.

Learnt I was in the Secunderabad part (correct me if I am wrong). Clean roads. Not a spec of dirt. Looked very impressive. Spoke in broken Telugu with some localites, enquiring about the location of the airport. Surprisingly they sounded friendly. I could figure out the route from some key words used by them. I didn't continue the conversation, clearly at loss of words (pun not intended).

Boarded a public bus, which actually was a bit clean. My yardstick had reduced after looking at the PMT buses. Reached the airport in no time.

As I was boarding the flight to Chennai, I sent a silent apology to all the people who were trying glorify Hyderabad. How I had literally shunned them off when they were trying to describe about the place.

Now, it does seem, that the Biriyani comes in different flavours...

Note : Another apology to all the Hyderabadis, if I have missed the others greats of the city. This is what I could capture in a short span of time.