DVDs, internet and food

So I did go to National Market. It's a more refined version of Palika Bazaar in Delhi. I bought 9 DVDs. Which is a sign that my pledge that I'll exercise restraint is already weakening. Anyway, the place is cool enough to stock Cannibal Holocaust. I am hoping that between my Tata Sky connection and Airtel Broadband I won't feel the need to go there too often. Or my hard-earned money is going to evaporate a bit too fast. Thanks to the friend who took me there, or I would have been completely lost otherwise.

Have suddenly realized that I am the most social guy in my immediate friend circle. Which, if you know even a little about me, is really surprising. Most people I know in Bangalore have been working here for 1 or 2 years without finding out if there are others that they know of from college. I am making connections right now between people living in Namma Bengaluru.

Living alone has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. I get really bored at times. But, at the same time, I have fantastic privacy. Something that living in hostels for a long long time you'd come to miss terribly. The feeling that you can do anything - ANYTHING - without anyone giving a damn is very nice. And depressing at the same time.

Setting up a home, as I think I had mentioned earlier, is a painful task. I went to buy furniture yesterday at the place where most furniture shops are (Shivaji Nagar). And got thoroughly confused. My parents will have to buy stuff for me now.

My Airtel broadband connection should be active in 2-3 days. Unless they find some discrepancy between the photo I have submitted, from two years back, and the way I look now. I am quite impressed by their service till now and I hope the honeymoon continues.

My biggest concern right now is food. I can't survive too long on sausages and salamis and sandwiches. I need to find some permanent solution. It was easier in Singapore because there were lots of Indian options at the hawker centres. And the dollar prices sort of didn't pinch as bad as the INR ones do.

And, to finish off, Central Station is an amazing movie. I had copied this film on to my external hard disk almost two years back, during my trip to Delhi (how time has flown). There are several films from that trip that still remain unseen. I have seen just about one movie in the last one month, and I am really enjoying watching this film.

Past perfect

You sort of reach the jugular vein of a city once you figure out where one can pick up women for a night. I know where now in case of Bangalore. Not that I am going to exercise the option anytime soon. Partly because I still don't have a car, and I have a feeling the system does not work well when you are travelling in an auto.

Met a junior/friend from IITD today. Was nice catching up on news from a place that has gradually lost importance over the last two years. People I had not thought of since the summer of 2006 were talked about over two pitchers of beer at Pecos. While passing out, or actually while sitting for placements, I had thought of how much fun it would be coming back to the campus to recruit people. The firm I am working at right now is not likely to recruit from undergrad for some time at least, so will have to contend with going for interviews at IIMC only. It's a weird feeling. These places - your school, your undergrad college, your postgrad college, the place you stayed alone at during your internship - they become parts of your life that would hold a special place no matter how long you live. Unless you get a bout of amnesia or suffer from Alzheimer's of course.

I didn't expect to end that paragraph like that.

I also made a trip to that management institute at Bangalore yesterday. I can't recollect what it is called.

Well, honestly speaking, the campus is much much better than IIMC's. I would have loved staying there, I think. But then, I suppose what makes a college great/fun is the people and not the faciltiies. On that scale we should rank pretty much the same.

Man, it's not a great feeling missing your undergrad as well as your postgrad college so badly at the same time. It's a great feeling though knowing that you are part of two of the most successful and, hence, envied 'fraternities' of the country.

Work, auto-drivers, pubs and books

My present job is as different from my internship as a job could get in the same general domain. For one, it is on a different side of the Chinese Wall. Also, there are long periods of no work, followed by really intense periods where I get buried under shit-loads. The latter normally happens after the afternoon snack, when all my seniors start getting ideas. Especially if it's a Friday evening, and I have got plans for the weekend. It's also a whole lot more entrepreneurial. Which is a good thing. And a bad thing. But all in good fun. Till now.

Bangalore would be perfect if all auto-wallahs were shot dead. I am sure the public transportation, not to mention pollution levels, will only improve. If taxi and auto drivers in Kolkata were painful, the auto drivers in Bengaluru are...well...beyond adjectives. They would prefer moving around with no passenger but not go by the meter. Evenings get worse, when they start asking for anything between 70-100 for a route that would cost 35 by meter. Just to not give in I walked all the way from my office to my flat a few days back. It's a different matter that it only made me realize the hard way that walking about 6km in formals is not a great experience, even in Banglore's weather.

Have been to two pubs in the city so far. Owned by the same man I am told. Pecos and Mojos. The food is fantastic, unless you have something against seafood. And the beer's not too expensive either. It's a little light for my taste though. But the good music compensates for it. There are a few other much-talked about joints that I plan to visit in the coming weeks.

Bookstores are the other great thing about the city. I could spend hours at Blossom any day. And have already spent a few. But I am not going to splurge as madly on books as I did in Singapore. Hopefully.

Job, college and curd-rice

My posts from now on are going to be probably a lot like the way they were a year back during internship. Well, my life is also a lot like it was a year back. Hectic weekdays, reading or watching TV after coming home, sleeping early, waking up early. Weekends meant for moving around. Of course, now it would last much longer than two months.

I really do miss college life though. Especially the last few months at IIM Calcutta. I don't think I have had more fun over an extended period the way I did there. When I was leaving the campus, the feeling that I would never ever lead a life that carefree again was eating away at me. But I met some batchmates at a Bangalore pub last weekend, and it was almost like Joka again. Almost.

In other news, I am rediscovering the divinity of curd-rice and mango pickle. I made fun of some of my friends from the South more than once in Calcutta for being fanatic about curd rice. But now I know why. There are very few things that give more pleasure to the palate and the stomach than nicely prepared curd rice, served with some mango pickle.

Bengaluru Diary

I hope some of you still check this blog once in a while for updates. Way too much water has flown under the bridge since my last post. And I'll just get nostalgic writing about stuff, so let's move on.

Work's brought me to Bangalore. Had a choice between Mumbai and this place, and a week into my stay here, I am quite glad I made the decision I did.

Am mostly tied up with work on weekdays, but in need of some socialising otherwise. Staying alone in a flat at Ulsoor (or Halasuru). If you are in Bangalore and interested in a pitcher or two (or not), let's meet up. And I need someone to come along with me to the KQA quizzes.

Setting up a new house (home?) is fun and painful. The cash outflow is shocking.