Little pleasures

These days; I have started enjoying going around alone. Its strange; because a couple of years ago I used to get cooped up inside my house on weekends and wonder why I don't have close friends who share my interests. But hell! it took me all these years to enjoy experiencing things around in solitary. Now it did take a while to realize being alone is different than being lonely isn't it.

And this me time; gives me so much of freedom. I can do what interests me without worrying about anything. I can walk miles together without having to hear complaints; or eat where I want and what I want and more importantly whenever I want. Its not that its always alone; I do have couple of friends who share my interests and I am glad I found like-minded people. Better late than never. So instead of dreading weekends; these days I've started looking forward to since I know I have something or the other to keep me occupied.

There are plays to see, events to attend, places to walk to or people to meet. Today; I walked along the MG Road Boulevard. The boulevard had nice walkway with chairs and flowering trees before the metro rail construction. They had to destroy it temporarily for railway construction and post that; the corporation had painstakingly reconstructed the boulevard again. This time; much better. Its been around for a year and a half now and I've always wanted to go. There are art exhibition, music something or the other happening and I went today.

I walked along the boulevard; amazed by the art exhibits and being on MG road; it seemed in some other place. Totally undisturbed and on its own. Continued along and walked inside Cubbon Park. Bangalore's gem. I hope it stays that way. Again, amidst the city and yet all you can hear is birds chirp and see dense foliage at places. Found myself wandering into the State Central Library and oh my! What was I doing all these years being here? That was heaven. A day well spent!

Where are the ants going? Outside the photography exhibition

Drawing by school kids exhibited all along the boulevard

Kids playing snake and ladder

I have always been crazy about snapping windows and doors. The doors had this mono blocks which was too enticing.

A bird there, a man here. An owl overseeing from above

There was a puppet exhibition as well. Puppets from all around the world - different kinds - rod puppet, popup puppets, string puppets, shadow puppets..It was a treat to the eye.

Shadow puppets

Play area

Its crowded; but I am alone....Contemplating

Do you know there are statues of Queen Victoria, King Edward, Sir Mark Cubbon, Chamarajendra Wodeyar and Seshadri Iyer located in front of various historical buildings within the park. They are all 100 years old now. The Central Library, The Band Stand, The High Court were built before the 1920s. 

Here is the status of Queen Victoria right at the junction of Kasturba, St. Marks and MG Road but not many know its existence. This status was installed in 1906. 

Stairway to heaven. A hidden cast-iron spiral staircase in State Central Library

Inside the library. Books and books and just books. Its readers paradise. The building of central library is again an old one built in 1915 in classic European style with Tuscan and Corinthian columns.

Me

Ego clashes

Pride beckons

Anger seers

Humiliated! one says

Don't assume

Ask why

You never know what might come up

Comforts the other. 

Who'll get away?

Ego? Has good chance! 

I'm the best of all! 

I am always right!

Now fuel me more! 

Who is in me? 

Go away you ego! go away you pride!

You are all broken!,  you are all fake!

Who is in me? 

Lift the veil of self

Stripped of ego

Is me...

Naked

Unabashed

Of me...

A recent conversation spurned these thoughts. 

Knock! Knock!

Yeah! I am knocking the door of my own blog space to check if it still recognizes me. Its been 2 long months since I blogged or visited other blogs. It was busy at work; happens at regular times when the product is in design phase. I ended up having evening calls with the US teams everyday for 3-4 hours. Thus, leaving no time to relax and blog. Its tapered a bit now but would remain the same for next few months.

All my promises in being regular about my travel sojourns went into water. So are my little things in life I wanted to jot down. Never mind, its fine to go off track once in a while. Apologies to all my wonderful bloggers whose posts I've not read in a while; I know what precious stuffs I've missed. I will ramp up!

But yeah I've been relatively active on Facebook. FB doesn't need as much time as blog and I check it out on the go! What was happening here was I wrote down a para or two; got interrupted and when I got back; I would've lost the flow. Sometimes, it was the lack of interest as well with so many other things running on my mind and lot of writing to do at work with design docs and such specifications.

However, most of my weekends were eventful. Notably; I met with Gayathri Vishwanathan. She is a sweet girl from Mumbai; who has stopped blogging frequently. She was in Bangalore for 3 months on a technical course and we decided to meet couple of weeks she were to return to Mumbai. Showed her few hidden landmarks of Bangalore; hope she had a good time with me.

My quest for vintage and neglected buildings in Bangalore. This is in the heart of Bangalore Shopping district but I am sure no one would take a second look!

Bang opposite to the previous one.

Then, I met with Dev whom we met in Sri Lanka. He stays in my area but we hardly have time. It was good to meet over a noon and share travel stories - his and mine over few drinks. I also met with a couple of other friends over coffee and lamented how nice the life is! :-P

Been eating good food - Lebanese, Trinidadian, Moroccan, Italian, Mexican, Texan and of course Indian. Not much of an eater but I am thankful to God for making me adventurous in trying new cuisines. And folks, do you know there are good breweries in Bangalore? House brewed specialties and others to indulge in after hectic weekdays. My food indulgence will definitely make you all drool!

Corn and wow! look at the flares!

Yummy Yum!!

Banana split anyone?

Or maybe a mocktail?

I celebrated my birthday last month; this was ordered at work

Attractive ambience huh? This is a steak and sizzler house I've been frequenting for 8 years now. My favorite place

A sizzler I partially devoured at another steak house

House brewed wheat and hop, German Weiss, Irish Red Ale and Irish Dry Stout....In that order

And of course! food during Ramzan. Being a vegetarian, I am not a good authority here but let me tell you that the sight itself is a good appetizer. The food on both the sidewalks on Mosque Road in Bangalore is worth visiting. Its famous and some items are only available during Ramzan like the Harira, Haleem and Pathhar ka ghost. I so want to taste everything there in vegetarian format; but whenever I ask for a vegetarian samosa or kebabs; I get a dirty look! :-/ So I stick to desserts

Steamy hot Semiya Paal (String hoppers and beef)

Rose milk, kulfi, yogurt, custard....

Paththar ka ghost! Apparently its very task oriented and time consuming! The stone is heated for few hours and the meat (beef/chicken) is cooked for another few hours. Only limited quantity is cooked per day due to laborious process and there's queue at all time. Moreover; this is only cooked during Ramzan and in one and only one store at Mosque street

Charcoal searing away

Typical crowd..the roads are full

With no walking or parking space

And the mosque

Oh yeah! there was a Sunday Soul Santhe flea market 2 weeks ago. It happens once in 3 months. The crowd is great; lotta artifacts but expensive. Stalls are put up by people who pursue hobbies and turn it into business like caricature, quilling, terra-cotta jewels etc. Its got famous these days and they had corporates sponsoring them. Prasad Bidappa hosted a fashion show as well. A pint of KF cost 150 bucks. But that was not what shocked me. What shocked me was the crowd! I felt I was two decades behind, folks have changed a lot; kids boozing and smoking around; barely there clothes....Ummm....

Glass painting on household items

Few more of a different kind

Paintings on canvas

Hmm shoes! but I am not sure if I want to wear patterns on my feet

Terracota jewelry

Caricature on beer mugs, rum shot glasses and photo frames

Tea kettles and water mugs colorfully painted

Wall clocks, ash trays on recycled liquor bottles

Famous caricaturist and cartoonist Paul who cartoons on colonial bangalore. I wanted to buy a laptop bag that had Koshys area on one side and Dewar's bar on Bamboo bazar on the other; but didn't.

I watched a couple of English plays; dramatics and theater is picking up in Bangalore. Its good to see crowd attuning music and theater festivals. I also ended up catching a short break and went on a monsoon drive along the Western Ghats and to meet my cousins in Chennai. More about that in my next post.

On my birthday driving to Chennai :-)

Now; I am off to catching up missed posts.