Bang in Bangalore - Day 3

Day 3, a Monday, was as important as a usual working day although I wasn’t travelling to MCity. Instead I was supposed to travel to Electronic City – where the other parts of my project team were located. Karthik and I rushed to the bus stop to catch the 6:40 bus as we thought we missed it by a whisker. We had to wait till 7:15 for the next one and I boarded the bus to find a window seat for myself while he diverted himself to his workplace. I forced myself not to sleep, as I usually do back home, so that I could get an idea about the Bangalore city. Half way through I slept involuntarily and woke up somewhere close to the office. I reached the office around 9:00. Couple of my team mates accompanied me for breakfast which I had at the TERMINAL food court. I then started to get into my regular work and also met up with all other folks in the Bangalore team.

Lunch was a terrific experience – my manager took me to a 3-star like restaurant within the campus and we had a good discussion there – not to mention the good lunch too. I preferred to take vegetarian then although my motive of the entire visit was to hog as much as possible. She took me around one half of the campus after filling our stomach and I truly felt that the campus was looking beautiful especially with the drizzling atmosphere. There was not much activity in the afternoon as I pulled Preethi out of her work to take me around the other half of the campus. We spent an hour around the campus tasting a cup of tea and an “ice-cream-gulab jamoon” combo. I rushed back to my temporary workstation and wrapped up the day’s work to catch hold of the first bus back home.

As I alighted at the bus stop near Utham Sagar I already had had the experience of what people fear as “Bangalore traffic”. That evening was even worse with the rain gods showering their blessings on the city. Karthik picked me up and we had a meal at Utham Sagar. I bid goodbye to that restaurant with a sort of disgust for the only reason that he misled me with “Tomato Omlet”. It was still raining as we reached home and by that time it was time for me to start packing my bags for return. I had booked return in a Volvo bus for a comfort factor. The bus, which was supposed to pick me up from the pick-up point around 22:15, made us wait till 23:00 after which the next thing I saw was CMBT bus terminus. Although several auto drivers were pleading for a “savaari”, I preferred taking the bus as I stayed close-by. I reached home around 5:30 and from then on it was routine life.