Bangalore

It was an interesting trip to Seringapatam Bangalore City (SBC, known as Bengaluru for Kannadigas and Buwngaloor for Tamils) last weekend. It was as if Chennai was missing me! I was onboard 7 Mail at Central and all of a sudden it started raining like ‘pralayam’. Fuse boxes in the adjacent platforms burst and it was looking like a run-out-of-the-mill James Cameroon movie introduction scene. Having booked in 1A, and that too a 2010-make ICF coach, it was entirely different being inside the coach. A notable change was that the train got a WAP-4 instead of the usual white horse WAP-7 (infact it was the famous divorcee loco 22624, the Lakshmi or Elizabeth Taylor of Southern Railway, it was with Lallaguda at first, transferred to Arakkonam, then to Royapuram and now under the auspices of Erode shed).

Saturday was action packed. We had booked a Force Traveller to explore the Deccan Plateau in Mandya and nearby districts. We took the Mysore Road from Kengeri, drove down through the famous ‘Bidadi’ to Channapatna. The first scheduled stop was Doddamallur temple. This temple sports typical Kannada architecture in its temple tower and inner prakaram. We had an excellent sevai of Lord Ramapremaya, Goddess Aravindavalli Thayar and Navaneetha Krishnar. After having a few tender coconuts to quench our thirst (the climate was hot, but not sultry – it was really pleasant), we took the route to Kollegal. The next stop was Gaganachukki in Shivanasamudram. River Kaveri splits into two near Shivanasamudram, the western arm flows as Gaganachukki falls and the eastern arm flows a Barachukki falls. GC is also known as ‘Bluff’ – I was able to decipher a reason for it – it was indeed Barachukki that is magnificient to look at. Food is available (atleast in edible form) only in Gaganachukki falls area. One does not get a chance to go near the falls in GC. It is a view from a distance.

We took the road back to the main road and proceeded to BC. Enroute is the famous Madhyarangam temple. We had an excellent sevai of Sri Ranganathar. BC allows you to descend 237 steps down the cliff to go near the falls area. Parisals are available (100 for 4), which take you near the place where water touches the ground and forms the cloud of mist – as usual, the parisalwala did some fun-tricks by rotating the parisal near the falls making us get drenched. It was worth the expense. Climbing the steep uphill was a difficult task – it took some time for us to do it. Evening sun basking on our faces and drenched body – it was like heaven!

We took the NH209 way back to Bangalore through Malehalli and Kanakapura. We visited Karlahalli Srinivasa temple on the way – it was a very nice temple and has a lot of historic importance. A tip to the random reader is to try taking Kanakapura Road instead of Mysore Road – it is relatively empty beyond the city limits and there are no big towns enroute to create traffic snarls.

Bangalore still retains its old world charm – the Bangalore that is infected by IT virus is very different from the one that is still core Bangalore. It still has independent houses, not flats. It has lots of dogs, that usually do not harm any pedestrians. It has a lot of greenery.

Sunday was reserved for some visits to relatives’ in the morning and a visit to Mantri Square, a mall in Malleswaram (‘Mall’eswaram?). It is a very big mall – big in all comparables – bigger space, bigger walk-ways, more interestingly, bigger Food Court with a lot of counters offering really different food/cuisine. I had Mysore Masala Dosai, Mysore Bonda and Kasi Halwa. As usual, this mall did not have more places where one can sit and relax. A funny thought came to my mind as I was sitting in the FC – why not Saravana Bhavan introduce Tatkal counters?! Pay 100 per person extra and get a seat immediately – this is better than standing next to person who is eating curd rice in a full meals package and sending all signs to him asking him to finish quickly (I will publish that list as a separate post).

The return trip was by 8 Mail 1A (first time behind the white horse WAP-7, my train got 30237 LGD, not impressive at all). I was able to spot a lot of CSK fans in their typical yellow tees. Kinley waterbottle was sold only for 12 and not for 15 (I bought one in MAS for 15, moved by a few genuine reasons given by the vendor). Another interesting incident happened (to prove my theory belief), a sterotype IT-in-Bangalore guy boarded 1A coach before departure and was asking the TTE whether there are any vacant berths available – he was committing a lot of errors – he was having an open ticket from the UR counter, not even a WL ticket from the counter, checking with TTE of AC coach and not SL coach, expecting a vacant berth on a Sunday night from Bangalore during summer vacation – I could not resist cursing his ignorance. As the TTE poilitely declined stating it is not possible, he cursed the TTE for having power and abusing it. I do not see any problem on the TTE’s part – he was right in dispensing with his duties. It was an evidence to my theory/belief that a lot of low level scams are consumer driven. That traveller would definitely have been ready to shell out hundred or two to woo the TTE!

And on the top of everything I returned to Chennai with a common cold caught in Bangalore. The following Monday was really horrible!

-Aravi.
P.S.: I know that the above post was just random thoughts, please do not expect any flow/continuity in it.