Scramble in a Valley - II

In part One we had left the lady to enjoy the initial warmth of this city, so lets check on her and find out how comfortable the city has made her feel.

Oops, by the way I forgot to introduce her in the previous part (how rude!!…I know) so let's make up for that. She is Natasha (now guys stop drooling over the name).

OK, now let me share the happenings of Natasha's life after we bade her good bye last time. Natasha just loved the place which she had found after days of struggle and spent the entire weekend enhancing its aesthetic value…an artist that she was….

A well placed black colour Bean bag was her favourite possession in the room. By the way did I mention that Natasha got a single room for herself and the room very well reflected her soul and identity after the redo; a space where she could be herself after the arduous hours of jostle with the outside domain.

Ahem Ahem.... don't worry I don't intend to turn this into any kind of a sermon…

After she settled down in her room, Natasha geared up for her first day in the new job. Her mind was thronged with an assortment of emotions…a li'l jittery thinking about her new role…a li'l excited about meeting new people…li'l bewildered thinking about coping with the language…with such thoughts on her mind Natasha slept off.

Her morning was welcomed with a loud bang on the main door of the flat. She tried ignoring it but dear that morning sleep is to people, nobody bothered to get up. So our lady pulled herself out of the bed and prodded towards the living room to open the door. She rubbed her eyes twice, thrice but couldn't find anyone on the door… ”I must be too sleepy” Natasha thought in her mind, but despite her continuous rubbing of eyes she couldn't see anyone outside the door.

"How strange and irritating people could be early morning" Natasha blurted out in irritation and tried pushing the door to close it. While doing so she looked at the floor and saw a hot case kept over a steel utensil right outside.

"Now what the hell is this?" She bent down to check the stuff inside. When she opened it she found Idlis and Sambhar in the utensils and after reeling in confusion for few minutes, it struck her that this could the breakfast for the morning.

"Is this how we get breakfast every morning?" a still skeptical Natasha asked one of her roommate who had also gotten up by then.

"Yeah every morning...and the best part is we don't even know if this is fresh for us or it has been tasted by dogs roaming around" Natasha shuddered at this comment of her roommate so much so that she immediately made up her mind to skip her breakfast…forever!!

Pushing this thought out of her head, Natasha got ready for the office and stepped out of her PG.

First day in the office appeared pleasant to Natasha until lunch time, when she was told that the office does not have a cafeteria for lunch. So like a falling deck of cards her ideate of a classy cafeteria in an IT company of Bangalore came tumbling down….psst psst…poor girl had to bear the trauma of No Cafeteria and No Conveyance in her company on the very first day itself..

No Conveyance…How did she travel to her office then? Well, she so much did not wish to stand at arm pit distance to anyone, that she preferred to enjoy the insanely bumpy rides of auto rather then commuting by BMTC a.k.a., public buses of Namma Bengaluru.

Little did she know that she would be mustering such amusing experiences in her routine travel by auto.

While one day an autowala shared a joke with her in the morning with a concern that after she goes to the office she would be all sucked up in the work, the other day an autowala gave her a long discourse on how important is to stand by the love of your life….of course this entire preaching was based on his autobiography! Not quite far behind was an autowala who took Natasha by surprise when he exhibited his up-to-date stock market knowledge despite his feeble financial health…and to spice-up this concoction was the autowala who said that he was a chef (!!) in a five star hotel in Mumbai and earned around 30k pm… (Whoever said education was important to mint money should be hiding somewhere now). It's a different story that he quit due to his silly mistakes but now was rearing to setup his own catering business. Completely inspiring dude !!

Our lady has come a long way since her inaugural adventure in the city…from initial irritation to getting used to the anecdotes…. Natasha has now learnt to enjoy this city and often feels nostalgic, about every single thing, on days when she is away from this chaotic and harebrained comfort of the people and the place, of soon to be named PG Valley!!

Scramble in a Valley...

Heavy traffic, maddening rush, unpredictable rain, incomprehensible language….phewww!!!...Just a few of the things that irritate a person, who steps in this much hyped city, tendering dreams of a luxurious life. Dreams do get fulfilled in due course of time, but in this mad rat-race our newly turned bangalorean jostles through numerous doses of daily tortures.
Along with playing home for IT giants of the country aka Silicon Valley, Bangalore is also hosting thousands of North Indians and would soon earn the name PG Valley in the near future!

(Interestingly, a person who does not belong to either of the elite States – Karnataka, Kerela, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh is comfortably branded as North Indian. Either West and East directions are not very appealing to them or they choose to be oblivious towards these directions. This mystery might need Sherlock Holmes' brilliance to get unfurled)

So even before our bangalorean gets to live the much puffed up glamour of the city, she gears up (of course forcefully) for the ordeal which awaits her while she plans to park herself in some cozy place.

To set the ball rolling our lady browses through the net and goes through all the ads for PGs and rented flats. The process is tiring as the ads are non descriptive, weird, funny and some even try to redefine the English language. She just didn't know what sense to make out of ads like "Decent PG for Decent girls"…now come on we didn't know that Bangaloreans are so smitten with the IT fever that they would have the know-how of differentiating between decent and indecent girls in one look itself!
One ad was too generous in giving details like "PG accommodation for all kind of ladies" (????!!!!$$$$$)… Well hello…good morning, we didn't know as yet that ladies are also of different kinds. Some one was definitely donning the hat of Charles Darwin to discover the new class and sub-class for the fairer sex. Completing this trilogy was the ad, which read something like this "2BHK with extremely homely, safe, clean surrounding for ladies who are willing to share their bed" What on earth this person was thinking while posting this ad… and by the way did this person know that this could land him behind the bars for promoting trafficking !!!!..As a friend of mine keeps saying "Kalyug Kalyug" ....psstttt...
Our lady some how jostled thru this journey and found a place of her liking in an area which was well connected to the city. A nice place to stay in this busy city sounds like a great start…. only if it could be…"Well begun is half done" did not hold true in this case though….So what happened next ????

….well, well, well….let us not steal the pleasure of initial warmth of this city from our lady…so while she enjoys her new abode lets take a break and peek somewhere else(he he he...impish thought :D)…stay tuned for more updates of our lady's spiced up life in the next part!!!

a Wild goose chase

And this year we all witnessed it again…..Bangalore as always, extemporaneous.
Two occasions and many days of suffering…
Bangalore, once a pensioner’s paradise is now marred by the maddening population, occasionally accused of infiltration by bunch of morons.
The then authorities did not have enough acumen to predict that Bangalore would be transmogrifying into the IT hub of India, and occupying a place on the global map, and so here we are jostling everyday to commute between work and home!!!!!

Nah, that’s not what’s actually bothering bangaloreans, but the perturbing point comes firstly, when it rains heavily in Bangalore and the drainage systems show their shallowness (pun) explicitly. Within minutes of rain, the entire city gets sloshed and we are left to the muse of Mother Nature….but wait the plight doesn’t end here. This raining spree doesn’t complete at a stretch, but happens in intervals. So while first fifteen minutes you are required to be collected under a bus-stop or any shop, the other fifteen minutes you can come out and move towards your destination!
You could be called lucky if you are able to traverse this distance in the dry spell, else you are one among those who get to witness the mood swings of Rain god.

To make things worse, the roads also get jammed due to the slow moving traffic and water puddles. Lady luck has to definitely smile upon you, if you are riding a two-wheeler, and still able to differentiate between the road and the divider clearly.
This entire scene on the road looks no less than any procession. Albeit it s a different matter that in Bangalore, the procession for good causes are less and more for trouble causing issues (Rajkumar’s death for instance. The town was painted dark in vandalism on this particular day!!!!)

Secondly, if there are any festive occasions (which by a matter of chance are negligible in Karnataka, as compared to the other parts of India) like Ganesh and Gauri Habba (Habba in Kannada means festival) then the traffic assumes a mammoth stature.
I was stunned on hearing the consequences of heavy traffic, the other day. Many of my colleagues had started from the office at 7pm and reached home only after 1200pm, when the distance from traffic point to their home was barely 1.5 km (the only group of people benefiting from such heavy traffic were, the road side restaurants and thele wale, who enjoyed serving food to the much harassed people). Such scandalous travel experiences can leave you completely drained, both physically and mentally. You have to be an expert to maneuver in such traffic.
However, amidst all the sufferings, one thing which caught my fancy was the tech-savvy city traffic department, of Bangalore.
While I was at home with my irritated flat mates (there was no light in our township, and everybody was upset about not being able to watch Indian Idol), my cell phone beeped, indicating receipt of a SMS. I was surprised to see that the message was from city traffic urging to the public not to come out on the roads and add to the traffic, until unless it was required. I was glad that they at least took some human step to reach out to people.
The traffic had already turned python. To add to the woe, entire city appeared to have come out on the roads, as it was Ganesh Habba, and most of the people, living in the vicinity of Bangalore were going home, for the celebrations. I even fear to think about a situation where an ambulance could have got caught in the traffic and…..!!!
A chill runs down my spine, on mere thought of such a predicament.
If rumors are to be believed, then a red alert has been issued in Bangalore instructing people to be at home to avoid any kind of stampede.
With so many adjourn, I wonder how people can still manage to feel happy about the festivals. Maybe this is the spirit of Bangalore.
None the less, the magnitude of Bangalore’s traffic cannot be over powered by anything else. The nuisance it creates is nerve-racking. It makes you tour the enitre city to reach your destination. (Now, did you find a relevance between the title of the blog and the blog itself).
To put an epilogue on this, “killing” would be a euphemism for Bangalore’s traffic, but who cares!!!!

At last it rained………….

Comes rain, and comes alive all my excitement for life!

The little showers, which run down on my face, make me feel rejuvenated and all set for taking up new tasks. Entire surrounding looks green and clean (to my relief!).
I feel like sipping, a steaming hot cup of coffee, and celebrate the onset of my pet season.
So I decide to march towards my home. On the way back to my home, I decide on quite a few things which I would do to enjoy this mood and the season, of course.

I am reveling the cool breeze against my cheeks and humming my favorite song from the movie Ghulam “hosh walon ko khabar kya…”
Suddenly I hear a screeching sound, so I turn back to figure out its source.
“How cute”, I see a pup on one corner of the road. A car just brushed by its side and so this little creature made the maximum use of its vocal chords.
I laugh at this sight and then jostle towards my own nest.
Now I am actually hurrying to reach home, as I can see the evening growing darker.
I make sure that my handbag, which I had bought from Goa, is with me, and increase my pace. Hardly a few yards ahead I hear “Splat!” and before I can realize what has happened, I get soaked in (d)rain water.
Without even batting an eyelid, the auto driver swings his auto and skillfully drives his auto like a horse on a road. I am left to my own amuse and fate to tackle this dirty situation.

Every dog has his day, and today is mine!

I take my bag off my shoulder and peep inside to find a handkerchief.
Thankfully, I get one. I clean my face and try wiping the dirt from my dress.
Guess its manageable now. So I proceed ahead after cursing the culprit (auto driver). I can’t stop thinking, as to, why did I have to walk back home and not take an auto itself.

Adventurous mind !

Not bothering too much I continue to walk. After walking for some ten minutes, I find people gazing at me. Maybe its my perception or am I hallucinating?
I try to ignore them, but after the incessant stares and some funny expression I feel like punching people in their faces. It’s so irksome, when you become a cynosure for people around you. A few steps ahead and I feel like a fool now. Why?
It suddenly dawns upon me that this part of the city hasn’t witnessed the refreshing bout of rain, which I did near that park. No wonder, that my dirty face and soaked clothes are compelling people to wonder the place of my arrival.

Thank you Bangalore..errr..Bengalooru.

So those people were right, who had said that, this place has the potential to make you experience all four seasons in one day!...huh !!
So while it rained near the park, it was completely dry, some kilometers ahead of it.
I don’t feel like sipping that hot cup of coffee anymore. In fact I feel like going home at the earliest and look around for an auto. An auto comes and surprisingly is willing to go to the place of my choice (without any tantrums). I get inside it and look at the surroundings which are sans a drop of rain water.
I get lost in my own world as the auto vrooms on the way to my home.
Suddenly I hear the auto driver asking me “right or left, madam?”
I come out of my reverie and look around to figure out where were we exactly.
Then I ask him to go straight and stop on the left.
I get down from the auto and take out my wallet to pay him the fare.
The fare was substantially more than the usual fare, so I argue with the driver.

As I do so, a heavy shower of rain pours on earth drenching us all. The auto driver asks for his fare and I cannot stop wondering over the climate of this place- Unpredictable!

The auto driver leaves, after taking his fare, and a smile appears on my face thinking “At last it rained…..in this part of Bengalooru as well!!”