Why they’re all scrambling to get into IIM-A these days.

I think that Bangalore will soon become a city of one-ways (effectively replacing the more celebrated title: City of Gardens). Which means, that to get to the neighbouring suburb of Jayanagar, I will have to travel to Yelahanka first. And then, in a few years, when the traffic gets really out of hand (if it can get any worse, that is) and there won’t be any roads left to make a one-way, they’ll change the direction of the one ways.

Anyway, on Saturday, enroute for my exams at Alliance (YAE: yet another exam!) I suddenly realised that the traffic was plying on both sides of the road. Of course, I hardly gave it a second thought, since this is a usual practice in Bangalore. People not only drive on the other side of the road (might be an ‘Amrican’ hangover), but they also get onto the pavements. In fact, if they had their way, they would probably drive straight through your living room to get to wherever they’re going in a blooming hurry.

After coming to Bangalore, about a dozen roads have become one way. So now, it’s become a real challenge traveling from point A to point X. And the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that it’s a secret strategy of the traffic people. Torture them till they stay at home, they must be thinking!

Now, if they’d build us a metro rail, we would happily abandon our vehicles. But of course, they have to ‘think’ and debate about it for a couple of years, just to decide whether to build it at all. And then of course, is this problem that seems to be peculiar to Bangalore: the contractors running away before the work is over! And because of the time span they’ve taken to do just 1/10th of the work (about a 100 years), the costs have shot up, 10 times. Solution: run away!

Coming back to the one-ways: So now, before going to location X, we need to check out all one ways between A and X, identify parking spots, which mind you might be at point D, from where you will have to walk to X. And then there’s point S in between, where there is no pedestrian crossing and heavy traffic to boot. So that means that you’re effectively stranded at point S, from where you can go neither here nor there.

Anyway, I hope you get my point: which is that in a year’s time I will probably have to travel via Mumbai, Goa and Mysore to get to my friend’s place. At the next crossroad.

Black and White

Contrary to the belief that I am a ‘cat person'’, I love dogs equally. Actually, I guess I love animals. On my list is owning a farm with a whole coterie of animals - cats, dogs, horses, pigs, cows, goats, ducks and anything else I can fit in!

Growing up, we had a rather cute little off-white Apso terror called Delsie at home. I have fond memories of the times when Delsie would disappear into the nearby thickets near our house in Guwahati. He would make an appearance at the end of the day, black as soot. We would then have to give him a long bath (between my sister and me) with loads of scrubbing to get the muck out. He died a few years ago. And I must say that losing a pet is a really painful experience. Maybe that’s why Kit Kit entered my life all these years later :)

Even though they can’t speak, they leave a really deep impression and whether it’s cats or dogs, you feel their absense long after they’ve gone.

This is for all animal (especially dog) lovers.

The holiday to North India in Feb (10th to 21st) was special for many reasons.It was my first to that part of the country. It was my first experience of a snowfall! And I also got the chance to get introduce myself to a new sport – skiing.

The worst part about holidays is of course, coming back. It took me a while to recover from this trip. The exhaustion only hit me when I got back home. Besides the fact that I badly injured my left knee and that took a toll on my usual energy levels.

The journey to Auli took me to a few other places including Delhi, Dehradun, Rishikesh, Haridwar and Joshimath. Some moments, some people and some incidents that take me back to the 10 days of fun, adventure and good times.

(PS: In my usual style, I have gotten rather carried away with the words, as with the pictures so be warned).

(PPS: If you just want to see the pictures, they’re here in this Auli Album. The pictures also contain some sights in Dehdradun, Rishikesh, Joshimath and Haridwar besides Auli.

(PPS: Enjoy :)
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What am amazing guy!

And to think I nearly missed the show. But thankfully, I saw sense at the last moment! Then I nearly lost my way negotiating the maze of North Bangalore.

Finally, after a few frantic phone calls, I managed to get on track. I could hear the roar from the crowds as I neared the grounds. I missed a couple of songs in the beginning, but it was a small price to pay to listen to the legend himself.

Just to watch him change his guitars was enough. And he played some of the all-time Dire Straits favourites including Sultan of Swing, Brothers in Arms, Money for Nothing and a few from his solo albums. And it was over all too quickly! Man, Mark Knopfler absolutely rocked!

It was after ages that I decided to call everyone home on my birthday. Usually, it’s a quiet dinner with a handful of friends, but this time I decided to have a bit of a blast.

A big thank you to everyone who came home and made Saturday a very special day for me including Meghna, Vasu, Venkat, Spidey, Madhu, Arun, Joshi, Janani, Nanjappa, Vaish, Shankar & Usha, Ganesh & Vrinda, Rocky, Bijoy and another handful of family members. I even asked everyone to dress in red, and almost everyone obliged – including Bijoy who carried a red handkerchief and Nanjappa who sat through the whole evening with a red rose in his hands!

And all those who called from wherever they were - my dearest pals Mohana & Rup, Rinku, Rukhshana & MM, Mona, Lynn and Albert, Kaushal and my sister. It was a nice change to the restaurant routine, except for the excess food that was cooked! I think I shall do this again - in about 5 years time!