And folks, I am not kidding. The answer is: The Forum. Bangalore’s latest happening mall in Koramangala. Now of course, when we set out for this place, we didn’t have clue.

We first got an inkling of the upcoming problem when did not find parking in the basement, first floor, second floor, third floor, fourth floor…. Whoopee! Finally, finally, we were overcome with joy when we managed to find a parking space on the fifth floor.

Only to find that life was not going to be easy thereafter.

For example, in the bookstore and the music store, there were an equal number of books and music CDs as there were people. No, really.

Now, let me tell you, I have been to crowded places. For heavens sake, I lived in Mumbai and traveled by local trains. But this, I swear by my computer’s hard disk, was the most ‘crowdedest’ shopping place I have ever been to. For example, at the ‘C’ section of videos, there were approximately 200 people going through 200 titles! I mean, where on the planet earth would you see such crowds (except for possibly Dadar)?

I found a little bit of space in the ‘M’ section and in desperation picked up the first people who looked familiar – Jlo and Ralph Fiennes. As luck would have it they made Maid in Manhattan together. Now, I know that’s not exactly a classic, but I couldn’t go to Landmark for the first time and not buy anything? And every other alphabet was taken! Phew, was I glad when we actually found a line that had less than 10 people at the cashier.

Feeling ravenously hungry, we ventured into the appropriately named Transit where there were about 20 food counters and a lot of hungry people. And believe me when I say ‘A LOT’! There were crowds around all the counters and especially a big one around Beijing Bites. The Indian’s fascination with Chinese food has obviously not been affected by the cold political relations between the two countries. If the queues were an indication, it is at an all-time high.

We realized that to get our turn, we would have to wait till the cold war was over so we beat a hasty retreat. And we also realized why the place is called Transit (there’s not much else you can do!).

Now, the question that comes to mind is that where did all these thousands of people (actually it was more like a million) people go when The Forum hadn’t existed a few months ago?

Anybody care to take a guess?