‘Just chill’ was the mantra over the last few days and that’s exactly what I managed to do. On Monday, I decided to go wandering around MG Road. My aim was to go book browsing. But I also landed up walking around MG Road.

Now this is what I haven’t done in a long while. Just walk down MG Road! Usually, I avoid the place because of the horrible crowds. Getting jostled and fighting for walking space on the pavements is not my idea of shopping or enjoying myself.

August 14th however turned out to be a rather pleasant day. It was drizzling and with loads of folks out of the city, it turned out to be a relatively uncrowded atmosphere that side of town. After a nice hot coffee @ Java City, along with Vivek and Lavannya for company, three of us ventured into the Magazine Store on Church Street.

I love the place, not just for the magazines but for the 4 cute cats. A few months ago, one of them was a little kitten bouncing happily from one magazine pile to another. Now, she’s all matured demonstrating feline beauty and grace. She looks a lot like Kit Kit too! The other 3 Persian cats just flop around hardly moving at all. In fact, if you didn’t know they were cats, you might be mistaken for thinking you’ve stepped on a Persian rug.

What a doll!

After about a couple of hours, browsing around the store and picking up a few magazines we stepped out into the rain soaked streets. Walked up Brigade Road, one of Bangalore’s most famous and over-rated stretches!

Pan shot of Brigade Road

If you’re tired and hungry, there are hot steaming buttas on every corner. This particular snack seems to be everyone’s favourite, especially on cool evenings. And we’ve been having quite a few of them…

Hot butta for a quick snack

From Brigade Road, we turned onto MG Road a cool breeze blowing after the drizzle. Really nice romantic weather I must say. So while Lavannya and Vivek cosied up, I went about taking photos. Actually, they did too!

The lights cast these beautiful multi-coloured shadows on the pavements as people walked by. Lavannya had a long interesting conversation with the little girl selling roses in front of Barton Center. Apparently, her father works in a showroom nearby and leaves her there to sell flowers.

MG Road after a drizzle

After wandering around for a few hours, we stepped into Mei Ying for dinner. For those of you who like Chinese food, this place is just diagonally opposite Empire. It’s a dingy looking place that you’re bound to miss if you don’t look closely.

The food is reasonably good, the portions are large and try and stick to the Chinese part of the menu (the Thai was not too good as Lavannya discovered!). I like the wontons and the soup. We also had thread chicken which was nice. Only the prawns were a little chewy but apart from that, it was a nice satisfying meal. And it’s extremely reasonable too. I’ve passed it a hundred times and never stepped into it till a friend convinced me it was worth visiting. So next time you’re in the area and don’t want to wait in queues for a table, try this place.

Mei Ying on Church Street