First Day Out

Today I drive to the office, a friend is giving me company, just to help me break ice with the Bangalore traffic. I have the Navigation system on, just for reference, even though the friend is guiding me. The GPS system is suggesting a different route from the one my friend is, I stick to the latter. I don't want to trample on any ego's here, especially when computer's are involved - "Do you trust me more or a freaking computer", comes a blast from the past. I shake myself up, must get back to the present and focus on the road.

I reach the office; it took us about 40 minutes. My friend 's office is a little further ahead down the same road I drive her to her office, take two U-turns and am back to my office. I Find a parking slot in the basement. I'm pleasantly surprised to find that there's an elevator that takes me directly from the basement to the 3rd floor where my office is. Back in Noida, one has to walk to the ground floor and then take the elevator to whichever floor. I curse the architect under my breath. My access card works here too, I slip into the office, unstopped, unquestioned and perhaps unnoticed. I like it. I love being invisible and I love what technology can do towards that affect. I send out a quiet prayer for whoever invented the whole access card system.

I find a cubicle has been made available for me; all I need to do is chase the IS guys and get a network cable and an extension board so that I don't have to bend down every time I need to plug/un-plug my laptops. Oh, I also need to get them to get me a phone. I catch one of them in the hallway and bully him (if you can believe that) into giving me what I need immediately. Knowing a few people here and there always helps. Social networking - I make a mental note; I need to get more active in that space. "You people need to get off of your ivory towers and see what's going on around you more often" - comes another blast from the past. I shake myself again, these blasts are getting more frequent . Is it the medication?

I catch up with the emails; being a monday, nothing much has happened over the weekend. I spend most of my day trying to set myself up for working remotely. Sending requests for the soft phone, installing necessary software on my laptops, syncing code, building etc etc. In the interim, lots of "filter" coffee flows down my throat. I can't believe they actually have a guy here to make make you your favourite cuppa, no self service required and also more variety available. A silent curse goes to the Noida HR or operations or whoever's responsible for creating this disparity.

Lunch is "Nice". I've always loved south indian food, so in general, being in Bangalore is nice for me. The painful part is that I have to sign in the visitor's register before each meal. I wish that could be connected to the access card, because I have to swipe my way in to the cafeteria anyway. Intern project perhaps?

I've been adviced to leave the office either before 5:30 PM or after 7:30 PM. I choose the former, today being the first day and me being on the mercy of the GPS system for the homeward journey. It's harder to know where you're going when it get's dark.

I leave the building before 5:30 PM. The GPS system decides to freak out on me. I don't know, maybe I missed a few turns here and there, the net result? It took me close to 100 minutes to reach home. After reaching home when I reviewed the route that the system had taken, I see that it first took me outwardly, away from my destination and then circling all across the city, finally spiraled into my destination. It totally freaked out around Leela Palace and made me circle the hotel twice, before I realized what was happening. A goof up of such proportions has never happened before, I've been using the N95 for almost two years now and have navigated, with great success, at least five cities in India and abroad.

I am perplexed and exhausted, but glad that I did not stop once to ask for directions.

Bangalore and Bengaluru

I have always loved Bangalore, since 1998, when I first visited and spent about seven months in this lovely city. A lot has changed since; the most notable, being the traffic and the new plush buildings that have sprouted all over the city. A whole lot hasn't changed - among the most notable are the roads; still as narrow and as potholed, for most parts. The stand-up eateries still dole out delectable food. A few flyovers have appeared here and there, which should have eased the traffic, but it seems the number of vehicles have increased proportionately too. Can't comment much on the weather though, have only been here a few days. I am told, though, that the city now get's much warmer than ever.

It's very nice to notice, that for most parts, Brigade Road remains unchanged and is probably the only part of the city that's still recognizable. So much has changed in the last 10 years. The area around Ulsoor lake, which used to be mostly vacant and smelly, is now bustling with traffic and buildings. The smell, though, seems to have been taken care of.

What I sorely miss, are those darling, red double decker buses, that used to ply all over town. It was some experience riding those buses; especially if you caught one of those front seats atop. I remember passing the regular ones, waiting just a little longer, in the hope of catching one of the red ones. I'm told they're now used for sight seeing tours around the city. I must catch one of those tours before I leave town.

Tomorrow, I need to go to the office, it's somewhere near Dairy Circle. I hope my N95 can show me the way. I have been warned that Bangalore Traffic Police keeps changing the flow of traffic across roads. So a road that may have been two-way this morning, might become one-way when you're returning from work. There's nothing much a GPS system can do under those circumstances. I will have to stop and ask for directions; something I truly hate. Anyway, I hope my not knowing Kannada does not become a handicap.

Oh, another thing I'm missing, I don't smell Jasmine's in the locality I'm camping at. Back in the good old days, when I was put up in Ulsoor, an old part of the city, the whole locality smelt of Jasmine, especially in the mornings. Sweet.

Photograph courtesy Ram Samudrala from his own Blog.

Camping at Bengaluru

I have this back condition, lower back to be precise, for which I underwent surgery some time in November last year. Things, however, havent's been rosy ever since. I've tried all sorts of medication, from all sorts of hospitals and doctors, physiotherapy etc. None of them have been very helpful, so I decided to take a long leave of absence from work and come down to Bengaluru and explore some alternate options, like - ayurveda, yoga, kerala massage or others. At present, I'm open to anything and everything.

I have just decided to make Bengaluru my base, as I understand, most of these alternate forms of treatment are practiced more down south. Also, with my brother being based here, it helps with the logistics and all that. I wanted to drive down here, all the way from Delhi, but given my back condition, I sent my car through one of the movers.

They did a damn nice job, I must say. The car arrived in pristine condition, in about seven days time, door to door delivery. I must add, however, that it did cost quite a bit.

By the way, I hate saying and writing - "Bengaluru", so for the rest of the blog, I'm going to stick to the good old - "Bangalore". No offense meant to anyone.