Last weekend I visited Bangalore for the first time. Visiting Bangalore was on the agenda from a very long time because I had heard so much about the city that I had to check it out myself and find out what the hype was all about!

I flew to Bangalore by an early evening Jet Airways flight. Jet Airways service turned out to be better than many of the domestic flights that I had previously taken in America. Meals were served during the flight and the food was excellent. My sister – Bincy and my school mate – Niral picked me up from Bangalore airport and we head for my sister’s residence and dropped off my luggage. We then had our dinner and walked around on MG Road and Brigade Road to get the feel of sights and sounds of Bangalore during night time. Unfortunately there was not much ‘sights and sounds’ since almost everything comes to a stop after 11:00 pm. Bangalore unlike Mumbai does sleep at night

Accommodation for the weekend was with a few guys who were working for Infosys. Thanks to them – I had a comfortable stay. Gaurav, Sumit, Roshan, Mukund and rest of the gang – thank you so much. Saturday morning Niral picked me and we went over to my sister place. My sister had a few things to be done so Niral and I went to have our breakfast and also caught up with a few things. Things that happened since our last meet up. After breakfast we decided to look around in a handicraft store at the intersection of MG Road and Brigade Road – Cauvery. In the mean time Bincy joined us and we went to a very big mall – Forum. We all did some serious window shopping Thomas – my sister’s colleague joined us in our window shopping spree! We had our lunch at Transits which is food court located inside the mall.

After lunch we all split and I went along with . This was planned two persons LJ meet up! We had coffee at Café Coffee Day and some interesting conversations. It was here that I meet up with an old NCST colleague of mine. I was very happy to meet him. Hopefully we will be in touch in the future! I then checked my emails from a nearby cyber café. I bid good byes to and went to meet Bincy at Cauvery. We both then waited at a coffee house for my engineering school class mate – Samico. It took a while for her to make it but the wait and the effort were all worth it. It was so nice to meet up after some 5 years. She had not changed a bit in these years. The trio then had dinner and then split for the night. Samico happened to stay near the place where I was being accommodated so we both took an auto rickshaw to our common destination. Samico dropped me at my place and she went to her place.

On Sunday I went to St Mary Basilica for the 7:30 am Tamil mass. Bincy and her roommate – Roshini were also there for the mass. I did not carry my camera – a thing that I regret for the church was very beautiful. Hopefully my sister will send me some pictures of the church. Tamil is a very sweet language and the Tamil mass was one most beautiful mass that I have ever attended. After the mass we had our breakfast and we split one more time. This time I took a public transport bus to Forum to meet up with more colleagues from NCST. I also spoke over the phone with my first boss at NCST. After lunch my friends dropped me at Brigade road and I walked over to Cauvery were Bincy and Roshini joined me for some handicraft shopping. We shopped quite a bit and in the mean while Niral too joined us. I also bought some silk sarees for my mom. Buying sarees with female company is highly recommended.

After all the shopping, we all went over to my sister’s place and packed my luggage and then took a bus to the airport. Tara – Sesha’s wife was to meet me at the airport but she got held up with traffic. By the time she reached the airport I had cleared the security checks and was not allowed to return outside – So had to suffice waving at each other from a distance. I had a late night Jet Airways flight to Mumbai. My dad picked me up from Mumbai airport and by midnight I was at home.

Random places/landmarks I saw: National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Yahoo India, Oracle India, HP India, Garuda mall, Kemps Corner, Forum mall, National Silk Board, Bangalore Military School, Army Public School, Army supply depot, Military Police HQ, Army recruiting HQ, St. Mary’s Basilica, St. Patrick’s church, St. Johns medical college, MG Road, Brigade Road, Commercial Street, BTM Layout, Kormagala Road and many more.

Please let me know if I have got the names wrong!

I will soon post some of the Bangalore pictures and my thoughts about the place.