Damned You Telangana Agitators & APSRTC

Plan was to go to Hyd for the weekend (today & tomorrow). About 2 weeks ago, booked an APSRTC bus ticket for 10pm yesterday Blr -> Hyd. No train tickets were available for onward journey. But were available for return, so booked the return by train.

I'd read in the news about a week ago that some buses & trains were stopped/cancelled, thanks to the lunatic Telangana agitators. But a few days later, it seemed the buses started plying again. So almost forgot about this news tidbit. Went to the Majestic bus stand assuming that the bus wasn't cancelled.

Reached well ahead of time, probably around 9.15pm. Walked around, scanned almost all the buses there. It was impossible to scan every bus given how tumultuous & disorderly the bus stand is.

And then it started raining. Heavily. Due to the downpour, couldn't hear the loudest honking of even the buses that were just a few meters away. It lasted for about 2hrs.

Walking in that rain, even with an umbrella, was quite challenging. The umbrella was leaking from the inside because of the rain when I tried a little adventure to see the Service number of the bus that was approaching the platform where my bus is supposed to come. Got half drenched from feet to waist in the process. Gave up further attempts.

Asked around, since it was past 10pm already & the bus was nowhere to be seen. Asked 3 people who seemed to be the people who track buses coming in/out of the bus stand. They got to be the best people to get an answer, I thought. Got 3 different answers from each of them.

One said the bus is there somewhere behind, wait a while longer & it'll come. Second person said it probably is cancelled, but he wasn't sure & couldn't give me directions on how I could confirm. Third one said there aren't any buses to Hyd at all.

The third one was obviously wrong. There were buses to Hyd. Was he blind? Seemed like he was managing Tirupati/Nellore going buses only. From his perspective, there aren't any buses to Hyd.

Asked the first person about an hour later & he said he didn't know about it anymore. He had faked earlier!

The second person didn't change the answer. But asked me to confirm with the booking office. Although the office seemed open, i.e., there were people in, no one was interested in helping.

Afterthought: Later the next day I realized I'd gone to the wrong office, the directions weren't that accurate. I shouldn't have had that high expectations from those guys. Should've figured it out myself by just waddling in the rain, through all those dirty puddles of rain water.

Anyways, back to yesterday 11.45pm, thought I'll get outside help & called up sis at almost midnight. Felt sorry for doing it, but thought it was necessary, otherwise I would've got stuck for much longer.

Also called up APSRTC support - he suggested I ask around in the bus stop itself, or go to the booking office. C'mon, if those were of any help, why would I even think of calling these guys?!

After almost an hour of fiddling, realized it was quite late. Even if the bus wasn't cancelled I've missed it already. There were no Hyd-going buses in the bus stand anymore. Gave up. It was about 12.15

Took an auto, costed Rs.200, which would've been about Rs.15 by bus, or about Rs.100 at a normal time by auto itself. Reached home around 1.15am.

Found out from apsrtconline.in that the bus was cancelled yesterday itself! Wasn't I supposed to be informed?! They had my mobile number! Why doesn't the APSRTC support (08019999999) know this info?! All they needed to do was look at that stupid page & let me know if the service number is in the cancelled list.

Cancelled the train ticket today, loss of Rs.60. Also got a complete refund for the bus ticket since the bus was cancelled. But had to write some long letter, chase some high officials to get the paperwork done. Finally got it done.

On the way back home, got completely drenched. So much for getting a refund. And the petrol cost, time wasted. Overall, a loss of over Rs.300. More than 8 hrs wasted too.

I admit a mistake my end too - should've checked bus running info before even beginning, but can't keep ranting about it anymore.

Will just have to give it a pass as a good learning. Hoping there won't be a next time like this again.

Why Birthdays

I don't mind people wishing 'happy birthday', have some happy banter maybe & move along. Such as some of the friendly guys on FB, members of TBG, some sincere people in my family, etc. I'm grateful to them. It's heartening to know they really care, or are being friendly, maybe just trying to be social, etc. Doesn't matter, but good motives in the end. That's all matters.

On the other hand are some people who're mean, ignorant, pathetic, insincere, or just crazy! This post is for those. So here goes my rant for them who deserve it... If you're one of those people, you'll know for yourselves what I mean.


Why should someone be happy that it's their birthday?
Why is everyone so excited, if not even an acquaintance, when it's someone else's birthday?
Why is it looked at as an obligation for someone to "celebrate" their birthday?
Why can't a birthday be a no-event? Isn't it just another day in the life! You might argue it can't really be called a no-event, since getting past that date means all the forms you fill for the next 1 year would have a different "age" filled in. But does it really matter?!
Why is it a norm to wear new clothes, or at least dress properly, on their birthday?
Why does everyone want a treat for a birthday? I understand they'd get a free meal (probably some drinks too), but why the annoyance & pestering for a party when they're just acquaintances? Should every remote acquaintance be treated to a party? Probably a few hundred people would turn up then!
Why doesn't anyone care someone is unwell on their birthday, even after it's mentioned explicitly?

Why does someone have to call more than a dozen times early in the morning just to wish 'Happy birthday'? Why can't they stop calling if the call isn't picked up? A dozen missed calls in about 2 hours from the same number, and counting!
Why are there messages like "... I'm very sad, you didn't call" for not getting wished for the birthday on the phone? Doesn't sending an SMS suffice?
Why do people revel in others' miseries? I admit I do sometimes take pleasure too, but there's a limit - why can't some people see it?


I guess it's quite understandable, given all these questions I've asked, that it's my birthday in question. It probably was one of the worst ones ever. No real friends/relatives around. Sick. Completely devoid of any fun.
I congratulate those who've made me write this post & also made me ask all these weird questions for which I'm not really looking for any answers.

I don't care

Alrighty then! In my review about those wireless headphones at eZone, I'd described the background to what went in to buy that crappy set. I'd also described my experience at the shop. And much more. Similar posts on other hardware I'd bought - the croma mp4 player, iball speakers, etc.

Most of the comments were good, thanking me for the posts. I'm quite happy about it & sometimes feel good that I've helped a few.

However, I've got a few other comments for some of those posts that I should just get to the point! That is, not talk about the background, but rather just give a list of positives & negatives. Some of the comments even said the entire review was useless.

This blog post is for those who have complained or even berated. I don't care about you guys! I've deleted your comments & will continue to do so. If you don't like it, don't read it. This is MY blog. I didn't invite you to read my blog! I don't even have an Adsense account. I make no money from my blog. If you got a problem, go deal with it yourself. No use wasting my time or yours.

croma mp4 player with touch screen - 16GB

As described in a recent blog post, I'd thought of buying an mp3 player ASAP! I usually do at least SOME research before buying anything. This time, I didn't have that privilege. Just had to go to the nearest electronic store & buy something!

First we saw was croma store, on Indiranagar 100 ft road. Went in, saw Apple iPods - iPod shuffle, iPod classic, etc. And few others - croma mp3/mp4 players, Sony ones, etc.

Considered iPod shuffle since it was tiny. But its capacity was also tiny - just 2GB?! I easily get bored listening to the same song more than twice same day. Needed something above 8GB, so that more songs can be stuffed in & repetitions are minimized.

I liked iPod classic, because its memory size was 160GB. Everything else had just 16GB, 2GB, 32GB, etc. However, it seemed very outdated and lacked several features offered by other players. Also seemed quite expensive.

A big turnoff about Apple players was the necessity of iTunes. So looked for other options. Only good ones were by Sony and croma's own. Sony ones didn't seem that great.

Finally, shortlisted to 2 models from croma itself. One was approx. Rs. 9000, the other Rs. 6000. Features weren't that different. Just the screen size. I'd wanted just a simple mp3 player. So went for the cheaper version, "croma mp4 player with touch screen - 16GB", model: CRER1049.

Overall experience so far...

Pros/Positives:
1. Plain & simple mp3 player
2. Also plays videos, can read *.txt files too, FM, view pics & can also be used as voice recorder
3. Has a g-sensor. Implies it'll re-align the videos/pics based on how you hold it. Also you can give it a jerk & it'll jump to the next/previous item on the playlist. You can disable this, for example when traveling on a bumpy ride, by setting a timer. It's not easy to find in the settings, need to hunt around a bit.
4. Has a microSD card slot, that can help expand by an additional 4GB.
5. Free earphones from croma, MRP Rs. 700

Cons/Negatives:
1. Not great battery life. Although the guy in shop mentioned it has 24hrs playback time, it doesn't even play half of that time! I'd be surprised if it even would last 8 hrs. Haven't tried, but I think it'd just barely make it. Also got to switch it off when not in use. Otherwise it'll drain out as if it's playing something!
2. Very small screen size of 7cm (2.8 inch) isn't that great for movies, viewing pics, etc. Lots of real estate wasted too, i.e., the screen could've been much larger. Feels like you're holding a small metal brick. I've seen people mistake it for a mobile sometimes!
3. Touch screen is TFT/LCD. Implies it doesn't respond that well to touch. Got to press hard, use fingernails, or try several times, make sure you're pressing the correct point on the tiny screen, etc. You'll get used to it after a while.
4. Earphones aren't that great.
    a) They have a metal finish, implying if you turn up the volume a bit too high, or connect to a laptop that leaks some current. You'll feel a tinge of shock in the parts of the ear where it touches - very uncomfortable feeling!
    b) Bass output is horrible. Even after setting the equalizer to Bass! Tested with headphones that don't have this issue, just to make sure it's not the player's problem.
5. Can't edit playlist at all, i.e., can't remove files, can't set any order, etc.
6. Videos:
    a) Get stretched to the resolution of the player's screen size, full size. So, you'd almost always see the videos stretched horizontally/vertically, since it's rare to get videos that'd match the resolution of the player's screen.
    b) Supports only upto 480p. Nothing beyond that. So forget about HD, i.e., 720p or 1080p. And even x264. And also limited support for formats. Maybe I'm asking a bit too much here, but I'd count it as a negative!
7. Some songs just don't play. They're fine when playing on laptop. Not sure whether it's an issue with the file itself or the player.
8. Text files:
    8.1 Some text files are truncated too. For example, a 300KB file can't just be 2 pages, when a 250KB file is a few hundreds of pages.
    8.2 Can't really change the font - can set to some predefined colors and a few minor inconsequential tweaks.
9. Non-standard port for charging/transfer, so got to use what's provided & carry the cable along when travelling. I was hoping it'd have a mini usb port so that I could use the same cable I use for my phone.
10. Absolutely no reviews or specs of this player online!
11. Just 4GB expandable memory?! You gotta be kidding me.


But then, I remembered the [V] Bai's quote: Itne paise mein itna ich milega!

For Rs. 6k, what do you expect anyway.

Overall, even with such a long list of negatives, it's a decent buy. However, this market still got to evolve. Hopefully it will. Someday.

P.S. Those who wish to write ugly comments, read this

How wild can it get - the final one

Continued from here.

Thought of taking care of some unfinished business. The earlier posts were all written using my phone, not really that comfortable. Now that I've got access to my laptop, will elaborate a bit more due to comments received on a few things mentioned in earlier posts.

1. The brats - why was I annoyed with them?
For instance, take the first day when I didn't have my earphones on. Pugal was shouting, after a few hours in the bus, "Driver uncle, stop the bus!", "Driver uncle, stop the bus!", .... He was just shouting continuously for a long time (20-30 mins, I think). People around, including his parents, had a hard time trying to calm the kid or at least divert his attention. I didn't know why he was shouting to stop the bus in the first place! I'm not sure what else he did next 2 days since I was immersed in music, except when the announcements were made (already detailed these in earlier posts). So don't know what all antics he did the next 2 days. So then, I feel that single instance should be sufficient enough to state why someone could get annoyed.

2. Kukke Subramanya - a big disappointment
I'd heard quite a lot of interesting things about this temple. Firstly, I shouldn't have had any expectations. It was quite disappointing in the end. Nothing like I'd heard. The place is situated in a valley, looks good, not awesome. The temple itself - I don't understand what's so great about it!

3. Free food at the temples
For someone serving free food, it's a very decent meal. But for me, who's quite pampered, spending a few hundreds per meal usually, it was a complete let down. Quite obvious, you'd think.
So what's the free meal all about? There's a queue usually. We're in the hall within a few minutes. Sit down in long rows, probably 100 people in a row.
Round1: Everyone gets a steel plate, or a plantain leaf.
Round2: Then a small quantity of some dry curry. Usually Bottle gourd, Pumpkin, mixed veg curries having unknown vegetables, etc. I don't usually like these, so almost wasted in every place.
Round 3: Rice, immediately followed by Rasam. Rasam is just boiled, slightly brown-colored, water, with a little salt & masala to taste.
Round 4: After about 2 minutes of the earlier round, another round of rice. Immediately followed by Sambar this time. The only difference between Sambar & Rasam being - Sambar is a teeny-weeny bit thicker than Rasam & also has some additional vegetables such as onions, bottle gourd, pumpkin, etc.
Round 5: If you've set aside some rice, you can get buttermilk. Buttermilk, is actually 1 liter of curd in 25 liters of water.
And you're done. In another 2 mins you're walking out, washing hands. 10 mins in all!

4. Veg food for 4 days, continuously
Past few years, the longest period I've eaten veg food continuously was probably just a couple of days! After a very long time, at least 3 years, I've eaten veg food for 4 days continuously!
Surprisingly, I've got a comment from one of my colleagues on Monday that I've gained weight. Couldn't believe given what I'd eaten those days! Or was it because of the 'junk' food ;)

5. Inside the temples
    a) Since I walked much faster than the others, I was usually the first to go in & come out. At Adi Subramanya, for example, I was in & out twice, with a gap of 10 mins. Still people hadn't even completed 1 visit!
    b) If there were long queues, I just bypassed the queue. For example, in Udipi Krishna temple. I was out of the temple, finished lunch too. People weren't done with darshan still! For me, standing in such long queues seemed pointless. People who went in the queues, waiting for hours, when in front of the shrine/idol, just closed their eyes to pray! C'mon, what's the point! Isn't all the wait to have a good look.

6. Tilak on forehead
End of 3rd day I noticed I didn't put a tilak on my forehead at any of the temples in past few days. Never! I noticed it because I observed many others sporting multiple colors, shades & shapes of tilaks! No one around to forcefully apply one on my forehead meant I was very happy in the end! I'd walked off when some of the priests offered to apply tilak on my forehead. Explains why.

7. Money at temples
Also, whenever I've taken teertham, I've dropped Rs.1 or Rs.2, whichever came to hand first when digging through the wallet. If I was going to have a free lunch/dinner, dropped some amount of Rs.10, upto Rs.30 in the hundi. Some places where the food seemed above average, walked back & put in at least Rs.10 more if I'd initially only dropped Rs.10. End of the trip, I realized I'd spent almost all the change I had. Highest denomination used was Rs.50. So all the 100s & 500s in the wallet stayed dormant. Entire expense too was quite low, about Rs.400, I think. Didn't keep track.

8. Pics
All pics were self pics. That is, place the camera somewhere, set the timer on for 10 seconds. Go run to the position & have the pic taken when the timer runs out. No one, except me, touched the camera throughout the trip. The guide had offered to take a pic couple of times, but I politely refused. I'd most trouble taking pics when it was raining. Unfortunately, at those times there wasn't anyone around I could trust who could've taken my pic. For example, in Kollur it was raining heavily & I couldn't take a self pic. There wasn't any place to place the camera such that it could be shielded from the rain & also capture the temple entrance with me standing somewhere around. Another place I can remember where I couldn't take a self pic was the Aneguddi Vinayaka temple.

9. My experiences with gadgets
    a) mp3 player - croma mp4 player 16GB, although I've several cribs, the player has pretty much served its purpose
    b) Phone - Samsung Galaxy S2, quite impressed with the phone & battery. Used GPRS a lot. GPS didn't work when there was a thick cloud cover, or when in bus. Haven't called anyone, although it occurred to me on the last day when I was super-bored, to call, but decided otherwise
    c) Digital camera - Panasonic FZ40, extremely impressed with the battery. Hadn't charged for the whole journey. Just 1 out of 3 bars disappeared end of the trip. I might've taken a hundred pics & some HD video footage too

How wild can it get - III

Continued from here.

To maintain consistency, I'll write rest of the trip details using the phone itself!

Sept 4
So then, it was Sunday. Woke up in the most annoying way.

Got a phone call from the hotel people at 4 am. I'd set my alarm well past 4.30am. I'd lost at least half-hour of sleep and was obviously outraged at it. But couldn't protest since it'd be an unnecessary waste of time. Just had to let it pass.

Tried to sleep some more time. However, since I'd to get up in a few mins anyway, woke up and started with regular chores of any morning.

Was ready by 5 am. I'd half-hour to kill. Just laid down for a while, went downstairs by 5.25 am. Just 1 family was there by then. People slowly trickled in.

Got in the bus by 5.50 am. Bus started off at 6. First was some modern temple of Shiva inaugurated by the then PM, Rajiv Gandhi.

It seems the guide had announced the day before when I was asleep that he'd show 2 additional temples and hence will charge Rs 50 extra. This temple we were going to first was one of them. We were in Mangalore. Went past the Bajpe airport. The guide mentioned there was some mishap a few years ago & this airport was in the news.

Reached the temple at around 7 am. It was big and decent looking, but I wasn't that impressed. Mainly because the fountain in the temple was actually just a pond, filled with what looked like dirty water!

Left there by about 7.45 am. Next was Kadri. That was an old temple spanning a large area. Wasn't that great. I was in & out in a few mins. Nothing noteworthy.

Next was breakfast time. The bus stopped & the guide announced that there were 2 hotels Shivbagh & Shanbagh. We should go to Shanbagh, not Shivbagh. Got down, looked around for a moment and it became apparent that there wasn't any hotel by name Shanbagh! I guess the guide would've been very embarrassed and would be searching for a place to hide his face.

For me it didn't matter. Luckily they had dosas, so had a Masala dosa. Completed much earlier than others because most others had coffees and teas.

Started again and proceeded to Mangaladevi temple. Took very few mins. I was in and out in 2 mins! People took 20 mins!

One of the bus' tyres was flat, so the driver & his assistant replaced it with a well inflated one. By the time they were done, everyone returned. So continued to next destination, Sri Rama temple, which was on the way to Dharmasthala. Reached by 11.30am.

This was the second modern extra temple the guide had promised to show. This was much bigger than what we'd seen in the morning. I was in & out in 5 mins. Others, as usual, took their own sweet time of 30-40 mins.

Started to dharmasthala, the next destination. Reached at 12.30pm. We were told we had time till 2.30pm. That's a lot of time for me, especially at a temple! Had to do something that'd help kill a lot of time. There wasn't much to see there, except have darshan & have lunch.

It seems the free darshan would take 30 mins to an hour. There was a Rs 200 ticket, taking that'd reduce the waiting time by several minutes. I wanted to add minutes, not cut. So joined the free darshan line. Slowly and steadily, had darshan in not 30 mins to 1 hour, but 30 mins plus 1 hour! It was 2 pm already by the time I was out. I still had to have lunch, just 30 mins left. I hadn't taken any pics either!

Only saving grace was, there were others from our bus standing behind me in the line. It meant they were late too. But that didn't mean I had the right to delay as I wished!

Got into the free lunch line, got done in a few mins & was out by 2.25 pm. Just on time. Spotted the guide standing near the entrance & had a chat.

He suggested I go to visit bahubali, it'd take 10 mins to go by auto & 10 mins to come back. 5-10 mins to look around. Bus would start at 3 pm instead of announced 2.30pm due to the rush. I wasn't interested in visiting more temples. I already had an overdose & was quite numb. The suggestion seemed crazy. Just took some random pics.

Bus started at 2.55 pm. Reached kumaradhara river by 4.30pm. This was another extra stop. We seemed to be way ahead of schedule. Nothing great here either. The guide mentioned this river had some great healing/spiritual/magical powers. That means nothing to me. It was just a muddy river with a bit strong currents & lots of fresh water fishes. Ah, how I wished I could find a place that sold cooked fish!

Started to the next destination, actually the final one for the trip, Kukke Subramanya. It was announced we stay here until 9 pm. We'd reached around 5.15pm. Meant almost 4 hrs! Seemed like an eternity.

The old temple, Adi subramanya, closes at 6 pm. So went very fast & done with darshan in 2 mins. I should've taken my time by going slowly. There was no crowd, so I was out by 5.30pm.

Thinking what to do next, went in again & out again, 5 mins this time! Took some pics, started back at about 5.50pm to visit the more modern temple.

Several others seemed to be having difficulty in coming out on time. I couldn't understand why. Not my problem though, so moved on.

I was out of the modern temple by 6.15pm. I'd to take off shirt & banian here. Actually at dharmasthala and a few other temples too before this. It'd become common by then & I'd gotten used to it.

As suggested, I planned to have the free dinner at the temple itself. But that'd begin only at 7.30pm. Had to do something until then. Checked the map on phone for any interesting places nearby. Nothing! Except those 2 temples, there wasn't anything interesting in a few km radius! Again, missed the bike & wished to be back. 3 days was a bit too much.

There were only veg restaurants. I was quite disappointed. Only stores/shops around were the usual fancy items, toys, trinkets, etc. They're ubiquitous near any temple. What else could we find near a temple anyway. Just walked up and down the roads, window shopping.

I'd lost count of how many times I'd gone up and down the same road! Probably 10, 15 or even 20 times. I was enervated.

Got into the dinner line by 7.15pm. Had dinner and was out by7.45 pm. I'd at least an hour more! Spotted the prasadam counter. Had a laddoo. That could keep me busy only for a few mins.

Just to see if there were any other bored souls around, walked back to the bus to find only 1 family. That too I suspect, they were tired, rather than bored. It was just me. As I was walking along, noticed most people from our bus shopping & bargaining. I was interested in nothing there. Just wanted this to end. Walked around few more mins.

Came back to the bus by 8.40 pm. Put on the earphones & tried to sleep. The bus started by 8.55 pm. Earlier than planned 9 pm. I was pleased.

The guide apologized for any mistakes or inconveniences caused by him or the support staff. Probably they're told in their training to tell that. I felt it wasn't necessary. He said the bus would stop at the same place they'd stopped on first day near hassan.

I didn't want to be disturbed. Put on the earphones & increased the volume a bit too much. While I had my earphones on & music ringing, movies such as 'Dhamaal', 'Nee Sneham', 'Manasantha Nuvve', etc. were screened on the way for past 2 days.


Woke up at 12.30am because of a bump on the road that flung me up. Realized the bus had stopped and moved on. The movie that was playing earlier was over. People were fast asleep, the noisy brats too. Took off the earphones, switched off the mp3 player & slept.

Woken up by an announcement at 5.15 am. We'd reached B'lore. People got down at different places along the way - Rajajinagar, Majestic, etc. Contemplated getting down at Majestic, but thought of getting down at the last stop, badami house, since it was closest to our place. Walked over to the nearest bus stop. Earphones plugged in, music still thumping.

Reached home by 6.15 am. End of a wild journey. What was I thinking going for this tour.

I'd summarize my experience as amused first, bored & enervated later.

Apart from that, I was a bit disappointed with the mp3 player, impressed with my phone and even more impressed with the camera! Will probably post about those later.

Continued here.

How wild can it get - II

Looks like there's a character limit to the posts when using the blogger-droid app. So a new post, that's actually a continuation of the previous one since I've hit the character limit in the previous post.

So then, Sept 3

Woke up by 5 am, ready & in the bus by 5.30am. There wasn't much delay by anyone, so started off by 5.45.

On a side note, I was quite happy with the driver. He drove very well throughout the journey, maneuvering even the difficult hairpin-bend curves with utmost care. At a time I thought the bus would topple sideways because he was taking a U-turn on a slope of 30° when the potholes-ridden road was probably just wide enough for the bus from brushing the bushes/trees on the sides!

The first place where we stopped was Bhatkal for breakfast. Since I don't like idly that much, ordered poori (dosa wasn't available!). Everyone else first ordered idly, but after seeing my poori plate, they too got pooris! One poori plate on every table after a few mins. I was having a laugh within.

Someone managed to order & get a dosa later. I felt deceived, but my tummy was filled by then, so just let it go. The dosa didn't look that great either that I'd reconsider & stuff my tummy.

Next went to Murudeshwara temple, situated between 2 beaches. The closest beach didn't look that good, so didn't go. Took a lot of pics.

There were several "photographers" claiming to take pics. INR 50 for 4 pics! My camera takes much better pics than theirs. Even my phone camera would be a better one compared to what they had. No wonder no one asked me that they'll take my pics.

Ate a laddoo at the temple, the free meals at these temples aren't nutritious. They're just carbohydrates, not much protein. So thought I'll eat whatever "junk" I could find.

Next was some small temple, Aneguddi Vinayaka temple, on the way to Udipi. Just stopped for 30 mins. Nothing much to see or do there. I was in & out of the temple in 5 mins. Others took much longer. In the meanwhile, I took random pics as usual.

The landscape throughout the journey was just forests. Thick growth of trees, forest floor looking like a green carpet, covered in moss/grass, but no hints of soil beneath.

Coffee, tea, Areca nut, paddy (rice), banana, etc. Plantations & estates at some places.

The rain also stopped in the morning after breakfast, which meant I could happily walk around taking pics with ease, now that I wouldn't have to hold the umbrella.

B.t.w. since the mp3 player was now charged, I was listening to music all day. That helped cutoff all noise from the people around. However had to be very attentive to any announcements made by the guide. So, reduced the volume a bit before dozing off so as to awaken in case there's an announcement. Ah, the perils of being on a tour package alone.

Next was Udipi Krishna temple. Reached around 1 pm. I completed darshan and had the free lunch by 1.30pm. Much earlier than anyone else. We were to start back at 2.30pm, which meant I'd an hour to pass time.

A prasad called laddige interested me, so bought & ate for the next 1 hour as I was roaming around. It's just a huge laddoo that's made of popped rice. As I was walking along, noticed that the pond in the temple had ducks, so a photography session with them! Not all of them were cooperative, but that's natural :)

Everyone was back in the bus by 2.45 pm, so started just a few mins before 3 pm. I guess we were a bit ahead of schedule. The guide decided to take us to Maple beach (Maple pronounced as Maa-play).

We were in the beach by 3.15pm, given 1 hour. From a distance, the beach looked quite good. Unfortunately, turned out to be a mirage! The beach was, in reality, completely littered with dead plants, twigs, etc. However, the water was clean. It wasn't dirty or ugly, but overall it wasn't the nicest of the beaches. I've been to better ones.

Went into the water, knee-deep, didn't like the floating dead plants & twigs that much. So was out in 30 mins. I still had another 30 mins to kill. Took some random pics again, as usual.

Some people seemed to have had a great time in the beach. They came very late. We started back at 4.55 pm.

Next was Kateel, some goddess temple. They were playing some movie in the bus. I didn't want to listen to that & increased volume in the mp3 player. I'd dozed off with earphones on, so didn't wake up when the guide announced. I'd become oblivious to the surroundings since the time the mp3 player started working.

Woke up when the bus stopped. It was 6 pm. Soundarya palace is where we were gonna halt tonight. Asked the guide what the plan was, after apologizing for falling asleep when he made the announcement. The plan, it seems, is to just visit the temple tonight, have dinner & start back again at 5.30am as the previous day.

The plan meant I'd a lot of time. Checked Google maps & scanned the area around. Found nothing interesting nearby. Meant I'd just the temple. Went there around 6.30pm, hoping it's a big temple & can spend some time exploring. Unfortunately, it wasn't that big. I was out by 7 pm.

I'd have liked to have my bike in this situation. But this wasn't that bad even though I was sitting in the last row. The ride is quite bumpy, can't hear the guide unless he uses the PA system, etc. There would've been different challenges if riding on bike - especially in these rains, on these roads.

Anyways, came back to room, took some pics of the room since I was a bit impressed with it, given the remote location the hotel was situated. The room was a lot better than the room I was given the previous day.

Back to the temple around 8.15pm. Watched the pooja. Was looking around for signs/hints on where the free dinner is served. Just walked around for a few mins, followed a bunch of people who seemed to be talking about what I was after. So just followed them, and found myself in the right place.

The food here seemed better than at the other places. B.t.w. I don't consider this as free food. Everywhere I've eaten free food, I've dropped Rs10-30 in the hundi.

Hopefully tomorrow I won't stay asleep when an announcement is made. Got to sleep a bit earlier than yesterday, would be good to make best use of it then.

So then, that's all folks!

Continued here.

How wild can it get

It was August first week when it dawned upon me that I could take 1 day off on Sept 2nd and get 5 days of vacation. There was no plan but I reserved my vacation. Thought I could go to western ghats.

One of my colleagues was interested too. Unfortunately he didn't have a bike. So a search for bikes-for-rent in Bangalore started. I wasn't serious about the search since it wasn't for myself! It was his responsibility to find one.

Even after a week he couldn't get a bike. I had to make alternate plans. Upon a discussion with Susheel, my cousin, we thought best go to kurnool.

The plan: I go on bike from Bangalore. They come by car from Hyderabad. Both of us rendezvous at kurnool. I park my bike at kurnool. We go around in the car for a few days. I get dropped back in kurnool. I drive back to Bangalore. They drive back to hyderabad.

All was good, so made hotel reservation for a couple of days in a place we wanted to visit. Everything was fine until just less than a week before our scheduled departures it started raining. Heavily! I was still okay with the plan but they were not. So, the plan was called off.

I had to cancel the reservation. Since the cancellation charges were the same until 48hrs before check-in, I cancelled just around 50-60 hrs before check-in. Just in case there's a change of mind on their end.

I asked around again if anyone has plans to come with me - my colleague again, and Ananth, IITM batchmate. Neither of them could commit to any plan. So finally I was on my own.

I'd already taken the day off, so can't go to office. I could, but what's the point?!



The first holiday, 31st August

My internet had stopped working the previous day. Phone hasn't been working since several days, probably months. So called up Airtel guys first thing in the morning at 7.30am. He said a technician would come & fix by 1.30pm. That sounded good, it meant I had just half-day gone, rest half to plan or do something.

The Airtel guy however, called at 12.50pm saying he'll come in 5mins. Called again at 1.15pm saying phone has been fixed. Indeed it was. However internet wasn't still working. So he said he'll come in some time. Around 2pm he took my address. Called again around 2.30pm asking for directions. Finally turned up around 3.30pm. Resolved the issue by configuring the modem. All done by 4pm. But I didn't feel like doing anything rest of the day. Just caught up on general news, gadget news, etc.


Sept 1

I was invited to Ganesh puja at cousin's place. Had to go there for lunch. Plan for the day was to make a plan for rest of the vacation! So thought of going to badami house to book some KSTDC tour package, for anything I haven't been to is available.

There I was, at badami house, wondering where I could go. There were some good packages to beaches, hill stations, etc. But I was informed no seats in those packages were available, not even the last row! Should've expected that. There were 2 seats available for the Karnataka temple tour though.

Thought hard for about a minute whether to go or not. If yes, there's no turning back! I'll also have to go alone - me, temples! Almost anyone who knows me well would be shocked to know that I decided to go on this tour, alone!

There were 2 seats available, both in last row. Seat 33 was window, 34 aisle. Just to see if anyone else would come, I chose 34. Any interested person would be happy to take a window seat. Even if no one comes I'd just shift to the window seat.

The already shocked old man was even more shocked when I chose the aisle seat - I was traveling alone, on a temple tour, taking an aisle seat!

It's supposed to begin at 9pm, same day. I had less than 10hrs to start. Went to cousin's place as planned. Came back home by 4pm.

Started packing. Realized I'll be extremely bored since this is a temple tour & there'll only be elderly people, or married couples. Neither of those people I like interacting with.

So went to croma and bought an mp3 player. Didn't want to risk draining my phone's battery.

Came back home by 6pm. Charged all equipment. Copied several Albums onto the mp3 player and was ready to go by 7.50pm. I felt I forgot something. Realized next day morning that it was the soap that I'd forgotten.

Reached badami house by 8.50pm. Boarded the bus (KA01B9144). And we were off. The guide, Shivraj, seemed friendly as usual for any KSTDC tour packages. I had my earphones on until I fell asleep around 10pm. Paused the player, took off the earphones and dozed off.

Around 00.30am just a few km before hassan, the bus was stopped for people to attend to any nature calls.



Sept 2

Woken up by the guide shouting into the bus' PA system to freshen up so that we could visit the temples. We were in kalasa.

I'd to share a room with 2 others. They were as quick as I. Probably seasoned travelers. Anyways, we were all ready & left by 7am.

First in the list was horanadu, annapurneshwari temple. Horanadu, it seems, means town of bulls. I couldn't find one though.

Being a temple of a goddess, male devotees are supposed to remove shirt & banian before entering the temple. Being new to this, I removed mine in the bus itself and walked around half naked in the chilling rain, holding an umbrella and wearing blue jeans!

Almost everyone else removed their shirt & banian just before entering the temple & wore back on after coming out. I didn't feel like the smartest, but didn't mind. Just went ahead.

Had the free breakfast. Went back to the bus which was now parked a few hundreds of meters away from the entrance. It meant I'd have to walk barefoot all the way on the road. It was prickly but didn't feel as bad as I'd imagined it could be.

Restored my dignity by covering my top half of the body. Took some pics and back in the bus.

I was bored already. The mp3 player battery seemed to have lost all its charge. Looks like I hadn't switched it off properly. I'd nothing to do but look around. People sitting around me weren't interested in me, neither was I in them. There were kids around, which meant lots of cacophony!

I just immersed myself into taking pics, looking outside the window. It was raining all day. Very wet and dull weather. Perfect to stay at home, cuddled in a blanket. But this was a tour, conscious decision.

I was a stranger in my own country! Everyone else seemed weird to me. They just didn't care about the surroundings. It seemed like it was just me peering out the window all the time.

On the seat before me was a 6-7 year old kid named vaishnavi. In the rows to my right, they had a 2-3 year old kid named pugal (pronounced as "poo-gull"; yes, sounds strange). Both noisy brats! I was missing my mp3 player badly.

Next temple was kalasekhara temple. Nothing much there. Though the guide mentioned we needn't take off our shirt/banian, the guard outside the temple gate forced us to take off the the shirt/banian. Came out, took some pics again.

When in bus, waiting for other tourists to board, the guide came to me and had a short conversation. He'd first assumed I was a north-indian. He expressed his surprise that I was on a temple tour. I replied saying I'm not coming to visit any temples, but to go around western ghats before coming by bike. This is a trial to get a taste of how the roads are and what it's like. So far I've been quite impressed.

Next was sringeri. Reached by 1pm. Went around for a while, took some pics. Had the free lunch. Started to the next place around 2pm.

Next was kollur. 95 km. Having so many old people and kids on board meant frequent nature calls. After a few hours, he was stopping almost every 15pm mins. So finally at around 6 pm, took a half-hour break and also allowed tea/coffee. Probably a good thing because there weren't any more stops after that until we reached kollur.

Kollur is in a thick forest. Some of the common animals, as told by the guide, were king cobra, bison, etc. I couldn't spot any of them - it was well past 7 pm by the time we reached. It was dark too.

Just had enough time to visit the temple & have the free dinner!

Unfortunately for me, the free food served by these temples didn't seem nutritious enough. So had a large chocolate bar that I'd brought along, just perfect for these situations!

Started writing this blog after reaching the room, it's been 2-3 hours, I think. I've written all this using my phone, SGS2. So excuse any typos/errors!

Another 2 days to go. Let's see how it goes. First place tomorrow is on a beach. Got to be in the bus by 5.30am. Means bye-bye folks!

Continued here.

Samsung Galaxy S II

It's been about 3 weeks now since I'd started using this phone. My first impressions so far in these initial weeks of usage...

1. The Android OS - quite intuitive, learning curve wasn't much at all.

2. Excellent hardware specs - awesome camera with flash, processor, RAM, GPS, etc. As good as carrying a powerful laptop in pocket!

3. Thin enough to go unnoticed in the pocket too

4. Impressive battery life - was initially hoping it'd last at least a day per charge. But it exceeded my expectations by a long way. With moderate usage I'm having to charge just twice a week! Not just that, even when roaming & very little coverage, drain on the battery has been minimal. My old Nokia phone would've just died in a few hours!

5. The screen is just too good. Browsing experience is superb - probably the biggest plus so far! I don't mind the large size at all, it's actually good to have a large screen!

Overall, a very positive & totally blown away by the experience so far.

Only crib is regarding the OS itself. It seems to be starting up processes randomly for efficiency sake - even though I don't use apps that frequently during the day! This causes an unnecessary drain on the battery.

P.S. Those who wish to write ugly comments, read this

Super Weekend - The Mumbai Experience

30th June 2011
Not too long ago I was informed that I've been picked to go for the superday (a recruitment drive) at Mumbai, to be held on the Saturday 2nd July. Flight bookings were done by 6pm. The original plan was to reach Mumbai on Saturday morning, take interviews, get done by around 6pm & return to B'lore by night. However, I changed plans, as it usually happens.

We were allowed to stay on until next day & return on Sunday night or Monday morning because the ticket costs were almost the same. I thought returning on Sunday night would be a better option. Only problem was where to stay.

Called up Varun first, though he was going to Hyd that weekend, to get Chidvi's number. I had the number, but wasn't sure it was the right one. Called up Chidvi & confirmed that I could stay at his place. Thankfully, he wasn't going anywhere like Varun, so I could stay at their place.

1st July 2011
Came back from office normally around 8-9pm, packed up until midnight & got a few hours of sleep.

2nd July 2011
The adventure began.

Woke up by 03:30am, before even the alarm rang. Probably too much excitement got the better of me. Wasn't feeling sleepy though. Got ready & was out by 04:25. The company cab, Ford Fiesta, was waiting since 04:05 though the pick up time was 04:30.

The driver took a longer route, and on top of it was driving slowly. He drove below 60kmph even though everyone else around was zooming past us, even some of the bikes! Anyways, it didn't matter. Reached airport around 05:45, which was well before time. That was because I'd started early, and also there wasn't any traffic at such an ungodly hour.

Met all of our colleagues since we were all traveling on the same flight. Checked in. Sat around for a while gossipping about various things such as sports, phones, etc. Finally when the boarding call was announced, got in to the flight.

I wasn't very fortunate, got an aisle seat with a kid sitting on the window seat beside me. Between me & the kid was the kid's dad. The kid's constantly pestering his dad was a bit annoying for me. I put on my headphones & tried to pay attention on the screen before me. There were just 4 channels playing - one playing Lage Raho Munnabhai, another playing Golmaal 3, another one playing F.R.I.E.N.D.S., and the last one showing the flight's position, distance, stats, etc.

I'd seen all 3 of the items being played on these channels. My preference would've been to not watch any of them. However, to divert my attention from the annoyance at the window, tuned in to Golmaal 3. The nice air-hostesses brought snacks at time, and that was my breakfast.

Reached Mumbai by 08:45. 2 Innovas were waiting for us. Hopped in & reached our destination (someplace in Goregaon East) in less than an hour.

There was a test conducted first, could call it an elimination round. We waited in a conference room until the test was done. I was constantly thinking what would happen of me when I get to take interviews. I'd never taken back-to-back interviews.

In the meanwhile, pizzas were ordered for lunch.

The test for the candidates was objective type paper. We evaluated the answer sheets in about half-an-hour. More than one-third of the candidates got thru this round. Interviews were scheduled starting 12:40pm.

So then from 12:40, I started taking interviews. Somehow a strategy got in place automatically: if a candidate is not good, spend a little more time & eliminate them in the first round itself rather than ask them to wait around & eliminate them after several rounds with a lot of frustration. I know how it feels like since I've been in such situations before. Been there, done that!

The candidates I passed on to next rounds got thru to the end up to offer stage. Felt very good about it. Also fortunately, for those I rejected I didn't have any 50-50 opinions. They were all straight rejects.

Each of the interview lasted about 30-45 mins each. In between the interviews, I was having a small portion of my lunch, i.e., a piece of pizza. This went on until around 18:30 in the evening. We had to call it a day then since others had to leave by the flight. I too left along with them.

Plan now was to get to Chidvi's place. Suggestion from Chidvi was to get to Lower Parel station first & call him for further directions. Thanks to Deepak, one of my team mates & a Mumbai localite, he gave some good introductions & instructions to local trains, stations, etc. Best of all was to make best use of the night at Mumbai!

There was sunlight though the time was 19:30. It got dark by 20:00

As told I got to Lower Parel station, called up Chidvi once again & got more details on how to get to their place. Got into a taxi, got down at Worli Naka signal. Waited near the Petrol pump since Chidvi would be coming there. In a few minutes he turned up & once done with the pleasantries, walked to their apartment in about 10 mins, it wasn't too far.

Reached their place by 20:45. Freshened up, met some of his friends who stay in the same apartment, had dinner & was thinking what to do next.

Chidvi, being a nice host, took me to Worli Seaface. It was pleasant by the sea. Odd thing was the crowd at that time. It was 23:30 and there were couples walking around, sitting on benches having private conversations, single women roaming around in shorts, skirts, etc. Seemed like a strange place at first. Never saw such crowd in any other city in India at this time of the day.

After a while, as suggested by Varun, we went to Bandra to a pub called Elbo Room. Went by a taxi along the Sealink from Worli to Bandra. The sealink might be a multi-million dollar project, but wasn't that awesome. It's just a bridge built on sea to cut through the city traffic.

Getting back, Elbo Room was a singles bar. We were allowed inside, but there wasn't any place to sit. One of the bartenders requested us to stand outside and have something. We didn't feel that comfortable, the place was too small and seemed over-crowded already. So had to walk out.

Next went to some other bar close by. I guess Chidvi was impressed by the crowd which looked quite stunning. As I'd suspected, stags weren't allowed. We had to look for another place. Next on the radar was Toto's in Bandra.

Went there by auto. It was just around midnight, but the streets were still busy, people walking around in all directions, and some shops such as stationery stores which you don't expect to be open were still open!

It then started raining, we got a little drenched but not that bad. Asked around & finally got to Toto's. There wasn't any place to sit here either. But this was more lively, spread over a wider area than Elbo Room, and the crowd wasn't that bad.

We both took a drink each, while standing itself, hoping to get a seat by the time we were done. Unfortunately, being a Saturday night, everyone was happily sitting around, no one even seemed to be thinking of leaving for home unless pushed for it. Chidvi then thought best to go to the good ol' place everyone loves: HRC.

And there we were, took a taxi back to Worli and got into Hard Rock Cafe! There wasn't any place here either. We put a lot of pressure on the folks to get us a place. Within a few minutes we were sitting, facing a crowd that was the best I'd seen so far. Lost in the music, dancing away to the tunes being played. But was very loud, so we had to shout in each others' ears to talk.

We were sitting on 1 side of a 4-seater table. Since there was a space crunch, the service boys seated 2 ladies to the front of us & 1 on the side. Our table now had 2 males & 3 females. A rare occurrence, which we didn't really mind initially.

Upon closer observation, one of them looked like a male to me. Chidvi insisted it was a female. I had to agree since she was sitting beside him & I couldn't hear them talking. The other 2 introduced themselves as "girlfriends", which shattered all hopes of Chidvi since his mind was obviously contemplating something else. I didn't mind talking to them though, what have I got to lose?

They offered us their starters since there was obviously a lot of it. We politely refused, so they got it packed. Then came an offer to have Tequila shots with them. Politely refused again. But got into talking about our jobs. They were obviously impressed about our backgrounds. Both of us IITians, both of us working in well known banks. The "girlfriends" were both film-makers & made some documentaries. Tried convincing Chidvi to make friends with as many people as possible and maintain a diversity in friends. There'll be more learnings that way & more "chances".

In all I took 2 drinks & Chidvi took 2 too. Difference was mine were cocktails, Chidvi's were mocktails. I was almost knocked out & dizzy with the first one, but the second one made it even worse. I was afraid I might throw up. Fortunately nothing like that happened.

Around 01:30 the music was stopped & it was time to leave. It was raining heavily outside. We stood near the door for a while. Chidvi borrowed an umbrella from one of the girlfriends, Paroma, to try his luck in getting a taxi. However, taxis weren't allowed near that door. Before we bade goodbyes to each other Chidvi exchanged phone number with Paroma! Hope he builds & maintains a friendship.

So we had to run in the rain to get to a taxi. Found one quickly enough but it was raining very hard, so got soaked to the skin.

Reached the apartment by 02:30, it wasn't raining there. Changed some clothes & slept within a few seconds of closing my eyes.

3rd July 2011
Woke up by 07:30 & ready by 09:00. Was fresh & ready for a new day. Nothing from the previous night remained. Breakfast was dosa; the chutney was good, everything else decent.

As suggested by Chidvi, we then left for Gateway of India, which was in Colaba. Took a taxi to get there. On our way saw several buildings and landmarks that are famous for several reasons. For example, Ceejay house, AirIndia building, bungalow of one of India's richest man, etc. Also got an idea of the soaring real-estate costs! No beating that anywhere else in India.

Saw the Taj hotel for real, which I've been seeing in the news for past couple of years on TV & newspapers, since it was a target in the Mumbai attacks few years ago.

Walked around a bit, took some pics & went to a Barista which was close by. Started back by 11:30. Had lunch after reaching home. Then Chidvi suggested going to Phoenix Mills Mall. Got there by around 02:30.

As suggested by Chidvi, to not carry my bag around, deposited it at Lifestyle & took the token. It was much easier to get in & out of shops & do as much window-shopping as possible.

There were 3-4 blocks in all. One of them was stunning, not just the interiors, but also the crowd. Reminded me of a mall I'd visited at San Jose. Not as good as that one, but was decent enough.

Went into some of the shops, especially ones with gadgets, like croma, Bose, Apple store, etc. After a while went to Costa Coffee & had some frappe. It was 16:15 by the time we were done.

Just about the time we were coming out & I was thinking about how to get to the airport, Deepak calls me & says he's already at the airport! I really didn't have much choice but to take a taxi, go by the fastest route, i.e., the sealink, and get to the airport. Reached by about 17:30 & checked in.

Got a window seat, but couldn't really enjoy the view of the city because the window was right on top of the wing! Could mostly see the clouds, and was dark by the time we landed.

Reached B'lore by 20:15. Since the company cab pick-up time was 20:30, had a juice to kill some time. The cab came by 20:20 & called. So got back asap & got to the cab. This time it was a Chevrolet Optra. Not as great inside as it does outside. Anyways, the super-weekend came to an end.

Back-to-back awesome weekends. Hope it stays this way!

Less than 24 hrs in real Mumbai, but left an everlasting impression on me!

A Memorable Weekend

24th Jun 2011 (Friday)
Woke up a bit early to get to office early so that I could leave early :)

Eventually left around 16:30 from office on bike. Came home in about 15 mins. It was drizzling - not a very good sign when going on a long journey. Anyways, packed up & started from home around 17:00. Noted down the odometer reading & the journey began.

Within about half-an-hour, I was on the KR Puram hanging bridge & on my way to Tirupati. At around 18:00, realized I need to fill up the fuel tank within the city itself. Those in the villages couldn't be trusted. Within a few minutes, found a decent looking petrol pump. Filled up petrol worth Rs. 300 & continued. Also withdrew Rs. 5k from a nearby ATM; just-in-case. The road up to Mulbagal (Bangalore-Kolar highway) was awesome with 4 lanes throughout. I could test the limits of my bike & I did :D

After about 19:00, it got dark & since there are no street lights on any of the highways in India, it was a bit difficult to drive because everyone was driving with their lights on high-beam. So I did the same. I had to heavily rely on the white striped markings on the road to stay on the correct side of the road & maintain my lane, since otherwise it was difficult to see more than a few meters in the glare of headlights of the vehicles coming from other side of the road.

When I was about to reach Chittoor, noticed in a distance (in the direction I was heading) some continuous lightning, which meant heavy rain. Also, there was the scent of rain in the air. I thought it was 'The End' of my journey. Luckily, I noticed a board that saved me by redirecting onto a bypass road avoiding Chittoor completely! I wasn't drenched.

On the bypass road, when the way seemed to get confusing, I had to ask for directions & got to the right path. At around 20:30 I'd to stop due to a closed railway gate. Tirupati was still about 70km from there. So, took the opportunity to stretch a little & called up my mom to inform that I'm on schedule!

Thankfully not too long after, about 15-20 mins later, the slow train passed & the gates opened. I continued my journey to get to the Alipiri gate before it closes, i.e., before 22:00. Around 21:00 my bike suddenly stopped. It was pitch black. There was cloud cover, so couldn't even see the moon or any stars. I thought I was doomed & started to think of solutions & reasons to why the bike stopped. Was it because I was driving it non-stop for 250km?

Anyways, it struck me it might've hit the reserve. And hey presto! I was right. Somehow the fuel indicator didn't seem to show it & I was fooled. After about 20km, noticed a petrol pump & refueled petrol worth Rs.300 and continued to head to Tirupati.

Finally reached Tirupati around 21:20, but the gate to Tirumala was nowhere in sight. It was a good thing the directions to Tirumala were marked on several boards along the way that led me to the gate by around 21:40. I made it! Still 20 mins to spare. Paid the toll of Rs.2 at the gate & started uphill.

The distance was just 18km, but a board there suggested it'll take about 45 mins. It wasn't too steep & very manageable. But was very dark, there were no lights. It's situated in a national park, so got to be careful of any wildlife. I did notice a 3-foot white colored snake on the road, trampled by the bus that was going ahead of me. Unfortunately I didn't react quick enough (even if I did, I might've lost my balance) & I too went over the poor snake.

Reached the top of the hill around 22:10, but had no idea about the route to Sringeri Mutt - the place where the marriage was taking place. Asked a few people on the road about the route. Most of them were new to the place like me & didn't know. One person knew the route & requested me to drop him on the way. That was probably even better - I too get to help him that way :) Dropped him where he wanted & followed the directions he'd given. His directions weren't that clear, so had to ask a few more people. Finally, made it to the place I'd wanted to go at around 22:25. I'd traveled 283 km.

Parked my bike outside the marriage hall & took out the phone to call mom. Unfortunately there wasn't any signal there! So, went into the hall, scanned around for a while & spotted her! Yippee! I made it & met her. As expected, she was shocked & surprised, became a bit emotional & cried a little.

After meeting a few people there, had dinner downstairs & came back up by around 23:00. Then it was decided we go for a darshan since it seems it wasn't taking much time now. In the morning it'd take 3-4 hours, so better get it done with.

We went to Counter#8 for the Rs.300 tickets. Unfortunately it seems that closes by 23:00 & we'd reached there at 23:25. We asked a policeman there & he suggested we go by the free darshan line itself since it's taking just 1-2 hours! That seemed like a good news & we optimistically went in.

The darshan was over in about an hour like the policeman said. We were coming out & standing in the counters to collect the laddoos by 00:30. And completely came out by 00:45. Went to room by 01:30, slept by 02:30.

25 Jun 2011 (Saturday)
Woke up by 06:45 in the morning. Got ready by 07:30. Had breakfast & began sightseeing on the hill. It was an awesome experience - using own bike, riding on the hill!

First went to Paapa Vinashini, which was about 8-9 km. Didn't go near the water - the whole place seemed very artificial. And with so many people around, didn't even feel like getting down the stairs. Took some pics & started back.

Next went to Akasha Ganga. There as almost no water here. Whatever water was there was stagnant & didn't look neat. So again just took some pics & started to the next place.

Visited a few other places: Venugopalaswamy temple, Srivari paadalu, Sila Thoranam, the dam, etc.

Back to room by around 11:00. I was late already since I was planning to leave to Chennai by 10:30 so as to not be late for lunch! So, ASAP packed up & started by 11:30. Got down the hill & to Tirupati by 12:40. Chennai was still 140km away!

With just 3 stops of couple of minutes each (1st one for Petrol refilling of Rs.200, latter 2 for drinking water), reached Chennai around 14:15. However I didn't know the route to SCK's place. I had a talk to him earlier & it was decided to meet at Spencer (Spencer Plaza, Mount Rd.) since that's one of the very few landmarks I'd easily identify & it's also very close to SCK's office.

After about an hour of searching around, getting lost in the maze of Chennai's one-ways, I finally reached Spencer at 15:20. SCK promptly came there within a few mins after I'd reached. I needed to have lunch quickly so that we don't waste much time. So went to one of the few Domino's. I freshened up a little there & had lunch as quickly as I could. Then went to SCK's place by around 16:15.

SCK had some office work, so he left around 17:00. Since Pondy bazaar was close to their place, I went for a 40 minute walk there to have a look around. I was most interested in buying a mobile - Samsung Galaxy S II. I found a shop who said he'd sell it for Rs.29500. I didn't have that much cash, so thought of coming the next day. Also thought it'd be even cheaper at Ritchie St.

Anyways, came back to the apartment by 18:00. SCK returned by around 18:20. He took bath & checked his weight. It was around 85kgs! I checked mine too. The last I remember checking my weight was when I was just out of IIT. IIRC it was about 72kgs. This time I was 71kgs! Nothing much changed.

Anyways, we wanted to visit IIT & meet some friends who're doing their PhD.s. Called up Trinath & requested him to arrange tickets for the OAT movie for the night.

SCK & I reached IIT in SCK's car around 19:15. We thought of giving Trinath a surprise by banging on his door & barging into the room when he opens it :P Our evil plans didn't succeed since he'd gone for dinner! We had a look around the new hostel, Sindhu. It was a bit claustrophobic & lots of pseud puts (lift system & honey comb structure).

We left from there to OAT by the Sharav route opposite SAC. By 19:45 we were waiting outside the main gate of OAT waiting for Trinath. Trinath had dinner & met us just in time for the movie that started at sharp 20:00 as it always does at OAT.

It was X-Men First Class. I'd seen it before, but didn't mind watching it again, esp. in OAT! It was nostalgic & felt very nice. We sat at the same place we used to sit while we were in IIT - just beside the projector towards the left. There were also the standard "scenes being cut" to either censor or to reduce the movie length. And shouting during prominent scenes, etc.

Met a few other friends whom Trinath had brought along - Rajesh, Chaitanya,...

After the movie, i.e., around 22:30, we went back to get the car - SCK, Trinath, Rajesh & I. First went to the SBI ATM opposite post office beside KV ground & GC - I withdrew Rs.10K & planned to withdraw the rest on next day to buy the phone. Then we went to the CCD that's near GC, DoMS, Sarayu, CenLib.

We had some slight snacks & juices which we treated as our dinner. Then SCK gave Rajesh some driving practice with his car. Around 23:45, we bid goodbye to Trinath & Rajesh, & headed back to the apartment. Reached by 12:30 & slept by 01:00.

26 Jun 2011 (Sunday)
I woke up at 07:30, took bath & was ready by 08:00. Since SCK was still sleeping, I lied down for a while. SCK finally woke up around 08:45 & was ready by 09:15. We went to A2B in Pondy Bazaar, by walk, for breakfast & were back by about 09:45.

The plan for the day was
1. Buy the phone in Ritchie St
2. Go to Besant Nagar beach & have lunch near the beach itself at one of the many good restaurants there
3. Start back to Bangalore. On the way to B'lore, stop at Kancheepuram to visit the temples there. SCK would come upto Kanchi by his car & myself by bike. Once we're both done visiting the temples or any other tourist places at Kanchi, he'd go back to Chennai & I'd return to B'lore.

And so it began - we went to Ritchie St by bike & reached there by about 10:45. Asked around in a few shops & finally bargained in a shop who promised to sell it for Rs.29000. Since that was a good deal, we agreed. He said he had to get it from somewhere else, so asked us to give Rs.1000 as token amount as a confirmation. I gave Rs.500. And told him I'll need to withdraw some more amount & would be back in a few minutes. It was about 11:15 then.

I'd searched around for ATMs. First found South India Bank ATM, but after going near it, saw a notice hanging on the door handle "Out of service". So, tried to look around for another one. Found a Canara Bank ATM. But I guess there wasn't enough cash in it, it declined my transaction. After a bit more walking around, found a SBI ATM but it was closed!

Finally decided to take the bike to scavenge for ATMs in a larger area. So, went a bit further & found Indian Overseas Bank ATM and another SBI ATM, but they both were closed too. Went for another round in an even larger area & finally found a SBI ATM that seemed to be working - given the queue of people standing before the door trying to get in. Parked my bike nearby, tried my luck & I was able to withdraw the balance amount.

I was back in the shop by 11:45, but the phone hadn't arrived yet. It seems someone was getting it from Mylapore & got stuck in heavy traffic. We kept inquiring on where the person is, but the shopkeeper, Ashok Bhai, kept saying the person was still stuck in traffic & would reach in another 10-20 mins. This went on for more than an hour. Then he informed us that the person's bike ran out of fuel & that he was stranded on the road looking for a petrol pump. This was very frustrating & getting ridiculous. Finally at about 13:45, the person arrived & delivered the phone.

The 2 hr delay meant we had to cancel all plans for the day. That is, no beach, no Kanchi, no lunch near the beach!

We went to the same Domino's for a quick lunch, came out by 15:00. Went home, packed up & started back to B'lore by 16:00. SCK led the way to a good petrol pump for me to refuel the bike & later we stopped for a quick bite or some juice. At the best place we could find, I took a 600ml Fanta & gulped down in a couple of minutes! SCK then led me to the Bangalore-Chennai National highway, took the U turn & bid goodbye & left home. It was about 16:30.

It was very windy, so I couldn't drive fast. Accelerating made me feel like the bike was skidding. So, drove at an acceptable speed. Totally made just 3 stops of 2 min each - once for drinking water, twice for refueling. Pretty much drove non-stop for 340km.

Reached Koramangala Sony World Jn by around 21:45. I'd taken the elevated highway from Electronic city to cut thru all the traffic. Not taking the highway would've been very tiring. Though it meant I had to pay Rs.15 to get on the highway, I felt it was worth it in the end. Had dinner at Taco Bell on the Sony World Jn corner by 22:20. Took the Inner Ring Rd. & reached home by 22:45.

In total I'd covered a distance of 896km (Bangalore -> Tirupati -> Chennai -> Bangalore).

Except the mess-up due to the phone that caused disruptions in the plan, it was a weekend well spent. And one I'll probably never forget!

Horrible Bangalore Traffic Police

I've had some bitter experiences with the Bangalore Traffic Police, but the one that happened last week was the worst.

The road was totally empty & I just took a left turn, cruising at around 40kmph. The roads aren't that good to go faster than that speed anyway. Just around the corner was a policeman wanting to stop me immediately.
Given the road was wet with the rain, I couldn't break that well & would have been at least 100 ft before I could stop. So decided to just go along & didn't stop. I've no idea what was wrong & why the policeman wanted to stop me for - it was a left turn! Aren't we allowed a free left - this is India, not US. It wasn't a one-way either! I've been on that road several times & never seen a policeman at that corner. Also, there's no rule anymore to generally stop people for no reason & do document checks unless there's a traffic violation.

After a few days I checked their website to see if I was fined anything for that & was surprised to see a charge of Rs. 400 for "DRIVING DANGEROUSLY - NON TRANSPORT VEHICLES".

As far as I remember, I wasn't driving too fast. 40kmph isn't fast at all!!! I've no idea why the policeman was trying to stop people without any reason. £μ¢κ‡η§  ∀$$ Ħ¤Ł€$


Another one, a few months ago:
I had a similar experience as the one mentioned here. The difference from the one in the link was that I paid the bribe rather than being charged Rs.500. So, got away with Rs.100 that obviously went into the policeman's pocket because I couldn't find any corresponding log of that incident in the traffic police website.

Overall opinion about the Bangalore Traffic Police has been really bad for me. In my opinion, they are good for nothing, almost always only mean harm rather than do anything useful.
It's almost guaranteed to see them at the ends of 'No Entry' roads, parking lots to tow vehicles away, around corners where traffic is flowing peacefully (or even non-existent), etc. But rarely can you find them where traffic is choking, where there's an accident or a brawl going on, etc.

Bangalore (Bengalooru), no doubt, is notoriously known for it's horrible traffic with not-so-good-roads for a valid reason after all!

Shamiyaana - 'splendid' ambiance, disastrous restaurant

I'm quite unhappy with the restaurant, Shamiyaana, near 80 ft Rd, Indira nagar, Bangalore, India. This isn't really a review of it, but of my last experience there which illustrates how bad their service is.

We've been regular customers to that restaurant for the past year and a half, visiting once every month on an average. However, we'd been ordering standard dishes such as chopsuey, noodles, etc. It had been a good experience until our last couple of visits that have gone awry. My experience a month ago wasn't as bad as this one. This takes the crown.
Here it goes...

I'd quickly browsed through the menu & ordered 2 items: (1) Boneless Lemon Chicken Dry and (2) Keema Naan. He did not note down the order, just remembered it. He said he'll check the availability & get back. He quickly went into the kitchen, came back & happily announced to us that it was available.

After about 20 mins he came back & apologetically said that Keema naan wasn't available & I'll have to choose something else. I said fine, and asked for suggestions. He said he can get a minced chicken paratha - that was fine with me & said okay.

After about 30 mins, he brought the Lemon Chicken, but WITH bones & gravy! I asked him to take it away & get what I'd ordered, i.e., "Boneless" Lemon Chicken.
He was obviously embarrassed at his mistake, but since something has to be done, he suggested that he'll just remove the bones & get the same dish back. I replied rather bluntly to get what I originally ordered, which is a Boneless Lemon chicken dry. Don't know how much of it got into his impenetrable skull.

Worst part was he now told that even Chicken paratha wasn't available. He'll get Egg paratha instead. What the %$#@. Couldn't he tell that the first time? Should he have me waiting for about an hour to find that out. I almost felt like leaving the restaurant right then and cancel the entire order. For such an expensive restaurant, this kind of treatment is totally unacceptable.
Anyways, being mild mannered, I accepted the suggestion.

After about 10 mins, he got the Egg paratha. It didn't taste good, on top of that it costs Rs. 100? Unbelievable! Non-sense! The one in Breeze tastes much better & costs less than half this one!

After another 10 mins, he brought the Boneless Lemon Chicken, but with gravy. It was just the same dish he'd got earlier, just that the bones were stripped off. It's Price tag: Rs. 175. Extremely expensive, considering the quantity, taste, etc. I should've asked him to take it away. This was becoming unbearable & very annoying. Anyways, I said to myself never to come back again. Just let this pass, thanking them for all our previous not-so-bad experiences. Cleaned up my place as quickly as possible. Paid the bill & got out.

My most horrible experience there so far. Will never go again.

Airtel's F$(# Users Policy (FUP)

Frustration with Airtel broadband is now getting on my nerves!

First it was the issue with reducing bandwidth to 256 kbps, even though it's an "unlimited" connection.
I didn't mind that a lot at that time since the connection was still reliable & it came into effect only after some amount of transfer limit was reached. Though I DO disapprove of it in general, the present issue I'm having since about a month ago is worse than can be imagined. I'll quit Airtel Broadband as soon as I switch another one - hopefully will be better than the current one.

The issues
1. My internet connection keeps disconnecting all the time! Everytime it connects back, all pages are redirected to some juniper error page with the folowing text:
    Error 500: IDL:smgt.juniper.net/sae/SAEException:1.0
2. Ports are all blocked, internet traffic seems to be monitored now. I've a strong privacy concern here - Airtel is probably listening to everything.
3. I couldn't login to the router anymore (found later after some tinkering that my account # is now admin's password). I wanted to check on the router settings if they were doing something crazy.
4. Every time I connect to internet, it redirects to a $^#!** page saying I've crossed my monthly quota!!! What the #&%$... even on first day of the month?! Redirecting is probably okay, but it's okay just once! Not forever. Usually I launch my browser with a lot of tabs from last time. All of them load up to this page! It's so annoying, having to remember what my previous pages were. These redirecting pages don't go away until a few mins, so can't browse anything until those 'quota reached' pages stop popping up.
5. Phone (the landline that comes free) doesn't work. I don't want to call the tech support for this because it's not free to talk to them, you gotta pay those %@$!@(^*$. Their tech support ain't the smartest of the bunch either! What nonsense. Anyways, I don't use the landline, so wouldn't worry about that too much.
6. And of course, the FUP. When it's called an "unlimited" connection, why throttle speeds at all? What nonsense... there's no truly unlimited connection at all from Airtel. Actually, that applies to most of the ISPs in India.


In past few years, I've converted to a strong detractor of Airtel, from a strong promoter, shame on them to treat customers this way.

I hope TRAI is listening to all the woes of customers like me & penalize these ISPs, esp. Airtel in my view.

Restaurants around Kodihalli & Jeevan Bhima Nagar, Bangalore - Consolidated post

Now that I've stayed here for more than five years and been to quite a lot of restaurants (usually for dinner), time to help others by giving some gyaan :)

Some background: we go thru a constantly updating restaurant list in a cycle, for about 3-4 weeks. That is, if we go for dinner to restaurant A today, B tomorrow, C the day after, and so on until say restaurant Z in a couple of weeks, the day after that we go back to restaurant A, then B, so on. These "regular" restaurants in our list are marked in italics in the list below. Some restaurants get added to the list as we try & like new ones that open in the surroundings, some get removed if their quality goes below our standards(Wang's, for example) or if they close down (of course!).

I'd written a couple of blog posts (this & this) before regarding this topic, but they were kinda meant for myself and very much outdated now. The below list is a bit more general, consolidates the earlier posts & also includes reviews/suggestions by others - thanks for the suggestions!

The criteria for the below restaurants list is that they should be 'around our house'. That is, the restaurant should be walkable distance from where we stay. "Walkable" for us is anything less than about half-an-hour walk from where we stay. Anything beyond this limit are not mentioned. For example, Lajawaab on CMH Rd, Madhuri on Airport Rd-Wind Tunnel Rd Jn, Cream Center on 100 ft rd, etc.

Also, not included in the list below are places such as Cafe Coffee Day, Barista, Sweet Chariot, Mama mia, Just Bake, Creme, etc. that aren't restaurants. However, Sagar hotels have been included since they're good for breakfast & sometimes quick meals too.

I'll try my best to keep this post alive by keeping it updated often. Let's see how it goes.

Unless explicitly mentioned as 'veg only', it's to be assumed that the restaurant serves Non-veg.

- TFC a.k.a. Thunder Fried Chicken - Jeevan Bhima Nagar Main road, near Kodihalli bus stop - excellent place for take-aways. Try Chicken Fried Rice & Shawarma there. Shawarma isn't available after around 9 pm. The preparation begins at around 6.30-7pm. The place is usually open until around 11 pm. Closed in the afternoons on weekdays. However, they're open in the afternoons on weekends. Being less than 10 minute walk from where I stay, this is usually my first preference when having meal at home, used to get a parcel from there about once a week (but about a month now-a-days).

- Beijing Bites - Jeevan Bhima Nagar Main road, near Kodihalli bus stop, 1st floor - excellent place for Chinese & tasty food.

- Chung's Corner - Indiranagar 80 Ft road, near BSNL exchange, above Treat - excellent place for Chinese food & good ambiance too.

- Treat - Indiranagar 80 Ft road, near BSNL exchange, below Chung's - good place, good food. North Indian cuisine. B.t.w. don't take any Fried Rice here - it should probably called 'Dried Fried Rice'!

- Breeze - Thippasandra Main road, near market - excellent value for money, good taste & quantity. Just a couple of stuffed Parathas should be more than enough for dinner! Multi Cuisine - North Indian, South Indian, Chinese,... Closed for renovation as of April 2012

- Dark - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, opposite Ekbote. Vietnamese, Indian, Thai,... cuisines. Expensive for the quantity. Also, be careful in choosing your order. Service used to be horrible, but they've improved over time. Note - what's in the pic beside the item you ordered in the menu most definitely won't look the same!

- Kaayal - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, near Kodihalli bus stop, 2nd floor - excellent Kerala cuisine & ambiance.

- Wang's kitchen - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, opp IBP Petrol pump - good Chinese cuisine, but not too hygienic now-a-days, so not marked in italics anymore.

- Malabar - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, opp IBP Petrol pump - good Kerala cuisine; best for a quick meal since the service is usually quick.

- Bob's Place - Off Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, near Ekbote & Religare Medical Shop - best to go with friends. Indian cuisine. Avoid if you're not used to spicy atmosphere. Also you may want to avoid going at nights due to mosquitoes.

- Splendid/Shamiyaana - 12th Main, opposite Herbs & Spices on 80 feet Road. Nice ambiance but a bit expensive & service isn't good. Multi cuisine.

- Delicacy - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, opposite Axis bank ATM; 1st floor. Good food, worth the money. Chinese & Thai cuisine.

- Chowka - Tippasandra main road, close to the petrol pump on this road. First floor, below Tale of Parathas that's on 2nd floor. Rajasthani cuisine. Thali only. Unlimited food, fixed menu and the course (if you've been to Rajdhani, you'll know what I'm talking about). Veg only.

- Southern Bistro - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, near Ekbote - best place to go for a really good quality south Indian snacks (dosas), may feel a little expensive, but worth it - especially their chutneys. Avoid weekends or times when there's crowd. They seem to have gotten a bit selfish, because they're now limiting the chutney bowls & refilling them. Veg only.

- Calcutta Chat - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, near Kodihalli bus stop - best chat corner in and around here. Veg only.

- Good Luck -Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, near Kodihalli bus stop, below Kaayal. Thali - Maharashtrian, Rajasthani, Gujarati cuisine, similar to Rajdhani, NH8 or Chowka. Unlimited food. 150 on weekday, 200 on weekend per meal. Veg only.

- Laddoos - on Jeevan bhima nagar main rd, opposite Calcutta chat. Sweets & chaat seemed okay, but given a better alternative right opposite (Calcutta Chat), why go here. Veg only.

- Mast Kalander - on Jeevan bhima nagar main rd, opposite Calcutta chat, above Laddoos. Good food like any other Mast Kalander in Bangalore. Veg only.

- Amrith Sagar - Indira nagar 80 Ft road, near BSNL exchange - best place to go for a breakfast if you want the menu to be a bit more exhaustive or if you want to eat while seated. Avoid going on sunday mornings due to the church going crowd. Veg only.

- Bhavan - Tippasandra main road, previously used to be Dr. Sekar's Dosas. Quite good. Definitely one of the best tiffin center in the area. Veg only.

- Elois Chinese - behind Nandhini off Indira nagar 100 feet road. As the name says, Chinese cuisine. A bit expensive compared to similar restaurants in Jeevan Bheema Nagar, but good food.

- Kitchen Bells - opposite BEML gate. Multi cuisine. Good food, worth the money.

- Tale of Parathas - Tippasandra main road, second floor, close to the petrol pump on this road, above the restaurant Chowka. Extensive menu having almost all kinds of parathas you can imagine. Parathas only - no rice or such stuff. Probably good if you like parathas. Veg only.

- Panchami Upahar - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, near Kodihalli bus stop - ok place for breakfast if you've no other options. Used to be really good a few years ago, but not anymore. Veg only.

- Juice Junction - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, near Kodihalli bus stop - needs no introduction. Veg only.

- Casio - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, near Kodihalli bus stop - very similar to what Juice junction has to offer. Veg only.

- Punjabi Dhaba - off Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, opp IBP Petrol pump. Extremely inexpensive, almost like a daily mess for some people around. As the name says it all, Punjabi cuisine. Veg only.

- Herbs & Spices - 1st floor above Planet M, Indira nagar 80 Ft road, near BSNL exchange, opposite Hotel Empire. Expensive but a good one.

- World Cuisine Network (La Vigna - Italian, Masala Craft - Indian, Harry's - Pub, Mezzeh - Lebanese) - Indira Nagar 80 feet road, opposite Bank of India. All cuisines available. Avoid the Indian cuisine & alcoholic beverages. Italian cuisine is fine. A bit expensive though.

- Plantain Leaf - Thippasandra Main road, near FabMall, 1st floor - spicy Andhra food. Other cuisines also available.

- Spicy Corner - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, near Kodihalli bus stop - as the name says, they serve spicy food, best for takeaway; not worthy of recommendation, but okay. Avoid if you're sensitive to hygiene.

- Biryani's - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, opp IBP Petrol pump, 1st floor - Hyderabadi cuisine; food tastes okay but I don't know what oil they use - I seem to be allergic to it, always tend to cough a lot after eating there. We don't visit that place anymore.

- Clay pot - off Thippasandra Main road, near market - Kerala cuisine, small restaurant, best for a quick bite.

- Simply Veg - Jeevan Bhima Nagar main road, near Kodihalli bus stop. Being a 'veg only' hotel, and because it doesn't look that great either, haven't gone even once! Veg only.

- Begum's - Thippasandra Main road, near market - best avoided because of the number of cockroaches they nourish.

- Rahham's - Kodihalli Main Rd-Old Airport Rd Jn. - good food, very reasonable price for the quantity & quality, definitely above average. Can't tag them with great service, probably because of the huge number of customers they've to handle.

- Sagar - behind Rahham's, on Kodihalli main rd, off old airport Rd. As the name says, good place for breakfast. Veg only.

- Cafeette - Old Airport Rd, opposite Kodihalli bus stop (referring to the stop on the side where buses go "towards" Marathahalli) - good ambiance, extensive menu having almost all cuisines, above average food, reasonable prices, service good too. Quantity & options might seem a little less.

- Royal Orchid - Old airport Rd, near Kodihalli bus stop. Needs no introduction, expensive but good.

- Nandhini - Indranagar 100 ft Rd-Old Airport Rd Jn. - any bangalorean would know about this Andhra cuisine restaurant.

- Mainland China - 100 ft rd, beside Nandini - any bangalorean would know about this Chinese chain of hotels/restaurants.

- Spicy Hub - Jeevan Bhima Nagar opp Axis bank ATM, below Delicacy. Not recommended for veggies due to the choices available for them, inexpensive homely food.

- Hotel Empire - Indranagar 80 ft Rd. beside BSNL Exchange - the killer restaurant, traffic to this place is absolutely unimaginable, people waiting for an hour to have a seat, people making advance reservations, coming from far off places, about 15-20 cars parked around and several 2-wheelers, huge number of parcels going out, waiters running around delivering & taking orders... But is the restaurant worth going to? I didn't think so. It's just too hyped up and isn't really that great. Would be best to avoid in the weekends. Expensive & delayed service because of the crowd. Anyways, all the traffic to other nearby restaurants seemed to have diverted here. I'm guessing some restaurants around here will close down soon if this continues.

- Little Italy - 100 ft rd, 16th Main. Italian. Good, but exorbitant. Veg only. & serves alcohol.

- Italia - 100 ft rd, between 12th & 13th Main. Same as above - looks like the management of little Italy broke up and one started this one.

- Kund - 100 ft rd. North Indian. VFM and good food. Limited menu. Always crowded. Haven't been here yet.

- Zoe’s Kitchen - 11th main on left as you come down from the bridge. Good continental food. Expensive, but worth the money you pay. Haven't been here yet.

- Café Pascucci - 6th Main Indiranagar, on right as yoou come down the bridge. Expensive coffees, inexpensive thin crust pizzas - Highly recommended. Haven't been here yet.

- Roomali with a view - 100 ft rd, top floor, opposite Kyra. Once good, now a waste of time.

- NH 8 - 80 ft road, opp Thippasandra main rd, above Bata showroom. Thali – Gujarati, Rajasthani mix  Good food. About 250/plate. Veg only.

- Mugen - 100 ft road, near 17 Main. Far eastern food - Thai, Chinese, etc. Really good, if a bit expensive. Haven't been here yet.

- KingByte - Jeevan bhima nagar main rd, near Kodihalli bus stop, opposite Gharana, Juice Jn & Spicy corner. Good chaat and vada pavs. Veg only.

- High Note - 100 ft road, 12 Main – Jazz bar, reasonable food, good drinks, nice ambiance. Not as expensive as it looks. Haven't been here yet.

- A tase of Rampur - 100 Ft Rd, beside Mainland China. Buffets, & also serve alcohol. A bit expensive, but decent enough.

- Kyra - 100 Ft Rd, close to Chamomile. Good to go as a group, a bit expensive, but good food.

- Beach - 100 ft Rd, close to Kyra on the other side of the road. Theme restaurant. Haven't been here yet.

- Cirrus - 100 ft Rd, near Sony world. Heard good reviews. Haven't been here yet.

- 6 Ballygunge place - 13th main, near Splendid. Bengali, expensive restaurant. Almost had lunch once but came out after looking at the price & menu.

- Madurai Idly shop/Sri Andal mess - 80 ft Rd, near Herbs & Spices. Due to better places around, can't call this an awesome place. Good food though, mostly tiffins & veg meals. Veg only.

- Chef Inn Regency - Inner ring Rd, just after the flyover. Expensive food, almost no maintenance (torn table cloths, sofa seats),... bar+restaurant.

- Pizza hut - Inner ring rd, opposite Dell, near Domlur flyover. Like any standard Pizza hut, needs no description.

- Copper Chimney - 100 ft Rd, between Kyra & Little Italy. Like any other Copper Chimney, expensive, decent place.

- Rajdhani - 100 ft Rd, between Copper Chimney & Kyra. Haven't been here yet, but expect it to be like all the other Rajdhanis in B'lore.

- Legumes - Jeevan bhima nagar main Rd, beside Mast Kalandar. Came up very recently. Good ambiance. Decent food, a bit expensive.

- Chakh Le - Jeevanbhima nagar main Rd, above Panchami upahar. Decent Indian cuisine. Don't try Chinese stuff, it's too 'Indianized' - for example, I was given sambar & noodles when ordered American chopsuey. Food usually is a bit spicy.

i ball Tarang 2.1 with FM

I listen to songs a lot, but used to do so on my laptop. And realized that the laptop speakers were really bad (tinny sound, no bass). It was high time to "upgrade" them. The criteria were simple; the new speakers should be:
1. 2.0 or 2.1 Channel so that they can easily be placed on my small desk beside the laptop. Preferably 2.0 as they would take up lesser space on the desk.
2. Decent sound quality with good bass.

After having done quite a lot of research, unaware of what's actually available in the market, I decided Creative T20 Series II would make for the best upgrade to my totally crappy laptop speakers. They were the best rated 2.0 speakers I could find. Amazon quoted $66.27 as its price (actual cost $69). I hoped to get them for Rs. 2-4K in India.

Hence began the hunt & went to good old SP Road, Bangalore & started asking around. Found that no one ever heard of any T20 or T40 series from Creative. Upon inquiring in a few shops and looking around, all I could find were Creative SBS A300, Creative SBS A335, Creative Inspire T3130, Sony SRS D4, Sony SRS D5, iball Tarang 2.1 with FM (and without FM), i ball Raaga with/without FM, some from Altec Lansing, Intex, FronTech, etc.

Finally realized that the speakers I was looking for might not have entered the Indian market yet. Or maybe it's a totally different world! Thanks to GPRS on my friend's phone, we looked at reviews of some of those speakers. We suspected speakers from outside India are probably branded as something else and sold here. Even the Creative speakers seemed like some local brand. They weren't listed on Amazon, no reviews, nothing. Only a bunch of Indian websites trying to sell them for cheap (though, of course, aren't cheap). Finally decided it was the best thing NOT to buy anything, yet.

Since I'd to buy something, I started inquiring about whatever was available in the market and decided to do a complete research on them after going home :) I liked i ball Tarang 2.1 with FM, but wanted to see its reviews first, if any, and also its' specs before buying. Heightened interest on this was primarily because of the FM. Also, wanted to find out more about those Creative SBS series, Sony SRS D4/D5, etc.

Research began after reaching home. Most relevant one about i ball Tarang 2.1 with FM I could find was in the comments section here. Seemed promising. Looking at its specs, thought it wasn't bad at all! And, just Rs. 2K at the shop we asked. After searching a bit more, reading on several forums about other speakers, etc. finalized that this was it.

So, we went back the next day to get a set. I was hoping to get them for even lesser price, so checked if anyone else had them. Seemed like the one we saw on the previous day was the last piece in the market! Wasting no more time, bought it where we'd inquired its price the previous day, for Rs. 2K.

Testing began immediately after coming back home. We had some trouble figuring out its not-so-user-friendly menus and their naming conventions. However, once we got it working, the first impression was really good. I felt very relieved for not having to listen to the totally crappy noise from my laptop speakers anymore.

It's been almost a week since I bought it, so in a nutshell my review on i ball Tarang 2.1 with FM,

Pros/Positives:
1. Really good "replacement" to the laptop speakers
    1.1 Good build of the speakers, i.e., wood encased, looks pretty neat too
2. Remote control
    2.1 Can do everything you need. So don't need to touch the speakers physically at all
    2.2 Can control bass and treble - no controls on the speakers for these though
3. Two external inputs, excluding FM. Implies you could also connect a music system or a TV and just have to press buttons to switch between the inputs
4. FM
    4.1 Stereo with pretty good quality
    4.2 FM remembers the last played channel out of 20 presets available

Cons/Negatives:
1. A low frequency buzz when there's nothing playing. This won't matter if you live in noisy surroundings. Ours is a relatively very quiet place & I usually sit very close to the speakers so the noise is easily noticeable. However, if running the speakers for a long time, the noise becomes significant! Switching off & back on temporarily fixes the problem.
2. I haven't tested higher volumes, but reviews said it's not good. Doesn't matter a lot to me though.
3. Few complaints regarding the remote:
    3.1 Not everything can be set without the remote. For example, bass & treble can't be adjusted without using remote. It should have had the same set of controls on the speakers too, just in case the remote's battery has reached its end of life.
    3.2 Remote uses a 5V button cell battery. Though it makes the remote extremely light, I felt AAA batteries might have been better as I could use a couple of rechargeable ones, forever :)
    3.3 Remote is a bit plasticky, felt like a sub par quality. No idea how long it's going to last.

Update (June):
As suspected earlier, the remote didn't last even a few months. Even with very little usage! It isn't a physical damage, but something internal. Will have to get it fixed before warranty runs out!

P.S. Those who wish to write ugly comments, read this