Blog 1501: Bangalore: Episode 1

Its 7.30 pm now.
I've just told Mangu that I'll be back by the 8.30 bus and we'll go hunt for dinner in Dilli Darbar.
I have just 55 mins to write abt the colossal amount of activity thats happened ever since we've landed in Bangalore...
Nay... there's lots to write about the train journey that brought us here too...

Okay...
Begin from the beginning and go on till you reach the end...

We were supposed to get to Bangy at 8am in the morning.
Train late.
We finally got there an hour and a half late I think.
Cool.

Ikey had arranged for the SBI guesthouse for us to put up for a couple of days if needed.
Cool.

Catch a cab from Yashwantpur station.
Dayal leaves us and goes to IISc.
Havent seen him since then.

Oh btw... there's hoohaa chaos with my cell phone.
I'm able to receive a call from anyone.
But when i try calling that person back... the sweet lady on Airtel tells me that the number I'm dialling to doesnt exist!
Bull crap!

Anyways...
What reminded me of this phone thing here?
Dayal.
He called up today while our induction program was underway.
And when I called him back, pat came the rebuke from the Airtel sweetheart.

Oh the induction program...
Was something!
SOME elaborate thing!
Wait...
I'm blabbering...

Begin from the beginning and go on till you reach the end.
Hmmm...

So we got down at Bangy station...
6 of us took a cab to the SBI Guest House...
Bloody cabbie showed us a chart that told us that the cost would be 300 bucks!
Cool
We thought it must be a place at some distance.
Blah...
We went a small distance... and then toook a huge u turn and came back almost all the way!

In a moment of astounding foresight, I predicted, "aaj apna lagta hai masto U turn hone waala hai har cheez mein"
As we'll see presently, I couldnt have been more correct.
Unfortunately.

Yeah...
So went to SBI guest house... pretty cool place.... nice bed... nice TV as well!
We all bathed... yes... you heard that right... 6 Kgpians all bathed as soon as we found a bath [:D]

And then began what we shall hereon refer to as THE HUNT.

Ergo...

THE HUNT
------------

We began by leaving Sadashiv Nagar (thats where the SBI Guest House is) and started walking down the road asking ppl how to get to Airport Road... and calling whichever senior we could get a phone number of.
Prerequisite: the senior should be in Bangy.
I guess you knew the prerequisite already.

Yeah... walked a distance in one direction... asked a fellow where to go to... and the great man told us to go in the opposite direction.
U turn.
Remember that.

Hmm... then...
Walked again... all drank something at a juice shop we found... caught a bus across the road for Shivaji Nagar...
Now... another chaos.
The bloody thing is that the conductor gave us the tickets for 20 bucks and out of the hundred buck note that I'd given him, he wrote the balance 80 bucks on the ticket and meant it to be refunded to me when we got there.
Bangy buses suck.
Yes.
I said it.
:P

Now when we got to Shivaji Nagar, everyone has a smaller amount to take back from him... and so out of the 5 of us who had to take money from him, the other 4 took their refund and ran away.
Me... poor me... when my turn to take the money came, the donkey conductor got on the bus and told me to get on it as well.
Now I wouldnt have got on it... but twas just that the bus had already started moving at a decent pace... and I had no option but to either say bbye to the 80 bucks or run for all I was worth.
Or at least all that my fare balance was worth.

Anyway...

So we got to Airport road.
We were supposed to get down on a traffic signal... but couldnt... and had to walk back from the next stop where we actually got down.
U turn.
Remember.

Now next...
Yeah we had the phone number of this agent where a few kgpians had lived last year.
So we called him up... he came down in his fundu Sumo and showed us a few flats.

No...
This story isnt that simple.

Go back a bit in time...
So we called up the agent and he came in his fundu sumo.
And there was a TV in that Sumo!!
I mean... cmon... this is India for anyone's sake.
Hmm.... plus that tv had a remote...

And I do realise by now that for ppl who're used to all this, I do sound like a caveman.
Cmon... gimme a break... I'm from Kgp... and before that from Cal.
[:D]

Yeah... back...
Its 8 pm now... I have approx 23 mins to write and 2 mins to publish and shut down and then shoot.

Okay...
where were we...

Yeah... the first home that was showed to us was a dumb one.
Remember that.
Dumb one.
Three triple rooms in that home.
Whitewash type walls.
One group of junta living in one of the rooms.
Only one damned bathroom for all the ppl living there.
And beds and almirah for junta.
Dumb one.
Summarily rejected.

Here, it'd be good to mention a small talisman given to us by Shri Shri Nitin Basant.
It said... "Drop your standards when you search for a home in Bangy"

Yes... we'll come back to the pertinence of this statement to our story a bit later.
So we said we'll think abt this home and tell him later on... while mentally all of us had chucked away all thoughts of living there.
Cool.
Oh btw... lemme first introduce you to the ppl who constitute 'us' here...
Me... of course [:D]...
My depmates... Ikey, Parikshit and Pandey... and Umang and Rohit...
Cool.

Hmm...
Yeah he showed us a second home then.
That one was decidedly pathetic.
Rejected.

Having done the preliminary investigation, we headed to the Pizza Hut nearby.
Ate.
Drank.
Met a few seniors.
Chamoli still wore the RK hall Tshirt!

Okkk... next...
Shanks gave us the phone numbers of a few PG homes from ads on the net.
4 to be exact.

Rang up the one that was in Airport Road.
The lady there told us to catch a bus, get to some NAL Museum, turn left, walk and then call her.
Cool.
Tempo se.

Se we caught a bus.
Got down at NAL Museum.
Turned left.
Walked.

Walked.

Walked.

And walked till our shoes rubbed out and we had to but new ones from the roadside shop.
And then walked till those gave way and we had to make do again with the old shoes.

Finally, after half a dozen phone calls and four-score direction-askings of junta, we got to that home.
Okay... direction-askings isnt a word... but I got only 13 mins now... and everything works.
So where were we... yeah...
Pretty home.
Nice floor.
Nice furniture.
Crap offer.

She told that all 6 of us could stay in one room with matresses spread on the floor.
Bull.

Trudged back from that corner of the earth.
Tried calling up more agents.
No one picked up the phone.
One fellow did pick up.
Said he was 300 kms from Bangalore at that moment.
I wished him bon jovi.
Okay bon jour.
Whatever... 12 mins...

Hmm... then we called up another fellow... he too was outside... but said he'd call back in 2 mins with the number of someone who could show us a home then... and never called back.

The first home started creeping in our minds.
Dumb... yes... but was it THAT dumb...
Hmmm...
*scratching head*
*rubbing chin*
*realising hair aint that dense on head and stopping the head scratching*

Whatever.

Next... we caught a bus to Airport road...
Got down at Kemp Fort.
Found a pretty home just 5 steps inside a lane from the main road.
Dammit its a long story... and I have 11 mins now...
In short... we loved that place... we wanted desperately to take it... but the fellow was only prepared to give it for rent for at least a year... and with 11 months advance that amounted to 1 lakh...

So...
We found a shop that sold juice.
Bought an admag.
Started hunting for PG acco ads.
Ad mag is basically a newspaper here that carried only classified ads.
No... not classified ads... but classifieds.
You knwo what i mean?
No?
Never mind...

Okay... hunted for a home in Vivek Nagar...
Caught a bus to Domlur.
Thats a dumb sounding place thats in between Airport road and Vivek Nagar.
Got down there.
Found an ad for a pg acco on a lamp post.
Called up that number.
Fellow said he's sending a guy with an orange shirt and cream pant.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The story till now had been written on 8/5/06. Now this is 9/5/06. Unfortunately I couldnt complete the story yesterday and the thing is, I again have only 50 mins to complete the rest of the story. Plus I gotta recollect what all had happened... so here we go again [:D]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah.
Along came a guy wearing a red shirt and some pant.
Now since there was no way of knowing if he was the one, one of us asked "acco?"
The fellow merrily kept walking on.
Cool.
A few of us laughed on our folly.
Cool.
That duffer thought we were laughing on him, got enraged, walked up to us, raised his hand to smash Pandey, and asked us where we lived!
Uncool.
Anyways, after a bit of explaining, he finally left us in peace.

Finally the guy we were looking for came along and took us to visit a flat.
Now its all another long story... the summary of which is that we liked the flat he showed us except for the fact that twas a 4 bed room which meant that the other two would have to live elsewhere.
Which would have been acceptable had the 'elsewhere' not meant that they would have to live in a flat where some junta already existed and they wouldnt have a room to themselves.
Hence, rejected.
No... wait...
Another thing...
The guy heard 'live' when we said 'leave'.
Hence, when we were asking if the existing ppl in the 'elsewhere' flat would LEAVE after a couple of days and go to the first flat, the fellow merrily said "yeas... suar" (yes, sure).
We spent a good 15 mins and another good 10 bucks in calling his boss and clarifying what the chakkar was.

Hmm... now next.
We reverted back to the Vivek Nagar formula.
Caught a bus, that took us to Ravi Chitramandira.
Thats a sexy name for a movie theatre there.

Okay...
So we called up the house renter there and asked him for directions to his home.
Never mind if renter aint a word.
I got time constraints here. :P

So...
He told us to get somewhere.
We got elsewhere.
Called him again.
He could see where we were and who we were.
We couldnt.
Finally, after a bit of blindfold turning around and groping in the dark, we realised where we had to get to.
Got there.
Crap house.
Smelly.
Stinky.
Crappy.
Rejected.

Next...
Called up some homes in PGV.
The GV stands for Games Village.
I dont remember what the P stands for.
Or maybe it was NGV for National GV.
Whatever...
How does it matter [:D]

No success there either.
Having travelled 12 hours and visited a fair few places in Bangy, we finally decided that the place best for us was the one we had seen first up and dismissed from our thoughts soon after.
U turn.
Shit happens.

But there's a whole big story still left.
Bangy the great doesnt have bus service after 9 pm.
At least not on Sunday.
Dunno abt other days.
So when we finally decided to get back to the SBI Guest House, we had no means of conveyance apart from the auto-sharks that were smacking their lips.

The first auto guy we talked to suggested he'd take us to Sadashivnagar and from there with luggage to Airport Road for 140 bucks.
Cool we thought, told him to talk to another auto guy and close a deal.
The another auto guy in question politely asked us for 700 bucks for the same journey.
Maybe there's Air Deccan and Jet Airways in autos too these days.
You never know.

So anyways, we rejected all the autos too.
Had had enough practice in rejecting stuff by then.
Catch is, we also had enough practice in U-turning.
Ergo... [:D]

Finally deal was that he'd get us there and back for 180 bucks.
Unfortunately, both auto-sharks hadnt the slightest idea where the SBI guest house was inspite of the address.
Searched around, asked around, ran around, walked around and got royally frustamused before we hit the jackpot and stumbled on bulls eye.
Frustamused, btw, is a new word.
Its a combination of frust and amused.
In case you hadnt worked that out already, that is.
[:D]
Funny what time constraints can make ppl do.
Haina?

Yeah... so then there was more drama.
And I dont have time now...
In short, the final scene of the final act of the drama saw Ikey and Pandey staying back at the guest house and the rest of us carrying our luggage to whats hopefully going to be our home for the next two months.
[:)]

Okay...
Final part of today's story.
My cell has never been short of balance.
Never.
Never means never.
I've had more than 300 bucks balance at any point of time in the last 6 months.
Cut to the present, I got 7 rupees and 62 paise in my cell phone.
:(
Bloody roaming.
Bloody Airtel.
I get charged 4 bucks per minute even when anyone calls me!
Anyways, I got free phone calls to anywhere in Bangy from my office desk.
So peace enough
:)

Moral of the story:
Ummm...
Sochne do...
Sirf 10 min bache hain.
Arre haan... moral is that time flies... always... but still... tomorrow never dies.
I think I've makhaoed the end of the story... but what the heck... I got time constraints here.
So there... first blog from GE.
First blog from Bangy.
More to come soon.
Same time.
Same place.
Until the next time, goodbye, namaste, shabba khair and please please please do take good care of yourself.
Ciao!
[:)]