A little kingdom I possess,
Where thoughts and feelings dwell;
And very hard the task I find
Of governing it well.
~ Louisa May Alcott

...that more or less describes my situation!

 
I’m starting to feel really guilty about the way I have been neglecting my blog :( Bangalore happened and I am back, and still no updates from my side. Hmm…probably if I try to put random updates without trying to ‘polish’ or make my posts more ‘politically correct’ (as a friend always teases me), I should end up writing a lot more, and maybe enjoy writing a lot more! Hmm!

Bangalore was lovely. Only to be expected too. I have been to Bangalore some three-four times before and only loved it more on every occasion. There is something about the city that vibes very well with me. Or probably it’s just my ‘perception’. Not too sure!

Had started writing a blog sometime during the month, but it seemed to be progressing into a food in Bangalore vs. food in Mumbai blog. Fact that I was writing during the lunch break, and my office in Bangalore didn’t have a canteen, let alone wonderful food like my Mumbai canteen, may have something to do with it (I have to add here, as a matter of record, that I have, from the date of arrival in Mumbai, given up on bread and all its associate products that taste like bread; it is all one can do after being tortured with various tasteless forms of sandwich every breakfast and lunch).

One important highlight of my visit was meeting up with two bloggers I had always looked forward to meeting, almost since I had started my blog: Sathish and Ranjani (and of course their little son Suraj). It was wonderful to find that I related as well with them in person as I did with their blog personalities. They very kindly treated me to a scrumptious full course Tamilian meal (I must say a new item got added to my favourite food list that evening: Coconut Rice!). Am happy to have found two such lovely people through the blog!

I also had the pleasure to meet another blogger I had recently come to know: Anant Kamath. We had a great time chatting up, and spilling oops! I mean drinking, tea at the Cha Bar. :)

Bumped against an ex-colleague cum friend and a popular blogger at Coffee World (hope I get the place right!). It is, as she commented, a most pleasant co-incidence to meet up with someone you haven’t met for ages at the most unlikeliest of places and make that connection again. This was also the place where I had my first taste of a “waffle” (where have I been?!), recommended by my very good friend.

Coming to other highlights of my visit, I broke a record of sorts by watching an “entire” football match (Germany vs. Argentina) at the 13th Floor. Umm…I guess the record would have been broken even if I had watched half a match. :) Was an altogether new experience and good fun too!

Watched two movies at PVR: Da Vinci Code and Samsara (a Tibetan movie). Since Da Vinci Code has been beaten to death enough already, I will move on to Samsara. It is a movie in the Tibetan language, with Chinese lead actors, and English subtitles. I liked the movie, but wouldn’t call it a great movie (as I was told it is proclaimed to be). It is a story of the spiritual journey of a young monk in the face of earthly temptations. As the story goes, the monk gives in to temptations, but at the end of the day is faced with the looming question posed by his teacher: Is it more important to satisfy a thousand desires or to conquer just one? The film ends on an ambiguous note. As I said, I liked the movie for its scenic setting and for exposing me to a culture I had absolutely no clue about, but beyond that I was absolutely unimpressed. The story did not have anything sublime in it (or so I thought) to warrant a spiritual awakening, nor did it unfold in a manner that could have possibly given rise to it (again, my view). The monk himself did not convey a maturity that one would expect out of his character, either before or even after. In short, it came across as a typical Hindi movie to me (is it a coincidence the director is Indian?), with the small difference that where a Hindi movie disperses all its ‘gyaan’ in the end, this movie leaves it hanging in the air (so instead of feeling a bit sick, one is left a bit confused).

Bangalore’s street side book shops and its many good sized Book Stores have always been a treat for me. I picked up quite a few books this time – Memoirs of a Geisha, Emotional Intelligence, one of the Williams books,…. Managed to read the Memoirs of a Geisha in my long bus rides and at bed times. Definitely an interesting book, worth a read (if one is not averse to bumping against a metaphor like a boulder on the road at every step :p). Some insights into the Japanese culture, especially as regards women, were shocking to say the least.

I’m currently reading Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman; probably my next post will have some excerpts or insights from it!

Apart from all this, I naturally indulged in one of my most favourite activities – Shopping! Enjoyed shopping in Commercial Street more than the high-fundoo (as we say in Bombaiiyaa :) ) malls. I was atleast five outfits richer when I came back than when I went. Bought some lovely sarees for myself and ladies in the family from Vijayalaxmi, M. G. Road. I have no clue when I’ll get around to wearing it, but…ahem.

So….that was more or less a small peep into my Bangalore visit. Being fortunate enough to have some great friends there, didn’t really know how the time went…Now it’s back to Mumbai …till, of course, I come again! :)
posted by Sylvia D'souza at 2:04 pm 0 comments