Just back from a weekend of work in Bangalore. Or is it Bengaluru now? Not much has changed since the time I left Bangalore to return to where the heart is. Two and a half years. True, Bangalore has become a one-way city – if you miss a turn somewhere, chances are you need to drive to Pune to come back to where you were headed – and all this, not in one straight road but through various other one-way lanes across the city. People complain about traffic and congestion, most of the flyovers have been built and most of them don’t seem to have made much of a difference.
People are still as helpful as ever, especially in the matter of giving directions they are clueless about. I imagine Bangaloreans waking up bright and early and gulping down hot filter coffee and setting off in batches of twos and three to street corners, where they wait in eager anticipation of the next bakra to stop and ask for directions. The supreme confidence with which they say left hogi would mislead the most experienced of direction-seekers. I confess that I sometimes waver myself. Poised to turn left, I then catch sight of their hand pointing to the right (while saying left hogi) and of the other two men at the back falling to the ground in spiteful mirth. I ignore the directions given by the helpful street-stanees and place faith in the cab driver instead – who drops me at the wrong place, surely enough, with the same assertive yehi hai right place baby promise.
And then the joy of shopping in Bangalore – when it is not siesta time, of course, and shops are shut for r and r – which is roughly four hours in the middle of the day. You walk into a shop, all cheerful and unsuspecting and the shop assistant directs a look in oyur direction that is enough to wither any enthusiasm. What, you come in and disturb my peace and then you actually expect me to show you things?
etc etc. I don’t like Bangalore – or is that obvious already? If it were not for the weather, I could easily sign a petition asking to ban Banaglore. Ban from – nothing – just ban it. The weather rocks, it was cool and breezy and moody and about-to-rain-any-minute – the kind of weather that makes you smile to yourself and think about the good things of life. The sweaters and jackets had come out in full force – no, not the mufflers yet, you meanie. Mufflers do not come out in Bangalore till the end of July when the cold cruel arctic winds start blowing across the city and people are forced to take their monkey caps and mufflers out of the moth balls.
And did I mention the weather? It rocks. And in such rocking weather, I went for a morning stroll at Lalbagh – it had rained in the night and Lalbagh was green and muddy… And finally we get to the point of this post, viz. photographs from Lalbagh – some original and some slightly tweaked to make them seem prettier than they were… So enjoy!
The “lotus pond” had few flowers (loti?) and very dirty water – I stood on the edge with a camera in one hand, trying very hard not to fall into the water…
What kind of a sadist would call such a pretty flower a totally unspellable and slightly unpronouncable Bougainvillea…?
There is nothing very special about this photograph except the brightness of the colours – the red and the green were both striking…
As I was walking out of Lalbagh to the main gate, I walked under this “metal bower”…
Damn good photos..Bougainvilleas never looked soo appealing. I tried my hand at shooting few scenes in the IISC campus, when I had been to Blore for a short trip.
http://suganthis.blogspot.com/2006/04/scenic-iisc-campus_07.html
And add Autos to the weather. – from a true blood chennaite
vow…great pics…but where r u in the pic…lol
“about-to-rain-any-minute – the kind of weather that makes you smile to yourself and think about the good things of life”…these were the exact words i was searching for last couple of days….seems u have brought rains with u from Bangalore
…great post as usual with humour sprinkled here and there….my day doesnt end nowadays without checking ur blog
the snaps are just amazing,can u help me out plz…i wanna get my post published on desipundit,can you help me out on how to apply for it…plz mail me at yahoo.co.in or .com.thnx.
dear friend,
thanks for illuminating a otherwise dull evening with the images.black and white
photo is good,colour is still better.i remember”one image is worth thousand words”.send me some photos if possible
I loved the last one! Lovely stuff
Great post Charu and the beauty of your post is the contrasting picture you paint of bangalore, thru images and thru text : )
Hmm…now I know what I missed by not coming for walk with you…
Mindblowing pictures…..i can smell the rain
Wonderful photographs. You have The Eye. And a good hand on Picasa (or was it Photo Shop?)
More, please?
J.A.P.
hey all, thanks!
suganthi, b’villea are photogenic 🙂 this one looks crisp because it is shot with the sun falling on the petals…
Neha @desipundit, have already said *grrrr* to you – sarcasm always brightens my day 🙂
sherriff, thanks so much! next time I will try self portraits 🙂
Pooja and Srinivas, thanks! but duh?
Sachin, heh, I was waiting for someone to say that – this post is a tribute to Bgl weather – and weather alone :))
Shoefi, thank you 🙂
Anu, yup, you shd have come with me – next time, maybe – it shd be even better after the rains…
Reva, yeah, the whole place looked like it had been washed and scrubbed – the rains are so wonderful for photo ops! (and so messy otherwise)
Jap, thank you! don’t know much photoshop – just started playing aorund – mostly trial and error – more error than not but what the heck. btw, only the first two are photoshopped – I am mostly a wysiwyg photographer…
and more at http://flickr.com/photos/roadblog
Excellent write-up and great photos. You have a rare combo – a good hand and a good eye – great writing with great visuals. Keep it up!! More pics of B’lore!!
Pramod
Atlanta
Wonderful post Charu. Loved your description of Banga-lure-U … it really seems like a one-horse town – O.K. maybe two but no more – but I do miss the fun we all had in the city – friends can make any place the best 🙂 And great pics – got me thinking on the possibility of waking up in the morning :D.
Am glad to hear that the flyovers are at least done! but hey since when did ppl in Bangalore start giving directions – I have a message board framed and laminated in my living room which says “Onde road (pause) straiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittt hogi”! thats ALL I ever got when I asked for directions … even for New York!
-Venky
Pramod, thanks! no more pics of Bgl for now though…
Venky 🙂 sab time time ki baat hai – some of us get told shtraight hogi, and some of us left hogi… and yeah, vamsi and I miss all the crazy times with all you crazy people (and never the city itself)
You’re kidding me. Bangaloreans, waking up early? I had a major culture shock when I moved here from Madras in 2002. I arrived at Majestic Rlwy Stn @ 9 pm. By the time I got to my guest house, it was 10.30 pm (The guest house was so difficult to spot, I have this nagging feeling the owner knew what folks were in for when he named it as “Land’s end”). I was famished and I couldn’t find a single damn decent place to eat. I walked down the entire stretch of MG Rd and Brigade Rd. Not a single good eatery open, at 10.45 pm. I ended up having fruit salad and ice cream at Nagarjuna hotel. A week or so later, I moved into my 1 room flat. I woke up at 7 and walked down the road, with the aim of buying ‘The Hindu’. Imagine my shock when the newspaper/magazine vendor shop hadn’t opened. This was at 7 am! I’d never seen anything like this before!
Awesome pictures