Diwali times...

This Diwali we had total of 3 days holiday,which included a monday. I am always happy when a monday is a holiday :)
So, I decided to pay my relatives@Bangalore a visit. Plus I had missed the Yahoo! and Subex boys the last time I visited Bangalore.Also, I was determined not to sit idly 3 days at Mysore,when majority of the people would either go home or be busy at their own homes.

So,I added the Bengaluru plan to my list by around Tuesday last week.I got time to search for many tourist spots,hiking and trekking areas of Karnataka. I was also involved in the community googling event of our team. We covered quite a lot of ground, and I was able to produce comprehensively relevant and detailed data on majority of the topics I got to handle. It was good to scrounge the web after quite some time.

Anyway, refreshed as well as rejuvenated by the extensive googling, I was eagerly waiting for the weekend to close in. On Saturday morning,I got into a volvo bus from the Maisooru Bus Stand at 8 am,and watched some kannada movie copied from Nadodikaatu series of Malayalam and dozed off,waking up somewhere near the outskirts of Bengaluru. Rest of the area, I observed ;)

At Bengaluru, I visited by cousin's place at Madivala.Also roamed around the smoky and war-torn city at night. The smoke was so tight by around 8 pm that we couldn't see the traffic signals clearly. Also, it was suffocating and stung my eyes. At that point,I swore to myself to encourage more and more people to stop bursting crackers for festivals. The sights and sounds of the metro during Diwali simply strengthened my cause.

Anyway,on account of the festival, we found many of the shops closed by around 7 pm and the famed Forum mall was almost vacant,and so were the numerous other malls and streets. That day, the crackers for me were provided by the Royal Challengers Bangalore,in the sizzling display of fireworks which didn't involve smoke.(Though the stadium wallahs were bursting many whenever a six was hit [:(] )

The next day, I had some 4-5 hours free, before I could visit my uncle's place at Kenkeri. So I decided to visit the Yahoo guys place a.k.a "Pulimada". Met them and went to Total Mall (erstwhile Kemp Fort),and saw the Shiva temple(cannot call it temple though). It resembled an amusement park made for 5 yr olds(or foolish adults),with all mechanical models of shivalingas.I felt ashamed seeing the kind of things they put up there in the name of God. It was fit for a good laugh,but as many people might be taking it seriously,I opted not to.After all religion is such an inflammable and sensitive issue ,wherever in India you are.

Then I went to Kenkeri satellite town, enjoying the outlying areas of Bengaluru on the way. That place is beautiful and serene compared to the nearby Metro. I enjoyed strolling out watching the crackers and celebrations in the area at night,until the smoke became too stifling.I got chance to explore the area further the next morning also.
Then was my first train journey in Karnataka(with start and end points within the state). I travelled from Kenkeri to Maisooru,a journey that took the precise 2 and half hours it was supposed to take. I always consider a train journey to be more rewarding than a bus or private vehicle,if you are interested in mingling with the local culture. And that is what I experienced also. I observed the differences and similarities when compared to a journey in Kerala.

By that my journey of the weekend almost came to an end. Its last part is just some funny incidents at my place,owing to the persistent efforts of the people in our area to fill up every dark corner of every house with the sound,smoke and light from their crackers. Woah,that was quite an effort, surviving the night without going deaf or blind...
Now back to the routine life of learning and earning,till the next weekend,when yet another adventure awaits me...