BB - balance of Bangalore

Sunday morning had started early when I got up at 2:30am to watch the Sens lose to Anaheim. I easily fell back asleep until 6:45 or so so liked that. My wakeup did not come at 6:30 but I happened to check my clock and rose when I noticed the time. I had some eggs for breakfast after packing and checking out. Giri was supposed to get me at 8, but called a while later to mention things had got a little crazy at work. He was not oncall Sunday but there was something big going on at work that required his attention nevertheless.

We drove into Bangalore after he picked me up after 9 and the city seemed, as expected, somewhat more modern than Hyderabad. He mentioned there was nothing to really see in the city, but I pointed out that for someone who had never been there, there was probably quite a bit to see. He kept getting plagued by work issues and was on the Air a lot while we first visited the high tech park where one of his previous employers Yahoo is situated,. It was a very nice enclave of buildings with a very green area in the centre flanked by a fountain and come narrow canals.

We went to his domicile around 10:30 or so, a seven storey apartment block that he had pointed out from my hotel when we met for dinner Friday evening. He has a lovely and very spacious 2-bedroom flat, and naturally I met the wife and daughter, the latter whom we picked up at an aunt's place on the way to Giri's. Ashwami is 10 years old and a lovely young lady. We hung out at the apartment for a while as Sangeetha made a meal. The apartment is very spacious and comfortable. I ran across a Givson six-string there, tuned it, and it sounded very nice once a G was a G. I played cards with Ashwami for a while until a sumptuous repast appeared. It was curry shrimp in a spicy broth with a touch of vegetables mixed into the brew. As well we had chicken biryani, a popular rice-based dish very popular in southern India. That was medium spicy and all in all, the company and the feast was a pleasure.

Giri was planning to drive me to the airport but work commitments got in the way. We drove for about five minutes, I said my thanks and how much I appreciated their hospitality, and a roller-coaster ride to the airport ensued. I got in the cab about 1:30, expecting it to take an hour or so to get to our destination. The driver made a petrol stop and also filled his tyres. I scolded him for wasting my time. The gas I could understand but the tyres could have waited. Then the speed of the voyage increased and I was not excited about the balance of the trip. Some of the straightaways we hit 110 kph. I arrived at the airport about 2:35 which was lots of time but was ticked about the delays that led to the excessive speed on the way there. I approached the entrance and was motioned to the Jet Airways guichet to get a paper copy of my ticket to show the guard to gain entry to the terminal.

It took me another 15 minutes to get my boarding pass, then we were bused to a tired piece of equipment in the Boeing family of jets. The plane was full and hot. The air vents pumped cool air very slowly into my face which complicated the temperature in the fuselage. I fell asleep and all of a sudden we were in Hyderabad. The landing was rougher than usual, reminding me of an article I had recently read in the Deccan Chronicle about a carrier in India. The article claimed that this carrier had been caught allowing pilots with minimal skills, having failed testing on smaller apparatus, to fly large commercial jets. The article pointed out this was not far from handing an inexperienced motorcycle driver the keys to a dump truck. At least the dump truck does not carry human cargo whereas the airplane could have a few hundred people on board.

The cab from RGIA to the Katriya followed very unfamiliar territory and I wondered if I was being taken for a ride (literally?) by the driver. On the contrary, when we arrived at the hotel the meter was Rs. 535, whereas my trip to the airport Friday had been over Rs. 900. I showered and went for Chinese at Mainland China which was not open yet when I first arrived. I killed some time at a mall close to the restaurant, and went back after 7pm. I could not eat all the food so brought home a take-away I am hoping to down today for lunch.

I finally met my challenge at that restaurant ... the hot and sour soup was too spicy for even this well-experienced spicy food expert. I had half of it then used the Kingfisher beer to quench my burning mouth. Differences between Hyderabad and Bangalore (at least what I saw of both)?

Bangalore seems newer and not all of the shoulders to the wider streets are loose dirt. Some are covered in large ceramic-like tile being an extension to the sidewalk. The drivers of the motorcycles wear helmets in Bangalore, a local law unlike one of the same which does not exist in Hyderabad. The Hyderabad airport is palatial and obviously newer than Bangalore. Hyderabad auto-rickshaws are mainly green whereas they are black in Bangalore. The English proficiency with the natives in both cities was comparable. The children start studying English right from the beginning. The predominant language in Bangalore, from what I experienced and was told, is Kannada, whereas Hyderabad is a Telugu town. I did not see any of the written Kannada language but have seen lots of Telugu in HYD and it has a fascinating character set. Petrol is the equivalent of of 1.25 CAD or so per litre, reminiscent of what we pay at home.

This week ... three days in the office then Thursday to Sunday in Goa. I am staying in a beach-side resort called Casablanca and hope it does not disappoint. I have a total of nine more days in this whirlwind business trip called India.