Bangaluru

The transformation of Bangalore has been categorized under the label “improvement of infrastructure’….I for one question this - is that truly what these changes mean to the city or to the citizens…has there been an improvement of any kind…because either I am too myopic to notice the improvements or the authorities have not exactly lived up to their assurance of awarding the public with a better Bangalore…
I am not sure about the other sections in Bangalore, but I can clearly notice the appalling changes taking place in and around Indiranagar…I have lived here for the past 18 years and in the early years it was truly a joy walking on the tree lined roads in and around this area…especially 100 ft Road and CMH road… the peace and serenity of the place contributing to making Bangalore the garden city and the pensioner’s paradise…the exquisite bungalows adding their own charm to the whole setting…the parks in almost every layout were plain delightful…
But the trees have been cut, giving way to roads, metro lines, etc… the whole landscape looks dull and lifeless…the sight just brings tears to my eyes…the remaining trees sport a layer of dirt and grime due to the increasing pollution levels…the whole weather pattern has changed because of the absence of trees… Bangalore was never this hot or water starved before…and there weren’t these many power cuts…
The roads have been quarried time and again for laying of cables to satisfy the needs of the n number of software companies which keep sprouting every other day… there is not a decent piece of road or pavement left anywhere in Indiranagar anymore…
The bungalows have given way to commercial establishments… the noise pollution has driven people into selling their homes and moving to quieter areas (if there are any of those left anymore)….
There is a rule saying - for every tree being cut, two trees have to be planted… I seriously wonder where these trees are being planted... isn’t anyone worried about how these developments are going to affect us? Are the authorities doing something about the worrisome alterations that are taking place? At least I see the whole scenario as moving in reverse rather than forward where infrastructure improvement is concerned….
Why is the government focusing its energies on silly issues such as the non existent night life in Bangalore (a topic of hot discussion I assure you)? Seriously why so much concentration on closing of pubs before 11 p.m. and banning of dance bars?
The existing infrastructure is taking a beating…Why is no one paying attention to that? People are talking about it as in its just on paper but where’s the action being taken?
What about the hours of load shedding? What about connectivity? What about quality of the roads being constructed?
In general the changes even though they are coming about at snail’s pace are devoid of any quality… in harsher terms the work undertaken by the government is purely substandard…
I seriously don’t know where these changes are leading but if these issues are not addressed pretty soon, in a few years Bangalore is going to become unlivable…

Wishing the readers of this space (if anyone's still reading this space)... a happy Ganesh Chaturthi :)

Hali Mane

The restaurant called ‘Hali Mane’ in Malleswaram turned out to be a real treat to the senses (especially taste and smell)…The name literally translates to village house and you would expect it to serve authentic Karnataka cuisine…besides which you can find the usual North Indian dishes like paratha-kurma and naan/roti/kulcha with butter paneer masala on the menu…
I wanted to taste something different so I tried akki roti that’s roti made out of rice flour and ragi roti made of ragi flour…these are served with 2 types of chutney…they tasted really good…
They also serve ragi balls with I think sambar...not sure…its supposed to be really healthy but as with most people, I decide if a dish is palatable or not by the looks of it rather than its nutritive factor…so eating that was totally out of the question :P…
The second time round (this place is totally worth the second visit) we had meals it’s a mixture of North and South Indian dishes… I liked the way the meal was served…they give each person a bottle of mineral water and serve each dish separately rather than pile everything on the plate all at once …also you can order the separate meal for kids which serve smaller portions ...you are served a tambulam (that’s nothing but paan), banana and ice cream to round of the meal…on the whole it was satisfactory but I was not very impressed by the side dishes served with the naan…the subzi’s could have tasted better…
I feel they can completely do away with the North Indian section of the menu and come up with more dishes that can be billed under the category of ‘authentic’ Kannada food…but I can sympathize with most restaurateurs who open restaurant for the masses and are in the constant fear of going under if their hotel does not have the multi cuisine tag attached to them… But Hali Mane seems to be doing pretty well for itself judging by the never-ending crowd outside probably because it’s able to provide quality food at inexpensive rates…but to tell you the truth the major USP for me was the cleanliness aspect…

Kafka on the Shore

My latest read is a book called "Kafka on the Shore" by a Japanese author who calls himself Haruki Murakami...
My brother apparently picked it up from the 'classics' section of a leading book store...can I sue the book store?
Wasting perfectly good money... I agree both my brother and I make good money as software engineers... but why waste our hard earned cash on such an irrelevant book...or is it my problem that I am too close minded and hence couldn’t capture the "deeper meaning" such books often imply?????
Or is it like most modern arts which only TRUE ART ENTHUSIASTS seem to (or shall I put it as claim to) decipher...no!! it cannot be that...I am a self confessed book enthusiast :)...
Ok!! Getting back to the book...it is described as an international bestseller...are all bookstores in the world stocking the book in the 'classics' section?
It deals with two main characters-
A teenager who calls himself Kafka... he runs away from home…and finds a library...he sleeps with the head librarian (a 50 yr old woman) who might be his mother...and he works as an assistant to the other librarian who is actually a woman who considers herself trapped in a woman's body...
And an old man called Nakata...this guy is illiterate and has been living in seclusion from his family...he can talk to cats and stones and goes around making fishes and leeches rain from the sky and searches for an entrance stone (don’t look at me…I have no clue as to what the author was trying to pull here)...
I seriously don’t know how I finished the book...but by the end of it I wanted to shoot myself or much better... shoot the author: P
Oh! By the way did I mention it was in the "CLASSICS SECTION" in the bookstore???

Here's some readers' takes on the new movie Sawaariya :)... these are not my reviews, I haven't even seen the movie...I just received them over mail... and frankly I don't think I will see the movie in future as well

"Sawaariya is one long song with some breaks for dialog. And by dialog I mean girly giggling by the chic and some punch-me-in-the-face ex-pressions accompanied by pig-like grunting by the hero. One wonders if all the actors are the props and the set is the real star in this movie. I came really close to concluding that the bridge-over-the-fake-river is the central star of the movie, because everyone of the other actors looks like they were made of rock. And the rocks had moss growing over them. And the rocks were painted blue."

"To say Saawariya is a crappy movie would not be correct. Horrendously Ridiculous comes close, but it doesn't really capture the essence of the absurdity that this movie is. After watching this movie I felt like tying up Sanjay Leela Bansali alone in a room, forcing him to watch a cockroach chase a spider round-and-round a water fountain for 3 hours. That too in blue light. Because seriously, that's what this entire movie is. It's two grossly untalented kids, who probably got kicked out of college for lack of attendance and ended up on this set to spend the rest of the day. And for the love of God, I can't figure out why the whole movie is in blue! Maybe the director was trying to get every frame half-black half-blue so that the WinZip compression would work better to save some electrons, what with all the global warming and all. That's the best explanation I could come up with, because nothing else can explain the lack of daylight (or plain light, for that matter) in this movie."

Wishing all the readers of this space a very happy Diwali :)

Infinitea

I Visited this restaurant (or shall I term it as a bistro??) called “Infinitea” on Saturday…Its located dead opposite Sigma Mall on Cunningham Road…A real neat place to hang out with friends and family…The atmosphere was really chic and was unusually buzzing with an assorted crowd of youngish and middle aged people…The food was good and the smell would have been appetizing if not for a bunch of twenty something’s chain smoking at the next table…Its basically a tea bar with a small menu which is mix of continental and oriental food…I guess the tea would be their strong point but it was lunch time and the portions were big enough and left no space for tea after the meal…Good food though :)...They could use a change of scene where music is concerned…Some redundant music track from Titanic was being played the day I visited the restaurant…But nonetheless a great place and is absolutely worth a second visit…