Category: bengaluru

GPS based chaffeured cabs to the Bengaluru International Airport

Its about a month or two since the BIAL started off operations, and we have a handful of cab services that now ferry people up and down to and from the aiport. Of these two are appointed by the BIAL as official cab providers – Meru cabs (080 – 4422 4422) and Easy cabs (both seem to be from mumbai).

Both these providers have sourced Mahindra Logan cars from M & M in large quantities and I strongly believe this is the right option as the car is very spacious which is the most required thing for a weary traveller commuting miles together and for hours together. With a big boot, it only adds more value to use this car than perhaps any other car!

Add to this that these are chaffeured by drivers who wear proper uniform and are properly trained to behave with (weary) travelers and that the cars themselves have GPS so that they can be tracked for their subsequent assignments or in general on their whereabouts, and this makes the proposition of using these services pretty hassle free and safe. I heard that these cars have the option of automatically messaging the control room and getting deactivated if the drivers hoodwink customers in any way. I want my readers to confirm this though!

While these services are more point to point, there are two other services that are multipoint to airport on a sharing basis that costs a person just Rs.300/- onwards making that an even better proposition, barring the fact that the safety may be at question. Airlift and Zoom airport express services are two providers working on the sharing model and while the former operates innova cars, the latter uses tata winger cars for commutes.

For more details check the websites! And enjoy your drive to BIAL!

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It happens only in India…

I was on my way to a function in Jayanagar this weekend, and my wife pointed out this hilarious hoarding at a shop in Jayanagar Shopping Complex. I could not help laughing at this

Its only a matter of time by when the moral police book this guy for his prostitutional racket of selling ladies and gents for just Rs.50 onwards, and for other brothels go up in arms for this guy to have ruined their business selling the same in thousands of rupees.This is called the “I too know English” effect !!

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Every Dog has its day

Well yes we have all heard this proverb over and over again and perhaps even used it on our friends and relatives while talking casually many a times. A fortnight back, I was the dog, and it was my dayI had been to the National Media Museum in Bradford to watch an IMAX movie called Lions3D : Roar of the Kalahari. After the movie, me and my friend were really hungry and after taking a couple of snaps (avaialble in my earlier post) at the museum, headed off to a nearby Pizza joint to have a huge big Marghareta pizza. We were so engrossed in eating the pizza and having a chat together that I understood my friend’s wife worked at the college where I studied. Continuing the discussion, the talk went on to cover all the lecturers we knew, and many things about the college itself. When our stomachs were full, we decided enough is enough for the day and left the pizza joint. On the way back to our hotel, about 5 miles away, I just sat in shock and sheer horror in the taxi as thoughts flashed in my mind.

I had forgotten to take my camera from the pizza joint, it was a sunday and there was no phone number of the joint with me, or any guarantee that the joint would be open even 30 minutes later or that he would have my camera stored for me. All I knew was that I was in deep soup having spent 500$ on that camera way back in 2003, and about 50$ more for a charger just 2 days back. The taxi took a U-turn and stopped at the museum. I just ran out of the taxi and up the road leading to the pizza joint. After some running, I noticed the shops ended there and there were no more ahead. Its when i really looked lost. I had actually lost my way and my mind. Somehow I gathered my wits and calculated and remembered the exact directions to the shop and found it finally. The door opened and I flew into the shop like a bird and perched on the counter crawing for my goods. The shop owner was considerate enough to have stored my camera for me, and you must have seen the relief on my face seeing my camera back in my hand.

Moral of the story : EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY!.

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It happens only in India

I had written about bad driving and stressed out lifestyles in my previous blog post. This post is somewhat related to it closely. If you are driving on a road and you see a lorry stopped in the middle of the road with a twig of leaves sticking out of it like as if it were a flowering plant, then what do you make out of it? Should you assme the lorry owner is relaxing on the road? Well, welcome to India.

In India such a symbol means the truck has taken a hit either with another, or has a flat tyre, or perhaps even a flat axle or engine. It also means that this truck which you see has no immediate plans of being towed away from the accident spot and it also does not say anything about how many people it killed in that accident.

Take a break and come back tomorrow, perhaps it wont be there on the street. And the driver of the truck, well he has already been recruited by another truck company to drive and crash a different truck tomorrow. This is the biggest pity in India and Benglurur particularly.

If its a small vehicle its a HIT & RUN case, if its a large one, its a HIT & DRIVER RUNS case. The occupants of such trucks walk away stealthily into the crowds even before someone understands who did what at the scene of crime. And the police have no records of who is driving the truck, the truck companies have no records of who they recruit and there are also no records of the lost lives in these accidents. Everything is conveniently put into a file which says HIT & RUN case – now closed.

So much so that the entire truck drivers association (or union or whatever nonsense you may want to call it) are against the government for asking them to install speed governors in their vehicles. Their grouse is that the vehicle consumes too much fuel if driven at lesser speeds purposely. And if driven at higher speeds, others bear the brunt of their driving and land up at hospital or even worse – HELL.

So the government and the unions are not only putting at risk many a life in the city, but also sometimes their own kith and kin by doing such immoral decisions at their own cost.

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Crazy Bengaluru – One early summer morning?

I headed out to my office on a clear summer’s day to get a whiff of fresh air and what I got is this

The temperature pattern in Bengaluru is becoming more and more unpredictable as each day dawns. Its a storehouse of surprises each day. The fog just lasted for a bit of inner ring road and then it was the usual clear day again ahead. How BIZZAIRE!

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Next opens showroom in Koramangala, Bengaluru

I had written earlier about OASIS opening up shop next to my home about 300 metres away. The fun did not stop there! Koramangala seems to be a place of plenty and more and more to come in future too. It has become a hub of very interesting shops and things to do. At this rate it will be a mini Bengaluru in itself. I have Pizza Hut right next to my home. So if I ve gobbled up a huge pizza and am feeling heavy, I can go over to the new NEXT showroom opposite Pizza hut to do some window shopping of all electricals and electronics!

I wonder what more is in the offing for this locality. However I still have fond memories of Everest School, a school run for the little children, the students among which my own cousin was one of them. It was exactly on the same spot where NEXT now stands that once upon a time there was a little school with little kids being taught interesting things. Many a sports day, a flag hoist was conducted at this very place which has now given way to this swanky building selling home appliances. Of course this was exactly 15 years before when Koramangala was close to nothing in terms of economic progress. I guess the owner of this place too has caught a whiff of the real estate smell. Of course one cant imagine a school being run in a building as small as this anymore! Its now the time of International schools, since the national ones have no meat left in themThis building also houses MAX NEW YORK LIFE, an insurance provider of all sorts. While the guy at the bottom ensures you waste your money, the guy on top ensures you save money to waste

So thats it for now, yet another showroom in Koramangala to waste time on!

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Fake-ro Rocher – Of Fakes and Bengaluru

I casually stepped into a bakery near my office to eat something since I was feeling extremely hungry. While I was having my snacks I could not help noticing this box of chocolates which seemed all familiar. Except that name that is. Jinnuo Cocher. Wait a minute, did i say Jinnuo Cocher? Yes of course. But thats not the name we all know it by do we? Look for yourself!

Presenting yet another FAKE of the original FERRERO ROCHER! It happens only in India!

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The Bengaluru International Airport, music to my ears!

Today i was glancing through the Deccan Herald newspaper, which quotes thus regarding the BIAL.

For the HAL Airport, the shift will be abrupt. The curtains will fall right after 8 pm on March 29, the deadline set for all landings to cease there. “All flights after 20.00 hours will land at Devanahalli

and

Despite demands to retain the HAL Airport at least for domestic flights, the new airport’s operationalisation would mean an end to the old aerodrome. It will be an absolute shutdown for HAL airport, and an absolute opening for the Bengaluru International Airport

For a tortured soul living in Koramangala, for the past 25 years of which the last 20 years have seen a spurt in the amount of flights nothing can be better than this news. Its like soothing a baby with sugar in the mouth or by singing a lullaby to a stressed out soul like me! Atleast 30 flights a day at a span of every half hour and a gazillion international flights wrecking my sleep daily upto 1am and a restart at 6am, my sleep was reduced to just 5 hours a day. Thanks to BIAL the tables are now reversed. While I would get my share of sleep peacefully its the travellers who would lose their sleep perenially travelling up and down to the new Airport !

The BIAL unvieled its new logo which is extremely synonymous with old Bengaluru – the garden city. Analysts of this new logo also noted that the new logo cautiously stays away from the wrecked IT image of Bengaluru.

So then what exactly does the airport look like as of now? You bet it looks awesome already and is awaiting to cater to the first set of travelers by March end! Good job BIAL!

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Did you meet yourself anytime?

Have you ever wondered how you would feel if you met yourself somewhere on the streets? Would you not have the curiosity of understanding who the other “you” is ? well, though this exactly did not happen to me, I however bumped into an identical pair of twins in a super market. And boy oh boy, were they exactly similar!? You betcha! To be a twin brother or sister to someone is perhaps an exciting thing in itself in life. Very few people are gifted with that combination. But though we feel that twins will have the same behavioral tactics always, that is not really true. I have two pairs of twins in my home, with completely different interests and behavioral themes! Well when you have had a lot of pressure at your work and return home to spend a quiet evening shopping around, what more pleasure can one get than a scene like this? – Identical twins!

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