7 friends in Bangalore - Part2

As soon as we reached Bangalore we could make out the difference in the climate. A little towards the cooler side. Until that day we were aware of a place called Mumbai which was well known for its criminal activities and since we were not in Mumbai we were quite assured that we are safe in this small IT hub of India. As soon as we got down from the bus, a man in his 40's introducing himself as Nandu approached us and offered us help. We were impressed by the Bangalore's hospitality and were very excited at the thought of exploring Bangalore.


Since we were just out of a hectic 8 hours travel, we wanted a hotel to freshen up before going out and having a great time in this sweet city of Karnataka. Again Nandu was our saviour and inquired if we wanted to hire rooms. Obviously we had seen life to such an extent that we knew he was not offering it for free and Manesh our leader took the initiative of asking him the amount we need to shell out. Being students, money was always on top of our minds and always looking and searching for ways to save it in order to enjoy the maximum extent with the minimum available wallet space.
He was prompt and said, "Dont worry about the money Sir. You will get the most reasonable lodge in Bangalore". Manesh was still adamant and wanted to know the amount. We all looked at Manesh with respect and he as well acknowledged it with a small tilt of his head. With this motivation from us Manesh was now not going to spare him until he tells the rate of the lodge.
Nandu obliged and said "Sahab sirf 250 per room and we give you a rickshaw until the hotel with you not needing to pay any extra". We discussed among ourselves and thought the price was actually less compared to what we had known about Bangalore city hotels. So we all decided that we take two rooms and pay him 500. We were happy with our achievement, giggling and laughing and thought we were not all that bad on our first trip outside Goa.

Nandu got us an Rickshaw and worth mentioning here is the thrilling auto ride we had. We forgot all the engineering concepts. It seemed like the forces we learnt in theory of machines or the stress, vibrations, couples and overturning couples we learnt were all a waste of time. The auto driver was changing the direction of the vehicle at his own will. I understand it is his vehicle, however he had forgotten that the 7 lives were not his property. Our hearts were in our throats for most of the time in the vehicle. Possibly he was planing to open a business of his own something like Essel world or something on the same lines where people pay to get frightened. I forgot I had a back in "Theory of Machines" to answer, Manesh had forgotten all his coconut making abilities I mean that he had a job in Marico. Ketan and Nilesh were the only fearless as they had closed their eyes tight and hold their fists tight. Farooq had the courage to smile sitting in that rickshaw, quite possible he had worst experiences in engineering. Atul as usual having a look on his face making me feel calm that nothing is wrong and it is just a few moments of fear and good is always on the wait after the bad. I only hoped that this good does not come in heaven. Sandeep, I am sure must have forgot that there is a female species existing in this word for those few moments . I always thought this guy Sandeep must have taken birth with his elbows ducking behind.

Finally with a screamy ride until the hotel, we almost hastily jumped off the rickshaw so that he does not take us again on that bamboozzling ride. We reached the hotel and Nandu took our bags to our rooms. We paid 500 bucks at the reception. Rooms were good and were more than worth 250 per room. At that point we thought we were the most clever persons in the history of mankind. We were of the impression that the einsteins and the newtons might have become famous by bribing the governments to market them as brainy guys.

Our plan that day was to freshen up and just go over Bangalore for sometime and sleep tight that day due to tiry travelling from Goa. We had planned perfectly how we were to go over the city, what to see and what not to. So accordingly we were back from a small walk close by. We slept early that day as we were to wake up early and waste no time. All really excited!!!!

Thats it for now. Keep watcing this space. Guys it is going to get damn interesting in the next blog.

7 friends in Bangalore - Part1

I wanted to write about this since a long time now. This story took place when I was in my engineering final year, when we 7 friends together had gone for an outing to Bangalore. None of us had a good touring experience until then.


Since it was our final year, we all decided to freak out together and capture these valuable moments for the rest of our life. It is tough to meet up and get together after college when all the messy creatures like office, family, money, investments, taunting bosses take priority in the short rational stuff called brain, the topmost portion of our body.

So here we were, Manesh floated the idea and we all agreed to it. Manesh being the more organized fellow among us took the responsibility of making this trip happen. Sandeep gave an Helping hand to him, while we all were given the job of environment creation which meant we were supposed to stay excited always about the trip scheduled in December.

With the date now decided Manesh came to us to show us the tickets of the Bus from Goa to Bangalore. Now we were on Cloud number nine, especially me, because I was travelling for the first time out of Goa without my parents. I was sure it will be a good experience besides a lot to learn about touring and the bad bad world outside which we were going to be a part soon after our engineering.

As the day approached I had already become a good listener as my parents are very good orators. All the instructions, lessons, chapters, do’s and don’ts were imparted on me and taken care that they were revised at least once a day. My mom said “See you all boys are going….Do not get too excited and do wrong things there. Be careful of robbers and be alert”. My father with his deep voice said with authority “And do not waste too much money there”.

Our bus was to depart from Ponda and we all, from different parts of Goa, which is of course small, decided to meet at Ponda. The bus arrived on time with the driver quite a friendly chap welcomed us aboard. We looked at the driver as a lord and our whole sole, one wrong gear or an extra pressing of the accelerator instead of brake could do the next worst thing to engineering. The Bus roared its way through the usually empty roads of Goa.

All excited and looking forward to our first morning in Bangalore. We were not aware of what the destiny had in our plates as soon as we reach Bangalore. Will write about it in the next part of the Blog.