“What plans this weekend?”, Myra had sent us an email. We were in the classroom and a Database practice session was going on. Usually, the practice sessions did not require our full attention, we just had to finish the assigned tasks during the session.
“Nothing specific, why?”, I replied.
“I might have to go to Bangalore to visit my aunt this weekend. Do you guys want to join? We can start to Bangalore on Saturday early morning, stay at her place on Saturday and start back to the campus on Sunday morning”, Myra’s email said.
“Sure, why not?”, Arjun replied.
“Is it okay if we visit your aunt’s place? Can we go to any places nearby?”, I asked.
“Yes, it’s absolutely fine if you accompany me. Regarding places to visit, I cannot promise that.”, came her reply.
I was excited about this trip, I had visited Bangalore when I was little but never later. Also, the training was getting tougher and it was time to cool off some steam.
*
On Saturday at 6AM, we boarded a bus to Bangalore from the CBS (Central Bus Station) in Mysore. The bus journey felt very quick and we reached the Majestic Bus Station of Bangalore in about 3 hours.
The bus station was extremely busy and Arjun guided us to a different part of the station. He had done some research on local transportation for this trip.
“Let’s take a bus, we are new here and don’t want to trust the autos or taxis”, he said to us. We nodded.
A local BMTC bus came by and Arjun pointed towards it. We followed him. He then asked the conductor, “Jaya Nagar, 5th block?”,
“Houdu” (yes), the conductor replied in Kannada.
We took three tickets and since we were the first ones to get into it, we got nice seats. The bus got full in the next few minutes and we were glad to have hurried up. The bus started and took us through the roads of Bangalore. The first impression that I got about Bangalore was – it had wide roads and it’s a busy place.
About 35 minutes later, the conductor shouted, “5th block”, and we got down.
“Your aunt’s place is just 5-minute walk from here”, Arjun said.
We started walking and were admiring the serenity of that area. It had the city vibe, yet it was so peaceful. It was a residential area.
We reached her aunt’s place in no time. She stayed in apartments and it was a very large area and had lots of greenery.
Her aunt received us and was very happy to see Myra. She then greeted us, asked us to get refreshed and have breakfast. We joined her in the dining room in about 15 minutes, she’s made dosas for breakfast.
“So aunty, how long have you been staying here”, I asked her.
“I moved into this apartment 5 years ago. But I’ve stayed in Jaya Nagar all my life. It’s a wonderful area and has seen so much growth in the last 10 years”, she said.
“This does seem like a very large place”, Myra replied.
“Does this area indeed have 10 blocks, aunty?”, Arjun asked. Whenever Arjun does research, he likes to show off.
“Yes, it does. Jaya Nagar is one of the first planned neighborhoods of Bangalore. All the blocks except the 3rd and 4th blocks are residential blocks. The third and fourth blocks are commercial blocks. Earlier I used to stay in the 6th block. It’s a nice residential area too.”, she said.
“Sounds interesting. Is it, in general, a rich neighborhood?”, Myra asked.
“Yes and no, I would say it’s a mix. But this area does have lavish homes of celebrities. For example, your Infosys Chairman, Narayana Murthy also has a place here. “, she said. We felt excited, Mr.Murthy could be here nearby !!
“And many more cricketers, actors, and celebrities”, she added, laughing at our excitement and handing us filter coffee.
“Why don’t you guys go to dinner today, 3th and 4th block have nice restaurants”, she said.
“Nice idea, aunty”, Myra replied.
I took a sip of the filter coffee, it was heaven.
“Thanks for the coffee aunty, it’s quite refreshing”, I replied.
Myra and aunty slowly started getting into their family issues; Arjun and I excused ourselves on the pretext of searching restaurants for dinner and took our coffees to the living room.
“I don’t think we have time to explore Bangalore this time, let’s explore Jayanagar and leave early for dinner”, Arjun suggested.
I agreed and we started looking for restaurants. A place called “Central Jail”, caught my eye. It’s a prison-themed restaurant where we can pretend to eat like inmates for fun. We decided to go to this place for dinner.
We had a simple home-cooked lunch in the afternoon and went for a walk in the neighborhood. It was a lovely place and was very peaceful. By 7 in the evening, we started to the restaurant and reached in about 30 minutes.
The place was hilarious. A prison-uniform-clad mannequin was at the entrance of the restaurant. Inside the place, the walls were plastered with posters which said “Most Wanted”.
We entered inside, there were booths in chained-up jail cells, guns hanging from the ceiling, etc., and many more creative props.
We chose a cell and ordered food from it. The whole thing felt very unique and we had a splendid time that evening……
The next day on our trip back to Mysore, we were discussing our trip when an idea struck me. I decided to implement it on Anusha, who was very naïve sometimes.
“We were jailed yesterday”, I told an astounded Anusha and cooked up a serious story. I then showed her some pictures – the three of us had long and sad faces and we were beyond jail gates.
She was very sympathetic but within a few seconds, she said,
“But wait a minute! How did the jailer agree to take so many pictures of you three?”, she said, scowling.
I did not stop laughing for the next 5 minutes...
-- To be continued
This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.
A very beautiful narrative. Had heard of this but you described it in a new fashion. I am Deepika Sharma. Here from A2Z
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