Bangaluru & More

This piece circles around two parts. First as I see Bangaluru and its beauty as a city. Though I did not see the entire city I can say that it’s a nice place to be in. It’s a very happening place, in all aspects fashion, weather and industries.

The second part is about the more factor that I found in this entire journey. It is the sense of freedom and independence. It’s about the confidence, that when you take one step ahead, you can take many such steps without fear. Now that the task is completed and I look back, I realize that everything falls behind and only feelings are afloat. Apart from just experience and money, what remained in my memory is the way we carried our attitude; towards ourselves and others.

“Bangaluru and more” is all about small matters and obvious solutions (which are not so obvious at that time). It’s the way I saw and felt things.

Just the way I got a little more from this journey, if my reader also gets a little more, the purpose behind writing this write up would be fulfilled.

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It’s Saturday night, around 9PM. I get out of Rik and say goodbye to Pallavi. We look at each other with same expression of “What is going to happen?” I go to 1002, my door and ring the bell. Ma opens the door casually and stares at me in disbelief. Then she smiles and welcomes me inside. Baba looks at me and gives a pure expression of joy. My cousin has come from Mumbai and he looks totally lost. My surprise worked! Ma and baba are really excited. Then I explain dada how I tricked my folks into thinking that I would be coming on Sunday and landed here a day before. I have never been welcomed like this before.

At the same time Pallavi must be experiencing similar expressions. I hope her surprise works as well.

We wanted to surprise as many people as possible. To be quite frank I don’t get such opportunity to surprise my dear ones, every now and then; so why not use to its best.

I stepped inside my room with a strange feeling; like I was new in the house. It was a sour feeling of detachment that I developed during Bangaluru stay. I just thought of our rooms in Bel Air the 3-Star hotel we stayed in. For two good months it was our home. A place we returned to after tiring work and wanted warm shelter.

“Bangaluru jane vale sabhi yatrionko nivedan he ki….”

Eyes gazing out of the window, I managed to keep one ear towards the air hostess.

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This is my first flight and I am really excited. Apart from the joy of flying there is small space filled with a scene of achievement. So what if millions of people fly for business and many other reasons every minute, to me this is first one and it could be that small step towards open sky. So, I am just enjoying it to fullest.

The feeling of elevation from earth is awesome. Each time the bird lowered one of its wings in a certain direction and turned the view changed. As we navigated through the land of clouds it felt just like a dream land. Sunshine so clear and clouds so close, I had never seen before.

The journey ended quickly and comfortably. Bangaluru city is quite an attraction. We are trying not to get overwhelmed by its awesomeness. The roads are long with never ending queues. There are grand malls and shopping streets. We saw corporate offices in many places. All the attractions lay in front for you to accept. This is a city for dreamers.

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L and T…here we come..

The minute we stepped inside the premises of L and T , we started liking the place. It was a 20 minutes commuting. And by the end of 2 months we had by hearted all the neighborhood shops and malls. During the weekdays this was the only time we spent looking outside the window. Rest of the time we’d be neck deep in work all the time.

It was a relief that cleaning and rearranging room was taken care by hotel servants. How amazing it was to toss away the damp towels and crumpled sheets, and to find it all magically cleaned up made tidy when we returned exhausted from battle field..Ops..I meant work field.

We worked ceaselessly through the weekdays and all holidays and sincerely and strictly shopped on all Sundays.

There was a time when we wished for longer day and more days in the week. And we did not stop at this, we actually changed our diet to suit the work stress and keep ourselves fresh.

The way were working, we did not realize how much impact we had on these people, until one day the security in-charge asked us why we worked for so long without break. I guess they were genuinely worried about us. Wondering if we missed our families and why worked so hard. To this and same questions asked thereafter we had a standard answer “We are a team of women…we have commitments. Two of us are married (and the remaining three are to be married anytime!) We want to complete the work and return home in time.” This later became a joke for us. The fact was that on one hand we were getting addicted to the work and the surroundings and at the same time wanting to go home. The volume of work was like a huge mountain we had to cross without any help, for doing this we had to surpass our usual levels. Put in efforts after efforts without fear and hold utter confidence in ourselves. All this was going to result in unusual gains. No hard work goes waste.

The technical team of L and T would be working with us. So it was all going to be face to face. This team of initially four members would later expand to a team of 15 or so. Mr. Murugan the Project Manager was the most dedicated and helpful person. He patiently listened to our queries and made suggestions. Pankaj our coordinator made sure that we did not face any problems, prompt and professional. And dear Sangeeta the only female techni-member was most attached to us. We lunched together, chatted on coffee table, cracked jokes and helped each other.

Working on-site is a different kind of an experience, a chance that seldom comes to a translator. This gave us an opportunity to work more professionally. We put our heads together and figure out what was next task. A start to end job led us to better understanding of the subject. Everyday new day came with new challenge more work and more problems. And this we faced with fresher minds, more confidence and extra efforts. I remember one day Niyati went to do interpretation for a Japanese visitor. She had mailed me to solve a query…I was totally aghast to see a pop- up; Mail from Niyati…..“Adhishri, is this correct?....” . Her mail had a query! All five of us though had never worked together before got along very well and found our selves having time of our lives; a hit combination of different temperaments and thinking. This would be without any doubt the most cherished working and non working time I have ever had.

Morning 8 to evening 8 we stuck our heads to the PCs and took the last bus leaving the premises. The best part of going home was the bus ride, we loved the bus ride…..our driver was a hero. He maneuvered the bus through traffic jams, lazy pedestrians, dogs etc. at a great speed. He never cursed never smiled just drove with all might. Pallavi and I call it the ‘Roller coaster ride’.

On Saturdays we also visited the little cute rabbits and ducks kept in the premises. (We even wondered if there were any deers or such other animals as well. But no, there was no such thing.)

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This was just about the day time. When we came to the room, it was chill time. Weekdays were strictly for laboring and weekends were reserved for shopping. Shopping soon became our addict zone. We’d find out places to shop and had fantabulous time. One fine Sunday we went for shopping, it was Sheetal’s birthday. We were finished with the purchases and window shopping when it suddenly stared to rain. We stopped by in a restaurant to have a bite and couldn't seem to come out of it. None of us had any extra shielding from the rain. So after an hours waiting we just decided to push. As we had merely come out of Main Street, Niyati realized that she had forgotten her shopping bag in one of the stores. Sheetal and I waited getting half soaked and Niyati and Deepti left in search of the bag, only to return completely drenched. That night we just wanted to reach home and slip under the warm sheets. And so we did.

Shopping is a girls religion, one can say. Brand factory, Maysoor Sari, Chick peth we went to many places in search of ultimate quest to quench our thirst for shopping of variety. On the other side our suitcases were getting fuller and bank balances lower. We were gifting our selves for the work we were pulling. I remember this one Sunday I decided to wait on the room and rest. My friends however, continued. In the evening the trio returned Deepti, Pallavi and Sheetal, I opened the door and there stood the three beauties. Pallavi on the right, Sheetal on the left and little Deepti in between. They all stood with amazing poses’ hands curved above head like models displaying their new shopping. It was such a fun! Then we sat on the bed side with the heap of shopping at the center. What a heavenly feeling!

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Food was another savor to our stay. We had all sorts of south Indian food. Kamat to Coconut groove (Pallavi calls it Coconut-Gruha) to Bageecha the spooky garden restaurant, Krishan Vaibhav, Spice Garden, Outpost (here we had the most amazing chocolate mousse and ice-creams) and our favorite New Shanthi Sagar. At New Shanthi Sagar we had coffee and juices and tried all the south Indian and Bhell items on menu (by the way Ragda pattice turned out to be surprise, when the waiter presented us with a single potato tikki dish and chutney in small bowl), another coffee point was Kalmani’s. Since we all were foodies we could taste wide range of food items. We often ordered unknown menus and waited for the delight to come. In the mean time the food was served, we chatted endlessly about anything and everything. We were family to each other. This was the time I truly realized the line between private life and professional life and how easily we can keep one away from the other.

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Time and words would be inadequate to put all that we experienced. The hours and minutes and days it all passed by and we kept loading ourselves. Everyone put in her best and completed each bit of responsibility. Finally the day came for departure. As per our plan, we had to split. Three members would be going ahead and two would remain behind to make sure that the work was up to mark as per L and T’s requirement.

Pallavi and I waved Niyati, Deepti and Sheetal byes as their cab stood in front of Bell Air. We all had earned personal rewards made new friends and worked with a team of experts who guided us and gave us all room for improving ourselves. We came from a small enterprise but no where did we fall behind the schedule or commitment. That was all, a feeling of achievement and independence. I believe each of us did a fine retrospection as well.

I feel much pleasure to say that apart from the work, we had a life…we toiled no doubt but also treated ourselves. Food, shopping, chatting, city tours, TV programs; we had it all. And we made friends too.

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The Party continues…

Hereafter Pallavi and I had one more important task to accomplish. Not just finish the work but get a grade from client. Mr. Murugan had showered us with compliments on day one it self and we maintained our ‘A’s’ that way. This was another plus on our report cards. No red marks. Two more weeks we stayed. Two more Sundays we shopped and enjoyed what remained of our on site stay. These two weeks I spent looking around the buildings the gardens and roads. Absorbed it all into my memory where it lies as a pleasant remembrance.

The very first day we took a wrong bus and had to change two more to reach our L and T. “Adhishri illa…!!” just say these words and anyone of us would narrate the story.

The 505 bus we waited for and never came!!

Delicious fruit plate we eat in canteen almost everyday.

Brake fast in Bel Air (Especially new years…)

The flute music in the elevator…once we entered the lift and forgot to press Ground floor. The other passenger was too busy smiling at us and went blank when we looked at the electronic display showing floor numbers.

Daily 1 km fresh air marching from Marthahalli to Bel Air.

Special Bhel made with odd ingredients on the hotel room and Sheetal’s fluffy birthday cake…

First flight….

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It’s not what happens but what we make out of it…that is important.

Bangaluru came with a dream, a dream to step forward and learn more than what you just see but perceive as well.

I definitely got more from here I hope my friends did too.