Welcome to Bengalooru!

So it's been a good month and a half and I'm safely ensconced in Bangalore's welcoming Kannada-auntie-talcum-powder-covered bosom. And while I watch the rain lash the conference room window and shiver in the cold breeze whipping up the leaves in the parking lot, I'm totally loving the fact that it's the middle of May! And Bombay is sweltering with 38C temperatures and 100% humidity while I scan the Bangalore streets for Tibetan women selling sweaters!

The move was reasonably hurried. I had two days to pack, say my "sayonaras" (in Ashaben Parekh style) and eat as much of Amma's fish curry and rice before I got the heck outta Bombay and into my new home of Bangalore (Side Note: Do I only live in cities starting with B? What does this mean? Next stop- Barcelona? Brasilia? Belgaum?)

It's weird moving to a city where you have no roots at all. At least with my move to Bombay from Boston, I was coming back to my hometown. Here it's a total new frame of reference. No more Linking Road, hello M. G. Road. No more pani puri, hello "soup-bonda"!

Looking for a place to live is obsessing me so much the last few weeks that I've almost stopped obsessing about being single! That's an achievement indeed..I've decided on a place, on a budget and now I'm being picky. I am 30 - I wanna live like a 30 year old does (on a TV show maybe!) All you Bangaloreans (Bangalorites? Bangalorekars?) reading this post, I'm moving to Indiranagar...it's the closest thing to Bombay I can find here. And for you Bombayites, it's sorta like Lokhandwaala, Juhu Scheme and Bandra has a drunken threeway and then gave birth to something with the characteristics of all three....and named her Indiranagar! So till I find an apartment here, I'm living in the B'lore equivalent of Kandivili..for a Bandra boi - a fate worse than death.

Here's a quick reckoner (I'll have to check this often) of things I like about and don't like about my new city:

1. Like: 13th Floor, Maya and Cosmo Village
Dislike: The fact that all these bars shut down (!!) at 11.30pm!

2. Like: Spiga, Herbs and Spices, 1912
Dislike: The fact that no restaurant here can make a good Pav Bhaji!

3. Like: The awesome weather
Dislike: The fact that it will never rain hard enough for me to get a holiday from work!

4. Like: The tree lined avenues at Cubbon Road and Malleswaram
Dislike: The fact that there is almost no public transport here!

5. Like: The small town feel of much of the city
Dislike: The fact that it means everyone sleeps with the same group of people!

There will be many more I'm sure..I'm still finding my wings here. It would help if I had a bunch of folks to show me around here and hang out with. So far I'm reduced to hanging out at India Coffee House on M. G. Road drinking a coffee and watching the world go by...would be nice to do that with a bunch of people!

Till then, I have to figure out if this blog name needs changing..but then again, No. I love my Bombay far too much to wanna do that. So till then, "hog Barthini" all you lovely people!