Wednesday 19 December 2018

Dearest Bangalore

Who knew while watching Anjali Menon’s Bangalore Days I would actually end up coming to you to pursue my  Masters. Even after being cautioned about the consequences of living alone in a metro city, the addictive night life and multiple other reasons about you I packed my bags in search of a new city I had not been and  came down to Bangalore on 27th of May 2016.How I never forget this date, because life had begun for real for a 22 yr old. And you were my only support.I studied in the beautiful campus of Christ University. And every time people ask me what is the thing  I would miss about college the most my answer remains the same, my college campus. Though I am not a foodie but visiting Truffles  in Koramangala doesn’t tire me till date. Koramangala is one of the most happening places in Bangalore to be where you could chill with your friends with so many options  around where there is something for everyone. Bars,Pubs,Restaurants,Cafés, all at your service to enhance your experience as any other person here.

You are the city I loved to explore when I moved in as a new girl in the city travelling with my friends and hogging at different places I have never been. When I was down with dengue fever and was supposed to reach the hospital barely in ten minutes and not 45 mins, you showed me friends who recreated the 3idiots scene in their own way and made that terrible commute peaceful. You are the city where I got drunk for the first time and explored another version of me. You are the city where I could watch one of my favorite celebrity Kenny Sebastian perform live. BTM lake is a spot  very close to my heart and much people haven’t explored this ,which I believe they should. The Karaoke nights I have gone out with my friends , or the day I just shed myself out  dancing on the floor with full freedom looking above at those flashy neon lights are things I had never done before as a  person.You are the city where I met some really rare and amazing people who surprised me with their bare realities in a good way. But more were the ones who left bonds astray. And amidst all this you didn’t stop surprising me. Be it in the lovely breakfast meal at Tazza Tindi in Jayanagar ,be it the lovely choir at St. Anthony’s Friary church on Sundays,be it the fragrance of jasmine at most of the streets I cross,be it the eternal shine of clouds that would just make my day,and of course how can I not mention the immensely lovable weather that you bestow all of us with.  

Four months being away from home, in order  to find a job wouldn’t have been easy if it weren’t you.If it were some other place I would have quit quite early. I have had terrible of terrible commutations  just as any other Banglorean .People have a problem here with traffic immensely ,I don’t disagree. But so have I had number of hilarious and courteous Ola and Uber stories that have made my day. While I have lived my life across Assam and enjoyed the best of bonfires there,you gave me the best night outs with friends than any other warm  bonfire ever could, while I have lived 10 years of my life and  been a lover of rains throughout my stay in Mumbai, your rains bring the singer and writer in me alive time and again. While I have lived in Gujarat for a couple of years and enjoyed North Indian food too, your love for south food has brought me newer levels of affinity for south.Nandi Hills one of the most visited places of Bangalore was yet another spot that mesmerized me with its soothing weather ,some sunshine,wind in my hair and the entire beautiful ride to reach that place.While I wasn’t fashioned by the people of the world but yes by the little small word I lived in till then, you shaped my little world into a huge one with multiple people I hadn’t met  and  multiple experiences to take by I hadn’t had.

Your companionship  has made  me come out of my comfort zones so many times. There are multiple reasons to love you: your lifestyle ,the options for everything for a person be it anything  and above all the passion every stream of life holds here.That’s what has kept you so close to me.Thank you for being a home to the girl who couldn’t dare to do new things, who couldn’t fearlessly trust strangers ,who couldn’t think of risking and taking chances.

You are my brother I never had, the hippie friend I have always wanted to have and have fun with, the warm grandparent I was in  search of all in the forms of places and people I never could have imagined placed in my life to just enjoy and relish till the very end. And so I am not leaving you soon.
Always
Namma Bengaluru Girl 
Agnes 

Monday 13 August 2018

Banter with Life

About to start a new beginning I feel so elated yet shunned by the ongoing negativity that life would throw at me throughout the journey. All to teach one great victorious chapter. 
Sipping a coffee from Karnataka tea shop at 4th cross S. G. Palya, simultaneously booking for an auto towards Jayanagar I would find my rickshaw driver right there while I am not  done  with my  coffee yet.
And then I am struggling with my coffee cup and the auto ride. I ask him to stop for a while. Very courteously he stops the auto and he says "Aaram se mam, hojayega ride apna koi jaldi nahin". 
And then I reach my bus stop, get in my 500CA bus with a hope to find a seat. Yes I do,and my heart literally skips  a beat. 
The exciting fever of finding mere small joys and love, stupid right? But this tenderness is vanishing today. We need this tenderness today. And exactly when I was thinking about how silly are my  thoughts I would have a post to read about tenderness, well that couldn't be sheer coincidence. Enough built up, let me make you understand what I am talking about. 
I will make it easy for you, you know that legroom we pay additionally for  in airlines ?, you know that night when you return home all tired and want to eat something of your choice,that day when you happen to meet your old friend at a random place and relive the craziest of your connections when you talk about it. 
That's what I am talking about. 
That random tenderness in our lives. That  dip of joy. That crazy thing to tickle you to breathe. Silly but letting you swim across all the time and just be. That's the victorious chapter I am talking about. 


Let your banter with life bring you to this! 

Always 
Agnes