Ok . You heard that the jayadeva flyover was being opened today. What do you think the “opening” meant to the traffic on the road?
Check out the picture of the chaos that followed and an amusing write up by Deepa here.
And you thought “opening” the flyover actually includes opening it!
Yes, yet another flyover opens today (Monday)! [Shruthi had the end in sight a week ago]
Jayadeva circle flyover was all decked up for the opening ceremony previous evening itself. And unlike the Airport Road flyover puncture fiasco, they seem to have done a better job here. All the tent-poles were standing on flat metal plates, with no serious damage to the road visible. (apologies for the poor quality cellphone pic)
BTW, this flyover is going to make Inner Ring Road even more miserable. And vehicles coming south from Dairy Circle are all going to slow down near Shoppers Stop, so expect big jams there as well. We will soon have demands for a few more flyovers in the vicinity.
Just the way you end up telling several lies to save one …
Here’s the second podcast with Aniisu K Varghese and his colleagues on ‘Friends for Life’ an NGO in Bangalore. You can read about them here.. They have also been featured here.
In sum, I have asked them about the genesis of their organisation, what are their objectives, the campaigns that they have undertaken, their opinion on the helmet-rule policy by the government etc and one provocative question. You’ll have to really listen to the podcast to know what that is.
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While reading a travel book - “The Itinerant Indian”, I bumped into an essay by Vidya Baglodi on Bangalore, titled “Whispers of the Past”. She had returned to Bangalore for a visit after 10 years and was surprised to see the transformation. Here are some excerpts from her essay on the Bangalore that was:
“During my school days(in the 70’s) we lived in Koramangala in a house that had no electricity… …I studied for my examinations under the light of a hurricane lamp. The nocturnal peace would be interrupted from time to time by the howling of foxes and wolves. King cobras were frequent and inescapable visitors…”
No surprise that she was, in her own words, “taken aback by the changes that had transformed this gracious garden city into a suave silicon city“.
Come nightfall, a couple of streets in the VV Puram area (near Lal Bagh West Gate) come alive. Carts piled high with vegetables, fried lentils, the ingredients for chaat, pani puri, bhel puri and dosas, line the streets. Patrons come by walk, by bikes, by cars, park in the narrow streets branching off of the main street and saunter lazily from one cart to another, sampling the fare from each cart.
Half the fun is in watching your food being prepared right in front of you, out in the open. My favorite is the moong dal (split green gram) concoction with tomatoes, onions, coriander leaves and some spices.
Once you get your food (in paper cones or plaintain leaves) you stand around with your friends in a gaggle, and eat - on your feet. The food is cheap, the variety is great and of course, the company is as good as you keep.
The carts hang around till around 10:30 at night. Parking is tight, so get there early (around 6:30). Remember to take lots of small denomination currency notes.
To get there, from Lal Bagh West Gate go towards JC Road and make the second left after the circle in front of Lal Bagh West Gate.
The Tourism Department is commissioning five open-top double-decker buses that will take passengers to around 15 monuments/tourist spots in the city including Vidhana Soudha, Mayo Hall, Cubbon Park, the Chitrakala Parishad, etc. The buses, manned (or womanned) by a “City Jockey”, will run every 30 minutes and each ticket (valid for 24 hours) will cost Rs. 300 for adults and Rs. 150 for children.
This sounds like a great way to see Bangalore, even if you are not a tourist! I love just riding on the trains and buses in any city - I think the rides give one a great feel for a city. But given the traffic situation in the city and the pollution, I would recommend riding these buses on a weekend.
For more information, call 2558 0660.
What it is: Nisarga Garden Restaurant.
Location: am sure you’d find a way to the SPICE TELECOM office/ Prestige Towers on Infantry road. Now Nisarga is just next to that Prestige Towers building. A small driveway will lead you to the “garden” restaurant.
- Opp. Police Commissioner’s office - if that can help.
You enter the place and see that it’s divided into two sections, for no apparent reason, except one is raised. The raised one has a different feel to it though. And one may be pushed to think it’s the plants on the 20 meter driveway and the creepers under the only roof, no walls restaurant, is the garden.
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Spotted this small news item hidden in a newspaper today:
The ongoing monsoon session of Parliament will announce the appointment of Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekar to the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Urban Development.
Mr Rajeev Chandrashekhar was elected to RS from Karnataka, and as a businessman, he is certainly very aware of Bangalore’s growing pains. Smart guy, successful new generation businessman (BPL Mobile), and now empowered a bit, this could turn out to be a pretty positive development for our city.
update: hate to be the guy to break the chain of food-foodie posts :)
You want to taste yummy sweets in Jayanagar area. Its Anand Bhavan sweets. You get variety of sweets including my favorite fruit halva. There are variety of Indian sweets which catches your eyes as soon as you enter.
They have lovely Cham Cham, Paneer Jamoon, Badam Bhog, Malaika besides popular Bengali sweets, Diamond Cake, Kajod Distorole, Kesar Bhodhi and what not. They also serve different kinds of Khara, chips etc.They serve good south Indian breakfast.
Next time when you want to fill petrol on silkboard to banashankari ring road goes to SM Krishna petrol bunk. Because that’s where Anand Bhavan sweets is! The place is also called Udupi Garden restaurant bus stop.
The cost is average and they accept credit/debit cards. The place is not good for having a personal chat. It’s crowded all the time. So it’s good to get the food packed and have it in the car once your car is full with petrol!
They have branches at Malleshwaram,Majestic, Gandhi Bazar, Indiranagar and Ganganagar etc. But I have seen only at BTM. Its their new branch.Last time I heard them in news was when they released sweets for diabetics ( sweet news).
Best time to visit: Mornings/Evenings
CostAverage
Known for Delicious sweets of all kind
