For a long time one had to go all the way to The Forum Mall to have a burger at the world famous Golden Arches. I had also heard of an outlet on Cunningham road but not being very sure of this, I have not yet been there. The two hangout places on the weekends are Forum for South Bangalore and Brigade Road for Central and North primarily due to the proximity to the two multiplexes (PVR in Forum and INOX in Garuda). Now we have McDonalds at both of these places.

The new outlet on Brigade Road is located at a beautiful location and if you manage to get a table on the top floor close to the window, you have a wonderful view of the crowds that throng the streets below. There is a slight confusion at the ordering place but that is acceptable since it is a newly opened outlet and things have yet to settle down. Another thing I found surprising is that this outlet does not accept the ever-popular SodexHo Passes though the outlet at Forum does. Is it because they have just started out that they don’t know about it or is it going to be something permanent? I don’t know but we will find out in the weeks to come.

It is a nice place to visit if you are in the area and I am not even going to bother mentioning the menu. So just check it out while you are there.

P.S.- I also saw some promotional campaign coming up at this outlet with a lot of posters going up. So keep a lookout.

Yes here too one has to run up to a certain line (equivalent to the crease) and then throw a ball at the nine pins facing you with an aim to blast all of them. I must admit the ball is definitely a lot heavier than the standard leather ball and also comes in various sizes (you can take your pick). Of course you do get two chances in each frame to knock down all of them.

This weekend I had been to Amoeba, a very popular gaming arcade off M.G.Road. The building has a restaurant called three quarter Chinese on the ground floor, the bowling alley on the first and a host of other games on the second. It also has a very good lounge type area adjoining the bowling alley which have wonderfully huge screens and are perfect for watching live football matches or in my case, the Turkish F1 Grand Prix.

On consulting the Wiki I found that Bowling has actually originated from Egypt though the most popular version is the American one. In fact it is one of the most famous American pastimes with students in school even having a period dedicated to it. Anyways, as with all American exports I feel this has become quite popular at least in Bangalore because I had to wait close to 45 minutes to get a lane assigned. No complaints though because there is a lot else to do. You can play Air Hockey, have a shot at Daytona Racing or just grab a drink and chill out on the couches.

The only other bowling alley which I know of is Wonderbowl which is located in the basement of the DHL building on the Departures Road leading to the airport. It pales in comparison to Amoeba because it covers only the basement does not have a very good eat-out and no large screens either.

This seems to be one of the favorite sports (if you can call it that) for people in Bangalore. I saw people from all ages having a wonderful time. It was not only the young people who were seen, but entire families with kids as young as 10 bowling with the help of their parents while their grandparents encouraged them the whole time. It felt like a real family outing.

If you are just meeting up with friends and want to catch up, then this is not the place to go to. The music is too loud, there are far too many people and you have to shout across the table to be heard. But if you want to have some fun yes Amoeba is the place.

And now to the most important point, how much is it going to set you back by: either Rs 100 or 125 depending on when you visit. This is for the bowling part only. For the drinks and food, you will have to pay extra but they seemed pretty reasonable. And of course if you want to enjoy the comforts of the couch, then you will have to order a drink or two. One thing I found sorely lacking was a Pool Table. There were some empty spaces on the second floor so maybe they could shove in a pool table there.

The place is worth a dekko, so go check it out.

For renting any place in Bangalore, you have to pay a 10 month advance on your rent. This is a de-facto rule which is valid in almost all places unless you know the landlord very well or have used some of your connections. If you don’t have that kind of money, then please look for a PG which are also in plenty all over the city. Some of these are really good with comforts like TV, AC etc thrown in. Some of them have time restrictions, so do find out in case you plan to keep late hours.

Now it has been decided that you are paying the 10 month advance. Next up you have to decide if you want to hunt around on your own or take the help of a broker.

You convey your budget and other requirements to the broker and he takes you around various places. If you like any particular place, then he will contact the concerned landlord and leaves the rest up to you. For this he will charge you a fee which is generally a month’s rent as his brokerage. This is very negotiable and try to drive as hard a bargain as you can. Of course you can’t get out of paying him because he knows where you live!!!!

If you want to look around on your own, this a very good option as well. You can discover many parts of the city in this manner and get to know the localities, the roads, where the good eat outs are located etc. If you are new to Bangalore, then get a map of the city and start roaming the various places that are preferable to you. You can also check out Free Ads and AdMag which are available on every newsstand and have tons of postings usually sorted by area. If you prefer the online variety then there are a number of availabilities posted here. Sulekha also has a number of postings for people looking for PG’s, Room-mates as well as Rents. Most of the ads posted here and genuine and you can go and check them out.

If you are strictly looking only for apartments, its better to go through an agent because they can get you some very nice places which you may not be able to find on your own. Good things don’t come free do they? Anyways that choice is fully yours.

Important points to note: ask the landlord what is included in the rent and what is included in the maintenance. Also ask them how you would go about fixing leaking taps, fixtures etc. if and when you have these problems. If you are going to share the apartment with someone, then include everyone’s names in the contract. There are also some painting charges and maintenance charges that are levied when you leave the place. Make sure you clarify these before hand. These points are generally included in the contract so read it carefully. Also find out how the rent is to be paid and when. Please inspect the apartment and look for any cracks, signs of water seepage etc. This will become more visible now since the rains have already started.

Whew! I guess that’s a huge checklist. Leave your queries in the comments if you have any. And any more hints and suggestions are welcome.

Happy House Hunting!

Well I am close to 2 months old in Bangalore and loving every bit of it. The weather has been really great and my friends here keep telling me that it’s only going to get better. I wish it wouldn’t rain as hard as it did on Saturday night but yeah getting fully drenched while driving a motorbike, that too was fun.

As you can see I am not very old in Bangalore and still discovering the place. I hope to blog about all the things I find exciting in Bangalore and also act as a quick guide to all the newbies in the city. Here’s looking forward to a wonderful time posting here.

Cheers.