Bangalore was one major city I hadn’t visited (unless you count a visit paid when I was about six). Therefore, I had a lot of curiosity to see what it was like. I fulfilled my desire recently, when I flew over to visit my oldest friend. Let’s call her Effe.
I loved the city. Bangalore really has wonderful weather – I had been sceptical of all the claims until I landed and the breeze caressed my face. Throughout my stay, it was cool, breezy, with light drizzles at times. Pune has weather like that for a couple of months in the year. Bangalore – so Effe said, though I suspect she might be trying to make me jealous – is that way most of the time.
I spent a lovely weekend there, enjoying the company of Effe and, intermittently, of her boyfriend who was christened the Man-Friend on my first morning there. (The story goes this way: I kept referring to him as “the boyfriend”, and Effe protested that it sounded too juvenile. So he became the more grown-up Man-Friend.)
We went on long drives on tree-lined avenues and wide highways. Once Effe was driving me away from the city, and I was delighted to see a rainbow right ahead of us. “It’s been ages since I saw a rainbow!” I exclaimed. As we drove closer, we could see the pale colourful arch curve right across the sky, like a gate welcoming us into the countryside. “I can’t remember when I last saw a complete rainbow like that!” I said. And then, next to the first one, we could see the faint colours of another rainbow. “I don’t know when I saw two rainbows!” I cried. We clicked away on my camera, trying to capture the image for ever. But nothing can replicate the breeze, the drizzle, the exquisiteness of that moment.
The next day, the Man-Friend was driving. Out of very kind deference to my aching back, they insisted that I sit in front. And I enjoyed the best view in a exhilarating ride. At one time, we went out on a highway that was still under construction, so that there were very few vehicles on it and we got miles of wide, deserted road. The Man-Friend got into his element and speeded till we touched 120 kmph. Probably not a wise action to perform on an old Maruti 800, but we weren’t complaining.

The lovely road with parks on either side, that she took me on a drive on
The sun shimmering through the trees
Look closely: can you see a faint rainbow to the right of the first one?
Would you like a ride in a Rolls Royce?
The long open road stretching before us
They took me out to dinner too, at excellent restaurants. Effe, of course, stuffed me at home as well and shouted at me when I protested. At least there was no embarrassment between us, both of us having become roundly well-fed specimens of womanhood.
On my last night there, we went to a place called the 13th Floor, which is – you guessed it – on the 13th floor. It gave us an amazing view of the city. Sporadic pre-Diwali crackers and frequent airplanes added some movement. Pictures, unfortunately, did not capture the view well enough.

View from the 13th Floor
A street decked up for Diwali
And I leave you with this final picture that records Effe hard at work, and my first encounter with dhansak.