Chennai to Bangalore

If you landed at this blog entry with a thought of finding points for a Chennai - Bangalore debate, you are in the wrong territory. This is a very diplomatic blog entry which gives you details of things that you notice when you move from Chennai to Bangalore.

First and foremost, quoting what my friend had commented, "The whole city of Bangalore seems like centralized AC fit on top to keep it so cool". Yes, the climate is what I am talking about. When move from the sweat and heat of Chennai, Bangalore would be a paradise. The climate is cool, it rains often and you might miss the sun sometimes. But beware. On a bright beautiful sunny day, if you happily want to enjoy a walk under the Sun, be sure to apply two coats of sunscreen. There are all chances that you might get tan and heat boils.

Language? No problem. Almost everyone from auto drivers to vegetable shopkeepers would know Tamil(or Hindi). You notice yourself getting into an auto saying "AABBCC ponum", "right turn pannunga", "left turn pannunga"(Is this really tamil?). Nevertheless, it would be good to know some common words which might be used in public. Like for example, "eshtu" meaning how much, "alli" means there.

Shopping - you might very well miss the crowds and low prices of Ranganathan Street, but there are quite good options here for shopping. Though I haven't explored all, I've heard that Indira Nagar and Jaya Nagar have some good shopping options. Spencers and City center? You have the ultra famous Forum Mall. Its bigger than Spencers and City center and less crowded comparatively.

Food - Seems to me that Bangalore is not a place for traditional food. But you find excellent options for western food, especially Italian. Chennai is "the" place for chettinad and traditional food.

Oh... How did I forget the most important change!!! TRAFFIC... Chennai was a paradise. I regret the times I had cursed the Traffic Police for badly organizing the cities traffic. But after Bangalore, Chennai seems highly organized. Atleast the traffic police had an idea of how they were directing the traffic and the number of vehicles were less. I'll try and put up another blog entry about Bangalore traffic, adding few pics too.

Auto - Unlike Chennai, it seems cheaper here. You only pay the amount that is shown in the autometer. If the driver asks for more, you just need to find another auto. But most of the drivers are just... except that their meter travels faster than light. As opposed to the Rs. 40 for 2km at Chennai this is good.

There is a lot more to explore here. I'll keep posted on what I find new here. Before I leave, what is the one that I miss the most about Chennai? Beach... There is nothing like beaches at Chennai.

Chennai 2008

Now this might sound like a blog written by someone who had been out of Chennai for years. I had been out just for 11 months. But "just 11 months" had made lots of differences. I had earlier posted a blog regarding my first arrival at Chennai. Was I equally happy this time? The very honest answer would be a big "NO". What a traffic!!! Too crowded!!! Too polluted!!! Too many concerns. Right at the time I reached Chennai, it seemed like I was in a mess, and it would take lot of time for me to get back to reality. The clean and almost unpolluted environment of CA has made me think it would take me more time than I thought it would.

But it didn't really take that much. Two days in Chennai, and now life is back to normal. Same fighting with auto drivers for rate, same Tidel park, pretty much everything is same and back to normal. So what has really changed. Chennai has become more and more and more costly. For someone who has just returned from the US, it should not seem so. But it does. Auto rates have increased, vegetable rates have increased. Has it really increased or is it just my perception? I dont really have an answer for this.

Second, I miss all my friends. I have countable number of friends at Chennai now. :-(

Anyway, now I am back, after a wonderful 2007 at California. Is 2008 going to be equally wonderful? I hope it would be more wonderful. Oh btw... if you were waiting for an entry regarding my time at US.. therez too much to write. I shall try and recollect some of them and put as an entry in the future.

Chennai Life's Kick Start

wheeeeee... Am back from my hibernation period. Well, my hibernation was not because I was busy or hectically working.. but i was too lazy to type anything in my blog. From now on, I hope to keep this blog alive. There has not been much entries that I have put in this blog earlier. So to start with this is something I cherish as golden moments, "Chennai Life's kick start"

My first day at Chennai, I came into this city like any other ambitious, enthusiastic 21 year old girl looking ahead at the bright and prosperous future(well, thatz how my friends wished me when i left college). Joined Cognizant, with no friends, no seniors, no one I know, except my only loving brother. But he... he was/is at onsite. Therez nothing much he could do. I realized that I was dropped in this big city alone. I knew I had to help myself and there was no one else to help me out.

Suddenly from the blues, arouse one young sweet lady with a bright smile, "Rememeber me, I am Sathya. We attended interview together."... Oh really..!!! How do I remember? I hate it when people ask me "Remember me??". My reaction: A stupid Blank Face. Ok.. maybe... Good. Finally somebody I can talk with. Mine might have been an amnesiac memory, but my mom seemed to be sharp. She seemed to remember her very much. My mom brushed up my memory saying, "shez that smart girl we spoke with on the day of your interview, remember?". Ohhhhh.. Now got it. "that smart girl" Knowing that she is gonna avial Cognizant accomodation during training period, we planned to be roommates. Went to Pallavaram(accomodation location) and booked for the rooms.

Saturday - went for Medical checkup... mmm.. well, I dont remember the name of the hospital. Nothing big to mention about the medical checkup. It was just a normal medical checkup. But there were two people I met that day whom I should mention about. One - Managai - who later became my batchmate and friend. Two - Miss. Anjali Kizhakkekunnel Sukumaran. Shez gonna kill me for elaborating her name. Mallu - again another mallu - Is she gonna be added to the stack of my mallu friends.... No, I didnt think like that.. I didnt even think about her. After lunch, we headed to Pallavarum to occupy my new location. And when I reach there, lo.. its Anjali again with her mom and her bro. I was there with my mom and my dad. I had to share my room with her. Within a quick few minutes after our parents left, we became friends. This is becoming "friends at second sight".

Sunday, I went with Anju to book train tickets to go home for Christmas. Reminds me of the song "I'll be home, for Christmas". Sathya joined us at the hostel on sunday, and after a few relocations we were put in the same room.

Thus started the chapter of Chennai in my Life's History.

Well, actually I wanted to type more. But I'm bored. If I'm bored, I know how bored you should be. If u still reading this, plz come back again. I shall try to post an interesting blog..... :-)