It was a really short visit about two weeks back, when I went to meet Akshat and Neha at the Cafe Coffee Day in Indiranagar.

Those who know me do not find it hard to imagine that I haven’t seen Bangalore even though I have been here for nearly 11 months.

I also realized that Indiranagar is not as far as I thought it to be! It’s about 7-8km from where I stay. But, it doesn’t take too long because of the wide open roads leading to the place. It has been a while since I cruised along so sweetly.

I’m still waiting to go out to Barista sometime soon. One day, when I am not that lazy!

Met up with Suchita today and we went to Fiorama, which is an Italian restaurant in Koramangala itself. The place turned out to have a good ambience, but unfortunately it was way to expensive for the portions and quality of food they had to offer. Reminds me of a non-veg Little Italy!

I also have clarity on the PayPal issue I cribbed about last time. Seems like the Reserve Bank of India woke up suddenly and asked PayPal to stop all operations in India until they “register” with RBI. This means that for at least another few months, Indian users will have a to suffer. Those who are freelancing and rely on PayPal as their main source of payment receipts are in for a major issue. I believe goods and services may still work, but that is left to be determined.

I don’t really blame PayPal on this, except for the total lack of communication before they took action, which is not acceptable for an organization like PayPal. Read PayPal’s update on the situation.

I returned to Bangalore nearly two weeks back. And, as is expected, the frequency of my blog posts has dropped. However, I must confess that  for a change I’ve actually had two relatively light weeks.

By light, I mean, I have been able to leave at a official times or maybe an hour later.

Last week was also eventful. Maria celebrated her birthday on the 8th and she invited me for dinner at Magnolia, the most convenient place in Koramangala.

I reached there a bit earlier and before Magnolia we went to the Cafe Coffee Day nearby. This one is in a rather weird location. This one is located on the first floor of a supermarket!

While I spent last Saturday at home lazily around, I spent a good portion of Sunday outside the house. Vincent and me first went to the Pizza Hut in Forum. This was under renovation the last time we went there and so we couldn’t eat there.

After pizza, we watched Sherlock Holmes at the PVR in Forum, followed by some window shopping at Landmark.

Work caught up this week, again, not as bad as last year. Won’t be heading off to work tomorrow, however, I will be working from home.

On the WordPress plugins front, I have two new plugins that I plan to work on over the next two weeks. I also have updates for three of my plugins. Should start on the updates tomorrow.

At long last my vacation back home draws to a close. This time I had the opportunity of a much longer vacation since I had to take my core leave. Consequently I spent a good 18-19 days home

Lil white mouse came over this morning to spend the last few hours before I left for Bangalore. We took a rick to the airport. One stark difference about Mumbai and Bangalore airport is the security checks. Bangalore airport is a lot stricter (They didn’t allow me to carry my bottle of water past the security point!). For a change, am actually taking a good lot back to Bangalore and so had to improvise by carrying a bigger suitcase which I checked in.

At the check-in counter I was told that the flight will be delayed by yet another 20 minutes. This was in addition to the rescheduled 35 minutes. I usually reach the airport well in time, and so this meant a wait of over two hours

The two hours wait just got extended further when the flight actually took off post 9.20pm. The original booking was for 7.35pm. Go Air flight to Bangalore has been rescheduled to 8.10pm, so even then it meant a delay of well over an hour!

Had already rescheduled the Airlift cab that I had booked for 10pm to 11pm.

The last time I flew to Bangalore I noticed the well lit, extremely beautiful Mumbai skyline. I was a bit disappointed this time since I got a perfect view of the wing of the airplane mainly!

Grabbed dinner on the plane, since the next time I eat is for breakfast tomorrow.

Just had to pick up the one bag that I had checked in and rushed to get the cab. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it on time and had to take the 12am cab which got me home by 1.30am

I resume work in another few hours. A new day in the new year! Will just take the bike in to work tomorrow. Am hoping it is a short day!

Once again, I wish you a happy and prosperous new year. Keep on reading and if you haven’t already, do subscribe.

Christmas is the time of the year I’ve always looked out for. This year has been a very fulfilling year, which I shall write about in a future post. I took my core leave from 18 Dec to 3 Jan, which is the longest duration of leave that I have ever taken till date!

Had booked the tickets in August itself, so it was only the matter of getting to the airport. Unlike last time, where my cab arrived early and the plane was late, I reached the airport at 10am on Friday. They have become a lot stricter at Bangalore airport. I wasn’t allowed to even take my bottle of water past the security!

The flight was on time, but I didn’t get my usual row of seats. Was stuffed somewhere at the back, but the leg room isn’t that bad.

The flight was quick and I was home rather quickly and the first thing as usual was to reactivate my internet connection at home. This time my laptop is out of commission since I don’t have a spare internet connection.

Lil white mouse came over in the evening to spend some time with me.

On Saturday, I met up with Sneha, who had complimentary coupons for the ITC, where we feasted on a really good buffet. I ensured that I sampled all the meats and many of the deserts. (No vegetables for me!)

Went over to see the ENT in the evening. Have been suffering from a bad ear ache in addition to my usual nose trouble, so it was high time I got this checked. Also need to visit an ophthalmologist this time.

Went over to Lil white mouse’s place on Saturday and we watched Avatar on Sunday. Had booked the tickets for the 9.30am show at PVR, since they were a lot more affordable than the normal shows!

Returned home via Bandra. Got a lift from her and her family, who were on their way to Bandra. We took the Bandra Worli sea-link which was my first trip on the new bridge. It has been done well and looking up at the suspended portion at night is beautiful.

Spent the entire day at home today. Had a visit from Swagatika, who I met after nearly two and half years. Have a lot of catching up to do with a lot of friends!

Work, work and more work ensures that a simple person like me doesn’t get time to blog. So, here’s a post that summarizes the last two weeks of my life.

Team dinner

Every quarter the teams out here go out for dinner. Last quarter we went bowling and had a quiet dinner. This time work pressures ensured that we skipped the bowling and just went for the dinner directly.

Dinner was at Jalsa, which is in Marathahalli. I had originally inteded to take the bike to work, but dropped the idea. But, we had enough of bikes and so there wasn’t a problem.

Regarding my bike, the Bajaj service centre really seems to have screwed something up and the pickup has dropped and so has the top speed. Now, am hunting for a local mechanic out here. There are a few in Bellandur and Sarjapur area where I intend to give the bike. Let’s see…

Jalsa is a moderately priced place, designed in a very Indian setting from the times of the kinds of old. I stuck to starters as I usually do when I am out for dinner. Who wants the non-chicken part, right?

Got a lift back home thanks to a colleague who was passing this way.

Weekend Movie and Shopping

Last week, Vincent and me made up our minds, bought the tickets and headed off to watch G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which turned out to be a good movie to watch. Bernard, who was bunking with me for the month, also headed off back to Mumbai, so I once again have my room to myself.

And, last Sunday, we went over to Oasis mall for lunch, followed by shopping at Spar. Whenever we go shopping, we end up spending a bomb

We picked up tonnes of stuff resulting in a very well stocked fridge. Also, got myself a tin opener finally, so its cheese time as well. We picked up a packet of pork sausages as well, but they weren’t as tasty as the ones I get in Mumbai.

Pizza Hut and shopping

We decided to go off to Pizza Hut today as well. Owning a visa card ensures that we get our pizza really cheap and within 600 bucks you can get a pizza, drinks, garlic bread and a Caesar salad.

We dropped into Star Bazaar as well and I have realized that it is a better place to shop than Spar. There are better offers and the prices are lower as well. We did a fair bit of shopping, especially for extension boards. The ones we had already were with two pin plugs resulting in no ground, which isn’t really good for electronics like laptops etc.

Am also hunting for a low end microwave, only for heating purposes. Unfortunately, Chroma didn’t have it either. Any suggestions for those who are from Bangalore?

Tomorrow I plan to get some work done from home. But, tonight, I need to sleep!

The last few days were spent meeting people. Lil white mouse came over the last few days to meet me.

Met Sneha on Wednesday for dinner. Dinner was at the Happy Singh, which is a part of Pop Tates. Decent enough joint, but the long island iced tea was ice tea!

I met up with Idea Smithy for tea on Thursday. We met at Crepe Station in Lokhandwala which has recently opened. IMO, while the place is decent and the food too, it is over priced. So, you need to pick and choose what you would like to eat. The conversation resolved around blogging, writing, education and a bit of food.

I met up with Lil white mouse after this and we headed over to Bandra to Sheesha. We ended up sitting at the same place as we had during our last visit. The food is definitely good and so are the mocktails, however they really need to put a few fans and lights in that place!

Went over to Lil white mouse’s place on Saturday afternoon. Before that we stopped at the Airtel “relationship center” in Bandra. The relationship center is a real joke because for any support you need to call up the customer. For all users of Airtel, make sure you check your bills carefully. I was billed Rs. 100 for downloading two games which I never did and more, don’t even know to download from where. This isn’t the first time I have seen Airtel incorrectly bill users. Had to yell at the customer care dude who promised that it would be rectified in 24 hours. I am totally clueless as to which planet this 24 hours belongs to. I have decided to discontinue this account. I’m not sure which is worse, Airtel or Reliance! At least Reliance didn’t try to bill me incorrectly!

We also went over to the Vodafone center, which in my opinion is a much better service. I guess that is what differentiates a multinational company than a company run by a bunch of greedy Indians. I guess this is one of the things that pisses me off about my country. If this was the US or UK, you could take the company to court and win! Out here, you don’t have the years of your life to do that.

Lil white mouse and me, along with her family and Rixon, caught the late night show of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past at PVR in Phoenix Mills. I will write a review of the movie sometime later.

I stayed over at her place and we returned home the next day. I spent the last few hours at home getting an haircut and a shave. Set off for the airport to catch the Go Air flight to Bangalore.

The flight was perfectly on time, unlike on my journey to Mumbai. Mumbai looks really beautiful from the air and even better at night. The new Bandra-Worli sealink has beautified the landscape and it was my first view of the link.

If you haven’t seen Mumbai from the air, then check out some beautiful pictures of the same. But at night, it is even more beautiful. I could see the entire shape of South Mumbai. The journey was comfortable except for the occasional bit of turbulence that we faced.

The Airlift that I had booked was already at the airport. I had to wait a while for the remaining passengers and we headed back. Reached home in about an hour. Did a bit of blogging and then went off to sleep.

And, Monday, work began as usual!

However, Monday was a bit eventful. Vincent managed to get the road tax for my bike done on Saturday and so we set out on our bikes to the Bajaj Service Center which is in HSR Layout. They did a good job on the bike and it is running beautifully! We both headed home after work at about 12am and I froze in the cold. Didn’t have my jacket, but I also realized that I need to pick up a thicker jacket.

Yesterday, I was the only person in my cab so I reached home rather quickly

For the past two years, I’ve made it a point to come down to Mumbai from Pune to celebrate both Lil white mouse’s and my birthday. Just because I was in Bangalore, it doesn’t mean I would let this change!

So, once again I booked my tickets via Go Air. However, this time it wasn’t a Rs.3,000 return as I got it last month. It was a full 2k more and well, it is well worth it!

I booked the Airlift, which is a really good investment when you are travelling to Bangalore airport which is a good 50+ km from city-limits. My mistake was that I booked the cab for 8am, which arrived earlier than that and I landed up at the airport about 9am! And, as luck would have it, my flight was delayed by a good 30minutes, so my wait at the airport was well over three hours, in which I spent a good amount of time in the Barista at the airport.

It was also interesting to watch people wearing masks all over the airport in fear of contracting H1N1 which seems to have ravaged the country! This was even more in Mumbai which is also one of the epicenters of the pandemic. In my opinion, the whole thing has been overhyped, since, there are more persons dying of other illness than the total suspected H1N1 cases. Anyway, some protection is better than none!

Being Independence day on the 15th, there was extra security checks at the airport. In fact, our luggage was checked twice. Once by the normal security and once by the Go Air personnel. On reaching the plane, there was a lot of confusion and I gathered some information that there was confusion about the number of passengers. We finally took off almost an hour late, but the flight was really smooth and we reached Mumbai rather quickly.

I dozed off on the flight when the exhaustion finally crept up on me! I landed at Mumbai airport and had to walk a small distance to get an autorickshaw guy willing to go by the meter and not trying to fleece me! Gosh! They think I am not from Mumbai!

Found a rickshaw guy home and I first stopped off at my local cable operator to renew the internet connection at home. Lil white mouse came over later in the afternoon to spend some quality time with me.

I went to meet Sneha afterwards and Arijit joined us for a quick dinner at Pizza Hut.

And, yesterday was Lil white mouse’s birthday celebrations. But, that’s for another post!

I had mentioned last week that we had our new BSNL telephone connection installed. This was the first step to getting an internet connection. It was supposed to come this week and we agreed to “speed” up the process by actually going and picking up the modem ourselves.

Our first visit today was to the ICICI bank in Koramangala to make a demand draft to pay my road tax. The draft did get made, but the tax did not get paid, because our agent was out of town. So, once again, this has been postponed to next week

After a good amount of searching, we finally found the telephone exchange in Koramangala. We picked up the wireless DSL modem and set it up ourselves (not that there is much of setting up to do).

However, we weren’t able to test it until almost two hours later because of the really irritating load shedding we have in Bangalore. Lunch was a simple biryani from “Biryani @ Koramangala”, on which we stuffed ourselves.

We’ve been facing a really irritating problem with the internet, as the connection tends to drop at regular intervals. A restart of the modem fixes it, so I have a feeling the modem isn’t able to take the load of two connections downloading data continuously. We intend to complain on Monday, so lets see how it goes.

This is definitely a great improvement over my GPRS connection that I have been using for so many months.

I may need to work tomorrow, but that I shall come to know in a while. I intend to get some coding done today. My plugins would do well with updates.

I managed to watch Transformers last week, making it my first movie in Bangalore since I came here more than three months back. My initial plan was to work on Saturday morning from home, but al my hopes were dashed when the electricity out here conked off at 10am and didn’t return till 5pm!

If I thought that Pune was bad with its power problems, then Bangalore has started to win! The compromise was that I had to work the whole of Sunday. The good part was I caught up on much needed sleep.

Vincent and me went over to the BSNL office in the afternoon to apply for a new broadband connection. Airtel turned out to be a really crappy alternative, when they found it “not feasible” to give us a new connection. We were surprised at the efficiency and speed of BSNL, which, despite being a government firm, has some very efficient staff.

Airtel has turned out to be a rather painful connection when I received a message a few days back billing me 50 bucks for downloading some game that I didn’t even know existed. Calling up the helpline is rather useless, nor is visiting their help center. I’ve been asked to check back on the day of the new billing cycle! I’m well aware of others in the past as well of being incorrectly billed by Airtel.

We had plans to catch the movie in the evening. However, before that we headed off to Garuda mall and spent sometime in the Barista out there. It has been a while since I went to a Barista and every time I go there, I realize that I prefer it anytime over Cafe Coffee Day. Will make sure I go off to a Barista when I go to Mumbai next.

We caught the movie at that place. 200 bucks was worth it for Transformers, however, it just isn’t fair when Lil white mouse watches it at half the price in Mumbai!

We headed home after the “late” night show and crashed rather immediately, since both Vincent and me had to go to work the next day. Spent a long long long week in office with several late nights. Friday was the only relatively light day.

Today was spent at home. The persons from BSNL came over today and fixed the phone line. The modem should be here in a few days and we’ll be hooked onto a 512kbps unlimited internet connection!

We initially at plans to go shopping, but laziness and sleep won over it. So, possibly next week, I’ll target a few shops that are offering sales.

Tomorrow shall be yet another lazy day. However, I do need to put in a few hours of work. May also work on some more of my WordPress plugins. I already released an update of Ajax Edit Comments today.

Having spent rather exhausting three days in Mumbai, I met up with Sneha, Akshat and Neha for pizzas at the Pizza Hut in Powai.

Was surprised to see a whole new menu on offer. There have been several good additions to the menu, but there have been equally bad ones. Going to check if the menu has been updated in Bangalore as well.

I headed off home soon after dinner. Lil white mouse came over on Friday as well as Saturday. Friday and Saturday both turned out to be extremely rainy days. However, the newspapers claim that it rained everywhere except the lakes!

Lil white mouse and me went over to her house on Saturday evening, so that I could meet the family. Attended mass as well, after quite a while, at the Sacred Hearth Church in Worli, had a quick dinner and set off in the rain back to Andheri.

I wasn’t able to find a single cab but was lucky enough to find a 39 that brought me right up to Nelco, where I caught a 333 back home.

Began packing for returning to Bangalore this morning. It doesn’t take much time when you have minimal dumping to do. Got a rickshaw to the airport. Asked for the row number 6 seat in the airplane, since it was the same row with ample leg space on my journey to Mumbai. Wasn’t disappointed and one of the cabin crew turned out to be the same one on my flight to Mumbai! Decided to grab some grub in the plane itself, since it is cheaper to eat there than at the airport.

The journey was rather peaceful, with minor turbulence. I caught one of the A/C buses from the airport that dropped me off at Koramangala 1st block, where I caught a rick home. Have finally settled in. It’s work day from tomorrow, which means reduced updates out here!