[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 27 October 2012. Minor edits have since been made from the original post to update some links and info.]
15 March 2012, Thursday: Bangalore
Morning Call: 8:00am
Rise and shine, it’s Day 7, and the start of my short journey in India. Sadly, YS had to return to work today, so I would be roaming the streets of Bangalore alone. The night before, YS had pointed out some places for me to check out, but he told me to keep my expectations firmly in check – Bangalore is no Singapore.
YS very kindly let me have his daily breakfast meal at the restaurant downstairs, because he said he was sick of eating the same food every morning, and also because I was his guest here in Bangalore. It was a very sweet gesture, thanks YS! The breakfast was a buffet spread, like what you get at a 3.5 star hotel. Nothing too fancy, but definitely very edible and not shabby at all. But then again, I think it might indeed be boring to have the same spread every day.
At 9:22am, I set off for the bus stop at the main road to catch bus G1 to the city. Here, I had my first proper glimpse of everyday life in India. I passed by a roadside stall that sold watermelons, and only watermelons. They were stacked neatly in a pile beside the stall, and people would stop by and eat the freshly cut watermelons on the spot, it was quite interesting. A bakery located just behind the bus stop was doing brisk business as office workers streamed in to buy a bun or two, to munch on during the bus journey or during their afternoon break. The bus stop was packed with people and many different buses kept pulling up there.
At 9:30am, the G1 bus arrived. It was a popular service and I queued up to try to get on it. When I was approaching the front door and about to board, I noticed the bus driver shouting frantically and waving his arms wildly at me. I didn’t immediately register what he was trying to convey, until I looked around and saw that I was surrounded by ladies, and realised that he was gesturing for me to board through the back door instead.
Ahhh, so the front section of the bus is reserved for ladies only, while the men occupy the back section! It was quite a surprise and I totally didn’t expect that. I have heard of train cabins being reserved for females only, but not buses. As Bangalore is not a tourist destination, it was very obvious I was a newbie there, to commit this faux pas. I was a little embarrassed but quickly got over it.
The bus was full so I squeezed my way to the back to find a spot to stand, away from the prying eyes of the locals. The female bus attendant moved through the mass of bodies expertly and came round to collect the fare. I told her I wanted to go to MG Road (Mahatma Gandhi Road, the main thoroughfare in Bangalore city), so she issued me two paper tickets which added up to 15 rupees (roughly SGD 0.40).
Along the way, I saw a few suburban shopping malls and bungalow houses. We also passed by the Hindustan Airport. Like Colombo, traffic in Bangalore was bad, with too many cars and too narrow roads. As Whitefield is not located in the city centre, the journey took an hour. The bus didn’t actually terminate at MG Road but on another street perpendicular to it, so I alighted and tried to get my bearings without looking too lost or referring to my map, a dead giveaway for being a stranger in this city.
I navigated myself to Brigade Road, which is one of the biggest shopping areas in Bangalore – you have to take it with a pinch of salt here when I say “biggest”. There are shops on both sides of the street, with international brands like Adidas and Levi’s, but nothing you can’t find in Singapore. The prices were not that cheap, and the designs were not the most updated either. It wasn’t a very long stretch of road and I wasn’t in a shopping mood, so I moved quickly to Commercial Street, which is another shopping district.
To be honest, the shops weren’t very interesting and I don’t have any deep impressions of the area. I only remember popping into a McDonald’s for lunch. I tried the McAloo Tikki double burger, a vegetarian burger with potato fillings. They had a super saver lunch promo from 12-3pm, so a meal with fries and drink cost only Rs 80, and I added cheese for another 15 rupees, so it came up to Rs 95 (around S$2.50), really cheap.
After that, I walked from Commercial Street to UB City, the biggest commercial property project in Bangalore. YS told me that the developer modelled it after Ngee Ann City in Singapore, and true enough, I spotted some similarities in the design and building materials (though Ngee Ann City is much bigger and nicer). UB City consists mainly of high-end commercial and retail stores, so naturally, there wasn’t anything that interested me. So I moved on to another mall, Garuda Mall, and decided to take a tuk tuk this time instead of walking.
I flagged down a tuk tuk and agreed with the driver on the destination and fare (Rs 60) before I got on. However, shortly after departing UB City, the driver started talking about a gem and jewels place “nearby” and tried to take me there instead of our agreed destination. I didn’t fall for his ruse, and insisted on getting off immediately, so he reluctantly let me get off. He probably would have earned a commission for bringing visitors to the gem and jewels place, which is also probably not nearby as claimed but some distance away. I would like to think that there are just some of these bad apples around, but generally the majority of the tuk tuk drivers are fine. Even though the world is not as scary a place as what you imagine it to be before actually visiting these various countries, you have to be on your guard at all times.
Garuda Mall is located at Magrath Road, near Brigade Road, and it is one of the more popular malls in Bangalore. It isn’t very big but the shops are more accessible than those at UB City. I didn’t spend an awful lot of time there, and moved on to a department store called Central Mall nearby. There was a café with free Wi-fi, so I plonked myself down and ordered an ice coffee and cake to pass time.
One thing I noticed about all the malls in Bangalore was that they all had security scanners and guards stationed at the entrances to inspect your bags. And all the shops, even small ones like Planet M (which sold CDs and DVDs), had security guards or people to open and close doors. Maybe it’s a way for them to boost the employment rate, since there are 1 billion people in India. I guess it’s good that they place an emphasis on security, but it also gives an impression that it’s not so safe, which is ironic.
I went back to UB City to meet YS for dinner, after he had knocked off for the day. He brought me to one of his favourite eateries in Bangalore, Sunny’s Restaurant, a short walk away. It is quite posh and chic, with ambient lighting and air conditioning, housed in a double-storey building. Most of the clientele were foreigners or expatriates.
We took a seat upstairs and YS ordered some entrees and a rack of ribs, while I ordered a pasta. As usual, YS played the part of the gracious host and insisted on treating me dinner. Thanks YS again! It was a nice meal, certainly the most expensive meal I had had so far during the trip. The food was pricey (by India’s standards) but it was good, and the ambience was very chill and laid back.
As YS had to work the following day, and I still had to pack for my flight to Delhi the following morning, we decided to head back to Whitefield early. We attempted to flag down a few tuk tuks, but the first few drivers didn’t know where Whitefield was. YS said it is due to Whitefield’s location being quite far away from the city centre, and also because it’s not a very big district. And for the tuk tuk drivers to make the long journey out, they might not get a hire for the return trip back to the city, so it was a little risky for them. That’s the reason why YS doesn’t really come to the city during weekdays (his office is located near his apartment at Whitefield), because it’s hard to get a ride back.
After about five minutes, we finally found one driver who seemed to know how to get there. Well, you never know, it’s always a gamble and you have to keep your fingers crossed that you end up at the right destination. YS had to repeat the instructions several times, rephrasing it and double confirming. This is what YS considers his “hardship allowance” to be for – because he has to deal with these kinds of situations and haggling with tuk tuk drivers on an almost daily basis!
The ride back was quite enjoyable because it was night time and the air was quite cool. However, being in a tuk tuk meant being exposed to the full blast of the honking, which was truly incessant. Tuk tuks jostle for space on the roads with each other and also with buses and cars, and it is considered “polite” to honk – to let others know that you’re approaching, or to indicate your thanks to others for giving way. But the honking is non-stop and it can seriously drive you mad. You just have to learn to programme it as background noise and shut it out.
After about half an hour, the driver suddenly stopped and told us to get off. We hadn’t reached Whitefield yet, but that was as far as he would go. YS gave him up as a bad job, so we alighted and continued the rest of the journey on foot. It wasn’t too far away actually, about 15 minutes of walking.
You begin to appreciate how good Singapore is when you encounter situations like these. Of course, we don’t have tuk tuks here that cost less than $10 for a half-hour journey, but our taxi drivers won’t drop you off in the middle of nowhere without bringing you to your destination (unless there’s a road block or severe traffic jam, when it would be much better to walk than to be stuck in the taxi).
Walking on the streets at night, it felt a little unsafe because it was quite dark despite the street lamps, and there weren’t many other people, shops or buildings around. But it was ok because there were two of us guys. Imagine walking alone. Sometimes I really applaud YS for his bravery for roughing it out in India by himself. Not easy, man!
After getting back and showering and packing my stuff, I finally decided to book my bus ticket for Saturday’s return trip from Agra to Delhi. I was hoping to get a train ticket, but all the trains were already fully booked so YS’ colleague advised us to take a bus instead. He recommended a company called redBus (www.redbus.in), so I went on the Internet to book two tickets, one for myself and the other for my companion XY, who would be flying from Singapore to meet me in Delhi the following morning.
The bus tickets cost Rs 1,000 each (SGD 26.20), which was substantially more than a train ticket. I had earlier booked our Delhi-Agra Class 2A train tickets for only Rs 430 each (SGD 11.27), so the bus ticket was more than twice the price of the train’s. But since it was already so close, I decided not to risk it and just secure the transport, otherwise we’d be stuck in Agra on Saturday after visiting the Taj Mahal, and miss our flight to Nepal on Sunday. XY and I will later find out why the bus ticket cost much more than the train ticket, but that’s for the next post! For now, it’s goodnight to Bangalore and next up, Delhi!