Bidding Adieu

As I mentioned before, I have been away from family for 7 months now. It was the end to my memorable journey in Mysore and Bangalore. 25^th October, 2010, Shikha and I finally decided to go back to our nests. What an awful Monday morning after an exciting evening at Nikhil’s gig in Take 5, Indiranagar, Bangalore. Prasun, Shikha, Vidya and I sat on sofa sets in Take 5. Prasun is one of our colleagues from Infosys and of course my party partner. Vidya is Shikha’s trainee from Accenture who wanted to join us for the gig. We somehow managed to get place to sit as last time we stood the entire time and enjoyed the tunes by Sonic Flair.

I struggled through local buses on Bangalore streets the complete day because I went to Yehlanka to see my uncle and the stupid bus drivers and conductors misguided me. I still do not understand what difference it made if I travelled by their bus and not in the one I am supposed to. I hopped from one bus to another to reach destination on time. Finally I reached there at 1:30 pm where I started at 11:30am.

After having the tastiest, home cooked, north indian lunch by chachi ji, I played poker with the kids, apparently my cousins. It’s amazing to see how fast kids grow and considering their intellect at their age is quite surprising. However, they are catching up with time and going with the flow. That’s how all kids are now days.

Chachi ji and I had a long conversation after Chacha ji’s friend and his family left. Chacha ji was tired so chose to get some rest and the kids were busy with their own stuff. Sparsh chose to play video game and Yash was changing to go to the club house to play some outdoors. The conversation kept us engaged for a long time when I realized I have to leave for the gig. Yehlanka and Indiranagar are two different corners of the city, so I had to leave on time to ensure my presence. Chachi ji made some tea and I quickly rushed to the dressing room to change. Chacha ji and Chachi ji handed over some money to me as a part of the family tradition. I just don’t get these old schools of thoughts and people from today who still follow them. For god sake, “I wanted to meet you all and have a nice time, not take gifts and money as a token to remember I visited you.” Whatever!

They managed to help me board a bus that takes me to the closest bus stand that has buses going towards Indiranagar. To my expectation, no one gave me clarity on which bus to board next and I could not read what the buses had written on them as it was all in Kannada. I was irritated and restless. I managed to board a bus that at least takes me to Indiranagar Police Station which is again few Kms away from the venue. I got down and took an auto to finally reach Take 5. I have never travelled in buses this much in my entire life. Wheeewwww!!

I quickly walked up to enjoy Nikki singing. I was panting so I chose to sit on a sofa kept outside. I took deep breath and went in. Nikhil was at his best with other band members; Ajith, the base guitarist, Neeraj, the lead guitarist, on drums they have Raghavendra, usually addressed as Rags, Jongky, on keyboard and Priyanka G the only lady member who sings for the band. They all are amazing!

I was a li’l bored because I am not a rock fan. I enjoyed a few songs which were familiar. I thought to get into the mood after my first drink but nothing happened. It was then followed by two more and I still couldn’t comprehend this kind of music. So I thought why not bother my friend “RT” who I often disturb. I started messaging him and we had a long conversation. I got a li’l pissed with him as we both are different. If I say “X”, he understands “Y”. Lol. That’s not the case. We usually talk a lot but I talk more as he is that quiet, simple, sober boy who likes to be a good listener. (at least with me) I think that is because I talk at a speed of Shatabdi and he does not get any chance to talk. :P

RT is a name I have given to him apart from “Mr. Chupchap and Mr. Quiet” however he likes his name being pronounced the way James Bond says it. My name is Bond, James Bond. Hehehe. We have recently become good friends though know each other for quite sometime now. I wish we had interacted before like this, we would have had great time. I always thought he can never talk apart from certain things which he did at work front. I remember once long back, I went to talk to him about work, most likely, change of shift or TCR, TUC issue. (This was all we spoke about back then and I regret) May be for the first time he spoke about paintings and sketches which was unlike him. He asked me to see something in his mobile, I peeped in and he showed some of his sketches. One after the other, he scrolled. I was speechless; I thought this guy who does not move from his computer, does not even twists his neck, how does he manage to sketch?  I was impressed yet envied him. Since I love painting as well, I was impressed however have always been unsuccessful in sketching therefore envied. I wish I could sketch that beautifully considering the minutes. He is that “Chhupa Rustam” type who does not tell people much about their talent. He also loves to play some of his favourites on a guitar which one can see on his Facebook profile. I tell you, we have real talents around but they just don’t show it to the world. I feel, one must shout out loud about their talents. But that’s how RT is. So no complain.

Check out some of his work here and know yourself about his genius.

Well, the concert ended around 11pm and all of us thought to go out to have dinner. Prasun suggested Paramount in Koramangla which is the only restaurant which would be open at that hour. We pushed on and reached there in 15 minutes. It was a cold evening and I was on a thrill ride on Prasun’s bike. I hate bike rides but had no choice. Vidya and Shikha followed us in his car and Nikhil said he will join us there after dinner with Band folks in Take 5.

It was a beautiful terrace restaurant where no cops could come to toss us out. All of us were very hungry and decided to order some Chicken Biryani for the non-vegetarians and some butter paneer, dal fry, ghee rice and roti’s for both; vegetarian and non-vegetarians. The food took some time to be served but once done; we did not take 15 minutes to finish it. It tasted magnificent.

It was now time to part, last time we met Prasun and others. We exchanged tight hugs and obviously some parting statements which everyone says, “I’ll miss you man, please don’t go, I want you to stay back, so do I, I wish I get a job here again, I will miss this time, that time, stay connected” blah blah and blah. It was indeed saddening but we must move on. We finally left and came back to the room.

Shikha and I were both upset with the fact that this is our last evening in Bangalore and from now on it will be just Delhi traffic, pollution, same routine at home and no parties, no hangouts with friends, no fun and no work with the same gang.

However, we bid adieu to Bangalore, the city that changed our lives.