Farewell n Senti!

Here I am sitting at the Bangalore International Airport between departure gate nos. 8 and 9 waiting for my flight Indigo 6E-115 to Kolkata scheduled at 11.50. Reading from my laptop there’s still 90 minutes to go. I will have to publish the post later on. Not because there isn’t a Wi-Fi network available but because the password is sent to your mobile and unfortunately my cell has decided not to receive any messages for the moment. By the way, BIA is by far the best airport I have seen (not that I have seen many but still..) Mr. Mallya sure has spent a lot of money on this. The airport premises including the ground area is huge, really huge. But I’ll come to the airport later on.
I was a little anxious as to how will I reach the airport from Arakere which is easily 50 km away. Shared car hiring services like Airlift charge Rs. 338 but I knew about the buses to the airport – the Vayu Vajra Volvo Bus Services or the BIAS (Bangalore International Airport Shuttle) Bus Service. I had read on the internet that the service is pretty decent. But then I didn’t want to miss my flight, and my experiences with Government services have not been that great in the past. So for the 11.50 flight I left at 7 in the morning. Anyone who has been to Bangalore knows how the Auto Rickshaws loot the passengers. For 42.50 on the meter, I had to pay Rs 70. Anyways, atleast he dropped me to one of the BIAS pick up points. BIAS-5 was waiting. I was impressed. For once, I had underestimated the Karnataka Govt. I approached the bus conductor to find out that the bus would depart at 8 and reach the airport at 9.30. Wow! That was quite early for me. I could have easily taken the 9 am bus which would have, taking into account the increased traffic, reached by 11 at max. That way I could've had another hour's sleep. But then, this post might not have come!
By the way, the BIAS service is quite regular. There’s a bus every 20 and 40 min alternatively. I wonder how many people travel to the airport daily! I was impressed when as soon as my bus left at 8 sharp, another BIAS-5 came and took its place waiting for the next set of passengers! Now you would think a Volvo Bus fully AC with such a regular service must be expensive. No way! 150 bucks for my ride! Way cheaper than any other transport available.
Coming back to the airport, the main airport building is quite beautifully built. Bangalore at 10 in the morning is never hot. It is a pleasant day. In fact, awesome breeze was blowing just outside the terminals. I wanted to sit there and enjoy but then it was pretty deserted ..dunno why..Reminds me of the famous lines by Davies: "....we have no time to stand and stare"
BIA doesn’t have a separate X-Ray Baggage Check. Its done at the Check in counter itself. I liked the concept. Saves time and harassment. Also the airport is fully commercialized with big branded stores. The maintenance is great and I have heard the Wi-Fi is really cool. (Mental note to myself: Dont buy or recommend Nokia 3110c ever!)
Its 10.45 now and all seats around me are vacant. Suddenly it dawns upon me that this might be the last of Bangalore for the rest of my life. Yes, my internship in over. IIM is a nice place to spend your PG years. I totally loved the 2 months of my stay in Bangalore. With the great company of the "Hum Pathar" Banglore intern junta (Bajo, Bhanu, Gautam, Julio, Kanchi, Manu, Neel, Nonedone, Onshui,Purr, Subji), the awesome climate of Bangalore, our amazing trips, about which I have already written in detail – this has been the best summer till date and it isn’t over yet. I am going home to family and old school friends. Thank you God!
Also thank You for stopping by here and commenting from time to time.
This is probably the last post on this blog.
Sayyonara! Au Revoir! Adieu! Tchao! Goodbye!!
Will miss you Bangalore!

P.S: I shall continue writing on my other blog Zeitschreift. See you there!

Campus!

So here's sumthing about the campus. It isnt as large as IITB for sure. But is atleast as much green.
All roads are curved and have infi branches and you could reach any place through more ways than one..Everything is interconnected by a network of lanes and bylanes. The hostels (A-L) is one big 'block' having 2 storeys above the gorund floor. My room's in A block on the 1st floor. There's a 24 hour canteen Athica's which has relatively few items on the menu but the food is quite decent. Other than this there are a STD-ISD and Xerox facilities which remain closed during vacations. Then there's a volley court, basketball net, and a hockey ground in the hostel area too. The student's mess is closed during vacations but there are 2 canteens - the staff canteen which offers mostly South Indian food and a private canteen with food being ok. But these close at 7 in the evening leaving no options for dinner except to go out to infi restaurant options outside or have a quiet dinner at Athica's. Other than this, we have a proper CCD outlet here, an Amul store, Chai Unchai (Tata Tea) and Lipton's Tea. Then there's a theatre, an amphitheatre, library, bookstore...
In short, the student lifestyle here is quite happening and fun :)

Reached bangalore

Reached Bangalore- the Silicon Valley of India after a long day. The flight to Bangalore International Airport was short and uneventful. From the airport got onto a bus to Bannerghata Road (thats where IIMB is) and hired an auto to the IIM. After a few formalities at the Main Gate I was allowed to enter into the campus.


I liked the campus at the instant. Quite green and clean. And all curvy roads. On the way to the hostel saw a State Bank ATM. Thank God, atleast no banking woes. As soon as I reached the hostel block I saw a big board hung on the wall saying THANK YOU IIMB..wen i saw further down it said-The 3 Idiots Team and it was autographed by the whole team. I could atleast make out a few...Raju,Madhavan and there was this familiar one-Aamir's..(I actually have an autograph by Aamir in my room back in d insti)..It felt nice..Knowing that the film was shot here and the cast stayed here for around a month..On enquiring a bit, I was told that Aamir did a shot in his underwear jogging around the Academic Area ;)

After this I actually saw the hostel block..it was a nice architecture..I mean nuthin great..even old..but it was kind of different..and I pretty much liked it...All the hostel blocks (A to L) are in the same area...unlike IITB. After a hungry and exhaustive wait for about one and half hours I finally got the keys to my room A 215.

Had dinner (butter maggi with 7UP) at the 24hr canteen and now here I am..totally exhausted..but excited

Oh..about the room..decent..d single room here is in fact bigger than my twin shared room back in IIT.

Chances are I will be going around and seeing a few places tomorrow..Hoping for a gud summer
Thanks for stopping by..
Sayonara