The week that was

The previous week has been one helluva eventful week for me. It started with a trip to M.G Road one evening in search of books and magazines. Found an alleyway where a nice gentleman was selling old magazines and novels. The stacks and stacks of readers digests evoked fond memories from school when i used to read them during boring classes. I picked up a few for as less as 15-20 rupees a piece depending on the year of publication. From there, i headed to Bookworm where i lost track of time, going through a multitude of books, some new, some yellowed, but each one of them shouting out at me to buy them. I had an eye on the Ayn Rand collection but the price was a turn off. So i settled for a good copy of Gone with the Wind and a few Enid Blytons for sister dear.
It was while i was at Bookworm that i heard about the Bangalore Book Festival. Told about it to a few friends and all of them jumped at the idea of going there. So off i went on Wednesday to palace grounds with a bunch of friends and loads of cash. And oh my god! My two eyes and three hours of time were not enough to take in the stuff on display there. After a lot of searching and sorting, i bought 7 second hand books- an Irving Wallace, David Baldacci, 2 Agatha Christies, Michael Crichton, a chic lit book by an unknown author and the Kishore Biyani book- It happened in India. All this for just 490 bucks, without burning a hole in my wallet. If only i had more time I'd have emptied it for sure! The Wodehouse and Stephanie Meyer collection cost a bomb, so i have to be satisfied with the pictures only here :).


Thursday came and we restless souls were on our feet again, this time for a movie- APKGK. The reviews looked okay, but what the hell, when there is Ranbir Kapoor in it, i can watch any movie ;).Left work early that day to catch the early evening show at Innovative Multiplex. The movie turned out to be really silly but have i laughed till my sides ached or what! I was laughing more at the movie than with the movie. But Ranbir's performance was top notch and comic timing was brilliant. Go watch it at least once. For me, for 100 bucks at Innovative, it was a great deal!


Skipped going home this weekend. Instead, went to the Groundnut Mela in Basavangudi. The whole of the bull temple road was filled with stalls selling not only groundnuts but a variety of fare that made it look like a village fair.

I realized what the charm of the Old Bangalore areas was all about. With rows of stalls displaying colorful stuff, my camera had a gala time. To satisfy the appetite that we had worked from all of that walking, we had the North Karnataka spread at Kamat Buglerock. I can say that this was by far among the most gratifying meals that i had in Bangalore. The violinists playing classical music in the backdrop was an added plus! The only thing i did not do was probably wipe my banana leaf clean ;). A nice ending to a memorable week. I now know that roaming the malls is not the only option to pass time here. There is absolutely no dearth for avenues and options in Bangalore to go all out and spend money and time :).