Chennai to Bangalore

A two and a half hour flight delayed by two and a half hours. Jet Airways. A little surprising. Reached Chennai by 3 on 23rd. Didn’t do much the next two days, played around with my mama’s 42" projection TV and setup Tata Indicom PPPOE(pain in the arse, OpenDNS came to the rescue) on his wireless router. Removed the crappy Tata Indicom Broadband dialer on his Windows machines, setup WPA security and 24x7 WiFi access was finally setup properly. After using my MacBook Pro, he said he’s ready to switch but he wants something even smaller than the 13.3" MacBook. There you go Apple, you have the market you were looking for.

Went shopping for my MacBook Pro to this huge shop called Witco. An entire section for my MacBook Pro(or your 15.4" notebook). The first bag that caught my attention was a Samsonite bag that cost Rs.7000. I settled for a bag that actually looked better and cost me only Rs. 1400. Went to the Fruit Shop on Greams Road and spent a few hours there. If you ever visit Chennai(or even Dubai), this is one place you have to visit.

There are also these two amazing restaurants called Cream Centre(multi-cuisine) and Benjarong(Thai) in Chennai that are really awesome.

Went to Pondicherry on 27th and headed to a remote area where we have this temple built by our ancestors. The temple’s name wasn’t written but it’s called the Waa-e-thee-swaran(that’s how it’s pronounced) Temple. Really huge, the biggest temple I have ever seen, also the most poorly maintained temple with no signs of preservation. A temple so huge can easily become a tourist spot, if the government and ASI even show slight interest. At Pondicherry we stayed at Ginger. If the wireless internet access had been free, the Ginger stay would have been as excellent as my stay at the Best Westerns in Utah. With Ginger, TATA is showing the world that the DIY concept can work in India too.

Reached Bangalore today. Kingfisher Airlines. No delays. One hour flight, but reached in forty minutes flat. In a trip of such a short duration, we got a full Thai meal. It was rather good, and not like the grass you get on other flights. Was rediscovering Malleswaram today. It’s been a good four years since since I last came to Bangalore and everything seems to have changed in this society. Chennai and Bangalore don’t need Walmart as much as Delhi does. They already have more Supermarkets than people can ask for. The CCD in Malleswaram is as big as one hall of PVR Anupam. Glass barriers to separate smokers, which is excellent. One coffee shop to another, while my parents are roaming around malls and shopping complexes. That’s all I did. It even widens your horizon. I got to know my coffee a whole lot better.

Finally went to a Spice Telecom outlet to book tickets for Taare Zameen Par. The whole world(the small one I live in) seems to have watched it. As I’m posting this, 2007 is with us for just another two days. A busy two days…a lot of socializing to do.