The Bangalore Expat Scene
Old friends, new metro, by random guy at tacky furniture shop
Off, all the possibilities in the world, it is interesting to run into old friends in Bangalore. Literally, I met a friend from high school and we talked about who got old and who turned out to be gay and people and places I haven’t thought about for over 10 years. I’m wondering whether to go to my reunion now. Meanwhile, I’m crashing with a French/American friend from university.
Bangalore is a happening city. People are doing serious business here, and they party as much as possible before everything closes at 11h30. I went to some pretty good schools and while I never expected to run into classmates on the subcontinent, it makes sense. There is serious money here, and the place has attracted a lot of talent from all over the world.
I’ve been hanging out mostly with expats and like one or two locals. They work their asses off during the week and then bounce around town on the weekends. Mostly to hotels and higher end restaurants, partly out of fear for their stomachs. I have no such compunctions (or diet) so I’m going to go walking around today.
That said, though I can’t afford it for long, there is a full first world here. I’m staying in Indiranagar, the old Defence Colony, and there are big shops for Benneton and posh furniture. The roads are big, routinely four lanes and we went zipping around on a scooter. I could check Google Maps on Guillaume’s iPhone and it instantly gave directions to Samarakand (this Afghani/Mughal restaurant), tracking our current position via GPS.
There they served delicious hunks of chicken and baby lamb, making me too comatose to do anything else. And then we zipped back. He was watching one of the 1000 channels of digital TV and I fell asleep. It’s nice to be back in this world for a minute, but I’ve also got to get back on the train. I’m thinking Mysore next, or maybe Hyderabad. Before I leave I need to check out this giant bull covered in oil (devotional) and try some of this recommended brain fry (consumable).
Dude, they have good brain fry in Mysore I think. I ate it there.