Friday 7th February - A Walk in the Park

We have barely opened our eyes this morning when D receives a text complaining that there is no blog post for yesterday. This is purely down to editorial incompetence and easily remedied. As is her wont R consults her phone for today's weather forecast. She is unable to get a result until she enters Bengaluru. The sun sinks lower on the Empire. We breakfast at the communal table with two separately single, pink and exceptionally uncommunicative young men. It's laundry day again so we load up two large duty free bags and head out to a place shown on Google maps. We did consider the Infant Jesus Laundry by there were no opening hours listed and R has a thing about child labour. The laundry we choose takes a bit of finding and we finish up waiting in the goods entrance office of the Park Hotel while a man is summoned. He arrives with a duplicate book, gives us a completed copy and tells us to return at 9 am tomorrow.

Having done that we set out for today's fun. This involves a two stop metro ride to Cubbon Park which we never got round to last year. The park is quite big and was established in 1870. There are different lists of prohibited activities displayed but it would appear that walking around and sitting on benches is just about tolerated. Neither does there seem to be a prohibition on the use of binoculars so R's plan to spy on feathered friends is good to go. Or it would be if there were any to be seen. We spend some time watching a likely group of trees and eventually spot a White Cheeked Barbet which will not stay still for a photo. In the process we are adopted by a dog.

We progress around the park, accompanied by the mutt, and fail to make any further sightings apart from kites wheeling in the distance, a few crows, a couple of butterflies and innumerable palm squirrels. We do spot the track of a narrow gauge railway in the Children's Park but it doesn't look to be running today. We also see lots of young ladies decked out in gorgeous saris and wonder if it is for Saraswati Puja. There are some interesting plants including a banana tree that has been allowed to go to flower. The dog is still with us.

Two young ladies in saris are walking towards us taking photos of each other with a rather serious looking camera. D takes the opportunity to ask what the special occasion is. Apparently their college is having an 'ethnic day' today with students encouraged to wear traditional dress. D asks if he can take a photo and deal is done where he also takes a picture of them with their camera. At last the dog is not with us.

The temperatures have been pleasant today but it is starting to get hot and we look for a cup of tea. The guide book suggests Mavalli Tiffin Rooms. At the park gate we have difficulty explaining where we want to go to an auto driver. Eventually he says " Ah! You want MTR". The traffic is heavy and he has to cut right across several lanes to get the road he needs. How this is achieved we don't know as we both had our eyes shut. After that it was plain sailing along a one way system. R was entertained by the sheep on the scooter that passed us. 

At the Mavalli Tiffin Rooms it took us some time to work out the system. Apparently you pay the cashier on arrival, then go upstairs and queue for a table. At this point in the day only full meals can be ordered and that is beyond either of us today. We resolve to return at some point before we leave Bangalore, as it looks very interesting. 

We walk round the corner and see a place that looks OK. The Udupi Ananda Bhavan only does coffee but serves good looking food. The coffee is sweet and thick but the item they describe as an onion dosa is delicious. It seems more like an uttapam to us but what do we know about South Indian food. At this point disaster strikes as D's camera falls off the seat onto the floor. When he looks at the screen there is a message saying "Lens Problem. Camera requires reset". There is no obvious external damage and removing the battery and replacing doesn't help.

Google shows a Canon Repair Centre 600 metres away. We walk along a main road, trying to stay in the shade and then take an alley to cut a corner, before being faced with a wide street with fast moving traffic to cross. We steel ourselves and get three quarters of the way across when a man on a scooter slams on his brakes, skids and falls off. He picks himself and his two wheeler up and rides away. A passer by seems to want to make something of it and shouts at us. Seeing as there seemed to be no damage we walk away quickly. 

The lead on Google turns out to be a dud. Somehow we have found an area of Bangalore where nobody speaks English. A cluster of Camera repair shops around the Grand Majestic Mall is identified and we head back to the main  road to flag an auto. The first driver wants to take us via some jewellery bazaar and gets the cold shoulder. The second guy takes us straight there for what seems like a bargain Rs 100. We locate a couple of likely places on the Mall's second floor. One has somebody already at the counter, the second has lights on but the door locked. D checks the camera again and it is still showing the fault message. The guy at the counter moves away and D starts to explain the problem. When he switches the camera on it performs perfectly.  The repairman suggests taking a few photos to make sure and says "Sometimes this happens".  Praise be to Canon. Mysterious ways etc.

By now our siesta is well overdue. We need a Metro Station but for some reason the mapapp won't work. D guesses which way to go. We spot a barber's shop and remember that D is overdue a haircut. There is no queue and,  even without Senior Discount, the price is alright. It is a proper scissors cut, with a bit of a head massage thrown in. Even R approves of the result.  

We ask the barber for directions to the nearest Metro Station and he tells us "Walk up there, turn right and ask. Anyone will tell you." We do that, enjoying the shade of Bangalore's famous rain trees, but Anyone proves to be elusive. By chance we pass a Vodafone shop and go in to see if we can sort the data problem on D's phone. Apparently it is a system problem and expected to last for two more hours. This would explain the angry mob building up inside the store. Eventually we pin down a chap who wants to give us a restaurant flyer. He sends us down a street parallel to the one the barber's was on. "Just five minutes walking". We get there twenty minutes later, only because R managed to spot a sign. At least it made up for a rather sedentary day yesterday. We have seats for our five stop ride home.

Tonight is Friday night and we have a worldwide audience that we dare not disappoint. From the metro we spotted the SkyDeck Bar by Sherlock's. It looked like our sort of place. We got glammed up and hit the street. An auto ride took us to the spot on the map. Rather strangely for a rooftop venue you have to walk down a concrete ramp into an underground car park in order to catch a lift to the fourth floor. On arrival we are greeted and seated in the VIP area on a balcony above the masses. We have a perfect view of trains passing through MG Road Metro Station. Our waiter is attentive and well briefed. D goes for a citrus flavoured Punjabi Wheat Beer that has only just arrived. R drops cred points by ordering Kingfisher. We also have a scruffy frying pan full of peanut masala, almost as good as D's. 

R has picked tonight's restaurant, Tandoor on MG Road. This is pretty up market for us but we enjoy the food, the service is top notch and the decor interesting. Unusually for us we are dining in a restaurant with other customers. We order too much, a lesson that we need to re learn every now and then. We have had a fabulous evening even if it does mean water and rotis for the next month.