Bangalore's still alive!

I have always maintained that Bangaloreans are a nice lot, though occasionally strange things do happen here. And the city's much-maligned autowallas are a good lot too. I don't remember having met a nasty auto-walla in the city, though all my friends seem to keep bumping into them.

Several times I get into conversation with auto-wallas, though I am not the talkitive type. And I get fundaes from the plusses and minuses of diving Trucks vs. plying autos, to, why not to marry a girl from the city.

Yesterday, I met another zinda-dil autowall. After parking on MG road, we were trying to walk to Purple Haze. Took a wrong right turn, kept walking, and then ultimately had to catch an auto (Though I have been to the place a couple of times I still don't know exactly where it is). 'Purple Haze? Come' said the auto-walla, I had asked him hesistantly, not knowing if he would know where it was. 'Why are you going today, go Saturday evening' he advised me. 'Don't get a place to sit on Saturdays' I said. I like to sit and listen to music, especially music I don't understand. 'People who want to sit should'nt be going there' he said. I have heard that before from friends. Then he gave me further advise. He told me to go to Zero-g on Saturday nights (though I think he called it Zero-B), and he told me of some another new place just opened.

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A couple of weeks back I had to catch a bus from next to a place called Giria's.

"Ee Giria's yell baratte?" I asked at a paan shop "Where does this Giria's come?"

"Ad yellu baralla saar, neeve hog beku" he said with a straight face, continuing to make a paan, "hogi, hogi." "It does'nt come anywhere sir, you only have to go. Go, go" We had a good laugh. He seemed pretty thrilled with his wit.