To Bangalore and Back!

With eerily increasing frequencies, life makes you feel like George Kostanza (Seinfeld's buddy). No, Im not talking about my potbelly or my soon to be bald pate. Its about the emotions i evoke on reaching an airline check in counter. In my case, im sure it is "OK lets make sure this doofus looses his bags". So for the 4th time in a row, ive reached BLR sans baggage. So inspite of having 20 kgs of clothes in my BLR home and carrying 2 sets of changes in my carry on, ive decided rather unilaterally to make the airlines pay. Lufthansa coughed up precisely US$ 276 on some fairly suspect receipts. AirFrance has been humbly requested to part with 100 Euros. Believe me, its fair wages for being cooped up in unaesthetic poses for several sidereal periods.

While ive learnt to take the baggage delays in stride, what i cant put up with is having to read a bad book cover to cover. Flights are about the only time i do any sort of reading. This time around i carried on Larry Miller's "Spoiled Rotten America: Outrages of Everyday Life". Larry Miller appeared in Pretty Woman, Seinfeld and innumerable disasters. The blurb had hearty recommendations from Leno and Seinfeld. But what should have set spidey sense tingling was the text of the recommendations from Leno - "Larry is a raconteur and storyteller of the first order, and its funny to finally see in print ...". Leno's sentences never have more than 15 syllables - that was blatantly manufactured.

Anyways, two things about the boring book:

1. Have never seen another writer more self obsessed. A typical paragraph had atleast 6 "I"s - didnt bother to count the mes and mys. And this while mostly talking about minutiae of his home and family life.

2. The only time he is funny is when he is quoting other comedians. That is sad for a self confessed comic.

Bangalore was staggering for unexpected reasons. The traffic was bad, the new employer wowed me on its capabilities. But in bullets, here's what was astounding:

1. Prices - Buffets and dishes that cost 1000 Rs apiece. And not necessarily in some swanky place. On the other hand, you must try the food at the Chancery Pavillion (aforesaid 1000 Rs buffet) and shop for Banana Republic trousers in Mota Arcade (200 Rs after a 30 minute search).

2. Real Estate - Prices have gone up 10 fold. Methinks there is still a 2-3x appreciation in the right locales. Some areas seem like lemming hangouts on Monday evenings though. Visited this project site promoted by a friend's friend. Duplex apartments at 6000 sft being hawked at 0.9mn USD (prior to escalation, inflation and customization). And features you may not find in Dennis Kozlowski's Florida fallback pad - central vacuum, presence detection, aquariums with oppositely polarized glass faces, glass floored balconies. For that money you could buy a rickety 83 year old share of a 4-plex in Palo Alto, CA. Nice trade off, huh!

Hasta la vista, baby!