Puja in Bangalore

Bangalore turned out to have good pujas after all. After having spent saptami and ashtami at office, I was looking forward to Navami. And it wasn't a disappointment at all!

Mom, Dad and I started out at 2:30 after a delicious lunch and quick nap. First stop, Jayamahal. It was nicely done up, and at that hour not too crowded. Crowds were queueing up for khichuri lunch. We didn't spend too long there.

Next stop, Bengalee Association which had put up the Puja in the field opposite Ajanta Cinema. This was absolutely huuuuuuge. We got a bite of yummy khichuri.

Moving on to Command Hospital, we saw a very elegant puja and preparations for a grand evening function.

Cambridge Layout had a regular grand puja. The stalls weren't much though.

At this point, I called Subhash and found that they were at Rajbari. They were headed to the same puja as we were - Brookfields on Whitefield Road.

This was at the new Kalyana Mantapa opposite HLL. This was really swank though totally empty. Kaushik and parents. Subhash, Subhra & tiny Sourabh. JCda, Boudi & Tikla. And of course Patli joined our entourage from here.

We then moved to a puja in Whitefield Village - a place called Inner Circle. This was unusual as they were playing Kannada songs on a Bengali festival!

We then sped away to J P Nagar's South Bangalore Puja. Here we met Boulder Debashis and entourage and also watched arati. Anirban & Sangha also joined us here.

From here we went to Airforce puja near Mekhri Circle. This was pretty loud as a musical evening of questionable quality was in full flow.

From here I parted company from the rest of the group. My parents and Kaushik's parents came with me. We went to the Koramangala puja, which was done in the Kalyana Mantapa this year. It was really imposing and we met Arindam there.

Then we dropped Kaushik's parents at Rajbari and started back for home. On the way we stopped at the Airforce Puja on Wind Tunnel road. We met Habul (Uttam Sarkar) who was there participating in the cultural nite. This was a small puja but nice.

In all, over a period of 9 hours we saw 10 pujas and were back hoem by 11:30 at night. Not bad at all!

Blogging over Airtel...

Isn't as bad as I had feared. The proxy server does clam up once in a while. However nothing beats blogging from your cell after dinner on the wrong side of midnight - from Airport Road!
What I abhor is, how people have sold their soul to the cell. Rarely do l get an uninterrupted talk, focused meeting or spicy gossip. From shrill polyphony to subtle cacophony, the cell has lent new meaning to omnipresence here. Lately I have started an attempt to unshackle myself. I ignore any vibes I get when I am in the midst of some work. This has caused a reputatation in my minuscule world that I have gone incommunicado. As a result, I witness a sharp drop in the number of incoming call density. Not bad at all! Next, I thought whether I need a cell at all... Maybe not...
I have noticed that whenever I am with friends, invariably someone calls up one of the no-shows, as if the attendees dont count. And then yak yak... This repeats - only the actors change.

The low-carb fad has been like a mini dot.com windfall to the prepared food industry. Every brand worth it's bun have been advertising their low-carb offering on the media. Beers are no exception. And all of these at a premium over the normal stuff.
Well not anymore it seems. A group called essential nutrition (www.essentialnutrition.org) has come forward calling low-carb a rip off - http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/481578.
Wonder how many people made millions in this bubble which should burst soon :-)