Rural Delights
Went for a drive yesterday evening to take advantage of a boring cricket match and great weather, the kind that makes Bangalore liveable inspite of all the damage inflicted upon it by the explosion (not of the "bomb" variety, though many areas in town resemble exactly that) of the economy coupled with a "d-uh what happened" administration.

The destination was unknown, but the general direction was arrived at after minor deliberation. The decision turned out to be a good one, as we hit reasonable amount of vegetation and open land within about 5 km of leaving home. The road also boasted of an "inventure academy" and an "Indian high school" which, apparently, has taken upon itself the challenging task of "creating leaders for tomorrow". There were also a few boards claiming to be "rejuventation centers" and this appeared to be the most believable of the claims we saw on the road; it was truly rejuvenating to be roaming around in these parts - various shades of green in various shapes and densities surrounded us, with dark rain clouds and a grey sky above.

The road itself, was a disaster, and I could hear the car suspension emitting a heart wrenching squeak at irregular intervals. The topography of most roads in and around Bangalore appears to follow a very unique pattern - maybe its a hidden message. Could it be the solution to the reimann hypothesis?

Approximately 10 km into our drive, we found ourselves at crossroads. One led towards an approximately similar terrain, the other two led to smaller lanes. It was a unanimous decision to head left, one of the smaller lanes (the other smaller lane creepily seemed to head in the direction of Hosur Road, or so I thought). A pony was tied to one side and chewing. And we were sandwiched between two tractors.

Of course, we were in no hurry, hence we drove at tractor top speed. Eventually the tractor noise became too much to bear and we had to overtake the one in front. The road, miraculously, improved a while later, and so did the scenery.

By now we were fantasising about hot jalebis and chai, but since you do not find hot jalebis in rural Karnataka, we decided to fantasise about rural Karnataka sweetmeats. This was quite a surreal exercise, since we weren't really connoiseurs of rural karnataka cuisine. Eventually a "civilised" clearing appeared, announced by a "venkateswara bar and family restaurant" and a small market place. A shop was identified, and we picked up some local crisps. No tea was available, though.

As adventurous as we were, we roamed around the area till we arrived at (hold your breath) an "Annapurna Bakery" and observed a kettle on a flame deep inside. We asked for two cups and for some (unbranded) local biscuits that looked very inviting. Also for 50 g of local (unbranded) twisty wafers. The biscuits were slightly warm, soft and tasted like the most delicious cookies you can find. We promptly branded them "australian cookies" in honour of the first floor of the Forum mall.

Tea appeared in tiny plastic cups, and we warmed our gullets as any religious tea drinker would.

And when we were ready to pay, Mr. Annapurna bakery man said "Rs. 9.50". My cousin, Aditya, philosophically announced "India is great" and paid our provider. The village was called Gunjur. (Entirely different from Gunjur)

Thus an extraordinary evening was spent, and the drive back was spent chewing over the economic state of India - the beggars on Airport road look far more wretched than anyone we saw, and clearly earn more than the shopkeepers at Gunjur; what prompts the security guards in my building to live with family in the generator room or a makeshift room under the staircase? So on and so forth.

Anyway. It was fun. Will definitely go back, and further next time.
- posted by Rallix @ 4:36 AM