ABT Travels – Run by the ABT group from Pollachi, they started operations around 2006. My goto travel guys, always reliable & ontime . Although they don’t operate Volvos/Benz their buses are above average, maintained better than all the other buses out there. They are probably the only ones who provide the complete travel pack with the sleeping mask,vomit bags,tissues,water & fresh shawls everytime! The first time I took their buses, prices started from 450/- Over the last 4 years their prices have risen to 575/- now. A round trip to Chennai costs almost 1200/- Their biggest letdown is the frequency of trips to each city; they operate only a single bus on each route & if there is a heavy rush(around diwali, pongal) they introduce one other bus. The other minor annoyance is that they let all the seats to be booked online rather than holding up a few for offline booking. Heard a lot of complaints from local guys that all the IT people sitting at their terminals tend to book the tickets a month in advance & they were not able to get any.

KPN Travels – My travel guys by choice & comfort during my initial stint in Bangalore. Had a guy on the inside who used to arrange tickets even an hour before the journey. Always preferred their Volvos, each journey cost north of 600/- 5 years back. Initially the numero uno until ABT/ARC started knocking away their marketshare. Didn’t provide any accessories initially but i guess they do now,not sure though. Biggest advantage is their frequency, had a bus every 15 mins to almost all destinations in Tamil Nadu. Took the biggest hit to reputation when one of buses bound from Chennai took a tumble near Vellore, burning everyone aboard alive. Have also been hearing about bedbugs on almost all their buses due to lack of maintenance. If you stay in a remote part of Tamil Nadu, you didn’t get train tickets, missed your ad-hoc buses via Salem THEN I would suggest going with KPN.

KSRTC – Probably the only state owned transport organization that provided this level of service, in a good way! They have 3 levels of comfort~ first is Rajahamsa which is a A/C~Non A/C Semi Sleeper, pretty decent buses. Next is their Corona/Corona Ambaari coaches, slightly more expensive but still affordable. Buses are pretty good & well maintained. Their top-of-the-line service is Airavat comprising of Volvo & Benz single/multi axle buses. Ultimate in comfort, pretty well maintained & comparitively cheaper than the private ventures like ABT/ARC. All their buses start from the Shanthi Nagar Station in Bangalore and are pretty much on time(give or take 10 minutes). Hard to think of any cons ~they don’t provide any amenities other than the used shawls,that’s all I can think of at the moment.

Listed below are some of my favorite spots in the city

Peppa Zzing – Located on Infantry Road just before Safina Plaza, this is one place I frequent almost every week. Their burgers are like the best I’ve ever eaten anywhere & their speciality ‘whammy’ is truly a treat AND one of the largest burgers in Bangalore. If you think Maharaja Mac & KFC Zinger are huge, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet

Windsor’s Pub – Probably one of the oldest pubs in the city, they are located in an unassuming government building in Vasant Nagar. Another one of those places which I frequent once in a week/ 2 weeks. They serve one of the coldest & freshest pints of kingfisher and I promise you, there’s no one else in the whole country who do! Pair it with their excellent starters/main courses and you’ll be back for more!Don’t miss out on their steaks & appam/stew, one of the best in Bangalore.

Hypnos/Samarkand – A BJN Franchise, located on Infantry Road these guys serve what i consider the best dum biryani this side of town. Located right beside it is Hypnos, their lounge bar. Great place to hangout with friends, they serve a wide range of drinks & they have hookas as well! Thursdays is ladies night, take your significant other & you could get your drinks on the house but be warned ~ the place is jam packed during those times!

The Egg Factory – An egg-themed restaurant, they are right at the beginning of St.Marks Road(behind Juice Junction) They serve only egg based dishes, brilliant at that! They have a minimalistic ambience and a 100 cheers to the guy who can operate their faucets on the first try ;-) They have quite a few options for the ‘pure vegetarian’ as well!

Aromas of South – An accidental discovery, they are located within the confines of the ’37th Crescent’ hotel in the Highgrounds area(right opposite the turf club entrance) One of first places I came across that has an extensive variety of south indian dishes from all the 4 states and that too at reasonable prices. Highly Recommended, great service from the staff ~ if you’re itching for South Indian food, this place should be right at the top of your list.

Nagarjuna – The staple andhra favourite in the city, right on Residency Road, next to the now defunct Galaxy theatre. One of the very few andhra restaurant that’s managed to keep up with the quality even with the exploding popularity. You cannot go wrong with their meals, their meat dishes are worth a try too!

Ebony – I’d solely recommend this place based on the view it offers! Being right smack in the middle of the Bangalore & 13 floors high(in Barton Center) helps! What’s also great is that they offer a decent spread in their weekly lunch buffet. Great place to dine out with friends/group, light on the wallet too!

Mavalli Tiffin Rooms(MTR) – The original bangalore eatout, been open for more than 50 years at the same place(on Lalbagh Road) they only serve meals but BOY do they do it well! Be prepared to ingest a truckload and also be there as early as possible, they clear out really quick!

Fishland – Another one of the golden oldies, located in the midst of the bustling Gandhi Nagar, every seafood restaurant around town should learn a thing or two from these guys! Serve the right amount of food, a variety of fishes & brand spanking new ambiance..although it did lose some of its old world charm :-( Again amazing food at unbelievable prices!

Millers’ 46 – Hands down the best steakhouse in Bangalore. Located on its namesake road, they are themed after a mexican saloon/steakhouse, they are renowned for their steaks & one of the very few places to which other eatouts have caught up pricewise :| Give their burgers a try too.

Café Terra – Those who’ve tried English breakfast wouldn’t think twice about this place!Koramangala 80 Feet road doesn’t have a bigger attraction other than this place~Authentic English breakfast with sausages/baked beans/scrambled eggs/ boiled potatoes,tomatoes & mushrooms too AND add in some delicious Belgian waffles, you’re probably set for the entire day! Writing about this place itself makes me yearn those dishes :-S

I’ve not written about places in & around Indiranagar, frankly, its like writing about how good a grain of rice is from a sack full of it! There are some awesome & a HUGE HUGE number of places in that place!! I’ve got a few years ahead of me before I get tied down and one of my resolutions next year would be to cover almost all places in Bangalore & if possible Coimbatore too!

P.S Headed back to Bangalore after quite a long Diwali stint!

Naah, this doesn’t seem to be working!I’m gonna have to take a raincheck this time.Maybe I’ll think of something on the return journey

• Shaitan(Hindi..WHAT.A.MOVIE & WHAT.A.SOUNDTRACK)

• X-Men:First Class(This was supposed to Magneto’s origin story alà Wolverine before it turned into this marvellous piece)

• Ko(Tamil..another entertainer from KV Anand. People will now recognise photography as a legitimate profession)

• Thor(Many things could’ve easily gone wrong with this movie,Brannagh held it together brilliantly)

• Captain America:First Avenger(Hated the movie solely because they refused to air ‘The Avengers’ teaser after the credits)

• Transformers 3D(Best use of 3D since Avatar,apart from that..typical Michael Bay PoS)

• The Social Network(Deserves a separate post,another day..maybe)

• Tron:Legacy 3D(The original was a masterpiece for its time, this one was more of a ‘meh’.The Daft Punk soundtrack was awesome though)

• Rise of the Planet of the Apes(Didn’t have a lot of expectations for this movie but turned out to be a entertaining movie throughout)

• Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2(The end to one of the longest sagas of our time, if you already read the books,you knew how it ended..never needed the 3D though)

• The Source Code(Brilliant piece of Sci-fi from Duncan Jones that lotta ppl didn’t get)

• Aadukalam(Tamil..again,deserves a separate post)

• Siruthai(Tamil,remake of the Telugu superhit Vikramarkudu)

Of all the movies(mentioned above & those released in the last year or so) the ones which I loved were ‘Social Network’,'Aadukalam’ and ‘Shaitan’(to a certain degree).
The above listed ones are a few of my faves from the ones I caught at the theatres. There were those movies which I saw by ‘other means’ like

• Scott Pilgrim Vs The World(From the guy who bought you ‘Shaun of the Dead’ & ‘Hot Fuzz’; A definite must-watch for kids of this generation,unfortunately didn’t do well enough)
• Kick Ass(Matthew Vaughn’s brilliant adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic, Stunning performance by Chloe Moretz)
• Enter The Void(My first Gaspar Noe movie & BOY was it trippy)
• Senna(Documentary) (If there was one movie,ONE MOVIE I’d rewatch again & again this would be it! Has something which the other movies lacked ~ SOUL )
• The Black Swan(Darren Aronofsky adaptation of ‘Swan Lake’, an Oscar vehicle for Natalie Portman)
• Buried(Another Sundance success which didn’t make it over here, superbly enacted by Ryan Reynolds, mind-blowing camerawork)
• The Town(Proof that Ben Affleck is a better director than an Actor,except maybe for ‘Chasing Amy’,influences of Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’,traces of ‘The Departed’, BRILLIANT Movie overall)
• Let Me In(The Swedish original was stunningly brilliant & the US version shows how remakes are to be handled!If you haven’t watched the swedish version,definitely watch this)
• True Grit(Coen Brothers’ remake of John Wayne’s 1960s movie. The Dude simply rocks & so does Hailee Steinfeld)

Some of the highly expected movies I can’t wait to watch are~

• Attack the Block(Runaway hit from this year’s Sundance)
• Super 8(JJ Abrams tribute to Speilberg movies)
• 50/50(Another Sundance darling starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Seth Rogen)
• In Time( Stars Justin Timberlake,has a quite interesting premise)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo(David Fincher,Daniel Craig,Trent Reznor..need any more reasons?)
• 30 Minutes of Less(Aziz Ansari & Jesse Eisenberg with Danny McBride, I’m laughing already)
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier,Spy(Directed by Tomas Alfredson who also made the Swedish original ‘Let the Right one In’, stars Gary Oldman,Tom Hardy,Colin Firth,Benedict Cumberbatch, adaptation of an english TV series)
• The Adventured of Tintin(Steven Spielberg directs one of my favourite FAVOURITE comic characters aided by none other than Peter FUCKIN’ Jackson,You can catch me standing in theaters on the First Day,First Show!)

….and a few more(Mission Impossible 4, Drive, Young Adult).
Its almost 00:00 now, battery at 25% and I’m not sure if I’ll be to hold onto the mobile signal any longer.I’ll put this up now, will definitely write one up next time about tech-stuff & food in Bangalore.

Until next time…Ciaó

Captured by One of THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHERS I’ve come across…ROHITSABU