After two training classes we’re heading off to our other Indian office found in Pune. It’s located closer to the west coast and much closer to Mumbai so I’m looking forward to seeing yet another part of India. The plan for the next trip with the students will be Mumbai itself that I think will prove interesting. I feel a little sorry for the students arriving from overseas since no international flight flies directly into Pune. Instead it means another three or four hour bus ride from Mumbai.
Ginseng
Does a fantastic Singapore Chilli Crab at a bargain at INR600 (£7.80). That’s all.
Eating in Bangalore Part 4
More restaurants in Bangalore:
- Peco’s – A bar that also serves food, this multi storied building found on Brigade Street offers a unique dining experience with lots of memorabilia and rock music played from cassette tapes. It’s a great atmosphere with pitchers of beer around INR200. They also offer a number of dishes including Indian versions of Tex Mex cuisine. The chilli chicken here is pretty good.
- Queens -A local restaurant serving lots of types of curries. Its interior design makes it look like modern Moroccan restaruant and is pretty busy with locals all the time. This one is found half way up on Queen Street. Nice and cheap with a big meal costing around INR250 (£3.50) per person.
- Beemas – An Andhran styled restaurant found further up Queen Street towards the Tavern pub. You eat on banana leaf-lined silver platters and offers a ton of Indian cuisines. They even have an air conditioned room (with prices that match) that we ended up escaping to because the rest of the place smelled a little bit too much like a damp cloth. Pretty cheap all up costing about INR350 (£4.50) per person.
- Nandhini Palace – Another Andhran restaurant but this time a chain. There’s one that’s pretty much opposite our office. I’d seen the motor bikes zooming around Bangalore obviously delivering food. Another great selection of food with lots of very spicy food. Averaged around INR300 (£4) per person.
Movies Seen On The Plane
On the way to London, flying BA, we had the great on demand entertainment system. It broke down on the flight back and ended up with multi-channels of entertainment instead of the on demand system. I still had a great opportunity to see a few movies. Read the short reviews below:
Surf’s Up
An animation film involving rather overly cutesy Penguin characters that are into surfing. Stepping out of the rather repetitive and trite format of animation movies, the behind-the-scenes format involving the perspective of the camera crew and some very funny interview sessions made it much more refreshing. It’s a light hearted tale that’s easy to watch and expect a few chuckles but not any laugh out loud moments. TheKua.Com Rating : 7 out of 10
Withnail & I
Recommended to me by one of my friends, this cult film portrays two struggling actors set at the end of the 1960s and living in Camden town trying to live their life and a quick get away to the country. Though stated as a “comedy” in the movie guide, I felt the seriousness (even for English comedy) was sometimes a little bit much. I found it an interesting insight into life during that period and found it entirely believable as well. I wouldn’t recommend this movie and though I didn’t enjoy it that much whilst watching it, I can see its appeal to some audiences. If anything, it’s interesting to see places like Camden Town, and Regents Park (at the end of the movie) used throughout the movie. TheKua.Com Rating: 5 out of 10
Knocked Up
A recent comedy movie featuring the girl I knew from Roswell. It tells the story of a one-night stand turning into an accidental pregnancy with all the ups and downs that go alongside. It features some awkward moments and I became a little bit bored with the all too common jokes. TheKua.Com Rating: 3 out of 10.
The Ex
A black comedy featuring Scrubs’ star Zach Braff about a New York couple moving back to Ohio and how they deal with raising a new baby, starting a new job and dealing with old relationships. There’s some very cringe-worthy moments, with plenty of things going wrong. Described well as a combination between The Office and Meet The Parents, this movie is made more worthwhile with the addition of those small Zach Braff moments. TheKua.Com Rating: 7 out of 10.
He Was A Quiet Man
Tables turn as a quiet office worked with intent to kill ends up as a hero after shooting a worker who ends up killing others first. He ends up taking care of one of the only survivors of the office shooting – someone that is the only person he cares about. Suddenly he is more popular than he’s ever been and doesn’t know how to deal with it. It’s certainly a different role for Christian Slater to play and an intriguing movie with plenty of internal dialogue to boot. TheKua.Com Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
Short Visit to London
I just got back this morning from my weekend in London. I unfortunately missed the amazing fireworks of Diwali here although had a brief taste of it on Thursday before leaving with lots of fireworks going off in the streets everywhere. The trip was short but sweet. Most of it ended up being taken up with the Away Day (an internal company conference) and the post celebrations into early Sunday morning. Sorry if I missed any of you over there.
I Heart Darshinis
I don’t think you’ve lived in Bangalore until you’ve eat at a Darshini. It’s the Indian equivalent of a fast food joint at ridiculously cheap prices with generally much better food than you’d get at any McD’s or KFC. Popular ones are busy at most times of the day, and we’re lucky to have three very good ones in walking distance to our office.
Eating is simple. Order and pay at one counter and you’ll receive a food receipt and a drink receipt. Pass the food one to someone behind the food counter, and the other to the cannisters that sit at another. You’ll soon receive your food as it’s freshly prepared. Don’t expect plush ambiance at darshinis and one of its unique drawcards is that it’s standing room only. Live by the zero-second rule (don’t bother picking up food if it’s dropped) and focus only on the food on the metallic plates you’re served on. Relish the coconut chutney and sambah with whatever you may have ordered: be it a dosa (crepe like bread), some idlies (steamed bread) or some vada (fried bread). As long as you stick to popular dishes, chances for food poisoning is minimal with most of it being freshly made in front of your eyes.
Tea or coffee starts at only INR5 (6p) and most meals ranging between INR20-40 (25p-52p). Most of them even offer you the option of getting your food wrapped which is based on a few banana leaves, wrapped in newspaper and then drawn together with string.
Economics at play with Rickshaws in India
I sometimes find catching a rickshaw a harrowing experience. As a “ferengi” (foreigner) you end up having a much tougher time trying to bargain with drivers (I’ve only caught one where you didn’t have to bargain at all). I’ve learned some lessons like not asking how much it is to get to some place as they’ll normally double or triple their prices. It’s also not a great idea to descend on one or two taxis as a large group. They realise that you all want to get somewhere in one go, and can immediately collude to increase prices.
On the other hand, heading as an individual to a place where there is a group of rickshaws generally means you can at least bargain your way back to a normal price. If someone is asking too much, it’s just a simple matter of going to someone else (of course, this can backfire if they want to collude as well).
Interestingly this casts my mind back to economics back at University. Large supply (lots of rickshaws) and limited demand (just me) will work in my favour of pushing the price down. Large demand (big group of us) and limited supply (two or three of us) result in pushes being pushed up. Price elasticity of demand is represented by how much you want to get somewhere, while price elasticity of supply depends on how much the rickshaw driver really wants their business. Both of these fluctuate as the traffic increases/decreases in the evenings.
As interesting as this is, I’d prefer the approach rickshaws in Bombay operate by simply putting on their meter.
My First Tripadvisor Contribution
Can be found here.
Hopefully it will be useful for people in the future.