Night Drive

It’s after a while that I am leaving this late from the office. There is no one at home; Divya and mom went to home back in Kerala for a couple of weeks. So even if I reach early, there is nothing much to do there. So, better than spending time in front of Jio Hotstar to watch the remaining episodes of Tracker, I thought of staying late at the office. Finally, close to midnight, I decided to go. Hardly there were many people in the parking lot. A couple of cab guys were sitting in their cars; headsets plugged in — might be watching YouTube Shorts. One of the side effects of liberalizing data traffic when Jio was launched was YouTube, Instagram, etc., becoming accessible to everyone. No more buffering. The invention of infinite scroll only made the addiction worse. Well, I am also a victim here!!!

Leaving them behind, my scooter left the office main gate and ventured onto the public road. Hardly any vehicles were there — just a couple of cabs stopped on the sides and water tankers. Water tankers are prominent on most inner roads of Bangalore; many areas of the city depend on the water arriving in these vehicles.

This time, I decided to focus fully on the road and bring my mind to the details around. The mind is like a horse without reins — it goes in whatever direction it wants. This time, I deliberately focused on the road. On the sides, there were a couple of Swiggy and Zomato drivers waiting for their next call. Opposite, a couple of cars came and went, many using high beams. This is one of the problems in driving at night. People, especially the ones driving private vehicles, always use high beams at night regardless of whether someone is coming from the opposite direction. Nowadays, even stock high-beam lights are very powerful. In many cases, they replace them with brighter bulbs and make it very hard for people coming from the opposite direction. Even after they pass, your eyes get blinded for a few seconds. Previously, people driving yellow-board and commercial vehicles were better — they used to dim the lights. Nowadays, even yellow-board cabs are no better.

These roads have a lot of stray dogs. More than anything, these stray dogs are a problem while riding bikes at night. One can't say when they will suddenly jump in front of you. This time, one dog was rolling left and right on the road, probably to scratch an itch on its back. Light from the headlight brightened its eyes.

Soon, I entered a busier road and increased the speed slightly to match the pace of other vehicles. While traveling on roads, it’s better not to go too fast or too slow; as Buddha said, the middle way is better. Going too slow or too fast creates problems for fellow vehicles. Slightly ahead, one biker was drawing sine waves on one side of the road!!! I soon overtook him — it looked like he had put his phone on speaker and was holding it in one hand, controlling the bike with the other.

I was already going slow, and in front of me, there was a bike going much slower. I’ve often noticed that unmarried couples go slower compared to married ones. Probably they are more romantic and have more things to say to each other? Both groups go much slower compared to single guys (or when both rider and pillion are guys)!! This is my observation; it’s possible that your observation is slightly different. Let me know.

One problem while riding bikes on Indian roads with the visor open is the amount of dust. There is so much dust in the air that it kills the enthusiasm. I often prefer to ride after a slight rain, as the dust will settle for a while and Bangalore roads are not submerged in water. Soon, I reached home, and the date on the calendar had changed.

Sajeev

Bangalore - Bull temple and Bugle Rock

Located in Basavanagudi area of Bangalore, The Bull Temple (known in Kannada as 'Dodda Basavana Gudi'), is one of the oldest temples in Bangalore built by 16th century ruler and founder of Bangalore - Kempe Gowda I. Nandi idol in this temple is over 15ft tall and carved from a massive monolithic granite rock.

Bugle rock park is located next to temple and spans over 16 acres of land. Park has a number of walkways, an amphitheater, options for adults to do exercise and kids to play. What makes this park special is geology. The rock formations with in this park is estimated to be more than 3000mn years old. You may still be wondering why it was called bugle rock.  Well, during the reign of Kempe Gowda, watchmen were placed here. Given the height of this place, it gives a better view of the surrounding areas. Watchmen would blow a bugle to signal the closing of city gates at dusk and also to inform people in case of any dangers. 

In those days Bangalore city had four main gates, located at, 

1. Yalahanka (Northern Gate)

2. Halasuru/Ulsoor (Eastern Gate)

3. Kengeri (Western Gate)

4. Kanakpura (Southern Gate)

In addition to the gates there were also four watch towers located at,

1. Lalbagh rock

2. kempambudhi Tank

3. Mekri circle

4. Ulsoor lake

Bull Temple and Bugle Rock had been on my bucket list for a while, but I never quite made it there. This time, on a Saturday afternoon, we finally decided to go. Since the roads tend to get congested around that time, we took the scooter—it’s easier to navigate traffic and needs less space. So, it was me, Divya, and Niha. I can’t exactly say 'three men in a boat', but it felt something like that.

It was also Niha’s first proper ride. Before this, we had only taken her around 200 meters on scooter. She sat sandwiched between us, and our little trip began. First stop—Brahmin’s Coffee Bar in Basavanagudi. This restaurant is over 60 years old and very popular. They kept the menu simple  - coffee, idli, vada, kesari bath, and khara bath. We skipped idli (a regular breakfast item at home and, in Divya’s words, her idly is the softest ever) and got the vada, kesari bath, and khara bath. Divya does put effort into making soft idlis—something I tease her about, saying she perfected the recipe after years of experimenting on me.

The vada and kesari bath were good. The khara bath tasted very different from what I’ve usually had, but it was still tasty. Divya didn’t try it because of the color combination! Since Niha hasn’t yet reached the stage of saying a firm yes or no, I managed to push a couple of bits of Khara bath to here mouth as well!!!

From there, Bull Temple wasn’t far. By the time we left, the sky had already turned to darker shade of grey. Still, we went ahead and reached the temple. A lot of bikes were parked in the front, but the temple itself wasn’t too crowded. It’s not just the Bull Temple—there are two to four other small temples around the same area.

Chappal stand charges were 5 rupees/pair, and they accept UPI as well. I just wish public toilets worked the same way. Getting exact 5 rupee coin or 10 rupee note is difficult.

One of the entrances to Bugle Rock Park is quite close to the Bull Temple. It was nearly 8 PM—closing time—so we had very little time left. We took a slow walk inside, sat for a bit at the amphitheater, walked to the other gate, and circled back. It’s a lovely place to spend some time. Need to come back here again, but in day time. 

Sajeev