Bangalored for Three Hours

There is no direct flight between Pune and Chennai. The best connection I could manage on my return journey from Chennai left me with three hours at Bangalore. Turned out to be a good thing, because my good friend D (for dependable!) ensured this time was well spent and educational as well!

We spent the first hour sipping fruity cocktails at the Leela Palace which is very close to the airport. The Leela at Bangalore boasts of a large shopping complex in its two basement levels, and it took us some time to locate the bar which is at the lobby level. The interiors of the hotel are lavish and evoke the princely past of India with rose petals, water bodies, silken drapes and marble pillars.

D proceeded to give me a tour of the nearby areas that included Bangalore's first IT Park, restaurants, and clothing factory outlets that line the airport road.

My friend D develops software for a global IT company; he moved here from Pune a year back. Over drinks and during the drive, he enthusiastically listed out all that he finds better in Bangalore: the public transport system with their spanking new Volvos, the automated billing machines in the Electricity office, the choice of awesome buffet lunches, a cook who pampers him with mutton-biryani during the weekends, and people around him who intellectually stimulate him (hmm!). But he grudgingly added, the girls in Pune are prettier. That from someone who's never been preoccupied with the fairer sex!

Note: Pictures of the Leela Palace @ Bangalore courtesy Modavi and thebigbangalore.