Dear Stranger, Happy Birthday! Sincerely, Stranger.

Dear Stranger,

Today, you reminded me of the days when humanity, kindness, friendship and love were most important. You may not have realised the impact of your small act, but it made me realise that in today's world, we hardly give importance to the things that really matter. For this, I sincerely thank you.

Sincerely,
Anu.

To my readers,

My friend and I were sitting in front of Forum Mall (Bangalore), and just talking about random stuff. You know how it is when you catch up with friends.

While doing so, we observed a group of boys in front of us. They were hiding a cake, which had a number of candles on them. Another group of boys were bringing in the birthday boy, covering his eyes. They brought him towards the cake, then revealed the surprise. The expression on the birthday boy's face was one I will never forget. The genuine happiness and joy on his face is one that is rarely to be seen.

What moved me in this act of friendship was when the cake was cut and distributed, the boys also distributed the cake to the people around.

This kind of attitude in today's world is rarely found. I would like to thank these boys, not for the cake, but for putting a smile on my face and making me take part in their circle of happiness. This took me back to the days when I was a kid and I would distribute chocolates all around the school, to people I knew and to people I didn't know, just because I wanted them to take part in my happiness.

Sometimes, it's best to keep things simple. Simplicity is what brings happiness. Today's incident was one I will always remember and cherish. Once again, Happy Birthday Jagdish! :-)

They shared their cake!

The group of boys. Photograph by Sundeep Chevour

Updates, Travel, Thoughts & Discussions

I know I haven't blogged in ages and the handful of people who actually read my blog, I sincerely apologise. But I do have my reasons. I'm travelling! From Bangalore to Dubai to New York to Toronto! Yes. That's a lot. Expect a lot of travelogues soon!

Moving on, recently, while I was in Bangalore, my career options dawned upon me. I decided that travel journalism is it. I mean, who doesn't love travelling? And I also discussed all these thoughts with my friends and family. To which many people asked me or told me, "Watch Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani!" and am like...okay? Apparently the main character is a traveler. Yay him!

So 2 days back, I finally watched the movie. I'm not going to review it. But this further led to a more interesting conversation with my sister. I said the movie was ironic as the character who had traveled the most knew less about life than the character who had stayed put in one city. To which my sister added on..."Travelers go and see touristy places; the same place that every man would see. One who stays put in a place knows every corner of the city...they explore the unexplored and discover something new." Which is life, right? We'd all rather discover something new rather than dwell on the same things over and over.

So that's my post folks. More will come up probably around September.
Happy Summer everyone! :)

Meeting the Metro

I had just got back from my holiday in Dubai. I spent some quality time with my loved ones and soon they all diffused into memories, as I dived into a sea of assignments. However, an unexpected long weekend gave me the opportunity to ride on Bangalore's newest mode of transport, the Metro; or as it is locally known as, Namma Metro. 

For illustration purpose only
Photographer: Senashia Ekanayake

Having ridden on the Metro in Dubai, I did not have high expectations of Namma Metro. I was ready to compare the two. 


Between the two, I preferred the Metro Stations in Dubai. I am no architect, but the stations in Dubai were more  artistically designed, therefore more appealing to the viewer's eye. The Metro Station in Bangalore was very plain and boring, but much more spacious than the one in Dubai. This may be for the accommodation of a large crowd as Bangalore is more populated than Dubai.


The train in Bangalore was similar to that of the one in Dubai. However, personally, I thought that the train in Bangalore was far more informative and convenient in terms of accommodating a large group of people. 


The prices of the tickets, in both Dubai and Bangalore, were relatively affordable considering the value of the currency of each place respectively and the distance covered. The Metro in Dubai issues small cards, the size of a standard business card. These cards are disposable once completely used. The Metro in Bangalore issues tokens, which are a little larger than a coin. These tokens are reusable, therefore saving paper and reducing the chances of littering at the Stations. However, the tokens are small enough to easily displace.


My journey on Bangalore's Metro was from Mahatma Gandhi Road, popularly known as MG Road, to Indira Nagar and back. A one way journey took me approximately 10 minutes, whereas by auto, the same distance would have taken me much longer and cost me probably 5 times more. 


To sum up the whole journey, it was unique and quite nice, for the simple reason that it was a different experience to have traveled a fairly long distance so quickly, with no noise, no disruptions and no pollution. We may be frustrated with the construction of the Metro right now, but once it is fully constructed and starts functioning at a regular pace, we will appreciate it's existence. 


© Anupama Subramaniyam