My Bangaluru visit

The venue of Bangaluru flower exhibition at Lalbagh Botanic Garden.




Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka state, in the south-central India now takes it new name- Banguluru. It takes about 2 hours and thirty minutes by air from Kolkata and two nights and one and a half day by train from Howrah. Narayana Hrudayalaya Health City, about sixty km from the Bangaluru airport takes one hour and fifteen minutes at night by rental cars operated by Akbar Travels of India and Hertz rent a car who have their offices at the airport. City taxi, a leading cab operator operates lots of taxis from the airport. We got a luxarious car from the Akbar for Rs. 1,500 for going to the Narayana Hrudayalaya.

The BMTC (Bangalore Metropolis Transport Corporation) has a very good and prestigious Volvo AC bus service under the BIAS (Bharat International Airport Service) operation. Majestic, the heart-centre of Bangaluru city communications has an excellent airport drop by its BIAS 9 Volvo bus took 45 minutes in the morning. We could have come to the airport from Narayana Hrudayalaya to the Electronic City by BMTC Volvo AC bus No. 356N and then by BIAS 8. The BIAS bus has excellent seating arrangement for the passengers and separate racks for pieces of luggage.

Unlike the people in Chennai most of the Bangalorians speak good Hindi. They are also very co-operative. The BMTC drivers and conductors are very caring. All the doctors, nurses and admin staff of the Narayana Hrudayalaya are very caring. I did not confront any unpleasant and unfriendly experience during my two weeks stay in Bangaluru city, from 27 July to 9 August 2009. Though my Indigo flight 6E 155 was scheduled to fly for CCU at 11.50 hrs but I preferred to depart Narayana Hrudayalaya earlier, at 06.40 hrs for avoiding any unnecessary delays on the mid-way because of a bandh. Me and papa did not feel bored at the airport at all.

We did our breakfast at the airport with large-sized Samosa, sandwich and coffee. Unfortunately, we did not get any newspapers from the gift shops who also sell books. In the morning at 08.15 we were welcomed by cold wind though there was sunlight. I took shelter behind a stall and a large pillar to avoid the cold wind and took out my jacket to give the body some warmth. My visit to Bangaluru was for my papa's heart treatment from Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty. I would like to visit this wonderful city again but it should not be the same. I would like to visit the city again for excavating the past history and know the present one.

Apart from the treatment of my papa there was an important event at Bangaluru and it was our visit to the Lalbagh botanic garden for the annual flower exhibition which attracted thousands of flower loving people. Papa and me enjoyed a few dozens of flowers and other agri produces displayed in the exhibition.
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