Monday, October 24, 2011

1 Year On

It's been a year since we moved cities. Last year on Oct 23rd, Saturday. When we left the crowd, traffic, heat and humidity of Mumbai for the crowd, traffic and fantastic weather of Bengaluru. I remember we had moved during Idea's campaign  of "Now everybody can speak ------". It was Marathi in Mumbai I think. And changed to Kannada on the Bengaluru billboards.

So how has the last 1 year been for us?

We've encountered some awesome weather and some horrendous traffic. We've reconnected with old friends. And got a life. Mumbai was all about travelling to and from work, office in between and running to keep up, the entire week. And collapsing out of sheer exhaustion on weekends. But Mumbai also was friends and family and get togethers and never missing an important occasion.

Bangalore has been about spending more time with the better half. But missing the family back home. Bengaluru has been about setting up house and learning to cook half decent meals and figuring out when to call the gas cylinder guy home. It's been about the not half bad bus transport and the awesomely bad auto rickshaws. It's been about discovering Bangalore, mostly through our taste buds. Fortunate to have foodie friends we were introduced to the best places to square your elbows, from all parts of the world and both ends of the wallet spectrum.

I remember arriving here last October. When we drew out, on tissue papers, every new road we'd seen and tried to connect them to what we'd seen before. When we checked every new route on google maps. When we looked at apartments and met brokers and compared rents with Mumbai. When we moved in to a new apartment. When we cleaned and scrubbed floors, bought mattresses and one piece at a time, made it livable.

When we went to our new offices and discovered our way home. When we actually needed a sweater. :)

I remember waking up the second morning, standing in a friend's balcony with a cup of tea and surrendering to the cold breeze sweeping over me. I remember the feeling of adventure then, as we started a new chapter of our lives. And one year on, I'm thankful we moved to Bengaluru. Coz it has given me so much more than I had imagined that morning on the balcony.  :)