Once in a while, a place leaves its imagery deeply rooted in the memory not because of the scenic beauty but for the company you had while visiting that place! The recent year-end weekend visit to Bangalore can be classified as one; there’s not much touristy place within the city to visit so if you do not have the right company, you can be bored to death.

It was a spur of the moment decision to drive down to Bengaluru taking along Rolf and our housekeeper. Rolf’s walker (in my absence), Priyanka was on vacation so it was evident that we need to take him wherever we decide to go and the Halcyon Condominium in Koramangala, Bengaluru  its pet friendly policies was the obvious choice. And the place was close to 100 ft. Road, Indira Nagar where Ayush stays. I booked a 2-bedroom apartment for our stay through Trivago.com for 2 nights but eventually stayed on for the third night as well.

We had planned to start early around 6 am but managed to start half hour late at 6:30 am. Google Map suggested the road to be (almost) straight down from Hyderabad to Bengaluru. My friend Swathi just a few days before told me that the roads are good and one can do the 550km stretch in 6 hours but once you enter the city of Bengaluru, you are at the mercy of the snail-paced traffic. I have the experience of driving on the other part of NH44 which is one the fine highways, particularly the southern sector. The road to Bengaluru was no different and with light early morning traffic, we could cruise at the max allowed speed and had covered 150+ km by 8:30 am when stopped at the food plaza for a cup of coffee and some snacks. The drive was eventless with another stop to let Rolf as well as me to stretch our legs and by 12:30 we were within 100km of Bengaluru. At exactly 2pm we hit the toll gate just after the Kempegowda Airport on the left. Being year-end and Saturday, the traffic was thinner compared to other days and with the guidance of Google Map we first went to Indira Nagar 100ft Road to meet Ayush and also feed Rolf who hadn’t had anything to eat but just water to keep him hydrated. Ayush arranged some Adrak-Chai which tasted very nice and the tiredness of drive drained out immediately.

Ayush had planned a treat for us in the evening to celebrate his promotion to the next level and we decided to meet up at his place again after checking in at Halcyon Condominium in Koramangala. Ayush warned me not to follow Google Map completely as it would take a very narrow but shorter route and instead go further and take the left turn at “Sony Crossing” and again a left turn on 5^th Main Road.

As we were standing at the signal of 5^th Main Road for left turn, Deepika suggested that the left turn is free as 2 motorcyclists took the turn; following her advice I took the turn just to land in the net of Bengaluru Traffic Police!! Deepika (feeling guilty) pleaded with the Inspector that we were new to the city having just entered and did not realize that left turn wasn’t free. Initially, the inspector was adamant on issuing the challan but I guess the presence of Rolf in the car convinced him that we are telling the truth and he allowed us to go with the advice to be careful next time.

Halcyon Condominium is more like a Serviced Apartment but has 24 hours room service and a restaurant besides conference hall and gymnasium. There are 130 dwelling units spreading through five floors. We were given a 2 bedroom apartment on the third floor (#317 & 318) with a living room, kitchen and balcony. It was ideal for Rolf as it was for us.  I would recommend Halcyon Condominiums for its clean rooms, excellent service and courteous staff; the only grey spot was the bed in our room which had a spring mattress and perhaps being aged would invariably plunge deep which was a bit uncomfortable. They need to change the mattress forthwith.

We had decided to gift something of value to Ayush for his first career promotion and after much prodding as to what he would like to have, he reluctantly asked for a wireless headphones for his gym sessions. The Bose outlet was in Forum Mall in Koramangala, so we asked him to come over to Halcyon and then we can go there to check the options and buy it for him. It is really amazing that Bose has so many state of the art product which one would like to acquire and based on the quality, the prices seems justified. Ayush decided on a in-ear pods and delightfully it was on discount so we promptly bought it. The Mall was packed with people, it being a Saturday and on top of it year-end; everyone was in a celebratory mood. We left for Ayush’s home for a drink before going out for dinner.

In the evening at Ayush’s apartment, the father-son had Jameson Irish whiskey and then went to Toast & Tonic at Richmond Road, Bengaluru where Ayush had booked a table for 3 of us for the treat for his promotion. Toast & Tonic is a casual bar serving international gastropub cuisine and mixing classic cocktails with their own special twist. The place was small with about less than 50 covers but full house. Since Ayush had been there earlier on few occasion, we let him decide on the food and drinks. Deepika had slight cold n cough so she settled for hot brandy concoction and I had a Gin-Tonic in which the tonic water was in-house creation with orange-lime infusion. The food was delicious and the service above par. The evening was memorable and paved way for the delightful days ahead. Ayush had insisted that I do not drive in the city as the cops are always on the prowl to catch the drivers with alcohol (even the minimal). And if you don’t speak the local language, then the harassment is even more. The Uber-Ola services on non-rainy days are good and one could get a cab even at mid-night. I was not in a mood to drive through the heavy city traffic, so we took an Uber till Koramangala and then Ayush took the same cab to his home in Indira Nagar.

We had asked Ayush to join us for breakfast but he declined as he had his gym session in the morning which he did not want to miss. He has been on a mission to lose weight and flab for over a year now and the results are quite visible. We had a leisurely breakfast at the dining room; the buffet spread was not extravagant but decent and included both North Indian and South Indian options besides Continental.

Post breakfast we had a power nap and were ready by the time Ayush came over around noon. My nephew (brother’s son) Aditya is also in Bengaluru and we decided to have lunch together. But before that Ayush wanted to get a suit stitched for the upcoming wedding of his cousin (my niece) in February, so we went back to Indira Nagar 100ft Road which has all the stores lined up right from clothings to eatery, a very happening street!! We decided to go to the Raymond store as it is well known for quality material and also has tailoring service.

By the time we were done at Raymond shop, Aditya called up to say that he will pick us up. We went to Toit – it is a Bangalore based brewpub that promises quality brews, fabulous food and a supreme brew-pub experience. It is huge place with more than 150 covers spread over 2-3 floors.  We tried out 2 different brews of beer and I had Toit Beef burger, Ayush & Aditya shared a Pepperoni Pizza and Deepika had veg Moussaka. The food was good with large enough portion/ size but the beer was really superb.

Deepika had to meet a friend of hers so we came back to Halcyon and Ayush said he’ll join us later in the evening for our dinner date with another friend of Deepika. I thought of taking a power nap to get myself ready for the evening but it was past 5 pm when reached and thereafter taking Rolf for his evening walk through the busy street was a task in itself. Rolf had his fair share of admirers and he enjoyed all the attention and petting by complete strangers and also let them take his pictures!!

Moushumi, Deepika’s friend had called us over to her home for drinks n dinner; initially she had planned to cook herself but as she was getting the apartment painted and blokes painting it had extended their target date, she decided to make only the appetizers to go with the drinks and took us to Broadway The Gourmet Theatre in HSR Layout. The restaurant is located on the fourth floor of a building and offers comfortable seating. There’s also an al fresco section in the form of a big balcony. Plus a separate section for teppanyaki. Steps will lead you to the rooftop, which has also been set up with long picnic tables and a wall full of green potted plants for larger groups and parties. The ideal place to seat is in the balcony especially if you are heading here for dinner, because the night view of the cityscape is pretty nice with twinkling lights. However, the ladies were not up to the nice chilly breeze, so we settled for a table inside but close to the balcony so that whenever the door was opened, we could get the whiff of the chilly air. Though, I was feeling quite full with plateful of garlic prawns at her home, I ordered for a pork dish which I found a bit tough (read well done) but tasted good. Moushumi had ordered for a lamb dish but changed her mind for Shushi. So I ended up tasting the lamb with tanduri roti; the lamb was nice, soft and succulent. Ayush had a version of risotto and Deepika had a mixed vegetable curry with roti. Overall, the evening was a relaxing and we thoroughly enjoyed the great company of Moushumi who narrated many interesting anecdotes about people whom she and Deepika knew from their Amex days.

Our plan was to check out on 31^st after breakfast to reach Hyderabad by evening but we decided to stay on for a family time on the last day of the year.

Ayush suggested we go to UB City Mall where there are many options for lunch on the terraces; we asked Moushumi to join us as well and she said that she will pick us up from Halcyon which is close to her home. The UB City is perhaps one of the oldest Mall and boasted of having the high-end brands from across the globe. The escalator takes you to the terrace at the level-2 which had multiple restaurants and cafes. We decided on Farzi Café, having tried their unique take on the Indian and Mediterranean dishes at their Cyber Hub, Gurugram outlet earlier. We had Edamame Hummus with Kori Roti Crisp, Bombay Bhel, Tanduri Bacon Prawns and of course their house beer. The food was at best very average, nothing compared to their NCR outlets (Connaught Place or Gurugram).

Deepika and Moushumi went for shopping and we came back to Halcyon to take Rolf out for his evening walk. Thereafter, Ayush & I went to Indira Nagar to pick up a decent Single Malt to celebrate the NYE and also buy him a pair of jeans from Levi’s as most of his jeans had become a tad too large post his weight loss. The 100ft Road was in a celebratory mood and most shops were closing down to let their employees enjoy the evening. Aditya had offered us two couple passes at a restaurant in Koramangala but none of wanted to spend the evening among strangers with loud music running where one can’t even listen to one’s own voice; instead we decided to have quite family time. We decided to order food in the room although there was a NYE party happening at Halcyon and the organizers requested us to join them but we politely declined.

After many years we really had a family time on NYE as most of the previous years we were either at some friends place or have friends come over to our place in Delhi. It used to be fun filled games and gastronomic evenings. But this time we just kept talking about how was the year gone by and what are the aspirations for the coming year. The time flew by and we suddenly realized it is midnight and the New Year 2019 rolled in with a hope of prosperity, both intellectual and materialistic.

We asked Ayush to stay over and that I will drop him in the morning on our way back to Hyderabad but he said it would be out of the way and took Uber to go home.

We left for Hyderabad around 7 am and reached home at 2:45 pm with one halt for breakfast and another one at Café Coffee Day as I was feeling very sleepy and needed some caffeine to stay alert on the highway.

I do not know and neither wants to know what’s in store for us in 2019 but instead would like to go with the flow and let whatever happens, happen. Cheers!!!