Bye Bye Bangalore!

Today is my last day in Bangalore. Tomorrow starts in a new city. After being in Bangalore for a long time now, the decision to move away was a big one. I started my professional life here a little more than 4 and ½ years back. Apart from the 1 year stay at onsite, I have not lived and worked in any other place. I have grown used to Bangalore and have come to love it too.

Few days back, I was chatting with one of my best friends Vivek and he asked me ‘So tell me what you liked the best in your stay in Bangalore?’ It made me think about all the things that I have liked in my stay here. My first response to Vivek’s question was I have had a great time and enjoyed each and every moment in Bangalore.

· I held my first (and as of now only) job here. Learned about the corporate world and my role in it. I work in one of most reputed S/W Company in India and the world and thanks to the project I have been allocated to; I have met some really talented individuals. Lucky for me, I have been surrounded by such brilliant people; it makes me raise my standards too. It’s really amazing that I have had the privilege to work with so many of such people.

· Thanks to the same set of amazing people (especially Shashank and Vivek), I feel the need to challenge and extend my potential. It’s happening in phases. Phase I completed. Phase II in progress. :)

· "Company makes the feast". The most important thing that makes a place endearing is the company you have. I have made some great friends here – both from my personal as well as professional acquaintances. School and College friends are the forever ones that I am sure everyone cherishes – the level is just so different. However some of the friends that I have made here are also the forever types.

· There are few people that I met for the first time in Bangalore and have formed a small bond with – Ashwani, Saurabh, Harish, Anil, Rohini, Milan, Sunil, Alka, Sweta to name a few. I am definitely going to miss them but then again I am sure we will be in touch.

· Some friendships went to greater levels, for example, Rashmi my schoolmate became my friend once we started staying together in Bangalore. It’s a different matter all together that it just crossed all levels and went kaboom.. :( Anyways it was the best while it lasted. Sameepa aka Sam, Lisa and Preeti are few of my college mates who became good friends as I got to know them more.

· My first onsite travel also happened in between. Let’s just suffice to say it was a beautiful experience that I enjoyed to the hilt.

· I love the Bangalore weather.

· In Bangalore, I have stayed just in the Koramangala area and that too only in 4th block. I love this locality a lot. Have loads of fond memories. :-) Some of my favorite hang outs are here. I have become used to the area – I get grocery from the same shop, get milk from the same dairy, eat panipuris from the same stall, have juice from the same juice junction, take Tea from the same Teashop.. :-) It’s a very safe locality - Me and my roomies have gone for late night walks; till as late as 12 – 12.30 at night. The area feels like home – has that my Adda feel to it.

· I lost weight and subsequently gained a lot of confidence when I came to Bangalore. I was a chubby slightly overweight girl in college. I used to feel pretty conscious wearing Jeans, skirts, etc and hence stopped it altogether. However thanks to my time here, I am a little more confident of myself. (PS: Never mind that I have gained weight in the past 2 months and am now back to my former self. :-( The confidence is still there though :-) )

· I tasted liquor for the first time while I was here too. But then when I say tasted, it means tasted! Never had more than a couple of sips. People say you need to drink more to develop a taste for it but I fail to understand that if I didn’t like it in the beginning only, why the hell would I want to develop a taste for it!!

· I discovered the adventurous side of myself here. Suggest any traveling and trekking trips and I am game.

· I loved the weekends spent with Sam and Milan. Sam and I absolutely love food and every weekend, we would go to some restaurants or the other. All of our weekends involved: movie, food, shopping and long drive in Sam’s car. We used to do things on an impulse. On one such weekend, while we were driving home, we decided to have Tea at Sam’s place. Since Sam didn’t have Tea or Milk at her home, Milan didn’t have Tea at his home and I didn’t have Milk at mine, we decided to get Tea from my home, Milk from Milan’s and prepare Tea at Sam’s place. It didn’t really matter to us that it was already around 12 in the night. So we executed this crazy plan of ours and had a gala time doing it. It was 2.30 by the time we were done. Oh I will miss doing such crazy things!

· I found my love and married him. And now leaving Bangalore to pursue him further. :)

· Hmm.. let me think.. what else is a new thing that I did while in Bangalore .. Started this blog!! :D

Today is my last day in this beautiful city and I still don't believe that I am leaving it for good. Maybe it will all sink in only once I have actually left the place. Will miss Bangalore for sure and especially all of my friends here. They are the ones who made my stay memorable. Hoping that I keep meeting all of my friends sooner rather than later.