My India trip was coming to an end. Rather than visit more new places, I decided to spend the remaining time in Bangalore.
Having been without the internet during much of our stay in the Rainforest Retreat, I spent the first morning back in Bangalore catching up with news and replying to messages.
In the afternoon, I went to the Bangalore International Centre (BIC). I’d previously gone to a talk on trees there. This time, I wanted to visit the library. When I got there, the library was shut. There was no explanation. As I was looking a bit puzzled, someone came up to me. He said a local power issue meant most of the BIC was closed. Power cuts in India are quite common.
With nothing planned for the rest of the day, I went to Church Street and eventually ended up in Starbucks.
I’ve not seen any films in India on this trip but I noticed there was a cinema near Church Street. I went there and asked if any of the Indian films had English subtitles. At first, the person said all the information was available on the BookMyShow app. However, I’d already checked that and it didn’t have that information. The person then displayed the films on his screen. I could see some films had English subtitles. Eventually, however, he decided that all Indian films had English subtitles regardless of what his screen showed! I said I’ll have a look at the available films and return in a day or two.
On the walk from Indiranagar metro station to my hostel, I spotted an open-fronted restaurant I’d seen many Indian people standing around. I popped in and had a masala dosa.
One of the people I met in the Rainforest Retreat sent me a list of cafes to visit in Bangalore. Quite a few of them were in Koramangala, which is about 10km from the centre of Bangalore. It was a 20 minute auto ride from my hostel.
First I popped into a post office to send a postcard. Then I walked to Dyu Art Cafe. This was filled with uncomfortable wooden seats. There were no power sockets upstairs and the ground floor was dark.
My second choice was Blue Tokai Coffee, about a 10 minute walk away. I’d been to one of the Kolkata branches a few weeks ago. The cafe was busy. Most of the seats inside and outside were taken. I eventually found a table in the backroom to read my book.
The Kolkata branch of Blue Tokai Coffee sold wholemeal sourdough bread. I looked around and found that this branch did too. On the way out, I picked up a small loaf.
On the way home, I picked up some pasta and a jalapeno tomato sauce.
