Bagalooru Days - Part 2

Bangalore is a fast changing city and I noticed a couple of things about it. I wonder if this is a common trend in all major Indian cities !

* Malls - There seems to be a Mall craze. Last year, I saw The Forum and Bangalore Central. This year had new inclusions like Garuda Mall, Eva Mall, Sigma Mall and some smaller malls. The malls have all the famous branded stores. I found them to be very expensive. And very crowded. Looks like the new hang-out place for families and friends is the mall ! The good thing about these malls is that they are clean and have many facilities. Garuda Mall even has a cookie store just like the malls here.

* Multiplex Theatres- If there are malls, can theatres be far behind ? The Forum Mall has India's largest multiplex, a 11 theatre multiplex called PVR Cinema. The theatre reminded me of AMC theatres here in the US. The seats were really comfortable. This theatre also has a Gold Class theatre where the tickets cost Rs. 500 per person!!

* Food Courts - My favourite place in the malls are the food courts. I was quite surprised to see a big line for Subway. People seemed to be very proud to eat a sub ! Obviously these people have never been here. Being a veggie, I am always used to limited choice here. But back home, its like paradise, so many options ! I love to eat in the darshinis and samrat stalls - the masala dosa, vada and rava dosas are simply superb. The food courts are always crowded and most of the times it is very difficult to even find a seat.

* Corn in a Cup - Everywhere you go, you will find a small stall selling ' corn in a cup'. Its healthy and tasty. I found many flavors like plain, butter, masala, chinese etc. But isn't it a little expensive ? The cheapest is around Rs. 25/- ! !

* Coffee Shops - Everyone loves to drink coffee. I found new additions to the already existing list of cafes. Coffee Day and Barista are a common sight. I went to a new store called Coffee World this time. And another small store in Forum Mall, whose name I forgot. This was a little different from others, the shop was small and seemed to have a grinding machine and the coffee there had a very traditional South Indian kapi taste. The costs in most of the cafes are formidable. I missed Starbucks.

Was I the only one who felt that most of things were too expensive ? I am not saying that a cup of coffee was expensive; Its just that, for the living standards in India, things seemed to be expensive. Most of the rates are comparable to the rates here. Everyone seemed to spending a lot of money ! Or perhaps the living standard has gone up and I can only relate to the standard that was there when I left India.

Everything seems to have changed. But there is one thing that has not changed -

The pass mark is still 35 ! ! ( hehehehe)