what do you miss the most when you move cities?your friends? your colleagues? your favourite movie halls? eating joints? your house/ flat/ apartment? the temple in the neighbourhood?
i recently moved out of mumbai. and i miss the shoe-shine boys! and the beggars in mumbai! (i don't miss the smells and the sights! thank you!)
i used to take the local trains every day to office and would get my shoe shined from the ubiquitous shoe-shine boy at the railway station platform! in mumbai you will find a shoe-shine boy at every railway station at any time of the day! (i have not seen a single shoe-shine boy in bangalore till date! and i've been here a month already! anyone knows where you can find them?)
so i now have to shine my shoes every morning before leaving for work. not that i'm cribbing, but the pleasure of getting your shoe shine from a shoe-shine boy in mumbai is something different altogether ! any true-blue mumbaikar would confirm that.
i also miss the beggars & the homeless people of mumbai. in bangalore if there is excess food left over after dinner we don't know what to do with it! it doesn't feel right to throw it in the trash. in mumbai we used to pack the food in containers and drive out into the night and hand over the food to the scores of beggars and homeless people you saw on the roads.
i'm not say
ing there are no beggars on the streets in bangalore, but they are definitely not as many and as obviously 'in-your-face' as they are in mumbai! and for me, that's definitely an indicator of the economic status of a city.p.s. i am not missing natural's ice-cream! they have arrived in bangalore! :P
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16 comments:
Just curious, how much do the shoeshine boys charge in Bombay?
Hi Guru,
When we were kids, my dad used to pay us money for shining his shoes. My bro and I would fight for the honour! More than the money or dignity of labour it was the privilege we vied for!
Your post reminded me of that.
In Bangalore there is a organisation which takes excess food left over from b'day parties. But for a small amount of food, you'd probably have to ask if the domestic help wants it (many a time they don't) or else one just learns to cook 'right' and without wastage.
Have fun with naturals!
I miss Bangalore!
Cheers
preeti
Welcome to Bangalore, (once upon a time) The Garden City! :)
BTW, where in B'lore r u?
Cheers!
I don't think u will ever come across shoe shine boys in BLR. Ur best hope may be somewhere near majestic bus stand. I have never come across them though, neither I miss them though.I know they are trying to seek an earning, but I always felt awkward, and that's the same reason I never hired a domestic help . U wont be missing temples much. They are a dime a dozen in Bangalore. If you are a fast food junkie, you may be in for some disappointment, especially if u love the spicy stuff. If u have a sweet tooth. Be ready to have a ball. what I do also miss is the road side library walas in BOM. I used to be an avid reader in BOM. But the sellers don't buy back books in BLR. Creating space for the books has put me off from reading.
@ smanda69 : 5 rupees. that's about 100 rupees a month, if you shine your shoes almost every day.
@ ps : as of now, the big boss is fine-tuning the 'right' amount to cook! and its working well.
i must try incentivise my kids to polish my shoes! :)
@ $$ : hey there! we're currently staying at cambridge layout, but will soon be moving to st. john's wood near koramangala... what about you?
@ pointer : hey! you also moved here from bombay? when?
Nice post, I know what the pleasure of having the services of a Mumbai Shoe Shine boy is. I have found a coupl of shoeshine folks in bangalore but they don't even compare remotely in the quality and efforts....
Btw Welcome to Bangalore :-)
I moved 4 yrs back. will be moving to pune next month. Lamington road is sp road. u also have avenue road near by. good place if u want to buy second hand books. as compared to BOM u do have plenty of time for yourself. but the lack of pace can be unnerving.
Hi GP, I am very curious to know what ur little one said if u have tried to incentivise the shoe shining chore!!!!!
Cobblers - B'lore has cobbler kiosks, where you can get your shoes shined. But I've seen many cobbler kiosks empty, but look around in your neighborhood.
Extra Food - As for this, there was a mail floating about asking people to get in touch with 1098 helpline for excess food. But that was a hoax. The number 1098 is owned by Childline India Foundation, a helpline for crime against children, they do not accept donations of food.
Naturals - Ice Cream from Juhu Scheme is available here in Bengaluru.
Snowbite
Shop No. 9/10
Das Commercial Complex No. 825
Kanakapura Road, 7th Block
Jayanagar, Bengaluru
Ph - 080 26762288
Fruits & Desserts
No.1021, 80 ft. Main Road
Koramangala,1st Block
Bengaluru
Pin - 560034
Ph - 080 25634466
Kapoor Delicacies
Unit No. 20, Ground Floor
15/16 House Lords, St. Marks Road
Bengaluru
Pin - 560001
Ph - 080 22117499
M/S. Unity
No. 48,1st Main Road, 2nd block
3rd stage, Near Gangadham
Basweshwarnagar
Bengaluru
Pin - 560079
Ph - 080 23408000
http://www.naturalicecreams.in/
@ prats : you know what i mean! :)
i still haven't come across one... meanwhile the daily morning scrub continues!
@ pointer : thanks for the tips! and at my age, i think the slowing down is welcome! :)
@ sidhi : i haven't tried it yet! will let you know her reaction after i do. :)
@ kavitha : i found the natural's outlets. and there's one near office!!! :)
we're trying to fine-tune our cooking quantities.
sigh...that was for lucky people who get to eat natural's whereever they go :p
welcome to bangalore and her quirky weather :)
HO GPB!
Nice you know you are here! I stay at Bannerghatta Main Road... Let me know where you live... for further details mail me @ my yahoo id.
I missed all this too when I arrived to Bangalore in September. Now I have a mochi just outside my office in BG road. Then we have beggars outside Meenakshi temple again outside my house. Our maid servant is sweet enough to take our left over food...
What I miss here is the following:
1. Simple barber shop. I always have to go to a good salon
2. "Mumbai" chats. We get something different with the same name here.
3. Auto with the right fare
4. Shengdana wala
and lot more...
guru, in bangalore, you get the udipi joints/ darshinis tucked into each neighbourhood - which serve the best filter coffee in the world -:) - so the next time you're missing mumbai, you know where to drown your sorrows.
p.s we're in cambridge layout/ indiranagar too - just over the bridge
see you soon - off the blogosphere
Its not fair that most of the bloggers I know are in Bangalore.
Its not even fair that u aren't missing Mumbai!! And when u do its the shoe shine boys! :P wah!
@ suma : i guess natural's is definitely one of the criteria for luck in our lives! :)
thanks for the welcome... enjoying it thoroughly so far.
@ vinod : hari om vinod! good to hear from you. i agree with your list of 'missing things'! :)
mail me when you can and let's try catch up.
@ jane : oh yes, we discovered the shanti sagars and the various 'stand-up' coffee shops in the neighborhood... good fun! :)
@ shruti : find a job in bangalore and join the gang here! :P
hey gp...
u know what's missing in bombay?
well, so much for the self proclaimed narcissism; i know u know...
i don't like my sundays much any more...
i'm trying to digest the 'so what' gyan; but it doesn't work for me.
iguess these are withdrawal symtoms... but they say too much of a good thing is bad.
we couldn't have relied on a weekly fix to straighten out the tangle we make during the rest of week... it was kinda working like dope.
But i still miss you enough to will you back here.. so beware!
hari om,
pallavi
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