First Day Ride in Bangalore Metro

My meeting was going long and I started looking at my computer clock as I had to leave the office to go for a ride on Namma Metro on the very first day of its opening. At last meeting ended at eight thirty and I left from my desk in hurry. In next fifteen minutes I was at my home. Quickly I left home with my wife to reach Baiyappanahalli metro station, which is about ten kilometers from Marathalli. When I reached it was quarter after nine of night but still there was good crowd. We parked our bike there and entered into the station. It is a jumbo metro station and will take minimum five to seven minutes to reach platform as you have to walk a little on footbridge. It took around ten minutes to get the tickets as a modest queue was there. The station was decorated with flowers and an atmosphere of fest was there. We took some photos and everyone there was busy with this only.

In next five minutes, the purple color train arrived and we boarded. The compartments were very comfortable but I was feeling little hot as it was packed with fun riders. Bangalore metro looks similar to Delhi metro in way of design of train, platform, terminal, information system and all other ways. The only difference I found was that here announcement happens in three languages. So in next fifteen minutes we reached to M G Road after crossing four stations. This is not a long distance, hardly seven kilometers but it takes up to one hour if some one travel by bus in peak time. Also it cost fifteen rupees only to travel in air-condition whereas you have to bargain with auto guy and he may ask for a hundred bucks. As it was more than ten 'o clock when we reached there, we directly went to ticket counter to buy return tickets. We looked around M G Road station which was decorated like a marriage function. Then we took a return metro and came back to Baiyappanahalli station. Ride on its opening day was a wonderful experience.

Though metro was late in coming to Bangalore, I was able to make it on first day. Bangalore, which is not a well planned city and not having good basic infrastructure of roads, where people struggle with huge traffic daily, metro will make the life easy for sure. My rating for Namma Metro is ten out of ten. 

Kaifi aur Main

Last night I with my wife went to watch a play "Kaifi aur Main" based on the life of Kaifi Azami. This was organized in Good Shepherd Auditorium, which is one of the good auditoriums in Bangalore. This play was not actually a play but a beautiful way of story telling. Idea of theatrical way to present Kaifi in the mix up of story,  his nazams, gazhals, poetry and songs; was brilliant. Shabana Azami and Javed Akhtar shared the life of Kaifi in a very beautiful way. The play narrated the love between Kaifi and his wife Shaukat in a very romantic way. The social and cultural activism of Kaifi was well shared in this story. Shabana tried to live in her mother's image and Javed tried to create kaifi's portrait. The act of Shabana Azami was fabulous. Javed Akhtar as an actor disappointed me a little bit and that can be undestood as Shabana worked in the theater for a long whereas Javed was always a lyricst first. Jaswinder Singh who sung some of the best ghazals and songs of Kaifi was just fantastic. The songs were well aligned with the rhythm of story. His voice was really melodious and music played was superb. He got the best applauds from the crowd which he rightly deserved. The best part was the narrative style of Shabana, which will be cherished for a long time.