mumbai bangalore volvo: travel bus timings, bus operators, bus service review

i was traveling again from bangalore to mumbai. This time though it was monsoon and by now i was quite experienced enough to book tickets and know which volvo bus operators to avoid. But my experiences were limited to ksrtc, vrl, sharma transports, neeta travels only. Then i decided to go with amchi marathi sounding travels called 'Konduskar Travels'. Earlier i used to think its must be a really good service. Did i think the same way later? read on...

The price for konduskar was marginally lower than vrl travels but higher than ksrtc as is the case most of the times. The pickup point was kalasipalyam in the heart of bangalore. The bus was due at 7pm. I had lots of luggage with me hence going back and forth through the lanes of kalasipalyam wasnt a very easy effort. In a non-descript little room near the entrance of kalasipalyam bus stand the signboard read as the one i was looking for. Heaving a sigh of relief, i seated myself in the chair.

The bus arrived, surprisingly, on time. After the sharma experience i was pleasantly surprised. Well, at least the beginning was on a good note. I entered the bus and took my window seat. The bus started in a few minutes. It was empty, most of it. But it was good to see that the seats looked decent enough to be called clean by other volvo standards. The aisle was also clean. In no time the bus was making a getaway out of bangalore via KR circle, then rajaji nagar and later yeshwantpur station.

The bus looked in good condition. You could feel the power of the B7R engine putting that awesome torque on the wheels. The sudden thrust backwards on the application of slight acceleration felt good. But then i forgot we still were in bangalore and bangalore's traffic doesn't care who is going where; it just manifests itself in almost every traffic corner or signal. Finally after getting a moveon the bus went into cruise mode. It was movie time and guess what, it was a lucky day. Not for me, but for the actors, directors and producers of the film 'jashn'. To fully comprehend why i am saying this just go and read any review. Mind you i am not asking you to watch the film cos you would sue me for the mental agony caused.

I referred to the luck part because here we were, all the passengers i mean, traveling in a bus and helpless enough to watch any movie that would be shown. And among all the movies this is the movies that is selected. Ok..it may not be the worst film ever made but you know a bad movie when you see it.

So after the movie it was dreaming time. Since the seat beside me was empty i was more than happy to sleep occupying both the seats. The ocassional bump reminded me we were still in karnataka. Nothing against the karnataka government but the guys haven't developed the northern part of karnataka as good if not better than south karnataka. The bus, or any other vehicle for that matter, comes to a grinding halt every hundred metres as the condition of the road is so bad. There are frequent detours that cause delays. hats off to the travels guys who take it in their stride.

Morning came early as we touched kolhapur at around 5:30 am itself. It was just a filling station somewhere outside of kolhapur. Elated i stepped down from the bus and took the chilly air in and felt the somewhat familiar scent of the black soil i had played in my village. Hearing the familiar village dialect instantly made me feel i am home. Even at that odd hour and half awake i thought of how language has a binding effect.

Since this was a konduskar bus it detoured and entered the city of kolhapur. It was the first time i saw, even though from the confines and comfort of the bus, the historical city of shahu maharaj. The all to familiar sight of farmers dressed in the traditional 'bandi', 'dhotar', 'pheta' leading their cattle to graze instantly made me feel warm at heart. This is what makes India what it is. Away from the blinking screens of computers in AC offices and MNC office culture was this India. The only thing that matters to this india is the rain if i can take a few liberties. Barring the government decision on the prices of foodgrains nothing interests this india more. Although i may have generalised to the point of criminal ignorance; but the fact remains it another India in contrast to the popular perception of people outside india and for some in India too.

I got time to think all this since the bus reached kolhapur bus stand at 7:00 am it didnt move till 7:45 am. No reasons given whatsoever. So the journey continued towards next destinations on the way karad and subsequently satara. They were left behind in a few hours and pune beaconed at 170 odd kms. We did reach pune at 10:30 am.
Till now everything was going to plan. I was already looking ahead at making it for lunch to mumbai when a few surprises were made known to us. The bus was not going to go all the way to mumbai. There was a change of bus in Pune and the actual bus was expected at 11am in pune. Pune at that time was in full grip of swine flu and you could see people wearing masks. I braced myself, and hoping everything would be fine sat at the bus operators office waiting for the bus.
The bus arranged was a Neeta Volvo and by the looks of it, had taken part in the vietnam war. The front mirrors were broken, the color had worn off, the window sealings were hanging about. On entering it was a similar sight too. torn seat covers, broken seat arm rests, filthy seats and cracked windows. Me along with three others from the earlier bus cursed our luck and hoped this piece of junk makes it to mumbai.

Although the bus was almost full, the bus operators are dedicated to making use of the last available inch in the bus and to do it they have a simple formula. just wait for the customer till he arrives. Meandering through the streets of Pune was all the bus did for the next hour and a half. Finally i saw a semblance of NH4 and heaved a sigh of relief. We were back on track finally!

The journey here onwards was made somewhat bearable by the scenic locations that whizzed past. Monsoon is a great time to see get some nice pics. Especially in the ghats. I have tried taking a few here, hope you like them.

The picture on the left is the place near kolhapur where we stopped for breakfast. It was here that i had 'pohe'.



 

One of the better shots i took on my mobile camera on NH4. I agree a better camera is needed to do justice to the shot.

The green scenes are only during monsoons. Its a torrid sun the rest of the time.

The mud splattered on the window of the volvo.

The express way : lonavala

This bill board shouldnt have been there.

Great valley view.

really nice pic. Small tea stall right on the edge of the cliff.

few people enjoying the view or cuppa tea?

The winding way up the ghat.













The bus reached panvel at around 1:30 pm and vashi at sometime later.

volvo online tickets booking bangalore mumbai travel ksrtc private travels

There are many options to buy tickets cheaply. If you are the kind who saves every penny then nothing like some research on the internet. Here are a few helpful sites to buy tickets.

Ksrtc.in

: The official site of the karnataka state transport corporation. The ksrtc bus tickets can be bought from the majestic (kempegowda bus stand) bus stand itself. But with online ticket booking being so convenient the ksrtc has provided facility to book ksrtc bus tickets online. I primarily use this site to book the ksrtc volvo bus tickets from bangalore to mumbai.
Cheap tickets / Discounts: Ksrtc easily beats other travels in the ticket pricing. Considering the condition of the buses, the punctuality, the staff, the cleanliness the ticket price is really a bargain. ksrtc offers a 10% discount if you book two way journey ticket at the same time. Here is the ticket price breakup for one way.
Basic Fare : Rs. 1060.00
Insurance Fee : Rs. 3.00
Infrastructure Fee : Rs. 10.00
Reservation Fee : Rs. 10.00
User Fee : Rs. 17.00
Service Fee : Rs. 28.00
--------------------------------
Total Fare : Rs. 1128
Booking through Phone facility : Not available.
Homedelivery of tickets in Bangalore : Not available.
Other Benefits : You can travel in the city (bmtc) buses to the place of the bus boarding point from 2 hours before the departure of the bus.

Redbus.in

:
Redbus.in is another decent site to book tickets online. One of the most comprehensive travel operator listings available (around 500). 5000+ route bookings possible. multi mode of ticket booking available.


You can book tickets using the online ticket reservation system itself or,
use phone to book the tickets and pay on delivery. Works out really well. I have used their services on a couple of occasion and haven't been disappointed.
Cheap Tickets / Discounts redbus.in : the ticket prices are including the commission that redbus might be charging the tour operators for listing their services or vice versa. but the price seems very reasonable.
Booking through phone facility : One of the best facilities to book through the phone. You just tell your destination and type of bus you are looking for and you are done. The booking officer gives you the options and seats available and you can choose as per your wish. the ticket amount is paid on delivery of the tickets only. So no hassles like double transactions faced here plus you get a confirmed ticket. I have seen cases where ksrtc has overbooked their bangalore mumbai volvo with people in pune getting affected cos their seat was again booked in mumbai.

Home delivery of tickets in bangalore : redbus.in provides home delivery facility for tickets booked. There is marginal amount charged for the delivery but its justified for the convenience.
Other benefits : You get to read user reviews for the bus that you want to book the ticket for. This really helps you to make in informed decision before you spend your money. I have seen negative feedback been published as well so there is scope for user feedback being genuine.

yatra.com

another huge travel site. it offers some decent offers for traveling via air etc. the main benefits are availability of a large number of options for traveling between any two cities. Air, rail, road etc. you can earn yatra miles for being a regular traveler just like the air miles you earn for traveling by an airline.

makemytrip.com

More coming soon.

cleartrip.com

More coming soon.

volvo travel experience mumbai to bangalore:sharma transports

it was april and i was desperately looking to go back to mumbai for a well deserved break. Finally i got what i was looking for, a leave for around 8 days with 3 days working from home. hmm..3 days shouldn't be big deal. now for the difficult part of actually booking a ticket. I opened the ksrtc site no seats available in the evening on that day. So tried redbus.in.

Redbus.in is a pretty decent site with decent quality. I have used them on two different occasions and haven't been disappointed. Anyways, back to the topic. All the usual transports were there VRL, Sharma, National, Konduskar etc. I zeroed in on Sharma as i had tried KSRTC and VRL and liked them both. I wanted to try a different travel just to know the difference. Now, sharma operates Volvos and Multi-axls mercedes buses to mumbai. This time though i became a bit too adventerous and booked a non-AC semi sleeper bus to mumbai. I assumed it would be a stripped down version of the volvo. to know the rest read on and be enlightened.

The bus was supposed to leave at 8pm from the sharma transports office in kalasipalyam. I reached there pretty much in time. My first impression was this should be a well planned transport as the office looked much better off than the rest of the travels' offices. there were a number of rows of seats for waiting passengers. I was pleasantly surprised.

The bus arrived almost on time. The usually scurrying happened to enter the bus. The bus looked promising on the outside. Inspired somewhat by the volvo though. but, who cares. The make of the particular model read 'Sutlej 8000'. Whatever the 8000 meant i hoped it flew as good as the volvo if not better. My assumption was the less money meant that just the AC was absent with everything else being the same(As you would know later , dont assume too many things).

It started sometime later but was of no use as the entire kalasipalyam road was in a mess of traffic. It took some time to get out of there to land up in traffic somewhere else. Things had got off to a bad start. The optimist in me quipped, with the law of averages the rest of the journey should be smooth.

It took 10:30 pm to reach around Yeshwantpur station. My stomach was giving me a unger alert. It wondered where dinner might be cos normally its well outside the city that the buses stop at roadside dhabas. I consoled my pensive stomach to hold for few more minutes reminding it of the sumptous meal at the next tarry point.


soon it was 11pm and most of the people were looking at their watches with questioning glances. The driver wasnt oblivious to this fact either but his standard response was the stopover isn't far. Finally, we reached the dhaba at around 12:30. Unbelievable i thought. The part of my brain which deals with bad decisions was trying to convince me saying its a one off situation. In any case, whether i had taken some other bus i would still have been here. Didn't work at all.

Hunger pangs had completely taken over me. I took some meal and settled down again expecting atleast two things. one, early deliverance and two, satisfactory sleep. It helped that the seats were wider than those in the volvo. Plus, the seating arrangement was 2+1 which actally allowed one to fold the feet 'indian style' and sit.

One thing bugged me right from the time the bus hit the free road. Somehow, it didn't have the same bite as the volvo. A bit too much to expect i thought but then the realization hit me about the total journey time. it would now take much longer compared to the volvo. An unsettling feeling to say the least.

to add to that unsettling feeling was the kind of movies that were being played. Emraan hashmi is certainly not my cuppa tea. And getting to watch 3 emraan movies back to back is something of an achievement. In any other setting i could have walked out of the situation unable to bear the drama(torture was my first option), but i was traveling here so that option was unavailable.

At around 8 we reached kolhapur. Whew! finally in marathi land. But the journey was taking 'Homeric' proportions. I bet 'jason' (ref. Greek mythology Jason and the Golden Fleece) would have abandoned his quest if he was traveling with me. The bus was unable to cruise at all. The accelerator seemed to be touching the bottom and still the grunting of the engine was the only thing that increased. No cruising speed at all.

My dunce feeling was at an all time high. With no respite from the emraan mania i thought of ignoring it completely and enjoying the countryside. Believe me, April is not the month you would want to enjoy the countryside. Especially maharashtra. Its summer time and you would be greeted with a torrid sun greeting you the whole day.

After a quick lunch and couple of hours later it was still Pune. The watch said 3pm and i was doing my math of what time to tell i would be reaching home. After the last days and nights experience i thought 7 should be a conservative estimate.

I called up my folks and told them i would be in time for some pre-dinner snacks. I had already got a dressing down in the morning when i told i hadn't taken a volvo so this time there wasnt much they could add to the abuse.

My restlessness continued till we reached lonavala and the moment i saw the expressway i told myself, this gonna get over soon. I profusely thanked the government which built the expressway and settled down thinking of the next few days along with 'aai', 'papa' and not to forget 'bob' (not my dog).

It probably was one of the better moments of my life when i actually liked leaving something behind. It was the bus this time. It read 6:30pm in my watch and i didnt even want to see where it went after vashi. I headed towards the bus terminal at a speed which seemed much faster than the bus i had left behind...

Disclaimer:
(This is my personal experience with the mentioned travel). Opinions might differ from person to person.

War at paintball arena in bangalore!

This is again an anachronistic post. I dont remember for sure the date on which we went paintballing. It could have been sometime around December, but it sure was fun. For me at least. I had taken part in a paintball competition about a year back in 2007 Dec in the club cabana near hebbal, on the outskirts of bangalore. With that experience in hand i thought it shall be fun to walk in the paintball arena once again with my colleagues and managers (how many of us would want to miss out on a chance to have a go at them :)).
The paintball arena was on banergetta road 7 kms ahead of IIM Bangalore. We were 15 of us. so the teams were divided in to 2 with 7 and 8 members respectively. I found myself in the numerically weaker team. But there was enough enthusiasm among us to convince that numbers dont matter once inside the arena. Tough talk that. I guess the excitement that we were holding guns with paint balls inside them didnt excite as much as the feeling of power that we can cause pain to someone with those paintballs. I had seen paint balls fly at some speed and hit with some sting. In the worst case it would cause a black spot the next day. Not a good idea if you are not wearing the correct safety equipment.

The safety equipment looked stuff more out of star wars. There was a darth vader type face mask to avoid injury to the eyes, a vest to protect the back and upper half of the body with a pouch for the paintballs. looked really cool and once we wore it no one could stop posing for the digi cams. The interesting thing was we couldnt recognize anyone with all that gear. We realized we had distinct color vests that showed our allegiance with a particular team. I was with the green team while the opposition team was red. With the final instructions about the gun operations given it was time for WAR.

The Death match

The first game was decided to be the death match. This format was the simplest therefore chosen as the best option for the beginners. It involved shooting at sight anyone from the opposing team, which meant more target practice and no strategy crap!!

The arena was a huge rectangular one with bunkers of varying size being placed in random order over the map. This was a huge difference from the normal arenas i saw in films and had played earlier. There was plenty of scope for moving around bunkers and no one had to jostle to find a bunker for himself. This was also a concern as the enemy could attack from anywhere as there was ample cover for him. Also, since this was a death match we werent sure whether we should attack completely by moving towards the enemy or stay back and consolidate our positions while waiting for the suckers.

The strategy we adopted meant that two people would be attackers on each flank, i.e left and right. that left three people to guard the main bunker in our territory. It looked quite a good strategy in theory. unfortunately it remained exactly that. Either we were too complacent or the opposing dudes were too good. I was one of the defenders and in no time i found the enemy at us from the left flank. I wondered what happened to our guys on the left. Suddenly there were two guys shooting at me. I tried to escape the volley of paintballs but one paintball got me on the hand. I was out! I couldnt believe that i was the first one out. and the game had just started. what a shame. all the things i had thought of doing melted away. I was standing alone outside watching the other guys having a go at each other. I was cursing myself for getting out in such a way. I was determined not go down without a fight if there was a second game.

It later turned out it was my manager who had knocked my out of the game. I liked the guy to be honest but the time for niceties had passed. I hoped i got another chance to atleast not have a forgettable outing. I was fortunate that day it seems for there was going to be another game. I saw my team getting beaten like retards did. I really wanted to score some points for my team. and so began the unforgettable half of the evening, the capture the flag part.
catch the next part in the next post here.

mumbai to bangalore travel in a volvo.

I cant believe its more than 6 months that i updated my blog. Billionth voice that is. Lots of things have happened in the sabbatical. Not all great or worth mentioning.

So where was i during the year end?
Well i was back in aachi mumbai enjoying with namma parents. Its always a special feeling to be somewhere you feel like you are the king.
It was the first time i was traveling from bangalore to mumbai in a volvo. No more sponsored flights for me. (All good things come to an end. so they say.)
I had booked VRL volvo around 8pm. I tried to book a thursday evening bus but there was no availability. Finally i got a vrl booking for friday evening. I reached kalasipalya after a taking a bus from tippasandra to corporation and from thereon by an auto.

The autowalla was at his arrogant best. He didnt start the meter when i got in and when i insisted he asked for 10 rs more. I immediately asked him to stop and got out of the auto. Then i had to listen to a flurry of excuses on how its very reasonable. When i had nothing of it and started to leave he held my hand and told me to get back in the auto agreeing to go by the meter.
I got back since i didnt know the way and could have needed directions from him later. As it turned out i later paid him 10 extra as i again was too lazy to haggle and more anxious to reach on time.

I reached the VRL office on time. The bus came almost on time too. (Till now i have travelled by VRL,sharma,KSRTC and found that VRL,KSRTC are on par and quite decent.)
The bus started and in no time we were stuck in the famous bengaluru traffic.
It took 10:30pm to really get a move on. Akshay's "singh is king" was blaring away on the tv which i tried to avoid.

It felt great watching the lights zoom by sitting by the window seat on the last seat. Last row is never a nice place to sit especially on a long journey, but it didnt bother me much as i was going to mumbai. I was already thinking abt when i would reach and what i would be doing. the comfort of traveling in a volvo is unparalleled on road. Not only it glides on the road, you dont feel the travel fatigue like in the other modes of transport.

One thing i noticed was the roads in karnataka were pretty much under construction. many times the bus had to use a diversion which caused a lot of time wastage especially because the volvo normally travels at around 120 kmph on the highways. So we reached the border at around 6 am and then it was a smooth sailing through maharashtra. the roads looked impeccably maintained. the administration or msrdc deserves a mention in this regard.

Then it was kolhapur, karad, satara behind us in no time and pune was beaconing with time to go for 10 am. Pune was kind of a maze since the bus kept going round and round and we became more anxious as to when we were finally going to hit the well known Mumbai-Pune expressway. At long last we saw the last of Pune and the express way greeted us with the multilane roads and zooming cars.

One thing i have to agree that the expressway has made travel a lot more safer. I still remember as a kid how terrified i was to see the depths of the khandala, lonavala ghats. I used to hope i can get to the other side. But what it also has done is that you miss the scenery you get to see otherwise, going thru the dense forest of lonavala. Pleasant, serene sights beacon you onwards along the treacherous and twisting roads. A solitary drivers moment of serenity i should say. Especially in the monsoon, its a total joy traveling by the old road. you can see people who have stopped by the wayside to enjoy the bountiful nature sipping away at a super hot cup of tea while its raining like it can only in the western ghats.

the bus sped on the express way like in a race, easily overtaking other vehicles. felt kinda nice. In no time were we on the outskirts of a well populated suburb of Navi Mumbai known as panvel. the density of population was just a reminder that i was entering a city. Even here the highrises easily outnumbered the apartments i see in bangalore.

It was around 1 pm and the bus entered the main town of vashi and it was supposed to be my alighting point. I managed to get down from the bus, still trying to come to terms with the sudden loss of momentum while in the bus.
I trudged along the dusty main road and reached till the imposing structure that the Vashi station was. It also happens to be the bus stand for traveling to the yonder suburbs of navi mumbai. I reached home by 2:30 where mom had expected me to arrive by plane the same morning! (I attributed my travel in a bus to recession :P)

Though i have traveled by plane almost 15-16 times, the novelty factor remains. Not to mention the time saved is truly invaluable. add to that the comfortable journey.
Still volvo experience comes close to it if not same. If only volvos could fly! :)

Day at Chinnaswamy Stadium bangalore - Australia vs India- Part 3

All these drills were supervised by the physio, bowling coach venky and the fielding coach robin singh. Around 8:30 am gautam gambhir strolled towards our stand and placed his gear next to the practise wicket just in front of our stand and joined the others in their game. After few minutes i couldnt believe what i was wirnessing.

The fab four were walking directly towards the practise wickets for a "hit-in". I was going to see all of them from a distance of 10 meters. I wasnt the only one who realised this. The half filled stand rose and went towards the enclosure that seperated the field from the stand and started shooting the players as they took guard and played a few strokes. First it was gautam gambhir and sehwag as they were supposed to open the batting. they had successfully played through the last evenings play and were set to consolidate the innings.

For the first time i felt let down by my trusted mobile. It was a 1.3 Mp camera that it had .. not worthwhile in clicking pictures if you have some distance in between you and the subject. There he was. Saching practising in front of me and i couldnt get a decent shot due to my stupid camera. With the insanely small amount of memory it had, i had to delete stuff even before i could click a picture!
Though i did manage to capture some videos of the master, they was grainy at best.

I saw them all bat. Dravid, Lakshman, Ganguly Dhoni et al. saw zaheer, ishant, amit mishra and kumble bowl. I was so thrilled that the ticket cost was recovered in the first hour itself before even a ball was bowled. Fully satisfied.

Click here for previous post


Click here for next post

Day at Chinnaswamy Stadium bangalore - Australia vs India- Part 2

Armed with the ticket for the 3rd Day of 1st Test match between India and Australia, I felt like i had wot the golden ticket to Willy Wonkas Chocolate factory. The day happened to be a saturday which meant i could freak out all i wanted as the next day was going to be a sunday.

Going to the stadium wasnt easy for me to say the least. I had been to the area around the Stadium a few times. But this time i had to be there early morning and that too using some mode of transport as it was pretty far away. My options were limited considering that i didnt have my own vehicle for transportation. That meant i either use an auto or a BMTC bus. Autos may be a convenient options elsewhere, but in bangalore you better be a millionaire to even consider traveling by it. Cos even if you are not, the autowallas assume you are some blue blooded fool ready to part with his money. The rates they quote shall either make your wallet lighter or force you to take the eco-friendly public transport. Hail the autowalla who cares for the environment!

So BMTC was the option for me. My source of truth was http://maps.google.com and http://bmtcinfo.com/ and http://btis.in/bus.htm . Excellent sites if you really want to go around in bangalore. route 138 it was for me then. I left at 7:30 am in the morning hoping to beat the rush. Luckily i got a bus as soon as i arrived at the bus stop and before i knew i had landed near the Chinnaswamy stadium.

The usually deserted road was transformed into a colourful melee of people, policemen, hawkers and blackmarketeers. With the match scheduled to start at 9:30 am, already i could see i was not the early bird at 7:45. large number of people were standing quietly in line waiting for the gates to open. I had got the tickets for the stand B (not to mention the cheapest ones). I had checked out the ground map earlier and had arrived at the conclusion that this was a good bet. and as i found out later, i wasnt wrong!

On figuring out that it was gate no 12 for me, i went upto the gate and started looking where the line ended. Strangely, there was no line at the gate! I wondered whether this really was the correct gate as the adjacent gate had a 100 meter queue already. My doubts were quelled when the guy at the ticket window confirmed that this indeed was the entrace to the stand A. I couldnt believe it. I was the first person to turn up in that particular stand. Not surprisingly though. I had arrived at the ground a 1:45 mins early.

As i stood there patiently thinking about how lucky i was to be the first one to enter the stand, i saw police men frisking away people anxious to get a ticket. The ticket window clearly displayed signes reading tickets were sold out. What an opporutnity for the black marketeers, i thought. I had experienced it myself the previous year during the last day of the test match between India and Pakistan. tickets were being sold at obnoxious prices a few meters away while the ticket windows shamelessly/helplessly/ignorantly displayed "sold out". What a shame. Paying a bribe to watch a sport thats considered a religion by us. In other words some black marketeer decides whether you can follow your religion or not. Utterly blasphemous.

Finally the gates opened and i was let in. There was thorough frisking of me,my bag and the result of which i had to do away with my water bottle. Another way to extort money under the guise of security. But all these thoughts suddenly gave way to great anxiousness instead. I was going to enter a cricket stadium for the first time in my life. What a feeling it was! I literally ran through the maze of high walls and entered the lobby which led to the stand. It was like a hall with a huge entrance at the other. It was here that the refreshmets were served during the breaks.

I didnt even bother to look around. My target was the entrance to the stand. I slowed down enough to allow the security to check my ticket again. Finally i entered the stadium. What a view it was! Lush outfield with a huge expanse. The circular canopy of the stadium supported by great arches looked beautiful. And the four light towers stood stoically as though they had been there since eternity. The thing that struck me instead was the size of the stadium. On tv it looked much bigger. I was awestruck for the initial 10 minutes. then as the feeling sunk in, I thought of calling my brother. As it turned out, that sloth was still in bed maybe dreaming of driving an F1 car alogside Michel Schumacher!

The weather of bangalore as always was perfect. the sun was out but perhaps it was unusually cool. The far side of the stadium was still under the morning shadows. I was still trying to find out the place to sit so that i could get to see the game perfectly. The stand itself was pretty snugly placed. It was directly opposite the players pavilion on the far side. So it meant you couldnt see who was coming in to bat next. But you shouldnt expect all this luxury in the cheapest seat in the house. It wasnt all that bad too. Besides being very close to the playing field, it also was a nice place to watch straight drives from.

Slowly, but surely the crowd was building up. And along with it was the noise. Soon a giant tricolor was unfurled in the stand above me. The horns suddenly stopped for a brief moment, the cheering went quiet and as everyone waited to see what happened, the two teams came out onto the field although in shorts and sweats. It was the morning practise before the match started. But that was enough for the people to start cheering wildly.

As the players went about their drills, people cheered for the player they recognised sometimes successfully and sometimes unsuccessfully. There were shouts of "Saaachinnnnn... Saaaachinnnn", which has become an anthem of sorts in the last decade. And interspersed were shouts and cheers for Sourav "Dada" Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sehwag, Dhoni, Ishat, Zaheer and of course Kumble. The Australians were playing a game of football whereas the Indians kept themselves busy with a game of rugby. So whenever the ball went close to any of the stands the people cheered wildly forgetting that the game hadnt even started!


Click here for previous post


Click here for next post