I arrived in Bangalore on the 4th of February, two years, one month and four days after moving to Sweden.  I arrived to the characteristic bustle and chaos that is the hallmark of Indian airports. I found to my surprise that I had to go through another baggage and security check, though I only had to exit the airport! Reason? Gold smuggling by recruited mules, who fly into the country via Dubai and Qatar, where gold prices are significantly cheaper!! Having gone through security check, I waited for my cousin Ajay and his family.  I'd missed out on meeting Ajay during my stay in the United States and as coincidence would have it, he was flying back to the US after spending two and a half weeks in India, just a couple of hours after my arrival.  I met his wife and him, saw them off and hitched a ride with his parents and brother, who dropped me all the way to my parents' house.  I was back in town!

Mobility is always the trouble and this time around, I had plans of doing some biking while I was in town, so I met up my friend Anil Kadsur, who I'd met on the Bangalore Bikers' Club email list who introduced me to his friend who owned a bike store and rented bicycles. I was able to rent a Giant Defy bicycle that I hoped to use to attempt a brevet or two (more on this later). In the week or so that I've been here, I've managed to fit in the following, apart from working at home (I'm not actually on vacation).

1. Met Anil Kadsur who introduced me to Chethan Ram of Cadence90 and rented a road bike.
2. Wolfed down Masala dosas and Rava vadas at Vidyarthi Bhavan, Basavanagudi, Blr. 2. Met Ravikiran B.A and Deepa to attend a quiz I'd signed up with them as my teammates.  Since the quiz didn't kick off on time and Deepa had a early morning birding plan and I had a 200 k bike ride, we both returned without participating in the quiz. Though the quiz non-starter was disappointing, It was great to finally meet Ravi.
3. Rode the 200 km Anchetti 200 BRM.  A late start and a puncture meant that I couldn't make the second checkpoint by the appointed time, but I still continued and finished the ride.  It was the longest ride I'd done since last summer, and I ended up with barbecued arms!
4. Made it to the wedding of my friend Vinay Sharma's sister-in-law. It was more of an opportunity to catch up with a lot of old friends. It was fun meeting my friends Girish and Vidyashankar.  Ravindra missed out after putting in an all-nighter, after a blown release at work and Phanindra simply decided to ditch us!
5. Shopped for some bike accessories which are considerably cheaper here. Decathlon Bangalore sure has some sweet deals. I picked up a pair of arm covers to prevent another case of barbecued arms when I ride again.
6. Met my NCSTian pal Amarnath Chatterjee, after what's been five years or so.  Had a fun evening talking shop, recollecting old memories and downing some nice IPA.
7. I'd got all my photography gear hoping to get lucky with Lovejoy which has stubbornly refused to grant me a sighting till now, but I did get a few nice pictures of the moons of Jupiter. I also got pictures of Saturn, quite close to our moon.
8. Went on a birding trip to Lalbagh with Deepa and to Madivala lake with my mother. Both were fun trips, but the Lalbagh one was definitely better thanks to Deepa's amazing birding skills.  Saw a great many birds and clicked a humongous number of pictures! It was the first time I need to change to my spare battery, after running out of juice in the first! Will do a separate post for that. I'm going to be around for another week and a half, and am looking forward to catching up with a lot of friends and family members.

With Amarnath Chatterjee aka Dada

With Ravikiran B.A aka Maestru ()