First Blog: ONE DAY

On a one-day visit to my favorite city of the 1970s, Bengaluru, the first thing I note as I drive from the airport to the city is that the traffic snarls are no worse than in Delhi. But my favorite haunts are an eye of serenity and dignity in the storm of bevy and traffic. Just as they were four decades ago.

My first port of call is The Bangalore Club. As I enter I see - as is bound to happen in clubs that have a waiting period of 30-40 years for membership – the list of defaulters – those who have not paid their bills. The List is headed by none other than Winston Churchill, Esq, owing the club the princely sum, those days, of Rs 13. That must be 1898 when he was posted to Bangalore as a young army officer. The club, started in 1868, was then 30 years old.

Next, to the Bangalore Golf Club. Inaugurated on 24 June 1876, it is the oldest Golf Course anywhere outside the British Isles. Sixty acres of lush green in the heart of the city! Lounging on a vintage rattan cane-chair in The Boulangerie overlooking a wide expanse of green, sipping coffee made from roasted Arabic seeds and munching on the choicest pastries and croissants - a life of luxury, won’t you say?

And then across the road to The Taj West End. Twenty acres of greenery. Sip a drink or two under the 125 year old banyan tree. And then it is back to the airport and to the madness that is Delhi.