Mmmm..Krispy Kreme!

There are very few things that I loved while in the US which I miss in India - Krispy Kreme being one of them. Gradually but certainly, most brands have opened shop in India and invariably in Bangalore. So since the time Subhash told me that Krispy Kreme was open here, I've been dying to visit. I remember those days in Wisconsin when we used to wait outside the Krispy Kreme stores in the car, for the neon to turn on, and then go inside and wolf down donuts. Sometimes, we've driven from Madison to Milwaukee too, just to have donuts. Somehow in California, I never really visited the stores, although I used to have my share of Krispy Kreme donuts at work, thanks to the Donut Fridays :)

Today, finally we visited! And the place was packed to the gills. We were both surprised to see so many people take to American donuts. And the crowd was varied - old folks to college students. The neon came on just as we entered the store and it was funny to see people take pictures and record videos of the donuts on the assembly line. I confess I felt tickled ;)

Anyway, so I finally bit into a chocolate glazed custard filled donut and my heart and tummy were both happy and all nostalgic!!

Food for thought

Today I had to go by MG Road for an exam. Somehow, once I cross Domlur and go towards MG Road, I feel the memories of the past flooding back. When we were kids/teenagers, a Bangalore-Mysore-Tumkur trip was a done deal at least once a year since all my dad's family was here. And when I start going towards MG Road, the old Bangalore visits always come back to my mind. It's like the Domlur bridge is a separation between my pre-twenty Bangalore experience vs my current life in Bangalore.

I used to quite hate Bangalore in those days, more often than not, because it made me miss school when I was very young and this meant asking permission from Sr Rose! (usually cosuin's weddings would happen in non-vacation times). When I grew older, it was more because Bangalore was more open cultured while Hyderabad (at least where I lived and grew up) was more conservative.

But somehow at the back of my mind, I always knew, no matter how much I hate this city, I will have to live here some day. Because I knew this is where IT was going to boom (at that time Hyd was still not so much on the IT map). And here I am! Today, I think of those days when I used to hate this place, I feel quite neutral to it, have adopted it to some extent as "my" town, and more than anything, look emotionally at it as the birth-city of my son :) But my past Bangalore and my present Bangalore have almost nothing in common. Since we moved back, I have hardly visited Majestic (maybe twice at most in four years nearly) whereas in the past that was the centre of my experiences. Sometimes I wonder, is this the same city that I used to visit? I rarely visit the same places anymore: Rajaji Nagar, Malleswaram etc)

On that note, I always feel, if my 13-year-old self saw my 31-year-old-self, it would be in awe and would want to emulate it. I guess that is a sure sign of having achieved whatever I wanted to (at this age, at least) and of contentment? :)