As I walked to the main road I stopped in a small shop for a cold beer to take with me in the open aired 3 wheeler (from here out referred to as "auto") that would be my transport for at least 15 minutes. After showing a driver a piece of paper with the address and rough proximity landmarks to Opus, a Goa-styled restaurant/bar/music venue, the driver admitted that he didn't know where he was going. Using savvy negotiation skills I bartered for meter + 10 Rupees. Bolstered by the confidence of having a reliable driver who was a straight shooter willing to deliver potentially bad news, I climbed in and suggested we drive towards MG Road, as that supports most of the nightlife (nightlife in Bangalore is generally 8-11:30pm). After approximately 20 minutes the driver explained that the place I was looking for was on the left, but 3-wheeled "autos" were not allowed to drive down that road. Made sense to me; after all sometimes red lights don't mean stop in India - if there's also a green light with a straight arrow. I paid the man as agreed and quickly realized I was walking aimlessly. I asked a policeman who directed me to another gentleman who then quite confidently said the address I was looking for was inside of a shoe store. I did not entertain that notion; and instead found a hotel and got a cheesy tourist map - and they explained where I was trying to go was approximately 7 km away. Which brings about advice from an Indian friend, Aditya - who can in this account be more or less anonymous because his name is like "Mike" in the US. Aditya said the auto drivers are [g-rated version] "jerks". OK, I was dropped off 7 km away - it's quite funny. Since Aditya warned me, I was amused instead of pissed. No problem, I'll try again, just like Edison who learned from his lack of successes.
I made my way back to MG road and now have a feel for the distance to cost ratio and a 7 km ride should be about 40 Rupees, so I'll be willing to take the tourist mark up and pay 50. I chatted with an auto and he wanted 150 flat rate partially citing nighttime as a reason for the excessive cost. Then 2 Asian girls walked by and exclaimed that it was too expensive and that I should get a ticket from a policeman for the ride. I light bulb came on - I remember that again, Aditya told me about this practice, and I forgot. Turns out these girls are from Mongolia and studying in Bangalore. There are spots along MG Road where a policeman determines a fair flat rate and give a ticket/carbon copy receipt to the driver - for me it was 35 rupees to Opus. So we're off.
Once again, this driver also can make no sense of my written address and landmarks around Opus. The red lights become our friend as we ask motorcyclists and other drivers if they can guide us to the address. It seems the reliance on technology (be it paper maps, which haven't for the most part taken root in Bangalore, or GPS) has cut-off quality human-to-human interaction - I enjoyed the camaraderie within a city of 6 million where random people were friendly and helpful to point us in a direction that might get us closer to where I wanted to go. After several rounds of help, I sensed my auto was going to pull the "we're so close you should get out and walk from here" routine; instead, he consulted two policemen who confirmed he was close, but he needed to make a u-turn and then turn left. While seemingly simple, we happened to be on one of the divided highways that make u-turns impossible. After more than 2 km, we started to go down an underpass, and my driver realized that he could have taken a left exit and gone over the overpass. No problem, the solution was come to a full stop, allow the lights of the cab to go off since they apparently only work when the motor is running, and push me and the auto about 100 meters backwards into oncoming traffic. While initially uncomfortable, I realized this could have been more dangerous if we were in a center lane rather than a side lane. I had time to (1) decide that I had to get a picture - my first in Bangalore, (2) pull my camera out of my pocket and (3) allow the flash to warm up and (4) snap a photo - results shown below. Unfortunately the photos are not spectacular, but I've included them as they are memorable.
I finally made it to Opus, and actually recognized one of the guys from couch surfing and he helped me get a little bit of a deal on the entrance fees. Cover plus an amount that would be a food/drink voucher. The couch surfing group was small; 4 guys and 2 girls and I enjoyed chatting with them while we listened to not-yet-famous musicians. After last call, 11:30, I got a lift near my place and called it a night.
Lego's at Opus - specially attached for fellow Lego fans and those residing in the home country of Lego.
