bangalore's secret lanes and the ghosts of old coffee shops
the sun's been brutal all day and i just checked and it's 25°c there right now, hope you like that kind of thing. bangalore's always got this weird mix of tech bros in sneakers and old men with handlebar moustaches sipping filter coffee on the sidewalk. i'm here for three days, trying to figure out if this city still has a soul under all the glass towers. someone told me that koramangala's the place to be for nightlife, but i heard that it's just overpriced cocktails and bad EDM. i'd rather be in indiranagar, where the bars still smell like old wood and spilled whiskey. if you get bored, mysore and hampi are just a short drive away, but honestly, i'd rather get lost in the bylanes of malleswaram and eat dosas until i can't move. the weather's dry as hell, 27% humidity, so bring water or you'll end up looking like a raisin. i walked past a tiny bookstore today that smelled like dust and forgotten dreams, and the owner tried to sell me a 1970s atlas for twice what it was worth. i almost bought it just for the smell. there's a street artist in brigade road who does portraits in five minutes, but i heard that his work fades if you don't laminate it within a day. i didn't risk it. instead, i sat in a park and watched crows steal samosas from unsuspecting picnickers. life goals. if you're into vintage clothes, check out commercial street-someone said the best finds are in the shops that look like they haven't been cleaned since the 90s. i found a leather jacket there that still had someone's concert ticket stub in the pocket. i'm keeping it. the food here is insane, but i heard that the best biryani is in a tiny place behind a petrol pump in jayanagar. no signboard, just follow the smell of cardamom and your nose. i almost got lost trying to find it, but the guy at the tea stall pointed me in the right direction. tea here is a religion, by the way. don't even think about leaving without trying the masala chai from a roadside stall. it'll ruin you for Starbucks forever. the city's got this weird energy-part chaos, part calm, like it's always on the verge of either exploding or falling asleep. i'm not sure which. but i'll be back. probably.
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