August 21, 2011:I am not a morning person. And certainly not a morning person on a Sunday! So, if I am required to wake up at the crack of dawn ON a Sunday morning it has to be either a compelling reason or something that leaves me with little choice such as, a train/a flight to catch!
So, with a bit of self doubt, I went to bed early last night in the hope of waking up at 5.20 a.m. with not a great deal of lethargy to battle. I must confess though, that I did try to negotiate with myself a bit when the alarm went off this morning. That the reason was compelling & interesting enough this Sunday morning with your partner came to me as a delightful confirmation a few hours later-a lovely walk through the 250 year old pride of Bangalore-Lalbagh. In the last 17 years of my stay in Bangalore, my visits to Lalbagh have been very limited— the flower show in the late ‘90s and about 3-4 visits to the Lalbagh nursery in the past 8 years. I also remember my visit to Bangalore as a tourist of 8 years when the walk through Lalbagh seemed like a drill with my father dragging a whining me behind him.
I had no inkling that my day would eventually unfold into an enjoyable, exhilarating & a unique experience with a bunch of strangers & a highly knowledgeable guide who is into it for the sheer love of the subject. I guess one of the things you realize while traversing through adulthood is that you see the same old world with a new set of eyes. Places that you see as mere landmarks, rushing through your daily humdrum, beating traffic, suddenly become special. For, it is only my female adult brain that can connect a bush that bears fragrant flowers in Lalbagh to the fragrance of Chanel No. 5 that gets sold every thirty seconds around the world. 🙂
The treat for all of us for waking up at the crack of dawn and a 3.5 hour walk through Lalbagh was a sumptuous breakfast at MTR. Perhaps another compelling reason that registered at a subconscious level early this morning was that we would have zero waiting time at MTR that possibly overrode the temptation of rava idlis & masala dosa at MTR! 🙂
So, what’s so nice about going to events for singles with a bunch of strangers? Well, firstly, I feel there is a dearth of interesting events/activities in the city. Even if they exist, singletons like me don’t get around to indulging in such activities often for the simple reason of a lack of a companion to go with and so, one ends up doing mundane stuff like going to the movies or reading a book. What this group of singletons offers me and others like me is not just the choice and the option to participate in fun/interesting things to do but also a feeling of comfort that everyone else around is a bit like you, driven by similar interests. So, you never feel out of place. You get to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Indulge in what you enjoy and also get to meet people from diverse backgrounds and perhaps a certain familiar personality type. And if you get lucky, you might even end up losing your single status. If not, you sure get to find a new dimension of life to meet up with singles over here.
