I realize that with all my traveling and long days at work (I don’t leave the office until around 6pm) I don’t really get to explore much of Bangalore. However, every time I return from one of my weekend trips I am so glad to be back, so I decided to take a break from traveling and explore Bangalore for a weekend. Amazing things happened. Here is a rundown of my adventurous Bangalorean weekend.
On Saturday I went to the Yogisthaan café a place my friend Jacob who interned at Jana last summer recommended. I spent hours lounging around reading a book, drinking tea and having the best veggie burger I’ve ever had in my life. After this I went to Jayanagar to check out D-Mart for some groceries. D-Mart is basically the Indian version of Walmart and it was really fascinating to visit a hypermarket here, since I do most of my grocery shopping in my neighborhood family owned grocery store. In Jayanagar there is a night market that a colleague had suggested. I went to the market which was only a 10-minute walk from D-Mart. The market was really incredible, parts of it were inside and parts of it were outside and it housed literally everything you could need. Ranging from fresh produce to clothing, flowers, hair products and school supplies. All this time I had been traveling to other cities to go to markets, yet the best market I’ve been to in India is right here in Bangalore!
Black Bean Quinoa Burger
Check out line at D-Mart
Nightmarket at Jayanagar
On Sunday, I went for a run at Cubbon Park, which reminded me a lot of Central Park in NYC since they are both the “lungs” of their respective cities. On Sundays the roads around the park are closed for traffic and it is really a runner’s paradise, although outdoor running doesn’t really seem to be a thing here and people prefer to walk their dogs and do other leisure activities in the park. After brunch, I headed to MG road to visit “Bookworm”, a famous bookstore that one could easily spend all day in. After visiting a few other book stores I decided that I wanted to take the metro for the first time! I missed being able to take the subway to get around and the Bangalore traffic only made my nostalgia stronger. The Bangalore metro is not extensive but it is very clean, fast and very cheap. I ended my weekend feeling very happy.
Happy New Yorker on the Bangalore metro!
I’m really lucky to be spending my summer in Bangalore. Thousands of people migrate to Bangalore from all over India for the work and other opportunities. The great weather, friendly people and green spaces make me appreciate not just working in Bangalore but living here (even if only for a few months). As my time here is more than halfway through I am beginning to realize that I have become very accustomed to many things here. I remember thinking how overwhelming this place was during my first week, but that also means that it has so much to offer and I’m really glad to be taking advantage of what the city has to offer.
Updates on my project: Last week, I met with the JFS team to present the data we have been working on and to get their feedback on how we should proceed. Our deliverables have become more clear and we are working towards fine tuning the data to give JFS a short list of agents in Bangalore that they should reach out to, with the three main criteria being proximity to Jana Center, loan size and segment. Most of the data analysis at the beginning of my internship was exploratory and looking for trends so it is really exciting to finally be putting all of that together to reach a final deliverable.
CASI Student Programs Blog 