13th Floor

                        Recently I had been to Bangalore to visit my friend after a long time and also get away from my own hectic life. This was my second visit to Bangalore and a much happening than the previous one. Bangalore, the newest city had already started taking place in my mind since the first time I had landed here but didn't get chance to explore. The second time, all thanks to my him cause of whom I was able to see all the IT parks, residential and commercial places making a buzz in the hearts of people staying here.

                        My friend stayed very close to one of the most sought after places in Bangalore and a few hundred metres of walk from his house would lead you into a world of endless glitters and fashion. The shops of Saree, jewels, dresses..Bling Bling! For men and women.. You name it .. You got it.. And few hundred metres ahead was the place where all the young hearts would be seen walking or getting down from posh luxury cars from nowhere just to enter the midnight life in pubs, lounges, restaurants in evening...
Zomato has done a perfect job in listing out all the restaurants, pubs, lounge, discos in each and every city and Bangalore was no exception. We narrowed down to one such place, Church Street from zomato listing for the night. New place to explore for both of us.
                     Going to a lounge wasn't new for me as I had already been to lounge in Pune but only the crowd over here in Bangalore was pretty different.
                    We started out past 8 for Church street. On the way I could see so much of traffic which Bangalore is famous for. There are malls, there are pubs, there is traffic and there is Metro. Yes I could see a metro train passing overhead while waiting for the traffic signal turn green. I haven't travelled in a metro yet, will definitely try next time I am here.Much of an excitement to see new things in new places in short period of time.
                     The unpredictable weather of Bangalore started showing its colours. The heavy rains had started pouring in as soon as we entered the Church Street only to find long waiting to get table for two.I checked the possibility of getting a table for us but I could only register myself for a table's waiting list by typing in my name and number on the tablet given by receptionist who were busy in enjoying the evening rains, rush and music. As the rains were too heavy to even walk out we decided to wait for our table. I liked the music very much changing beats every minute. Standing just near the entrance door in a corner I was noticing all the guys and gals coming in and going out. Many girls were in trendy outfits, some in cocktail dresses some in tight fitting tops which I had never seen before in the broad daylight except on TV and guys were like tall, well built physique. I was just wondering from where such crowd comes from and they don't look like the normal office goers especially seen in IT industry. My eyes were like popping from left to right up and down to just scan the crowd around me as for me it was totally different from what I had seen at One lounge of Koregaon Park, Pune or Atmosphere 6 of Viman Nagar Pune or even the most famous F C Road of Pune. Watching all over my friend commented we were the only people wearing something that wasn't the lounge or bars dress code. We had gone there within a short notice and completely casual. I felt its OK, Not for a second, I thought that I am wearing something different, not so sexy or hot dress. I had come here to enjoy the ambience and music and not be part of the crowd to get drooled over.
             Now Rain outside, no table inside we had nothing to do but just watch the crowd and wait. I soon realised for another hour we won't be getting any place. But still we weren't letting our excitement drain and as soon as the rain had poured in whatever it had, the drizzles were making their way. We rechecked with the Church Street for the table availability but in vain. So unfortunately we left the pub and now stood outside waiting to decide what next or rather where next in the cold winds and non stop drizzle. Again going through the list we decided to try out luck on for a rooftop.. The 13th Floor. We started walking towards 13th floor. And to my surprise all these pubs are located so closely, they are like just round the corner. Lovely. Perfect night to walk through rains with an awesome person under one umbrella. How Romantic! This situation or going out resembled similar to a popular TV series "How I Met Your Mother" Soon as we came in front of the huge building I was like wow from under the umbrella. The entrance of the building had a huge carving of some statue or figure and it looked cool in the night. I couldn't wait to see what Place we had headed for since it was new for both of us.

Upon entering the 13th floor, we found there a neon sign as below and yet another waiting list here also.

                The rains were one of the main reason for folks to not leave any of such place thus letting the waiting list go on n on. We thought of checking out the place first. We entered through a medium size opening for the lounge, it was dimly lit with small tables arranged on the left and right hand side. The right hand side had long rectangular space with table for small groups of 4/5 and I noticed a group of foreigners also. The space was very small and the pillars were smartly utilised for table of two with tall chairs made for bars and dinning area made around the pillars as you can see below (pic courtesy Google Images). And for what the lounge was famous for ... The view of the Bangalore City... For romantic couple to dine and see.. Couldn't be enjoyed cause of heavy rains and the rooftop restaurant who had aligned dining tables to the wall borders for eating and viewing couldn't be used. All thanks to the rain God for coming at wrong time of the night. 

The Rooftop seating

                 We checked for an empty table and found none so we came out to inform the receptionist at the door if they could arrange a table for two which they did but only we had to pay 2k (entry fee of 1k per head) which would cover the drinks and food, anything extra would be charged separately.
We paid for the entry and had a table for two near the pillar.

               Sitting on the high chair I could just see the people around me in groups or in couples drinking, smoking, laughing and enjoying. The songs weren't that peppy or loud giving the atmosphere a very subtle feel This was totally different than the Church Street where the music was loud, rocking and people were very happening. Till our drinks and food came in I kept staring all around, seeing girls drink and smoke was really amusing. Hearing and seeing it in real is always a different experience. I was slowly getting accustomed to the environment and chatting over old stuff while settling in the music.
               Halfway through the food and drinks music had suddenly started changing, I noticed couples were less and groups were now more in number around us. Couples getting romantic and cozy near the boundary wall while the groups chilling out with cigarettes and drinks. The place was beautiful to see Bangalore from such a great height!
             Some girls from a group started dancing near the wall under the open sky. Seeing them I too felt like getting up and dancing. It was wonderful to see people coming together and having a gala time. By now the rhythm of the music changed to Hindi songs from English pop and some more people from their group joined them and slowly all of them were on their feet dancing to the Hindi no. Maybe now it was the Hindi songs which were making the place alive and awesome. I could feel we were singing lyrics with the song and swaying from left to right. One more song and we were up near the boundary wall of the lounge watching the beautiful night sky above, no rains and lights below on roads and buildings glowing.

My Click of the night View of Bangalore from rooftop, 13th Floor

c'est moi!

                    It was simply amazing and I loved it to the core. I love heights I must say and enjoy been at the top.. the rooftop.. All thanks to my friend for taking me there. We couldn't click much since sky was pretty cloudy and view of Bangalore couldn't be captured in our smart phone cams. In the dark and some lights I could see the Chinnaswamy cricket stadium, Rajbhavan and some towers .. the high rise buildings of Bangalore which may soon be giving way for more rooftop restaurants. Small chat and capturing the view in my mind for the moment to walk down the memory lane in future, 13th floor.
              We came back soon to our table as it was getting cold with rains and midnight was approaching. The music had become even louder and now we were enjoying even more. Happiness knew no bounds.
                 I would surely love to go there again but not in rains.I want to dine near the boundary wall .. rooftop...and see the night time Bangalore with him or maybe with group of friends.
               13th Floor is a beautiful romantic place for a couple to start their dates or to celebrate their love. I enjoyed the second day as well as it was more happening than the first but not much time to write on.
          Bangalore is a wonderful, amazing city and definitely worth the visit. I might consider relocating but for now would to love to visit it often and explore even more places and do some shopping as well :-)
             

Outer Beauty!

                         Every women out there loves to experiment with her look. There are N number of reasons behind it. The most obvious one is to look the best wherever she goes however the secondary reasons could be of being happy, making someone happy or make things happen.

For me changing my look to be precise my hair look was more of towards the secondary reason: Happiness. Considering my little selfish nature of saving more and spending less on myself, hesitation always arose while changing things in my life. 

                       Every change we come across we manipulate in certain ways justify every reason and then accept it. Getting a new look was different. Spending power increased as I started earning and thus the wish to change my hair always kept on peeking every other occasion. Somehow I managed to curb it and I m sure many women would be sacrificing their wishes for countless reasons thus putting themselves in the back seat.

                      One fine day in the last quarter of last year I came to know that I would be awarded the excellence award in my company with cash benefits :-) and my happiness knew no bound. So many things came across my mind on how to best utilize this Prize money as it was going to be an extra earning for me. Definitely I wanted something that would last longer and provide me immense satisfaction for which I thought on it day in and day out. And only thing I use to land up in the end was to do something with my Hair. Yes, my hair. I was so tired of maintaining them with the daily hectic travel and schedule I followed but I didnt want them to cut. So i finally concluded to doing the most awaited wish of mine: hair straightening.

                      And the Journey began to find, research and book an appointment in a reputed Salon. All thanks to IT engineers who precisely rely on the Net for the excess of information at times good for nothing, me not been different I landed up on Just Dial website to find the most reviewed/reputed and renown parlor in my area. It didn't take up much time to fix a date and time with Fit & Fair Spa of Aundh, Pune specialist in L'Oreal Products with the maximum reviews, likes and comments (the social media!) The receptionist at the Salon allured me with his smart marketing tactics of giving discount on the total amount of straightening to which I fell prey but i don't regret it.

                      Ofcourse I did consult all my family members and friends if I should be going ahead with this or not to which I went ahead against all of them and did the straightening.

                     The day I had fixed the appointment with Salon was full of enthusiasm and optimism that I was definitely going to have that change. That day when I entered the salon, to my surprise found no customers inside and I was the first one to enter. Surprised because the receptionist told there are many appointments and i shouldnt be late and there werent any one for any treatment or hair styling etc. Ample amount of time the receptionist and owner of salon both got to convince me tactfully in a price which was way beyond the amount discussed on phone during an appointment and my budget.

The owner- L'Oreal Professional also guided me as to what would suit me Hair straightening or smoothening since both are almost same with minimal difference. She wasnt willing to go ahead with any work on my hair since my hair texture was very good and a hair cut was all that she preferred doing on them. However been so excited and full of hope I convinced her back for what I wanted. She agreed on doing Hair Smoothening, which then i googled and found is nothing but thermal reconditioning. That was fixed but price bothered me and i kept lingering over the price and want.

                       Instead of walking away for getting fooled I stayed back and thought the price would be too high in other areas or may not be and my hair length wasnt short which could be processed in few hundreds. So Yes I said.. and 6 hours of processing my hair started...

My hair got washed thoroughly, they smelled good. Wow.. L'Oreal Professionals

Then next step was of blow dry, now i thought this was so simple which can be done at home also, but wait the people working on my hair were minutely selecting all sections of my hair and blow drying them which made my hair smooth, shiny, silky and almost straight.

Then again the hair were washed .

Next the professional herself started working on the process of applying some chemical, getting them ironed at right temperature for right amount of time without burning a single strand. I liked that kind of dedication and perfection and that's when I realized my money isn't getting wasted. After all the owner had promised me of utmost care of hair which they were taught by L'Oreal.

Hair washed again!

Finally again some chemical for just about ten minutes

Again wash 

And then dry them and comb them to get the wonderful, beautiful new look on your hair.

I forgot to mention, the professional also gave a perfect hair cut to align all the strands in one shape.

I enjoyed the entire 6 hours treatment to my hair and would love to go again once my hair are back to normal shape. 

I must say, girls must try out once in a lifetime this treatment on their hair to just make themselves happy and of course look better. 

Its been five months and I don't have to worry much on my hair in daily travel or once combed.. except for washing which takes up one hour :-( 

Thermal Reconditioning: Thermal Reconditioning, also known as Japanese Hair Straightening and rebonding is an innovative technique from Japan to make frizzy, curly or wavy hair straight while preserving the hair's health. Thermal Reconditioning will improve the hair's feel, softness and shine while making it completely manageable

The days after: You can not wash your hair for 72 hours