ANOTHER REGULAR WEEK IN BANGALORE...LIKE I LIVE HERE
DECEMBER 22-28, 2025 😎
Not every selfie with one or two others is equal. Shiva, above, is someone with whom I shared an immediate and very warm connection. On this day, when talking about "everyone celebrating Christmas," he taught me about this image, which I've seen a thousand times and how it represents all religions as equal and all of that. It was prompted because he didn't even want to discuss his Hindu upbringing. "What does it matter?" To the left, a mentor-mentee coffee follow-up w/a college kid who requested it at a networking event. Yes, I was the menTOR. 😂
ABOVE: A quasi-regular day at the office on Christmas. I wasn't the ONLY one, but it was sparsely populated. RIGHT & BELOW: A very regular networking event on the evening of the 23rd. Was nice to have something other than selfies and awful pics that I take myself to help set the scene.
I was taken aback when this guy called to me by name at the Tue night event. He remembered me from the first event I'd attended in Nov and while our services and "asks" didn't add up, we enjoyed a fun connection & convo.
This is the temple that, first, a guy from the office "randomly" tod me about. It's also the temple that one of the guys I met from the street scene last week, spontaneously took me to when we were headed to my neighborhood. Then I went on my own on the day after Christmas. The photos are of Jesus (he'd been promoted since it was Christmas and all and there were more formal "services" on Christmas Day). The other photos are of Paramahansa Yogananda (Autobiography of a Yogi), his guru and, I think, his guru's guru. Also, Shiva, and that's all I know. The place is, essentially, in my neighborhood, between where I live and the office I've called my own.
I decided to have a Café Day (vs an office day) on Friday with a dinner slated for that evening at Siva's house, one of the guys in the street scene from last weekend. I'd been to Flax before and my chosen perch, right above the word Flax, outside, was available, of course, because as usual, literally nobody else was there. At 10am. It is never otherwise. From that one seat, I love the view of the park across the street and watching the foot and vehicle traffic below. As I was leaving, I met and had a convo w/Navneet, with whom I wound up having dinner on Sunday. Meanwhile, I also returned on Café Day to this one (RIGHT) because it has an actual bar to sit at (!), which means I can also stand while working, which means I'm not at a table by myself (not a bad thing but bars are always better), which means more possibility to meet people (there were a few before this pic was snapped) AND...I discovered that The Humble Bean serves bulletproof coffee. Woot woot! So, no, that's not milk. It's coconut oil and ghee in black coffee. Yummmmm.
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Meanwhile, Siva (in this case, short for Sivashreet and pronounced as Shiva) not only wanted to cook a not-spicy authentic Indian meal for me (I ultimately won the spice argument), but insisted on coming to get me from his neighborhood about 15-20 minutes away because he loves to ride his bike. I can see why! This is a serious one compared to the two others I've been on. It was an excuse to use my toy helmet -- just enough to keep the cops away, apparently -- and he went way faster than my other two experiences. And compared to a tuk-tuk, which I took home for less than $1.50, the shock absorbers were luxurious!
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He's a funded tech founder (hardware; speakers)/entrepreneur who is also a deeply spiritual person. which is not unusual here in the Silicon Valley of India the way it would be in the Silicon Valley we all know. He shared a lot with me about his journey (he's 30) once we arrived in his two-BR apt while his girlfriend was napping (and stayed napping through our meal). He had prepared dinner before coming to get me and it was so, so DELICIOUS -- and I ate it with my hands. When in Rome, people! And I'm getting used to it. He took a few pics to witness, but I haven't gotten them from him yet. I'll be sharing them for sure when I do.
GOT UP TO ALMOST 40MPH! I'm holding on to handles at my hips.
LEFT: An entrance to my neighborhood from a main road and, then, a few steps into it.
LEFT: There's about an hour in the mid-late morning where the sun hits an outside terrace at the office. You can ALWAYS find me here during that time drinking more in coffee than it costs me to be here.
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RIGHT: A snap of a scene on my way to networking Sunday morning after some alone time in a café in the neighborhood of the event. 😂
Empty chairs and empty tables. Whatever. And I'm not typically a breakfast eater. But this was REALLY good. Avocado/guac on toast, but spread it yourself! A hefty portion under the eggs.
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And a few others showed up before I left.
LEFT: Best laid plans! I'd meant to ask someone to record me when I was talking, giving a mini lecture as it turned out (and apparently well-received), but alas. Totally forgot. And if I'm showing a pic of ppl, it's ppl w/whom I had juicy convos anyway.
Capped off the week with dinner with new friend Navneet, the guy who was coming in to the café (Flax/Conscious) when I was leaving on Café Day. He's NOT an entrepreneur, but kinda new in town on a government job. Water. Very interesting. We went to a place that had been recommended to each of us, separately. Sparesely populated rooftop terrace at happy hour time (not really a thing here) and as romantic as it all seems, sorry to disappoint. No interest on my end and he's married anyway. Wife living in Delhi. Commutes back and forth. I may meet her when I go. She's a recipient in the Clinton Global Initiative and has been to New York for it.
P.S. In yet another nod to city life, networking, and phone phone phone, I have relented to doing some Instagramming this month. If you hang out there, check out @spiritualworkoutonline.
