Bengaluru Days!! 🫶 Part 3

Saved the best for the last—The Backstory, The Trip, and The Future.

Mar 18, 2023

I was worried that my personal stories or my views, in general, would be uninteresting to readers, but I’m glad to know you like what I’m sharing.

The response to the first three issues of Vikra’s Café is encouraging, and it only drives me to write, express, and create without filters. Thank you! ❤️

Before you read this issue, do read Part 1 and Part 2 to get a clear context of where the third part is coming from.

Let’s goo!

Travelling in Ola

I like driving cars. Doesn’t matter how far the destination is or how taxing the journey is, I prefer car because it relaxes me mentally and is therapeutic to me.

I rarely sit in the passenger’s seat in the car, let alone take public transport or cabs. In fact, the number of times I took public transport in the last three years is five times at most.

But in Bengaluru, I booked Ola at least six times a day.

I don’t know how to explain it. It might even sound silly, but I liked travelling by auto—so much that I’m mentioning it in the newsletter, lol.

I’ve been driving all my life, and ‘just sitting and doing nothing’ as a passenger was peaceful.

In control of my schedule

All my previous travel experience was with my family, where a travel agency decides where to go, what to do, and how much time to spend at a location.

For the first time, I travelled with control over my plans and time.

I met people I wanted to meet.
I visited places I wanted to go.
I gave more time to folks I wanted to spend time with.
I walked out when I didn’t get the vibe.

All these steps look small, but I believe they impact our self-image significantly.

After independently managing many factors I’m doubtful about, I certainly feel more confident and assured about myself.

Introducing the Gang!

The Journey

In my 24 years of existence, I’ve known Sreekar for 23 years. We went to the same school and never lost touch, fortunately or unfortunately.

It was more like growing up with a brother than having a friend.

This was us in 2016. Could have posted something from school, but I was too lazy for that 🥲

Around eight months ago, Sreekar introduced me to Vidya and Anangsha in a book club. I had a fantastic day + Got a glimpse of how wonderful meeting like-minded people would be.

From the first day to even today, whenever I see Vidya, I remember my sister. Maybe it’s because of the facial features or some sort of vibe, idk, but it surprises me how I think of my sister every time I see her.

Also: Vidya is our Gang’s mom. :p

Anangsha, I always look up to her. The success she has achieved as a writer is inspiring, and even more than her success, you gotta love the person she is.

This was from our book club. From left: Vidya, Me, Sreekar, Anangsha

A week later, I attended a Notion workshop in Hyderabad, where I met Vyshnavi for the first time. Sreekar and I were deciding where to eat, and Vyshnavi came up to us and asked, “How did you guys come?”

“Car,” I answered.
Vysh: “Are you going towards the nearby metro station by any chance?”
Me: “Uhmm, not really sure. We haven’t decided where to go yet. Do you know any place (in the direction of the metro) where we can have good food? We can drop you on the way.”
Vysh: “I planned to go to Roast 24/7 with a friend. It got canceled, so I’m heading back home rn. You can try that place. It’s new, and I heard it’s good.”
Me: “In that case, why don’t you join us for dinner?”
Vysh: “Sure, we can do that.”

That’s how in 30 seconds we headed to dinner without even saying hi, hello. 😂

Fun Fact: We didn’t know each other’s names until we got in the car.

This was right after our dinner at Roast 24/7

In August 2022, I met Aravind at the book club. We had some high funda conversations about books, business, etc.

Nice guy to talk shop, I thought.

Now, we are comfortable to talk about all kinds of stupid things and randomly message each other at any time about anything.

He is THE nicest friend I’ve made in the last decade.

PS: If you love coffee, you should talk to Aravind. He is a coffee geek.

I’m talking about the guy next to me 👀. This was the first time I met Aravind.

A week before this meet-up, Aravind met Vidya and Anangsha at a café. They invited him to the book club, where we discussed the concept of meeting once a week to work from cafés—mainly to focus on side hustles and personal projects.

And that’s how the Work From Café Gang was born.

Months later, I met Ibrahim at a networking event.

Aravind, Sreekar, and I asked a few people we met at an event to join us for dinner, and Ibrahim was one of them—Smart and cool guy to hang out with.

It is a good ritual we’ve built: Taking people we vibe with to dinner after the event. I don’t think enough time is spent at an event to know a person properly. Post-event dinners are the best to make new friends or build strong connections.

So that’s The Gang for you!!

Okayy back to the trip: Vidya, Vyshnavi, Aravind, Ibrahim, Sreekar and I went to Bengaluru.

This is what we did 👇

The Masti

Late-Night Conversations:

I love it when you talk for hours without realizing it’s 2 am, 3 am, 4 am... It’s an indicator you are enjoying conversation and don’t really care what time it is, what your plans are for tomorrow, and if your sleep is fucked. You just want to live the moment.

We had countless such conversations. From personal to professional, fun to dark stories, group ranting to debates, we’ve covered everything.

The maturity levels of this group make sharing personal stories comfortable, easy, and light—and it’s hard to articulate how magical it is to experience all these together.

Didn’t have many pictures because we were all busy talking and kept our phones away. Managed this though, Thanks to Vysh. This was around 2 am.

Checking out cafes, streets, and clubs:

Bengaluru Cafés have my heart.

We explored beautiful cafés like Araku, Copper + Cloves, Kunafa Story, Humble Bean, and Go Native.

Sleep deprived souls at Copper + Cloves. Btw, that’s Ibrahim in the green shirt.

I ask you to visit all these places—food is sexy and the settings are aesthetic.

But if you have time to visit only one place, don’t miss Go Native. It’s a vegan + vegetarian café. Honestly, doesn’t matter if you are a vegetarian, vegan, or non-vegetarian, just visit this place as a food lover, and I assure you won’t get disappointed.

Right after having food babies at Go Native

All of us love books. How can we not visit Blossoms?

Again, Blossoms is one store all the Kannadigas recommended, and we understood why when we got there.

I love hugeeee stores that give crazy options and you get almost everything you want. I bought only two books as I got a few at the Hyderabad Book Fair last December, and I didn’t want to club my shelf with unread books.

Here’s what I got:

Almanack of Naval had a big impact on me. I always wanted to have a paperback, so I bought it.
I wanted to explore fiction. So I purchased beautiful and short Ruskin Bond stories.
Ibrahim gifted me The God Delusion. It is my current read, and I’ve already started to enjoy the perspectives of the author, Richard Dawkins.

I’m not a club person. I’m more of a café or nature person. But as they say, “Places don’t matter when you’re with the right people.” Everywhere you go, you have fun. That’s what happened.

We went to Boho and Tipsy Bull.

Apparently, Boho is one of the most happening pubs in Bengaluru, and we visited it on a Monday afternoon. 🤦‍♂️

So it’s just us in the bar. 👀

But I loved the place and the food.

Next time, I’d love to see Boho in full swing!!

We did it right with Tipsy. We arrived around 11:30 pm, and the atmosphere was electric!! Loud music and everyone dancing is just ⚡️

How wholesome is this pic? My heart 👉 🥰🥰🥰

It never felt like a trip

Not even for a second I felt I was on vacation. It was more like I was living in the city with my roommates.

I gotta say my Gang will make a hell of roommates + I’m sure we’ll lose many nights’ sleep just talking and chilling.

The comfort to correct

There were a few instances where we all did things we shouldn’t have (unknowingly, of course—we are innocent souls).

But every single time, we waited for the right moment and corrected each other, mentioning what we thought was right. It is rare, at least in my experience with groups, that people maturely sit, discuss, and communicate. I am glad we provided each other with that comfort.

What this Gang means to me

I’ll start with this 👇

I know many people, but I have only a few friends.

It is hard to label what all these folks mean to me, and ‘Friends’ definitely is an understatement. I have no idea what to call what we have.

I was never close to my family. Will it be like this if I was close to my cousins?

I don’t have siblings. Is this how it would be if I had siblings?

I don’t know, but it’s definitely special.

Maybe I don’t need to label anything. For now, I just need to treasure this bond and live all the lovely moments I got with them.

Life.

My Top 10 recommendations if you plan to visit Bengaluru

Church Street: To experience the soul of Bengaluru
Go Native: For good foooood
Rameshvaram Café: Love South Indian breakfast? Don’t miss RC.
Cubbon Park: For walks, peace, and nature.
Humble Bean Coffee: Good coffee, good vibes, work culture.
Copper + Cloves: Tasty food that’s healthy
Araku Coffee: For folks who love working from cafés
Samsung Opera House: I loved the concept. You might too.
Blossoms Book Store: Do I even need to say anything?
India Chai: Love chai? Must try!

My plans for travel

Aravind told me at the end of 2022 that he’s planning to travel every 8th week in 2023. I don’t know if he will do it, but I loved the concept so much that I decided to do it.

Only after travelling to Bengaluru I realized it’s not that hard to travel.

Every 8th week is the last week of every second month—it seems doable. It makes booking + planning easier. I can also finish my work in advance and inform my clients early.

I placed my first step correctly when I travelled to Bengaluru in the last week of February. Now, I plan to continue what started right.

My views on travel changed.

Earlier, it was about visiting good places. Now, it’s more about meeting people—both the ones I know and strangers, listening to local stories, and of course, visiting good places.

Thanks to my profession, I can work remotely and have the freedom to move around.

What’s the point if I don’t leverage it?

What can you expect in the future from Vikra’s Café?

I understand it’s been all about my trip and travel experiences so far, but this newsletter is much beyond that.

Of course, I’ll be sharing my real-time experiences, but let me repeat what’s on the landing page:

I share my unfiltered beliefs, BTS of life, and sometimes rants.
What you can expect: Glimpses of my personal life, ideas and opinions on a wide range of topics: cinema, music, characters, God, business, philosophy, books, travel, relationships, history, food, and many moreeee.
What you shouldn’t expect: Advices or educative content. If Vikra’s Café provides value, great! But I don’t intend to teach anything—I just express myself.

I end Bengaluru Days Part 3 here.
It was lovely sharing my experience.

Meanwhile 👇🏻

Vikra’s Café