Bangalore winters can be tricky. You just don’t want to come out of sheets and peep outside especially on holidays. However, Christmas eve came with its own surprises as the little sister planned an unexpected visit. If you have a younger sibling who happens to be a sister, then you know she is used to getting things her way. So, that is how I ended up planning an eventful Christmas weekend! And we sure did a great job together.
“When in Bangalore, how can anyone miss Brigade road to witness the Christmas craze?”, that is how my friends reacted. And so, I decided to hit the Brigade road. Much to the delight of the cosmopolitan bangloreans, this street takes pride in celebrating every festival or event with equal pomp and cheer. We reached there by 9pm and the street was still buzzing with lights, people and happiness. In namma bengaluru, Christmas is more than just a festival.
If you are in bangalore around the last week of december, do not miss paying a visit to ‘All Saints Bakery’. This place was highly recommended by few friends and I did not regret paying the visit. We relished awesome plum cakes and doughnuts. A gratified tummy really does magic to your happy self! But if food is not your weakness, then perhaps the sparkling decor would do. Silver bells, mistletoes, holly, red and green decorations, jumbo sized stockings and the traditionally decked up Christmas tree. There were hawkers selling all sorts of Christmas embellishments.. mostly the Santa caps. Most people were roaming with their Santa caps on and greeting each other with a Merry Christmas! It is this that I enjoy, when people come together for something common with their hitherto uncommon participation.
Shining with brightly lit lights almost all over, the street was smiling wide as if getting happy to see such paparazzi around for her. People all across were busy clicking selfies and pictures. Couples, group of friends, families, everyone taking their share of pictures on a busy sidewalk. It was a crowded night, and while everything almost looked perfect.. I didn’t see the Santa!! Do you believe this… I didn’t see a single person dressed Santa on Brigade road! Either this year they really did a major blunder, or it was me who was the unfortunate one. I was looking forward to be hugged and handed over some toffees, but anyways :) Also I accidentally bumped into few friends and colleagues from work. Fun just multiplies when you know you have people around, to share it with!
It is customary to shop when on the brigade road! So unless you are one of those saintly stern ones, there is something there for everyone. We took a stroll across the road, ate some bit and also ended up shopping a little. Then walked towards St. Patrick’s Church to spend the rest of the evening there. Graced with green lights, the church looked calm and waiting to begin its usual rituals for the night. People kept coming in through the gate.. beautifully dressed up families walking in, group of freewheeling young folks, a television channel crew lining up to cover the evening and some like me — wandering around. I noticed lots of people, happy faces.. all gearing up to cheer the birth of Lord Jesus, to celebrate holiness of sacrifice and renunciation. Somewhere a part of me wondered.. how many of us today even understand the meaning of these words like sacrifice. Haven’t we become so comfortable in our skin that we rarely muster the courage to even faintly live selfless life.
There are some other Churches that have ceremonial celebrations on the Christmas eve, like Infant Jesus Church at Vivek nagar, St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral at Frazer town, Holy Trinity Church at MG road, St. Mary’s Basilica at Shivaji nagar and Bethel Assembly of God Church. After some lovely time spent at the St. Patrick’s, we set off looking for some place for dinner. Little sister is easily one of the selected devils, who the poor chickens must be dreading. A stickler for chicken, we decided to harm some that night. So we got onto our phones, hunted for some good restaurants close by and ended up at Tandoor. Tandoor is a rather high-end dainty restaurant sitting quietly on the MG road. Both the place and food was just apt for the night. We finished dinner and headed up towards the Trinity Church which is few blocks away from the restaurant. After the holy communion and few prayer songs, we simply headed home.
On the 25th, we woke up with a continued Christmas hangover and decided to give it a perfect ending with an equally endearing brunch. We looked up for some good options and zeroed on Cilantro Halcyon. I chose this place as the menu was quite exhaustive and a pool side seating option sounded exciting. And just like how we imagined, the experience was above awesome! The place, arrangements and staff were all excellent. But the best was the spread of the brunch. Enough and more starters, live counters for pastas, all sort of meat options, wide range of desserts with wine.. who wouldn’t want it :)
So, just like that we had an awesome Christmas eve.
I kind of love these impromptu, fun things that we end up doing at times. For me, it just reassures the feeling of ‘life is good’ :)
Hope you too begin enjoying Life’s sudden surprises and opportunities! Trust me it is worth it :)
Till next time.. just travel!
Cheers!
Sandy
