India trip

I am back from India. It was a nice trip personally.
I have some observations to make.
When I landed in Bangalore, it was not like going home, as I am always used to going by train and the restlessness which used to start when the train reached krishnarajapuram and started its snails pace (it was an express till then and used to become a passenger stopping at all sundry stations) was absent.
The roads in bangalore have become worse to say the least. This I noticed in national high way from trichi to palani also, which previously used to be a smooth ride. This was due to rains I understand but wonder when they will repair it.
The traffic in Bangalore has reached a nadir. I wonder when the whole city will come to a stand still. Our driver commented, that we might go and come back from tirupathi again, by the time we could reach home, in the city's traffic, once we reached the city limits. It might have been an exaggeration but it was a chaiotic traffic.

Chennai, when I alighted in the Rly. station in the early morning the visibility was almost zero. It was not even 'boghi' festival. I was told that for few days chennai was witnessing this fog, which I had heard about only in Delhi when vinu used to go back after his christmas holidays to Pilani. The result, for the prepaid auto we were charged 90rs. instead of the usual 70rs. One thing which is a blessing in Blore which has not changed is the auto fares and the good drivers.
We had a good darshan at palani and a new addition is the rope way (sky way). We went by it and the scenery was breathtaking from the carriages!(what is it called) They could have got a nice ones like Genting, what they have the rusted iron carriages which are not even painted brightly. The helpers or what ever they are called lock them mannualy and open then with a key . Maybe we have more man power.
We had a wonderful darshan in Tirupathi and thanks to the computer and the webcam, we could book our darshan time from blore it self. The climb was also nice with lovely shelter throughout and nice coffee shops and knick knacks and what not available on the way to the temple town. We were told the crowd was very very negligible and so we could have darshans on both days and our queue time of darshan was less than an hour for 50rs and 100 rs tickets. At one point I thought there may be a stampede as they let in too many people but while nearing the sanctum sanctorium the crowd was thinned out. Though we could have darshan for only a couple of seconds or may be one or two minutes, it was worth it because of our faith. It is a miracle that they manage day in and day out such a large gathering with such ease and I was satisfied with the darshan as hordes of people were waiting for their turn.
One thing which was lovely through out was the food we had in different restuarants. The annapoorna in coimbatore was nice and so also the arya bhavan in dindugal, and palani and the best was the kamat yatri nivas in hoskote on the way back to bangalore.
The fruits and vegetables in Bangalore Gandhi bazar was excellent with north indian gajar to mattar and mocchkkai and what not. The pomegranate was of the best variety which used to be available only in Delhi and was known as kabul variety. The cost was quite high but the quality of the products were really good.
So with mixed feeling I came back only to read in samachar the day I landed here that the airport authority employees were on strike and there was delay in all the international flights and utter confusion in the airports. I thanked God that the strike did not start the previous day.