Dezine Zync

Last week, I mentioned I’d be traveling this week to Bengaluru and I was really looking forward to this trip for multiple reasons.

A Decade Later

The last time I was in Bengaluru (then called Bangalore) was in 2014 for TiConf, and prior to that, in 2012 for some work. During the first instance, I was housed in Electronic City Phase 1, and during the latest, at a hotel (I can’t remember the name) near the Comissioner’s Office/Residence.

During the latest instance, I was lucky enough for my friend, Praveen, to take me to a local hot-spot for dining: The Coorg Dinner Hall (near Toit Bar). It was an amazing meal, and I still vividly remember it, our hostess, her kindness, and gentle approach towards her customers.

Since then, the place has closed down and I wish I had another chance to visit it before it did. Alas!

Back then, Bangalore had only a small stretch of its metro operational at MG Road. I wasn’t too enthusiastic to spend time trying it out.

A decade later, Bengaluru’s landscape has changed and for the better! The highways are better, smoother, the on-off ramps are better marked, the metro has expanded to more regions, and is now packed with commuters (I did try it out for a 7km stretch). However, being from Pune, I couldn’t help but notice how poorly exectued the fly-over bridges were. They are built well, and they’ll last, but the lane management isn’t there at all! For the first time in my life, I saw traffic police managing traffic flow on a fly-over bridge! Pune and Mumbai have some of the best bridges, and perhaps the city engineers here know solutions to a variety of problems having constructed so many! But it’s really difficult to break down ones which are causing issues and build new ones (ask me, I know! We’ve seen multiple fly-over bridges being demolished and re-constructed in span of just a decade :D).

Center Stage

I was in Bengaluru for a private event hosted by the Developer Relations Team at Apple! I got to meet my fellow Indie devs whom I’ve known online for several years, and folks at Apple whom I’ve been communicating with for the past few years.

It was an inspiring meet, with all of us sharing our experiences with our respective apps, trying out new hardware, and discussing future plans.

The Apple offices are beautiful, warm, inviting, and packed with lots of tech that isn’t a part of their retail chain.

With the event and formalities wrapped up, it was time to head to Navu Kitchen with my long time friend, Rahul, whom I was meeting after 5 years!

With witty conversations, the food flowed and amazed us. Here are some of my favourite plates (names in alt tags):

My Stay

I was staying at the Renaissance Bengaluru Race Course Hotel which offered incredibly scenic views of the Race Course, and the Vidhan Soudha.

I continue to be immensely amazed by the quality of photos from the iPhone 16 Pro.

The Weekend

Back home by the weekend, and I missed the kiddo so much! Spent an entire day with him, culminating with the 30th birthday celebrations of a friend.

And on the following day, the birthday celebrations of my granny, the Marathi New Year of Gudi Padwa, and another relaxing day!