It was just two days since we were done up with the preparatory examinations. It all happened so Isoon that the two of us desperately needed a break to chill out. We were just browsing through the local daily one day when we came across an article related to the Annual Book Festival which is held in the premises of Palace Grounds each year. Being avid readers and crazy book lovers, we just couldn’t resist the temptation to go visit the Book Fair
We decided to check it out in an instance and fixed on a date comfortable to enjoy the ride of the day.
We then faced a new problem which struck out minds an evening before our expected fun filled day. Lack of private transport and as it being a first trip to the well acclaimed location, it left us with the dilemma on how to reach the place. We then took on the task to enquire with the local shopkeepers just near our residence to know how to reach our destination. We travelled through new roads and realised that there were a lot of places in Bangalore which we never knew. It was a new experience for the both of us and we were very much excited to reach our objective. We finally reached Palace Grounds at about 10am and the big banner
excited us even further. We loitered around for a while clicking way on our mobiles the locales and the banners which waited to welcome us. The ticket counters opened at. 10:30am and we were among other book lovers, which comprised of a dozen school children, teenagers, and to our surprise a large number of senior citizens and house wives. We finally got our tickets (along with the struggle to pay 20 bucks as we had no change and the lady at
the counter wouldn’t give us any) and entered the security bound limits. The streamers at the entrance displayed more than 200 book stalls at the exhibition and to our astonishment about a 100 Kannada sahitya stalls. We entered the premises and were enthralled to loose ourselves among the thousands of books on display. We were in full swing to enjoy ourselves in the warm atmosphere.
It was a lovely place where readers of all ages gathered to see and even buy books. The most interesting part was to see the school children running about to catch hold of their favourite story books. For a moment we were nostalgic and we too were going through the pages of Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and The Baby Sitters Club. There were a variety of books to choose from and a diversity of topics ranging from fiction, suspense, romance, fantasy, horror, science fiction and mystery to health, self help, historical, parenting, family, marriage, baby care, philosophy, religion and psychology. The breeze of the CAT and MAT aspirants flew in to the stalls which boasted of management books and statistics.
There were book stall owners who had flown in from across the country to display their rich
collections. One could buy books at a very reasonable rate and an amazing 10 to 90 percent discount. It was fun to be there to discover new as well as old books, some of them which dated back to fifty years old
Some of the stalls were that of well known ones like Blossoms, Royal Books, Sapna Book House, Gangarams and Book Worm. It was a great buy at some of the stalls which sold old fictions for mere 20 and 30 bucks. We couldn’t resist them and instantly jumped on the offer. Just then we felt our stomach’s churning and we checked out our watch. It was about 1:30pm,
and we had spent about three hours in a dream like state, lost among books. We headed with a sad feeling as both of us did not have the heart to leave. But the hunger pangs forced us to depart and off we left, loaded with memories and loads of books for our personal collection.
Koshi’s, a 68 year old restaurant which is situated on St. Mark’s Road off M G KRoad struck us. We remember it being mentioned by one of our faculties during a casual KRoad struck us. We remember it being mentioned by one of our faculties during a casual conversation and we were much thrilled since long. We were off to our next hot destination and what happened during the next couple of hours we spent there was the most memorable part of the day. The air of authenticity welcomed us as we entered the restaurant. The look of the place just was thrilling as the food. The tradition was truly kept up and there was no tint of disappointment even for a split second. We went on to relish our palates with an appetizer, which was a pan fried chicken with a special koshi’s recipe and it was up to the mark. With two glasses of coke, we enjoyed ourselves through Nan, Chicken Shahi Korma and Chicken Biryani. We ended it with a dessert, which was a Koshi’s special, the details of which if given would be like spilling the beans. It was truly exotic and we just couldn’t stop smiling. The attendants were neatly dressed and showed an air of tradition and professionalism, always at your service with a never ending smile. The crowd was really surprising for a restaurant which began in 1940, comprising of people from various walks of life, many just visiting to sip their relishing coffee and chatting up with friends, while others preferred to be alone and catch up on a novel. We left the place at about 4pm and walked through Church Street and Brigade’s. Church Street too was exciting with many a place to visit. A row of restaurants, including places like K C Das, Coco Groove and Three Quarter’s Chinese made us vow to come back to enjoy another expedition. We boarded back home, filled with exhilarating thoughts and memories of Bangalore on the streets. It just couldn’t get better!
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