TURQUOISE CHILL

  Our gracious hosts took us out for dinner today and insisted that we try a seafood restaurant called Mangalore Pearl . I can't even begin to describe the food—it was an absolute feast! I'll simply let the images do the talking. Adding to the experience were the incredible caricatures adorning the walls, which gave the restaurant a wonderfully distinctive character. Mangalore Pearl specialises in authentic coastal and Mangalorean flavours, and our hosts certainly knew exactly where to take us for a memorable meal. If you look them up online, you'll find their menu. Better still, drop into Mangalore Pearl yourself and indulge in their splendid delicacies. You won't be disappointed!

  On our way back from HAL Museum I managed to click some photographs of these old Tanks out side an Army cantonment area we crossed.

So while I was getting amazed with the Aircraft on display at the HAL Heritage Centre and Aerospace Museum, and the constant buzz of LCA Tejas Aircraft & MI-8 Helicopters taking off and landing at the HAL Airport across the road, I suddenly heard the load humming of rotors and instantly knew that there was a Helicopter close by. Suddenly from behind a tree I saw this magnificent bird rise up and just float in mid air while the nose gun turret kept swiveling from side to side. It was an HAL Rudra Helicopter with Indian Air Force markings. HAL RUDRA Specifications: HAL/Turbomeca Shakti engine General characteristics: Crew: 1 or 2 pilots Capacity: 12 passengers (14 passengers with high density seating) or 4 stretchers. Length: 15.87 m (52 ft 0.8 in) Rotor diameter: 13.20 m (43 ft 3.7 in) Height: 4.98 m (16 ft 4.06 in) Disc area: 137 m2 (1,472 ft2) Empty weight: 2,502 kg (5,515 lb) Useful load: 2,600 kg (5,731 lb) Max. takeoff weig...

I was in Bangalore and this was the only place I actually wanted visit. So here I am taking the tour of India's first aerospace museum located at the HAL facility (opposite the old Bangalore Airport) spread over 4 acres. The displays of actual aircraft are very cool and so are the galleries showing historical pictures and evolution of HAL and its contribution to the nation in Military Aircraft as well as Aerospace. The disappointing thing at the end of the tour was the Gift shop, where I was hoping to find Scale Models of Aircraft and other Memorabilia from the IAF (Indian Air Force), but instead it was a dreary sight to see a shelf which housed Handicrafts! That just didn't make any sense whatsoever. Anyway for those of you who would like to visit this wonderful Museum, the details are below: HF-24 Marut 1T (D1698) IAF MIG-21 Bison (Trainer Version) HAL HJT-36 Sitara (IJT), Intermediate Jet Trainer Prototype. HAL Tejas mock-up (LCA) Light Weight...

  We decided to grab lunch at SodaBottleOpenerWala, a fascinating place with its quirky, nostalgic ambience. One of the highlights for me was the HO Scale locomotive running along the ceiling, making its way around the entire restaurant—a wonderful little detail that was impossible to miss! After lunch, we decided to head out to TOIT for some craft beer. We took an Uber to the nearest metro station, Mahatma Gandhi Road on the Namma Metro Purple Line, and continued our journey from there. At TOIT, we indulged in some beer tasting before heading out for what turned into an equally enjoyable auto-rickshaw joy ride —the perfect way to soak in the sights, sounds and energy of Bengaluru!