The entire journey to my office, the one thought that occupied my mind was how do I start differently?

Nandi Hills is probably one of the most talked about and one of the most common places discussed, repeatedly, written endlessly about when in Bangalore. It was the primary reason why we never thought of taking a trip to these hills ever since moving to Bangalore early this year.

With limited time and a brand-new car relaxing in our garage, we decided to take up the trip at 3 in the afternoon. Soon we were gliding at 80km/hr on the NICE highway. The sharp sun provided just the view and the ambience that one would want. It looked nothing like the cramped-up Bannerghatta Road we witness as a daily ritual in the morning, or any of the roads meandering through the city.

Our very own Miami Vice. Well, minus the crime! Drama, oh, on the roll!

Let me engage your eyes in a breather from those excel sheets and colourful presentations. Not a fan of editing, the pictures boast of their glory in their raw, unedited form.

What was the drama all about, I heard you ask? Who doesn’t love a bit of drama! My fiance decided, that we should listen to a decade old song – Kash by Call! Oh, my and the tears came rolling, more than the monsoons that are storming Bangalore nowadays. So all of you out there, who feel that someone should have stayed at a particular point of time with you, irrespective whether they are with you now or not, that piercing, numbing moment, where you wanted someone to stay back there with you or move with you, and it just didn’t happen, for reasons endless, the song is for you!

Moving on, the 1:30 hours were peaceful. Your destination was in nature’s arms, your companion was your whole world and you didn’t have an annoying ‘car-rental company’ sticker on the car. You had earned independence, or at least a part of it. Putting your life, together, bit by bit, is you growing up. Between Kash and the songs that don’t make sense anymore to us millennials, we all grew up.

We had a brief stopover at a restaurant, approximately, 20 kms before our destination. No one can control hunger pangs, especially my fiance. And kids, that’s a good thing. Do not starve yourself for long periods of time. It gives you long-term tummy issues. #TrueStory

I decided to show off my wearable band by TATA Nexon, a first-of-its-kind in the automobile sector – where your car unlocks and locks itself with the sensors it detects through the band. #SafetyFirst. It almost makes people believe that you are a wannabe fitness enthusiast. For me, it made me believe and act upon the involuntary need to look at the watch, a zillion time.

I should stop with the annoying hashtags. Sorry Gen-X!

With the spiral roads starting, 7 kms to go, we were nonchalant about it. UNTIL we almost crashed into a car at a rough 45° uphill turn. We became cautious of the riskiness of the gliding road ahead of us. The slope varied between 45°-60°. The last time I saw a road as steep as this, was in Matheran, Maharashtra.

The views as we drove up the hill, was mesmerizing. Even the best of photographs will never be able to do justice to the adrenaline rush and a heart full of joys at the sight of the city sinking beneath you.

Nevertheless, with an entry fee of INR 100, our car was let in through the gate of the fort, which seemed like that of a very humble ruler, with two small canons on either side gracing the door. The monkeys scared me at one point, but you get used to their sight. After all, haven’t we all evolved from them?

And just like that, 65 kms away, from our nestled home, we witnessed a beautiful sunset, awe-inspiring mother nature and much mushy love!