Automotive Expo 2009 - BIAE 09

The Bangalore International Auto Expo 2009 happened at Palace Grounds from Jan 9th to Jan 11th. The Arien wanted to leave as early as post lunch so the place would not be too crowded but whom was he kidding - the crowd at the expo never ceases to amaze me. We finally left only at 5. We have almost made the Auto expo visit a tradition - the Arien truly lowes going to the expo - I can only say that I am dragged along.

The drive takes almost an hour and a half - thnx to B'lore traffic - and we walk into the expo at 6:30 - the Arien is pretty upset as the expo closes for the day by 8:30 and he feels we may not have time to see everything. The Arien stands in the queue for the tickets that are reasonably priced at Rs. 49/- per person and reminds you of Bata and their 399, 499, 199 pricing style. The Arien informs me that the change is never returned and so whts the beeg idea of this stooopid 49, anyway - they cud have priced it at Rs.50/-

The first thing we both stare at in awe are not the latest wheels but the Bangalore Palace - if you have not been to this part of the Palace Grounds - there are chances you may not even be aware that this palace even exists in Bangalore - I have lived here a solid 10 years and I have been to the Palace Grounds a zillion times for shows, concerts, etc. but have never set eyes on this palace. The Bangalore Palace has been modeled after the Windsor Castle in England and is currently owned by Wodeyar. The Arien's mood has been restored and he is happily shooting away.

The expo was not as huge as usual and we were a lil surprised at tht. I was thankful - we wud be able to see all the exhibits and also my feet wud not hurt much :P For once, I was wearing sensible sandals - not footwear that was gud-looking and not meant for walking. My patience level was a lot higher than usual, thanx to my comfy shoes :D

An interesting exhibit at the expo was the Garuda project from the RV College of Engineering. Their exhibit was already in the news sometime ago and so we thot we must talk to a few of the students - however, the sheer number of folks milling arnd - made us change our mind. We took a few snaps and moved on. It looks kinda like the car in the movie "The Fastest Indian".

The next place tht we moved to was so crowded - I was not so sure I wanted to get pushed and pulled - however, one glimpse at the ATVs and I was drawn in. The one thing I noticed was tht it did not matter how rich or how poor you were, what age group, gender you belonged to - the ATVs had everyone staring in awe. In case, you are wondering wht the hell is an ATV? - Do not worry - I was also bulbing until the Arien told me it stands for- All Terrain Vehicles. Ppl flocked to take snaps of themselves with the ATVs - it was so funny!

Yamaha had their own stall. There were quite a few stalls that consisted of all the accessories such as the hub caps, interiors, navigational systems, and a lot others. The women who were sharing brochures of these "marty" Ovilon interiors - were dressed to kill - they were wearing leather boots, denim skirts, and clingy tops - me thinks most men went there jes to stare at them :P

Was it boring? Naaaah... I guess it jes did not enthrall enuf :( We left by 8:10 - after visiting the food court.