Bytes from India by Randa Breuer

  Meet Chief Kempegowda Bangalore Airport Nov. 23, 2023 Researching who airports are named after can at times give us a glimpse into the history of a locality. Of course, many airports simply carry the name of the city or town where they are located, such as the Los Angeles airport in California. Some airports are named after easily recognizable figures such as Ronald Reagan airport in DC; Indira Gandhi  in Delhi. Some airports are officially named after a historical figure, but the name does not stick and the airport is popularly referred to by its location. A case in point is Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport, named after a Catalonian politician who is known in Catalonia as “the first president of the government of Catalonia”. Another is Guarulhos airport, known for the town on the outskirts of São Paulo, despite being officially named after André Franco Montoro, a politician and former governor of São Paulo. In an interesting twist, Dulles airport, named after J...

  Meet Tushar Roy:  Ritz-Carlton  Bengaluru, Karnataka  Meet Tushar Roy. Twenty Seven years old. Manager of the club lounge on the fifteenth floor at the Ritz-Carlton in Bengaluru. Mr. Roy conducts evening art tours showcasing the highlights among the 1250 pieces of artwork at the hotel. He calls it “The Bubbly Art Tour”;  drinks are served and the tour is followed by the Mashal (torch) lighting evening ceremony, out on the hotel portico, adjacent to the entrance’s decorative pool and right next to the Picasso lifelike sculpture, with the artist bored in his rocking chair. The Mashal lighting is a Jaipur tradition, Mr. Roy informed me.   (Photos of the Mashaal ceremony courtesy of Mr. Tushar) Photo below from the hotel Facebook page:  Mr. Roy very kindly agreed to give me my own private viewing of the collection, before my afternoon flight. Our tour took place at 11:30am, after breakfast was served at the lounge and just before lunch started. Tush...