In the West, people and their administrators alike show a lot of commitment in preserving monuments. To them history need not be all that ancient either because some of the societies were born recently if you look at it from this side of the Time continuum!

In India, we stumble upon history as it were! It is that omnipresent invisible wall that people simply walk into and disappear, like in the movies. Our history lurks around every corner, so to say, hence, without any special effort on your part, you can weave in and out of history at will, as though negotiating through Monday traffic.

I discovered this and more recently on my Bangalore walk with bangalorewalks.com

The background to this runs something like this: Like your usual web search which takes you everywhere else except where you wanted to, once I chanced upon something called "Heritage Walk." This was in New York City. I guess the link was through about.com where I was trying to get familiar with New York. Since it was casual, I came away as ignorant as before; however, 'heritage walk' and 'beer walk' were two things that remained in my mind, the latter a true testimony to the Bangalorean at heart. Obviously, I am joking because beer and me have parted ways.

Perhaps it was the very next search that led me to this information that my own Bangalore city had a Walk! My brief visit to the site www.bangalorewalks.com left me interested enough to refer it to a few friends, period. In true representative style, I did not go myself!

Likewise I have read about a group of people who have got together during weekends and gone on bicycling trips around Bangalore, including a moonlight ride. Now, that's something! As usual I am telling you this is something YOU can enjoy!

Coming back to the Walk, bangalorewalks was in the news recently because of being associated with the "Golden Chariot" luxury train inaugurated by the President recently and rolling out in March. The Walks people had been commissioned to walk the Charioteers through various heritage sites of Karnataka!

Could I keep quiet? NO! I wrote to them and said hey, how can I be a part of this? This guy wrote back and said, come to the Walk instead. Of course I am joking and he was not. I told him the sun rises late in our part of town; he said, that's a typical Bangalorean, get up early one day and join us.

And you know what? I joined them. On a Sunday at 7.00 AM, nothing less! Even now I wonder, whew, how did I manage to do that?!

We were a group of about 15 people, majority of them on a short visit from the US. There were six vehicles parked in the lane. One of them had to be of the guide! The rest belonged to one family and four individuals, all from Bangalore.

Based on the fact that I have spent the maximum time in Bangalore I introduced myself as 'perhaps the only 100% Bangalorean', only to retract it hastily as Arun started darting us with questions about our own city! I mean, how would a casual member of the Walk know all that? Yet, by the time we concluded the walk, I had answered a question or two!

The Bangalore Walk is a short walk down the MG Road that traces the history of Bangalore in a fun way. There is no overdose of nothing. It is a heritage walk in the sense it shows and tells you how Bangalore grew up over the decades, based on whatever still remains standing or being demolished! Now I am not joking because we did see one old building that was pulled down recently. Our foreign friends sighed and collected trophies, even as the security guy walked up and announced that no one would be allowed from next week!

To say anything more would be taking your fun away, whenever you decide to go! It is true that these guys do another walk at Lalbagh regularly on Sundays, besides a whole bunch of custom walks designed for specific groups. That set me thinking, why not a culinary walk in South Bangalore?!

Alright let me stop here, my stomach just growled in anticipation! For, the proof of the pudding lies in the walking!