The real reason why the visit to Shantiniketan mall today made me nostalgic about 2024. What do you feel?
So yeah as I shared in my previous post, I went to the Nexus Shantiniketan mall in Whitefield area of our city Bangalore in India to watch this latest Bollywood movie Welcome to the Jungle in the megaplex named Cinepolis. So the movie was funny and everything but the visit made me extremely nostalgic about Jan 2024 and yes this nostalgia isn't about the mall itself. I feel nostalgic because I remember my 1st semester of MBA was over and we were visiting our hometown Siliguri in West Bengal state of India. So we were traveling by flight so we boarded the plane from the Terminal T2 of our city Bangalore's Kempegowda international airport which was new and genuinely beautiful and huge and it felt more like a mall than an airport terminal with all these showrooms, Cafes, restaurants etc. As I have an exploratory mindset, I was exploring around the airport for sure and I was 23 at the time. I was also super excited to visit my hometown Siliguri after over a year of not visiting it. But yeah I enjoyed the vibe of it so much at the time.
So in Shantiniketan mall especially while entering in the lowest section of the mall, I saw all these stores like a Grocery store, an electronic showroom, Cafe Lavonne, Decathlon, another restaurant, Leon's Burgers and Fries which aren't in the food court of the upper floor and also there are large stairs-like seated area which takes us to above floor which also has a Starbucks joint. All these looked very similar to the Terminal T2 of the airport. I have been to this mall so much times before but I only noticed the similarities today maybe because the last time I have been to Siliguri was in Sept 2024 so yeah haven't travelled much for a while. Even the washroom in Cinepolis made me remember the airport terminal especially when I went to the washroom in the airport and worried about the boarding time haha. Yeah at 25 now I get nostalgic easily about that time as life seems stagnant now as I am job searching. Yeah recently I have been visiting more luxurious and international style malls in Bangalore like UB City mall and 1MG Lido mall but Shantiniketan mall especially the lowest floor gives the terminal T2 vibes. The same smell of coffee was there too just like the airport had. And then the transition to the boarding gates and then boarding the flight, then haulting in Kolkata's international airport where I explore too and then reaching Bagdogra airport of Siliguri makes me miss that journey itself now.
So in Shantiniketan mall especially while entering in the lowest section of the mall, I saw all these stores like a Grocery store, an electronic showroom, Cafe Lavonne, Decathlon, another restaurant, Leon's Burgers and Fries which aren't in the food court of the upper floor and also there are large stairs-like seated area which takes us to above floor which also has a Starbucks joint. All these looked very similar to the Terminal T2 of the airport. I have been to this mall so much times before but I only noticed the similarities today maybe because the last time I have been to Siliguri was in Sept 2024 so yeah haven't travelled much for a while. Even the washroom in Cinepolis made me remember the airport terminal especially when I went to the washroom in the airport and worried about the boarding time haha. Yeah at 25 now I get nostalgic easily about that time as life seems stagnant now as I am job searching. Yeah recently I have been visiting more luxurious and international style malls in Bangalore like UB City mall and 1MG Lido mall but Shantiniketan mall especially the lowest floor gives the terminal T2 vibes. The same smell of coffee was there too just like the airport had. And then the transition to the boarding gates and then boarding the flight, then haulting in Kolkata's international airport where I explore too and then reaching Bagdogra airport of Siliguri makes me miss that journey itself now.
22-25, M
