a spot of heaven

sadhuji

The first time I came to Bangalore was way back in 1975.

I had gone on TD to a nearby Air force base where I received the message about an interview in our Head Office in Bangalore. Immediately, I returned home, repacked my bags and, due to shortage of time, decided to travel by road. Accordingly, I came to the CBS (Central Bus Station) and boarded a bus for Pune. The bus dropped me in Shivajinagar from where I took an auto rickshaw to Swar Gate. Long distance buses normally leave from here. By the time I could gulp down some food to keep my machine in running condition, I spotted a bus about to leave for Hubli. Hubli was en-route Bangalore so I got up, boarded the bus and was pleasantly surprised to find only a handful of passengers. It was an uneventful journey and, early next morning, I took a bus from Hubli for my final destination – Bangalore. This last lap of the journey was miserable for me because the bus was jam packed, I did not get to sit and the crowd understood only the local dialect!

It must be remembered that the period was in 1975 when, even in Bangalore city proper, those who could not interact in the local dialect were viewed with suspicion. However, all said and done, I landed in Bangalore bus terminus towards evening and rushed to the first available hotel in sight in Chikpet. A room with attached bath and toilet was mine for a daily rental of Rs 8.00.
The sprawling bus terminus that one sees today was not even on the drawing board of the city bigwigs! Neither was Majestic and its hustle and bustle. The space in front of the railway station was a huge water hole surrounded by corrugated tin sheets!!

Over the last thirty years, the city has transformed dramatically.

Affectionately called as the Silicon Valley of India, ,it has attracted foreign investments unparalleled in recent times. Another Southern city, one of Bangalore’s close competitors, apparently lost out due to lack of adequate infrastructure.

During this 30 year period, I have had quite a number of opportunities to visit this wonderful city. My family and I have fallen in love with it. Making Bangalore as the base, we have traveled to various Southern destinations like Mysore, Ooty and Sravanbelagola. And – of course – we have never missed the conducted tours of the city proper. Shopping in the Cauvery Emporium for genuine sandalwood products, bargaining in Chikpet for Mysore silk saris, strolling aimlessly on Brigade Road or getting an overview of Ulsoor Lake – your time flies. A highly conservative city where non vegetarianism was taboo today offers innumerable varieties of fish, chicken, mutton and egg dishes. Hindi and English are the link languages. The city of idli-dosa has embraced chana—bhatura with equal ease. This itself speaks volumes for Bangaloreans.
I came here last in December 2002. A flower show was on in the glass house in Lalbagh. It was an unforgettable experience. The sheer variety of flowers and plants on display was mind blogging.

The city really deserves its name - the Garden city. A spot of heaven!

other interesting links:
http://peekayjee28.blogspot.com
http://peekayjee29.blogspot.com
http://peekayjee34.blogspot.com

ramalaka

Cmon, chuck, Bangalore is a polluted s***hole. Most Bangaloreans concede as much saying up until 7-10 years ago, it was a pretty nice place. I know at least 6 families who left Bangalore 5-10 years ago to work in the US or UK and who have returned here to be close to their families. Five of these families are returning to the UK or US as they find life here difficult due to the pollution. non-existent infrastructure. It does have the best climate in India but even that is changing with all the pollution.

oldhippie

One of my Indian buddies originally from BLR returned with his wife and kids after spending 12 years in Hong Kong. The reason he moved was because the pollution in HK was bad. Upon reaching Bangalore his wife and kids had severe asthma attacks and were hospitalised for 3 weeks. They have been there for 3 months now but have decided to move back to Hong Kong as they cannot handle the chaos and pollution anymore.

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Too Many Gandus, Too Few Bullets.

beach

Bangalore was totally diffrent 15 years back. It was really a wondorful, lazy city to move arround. It was called the airconditioned city. Then it was popular for its medical, accademic and R&D institutes.Whitefield was only a jungle.


Then by 1995 sh*t hit the fan.The IT army invaded bangalore. Why bangalore? Becouse that was the largest brain pool of technology people at that point of time.The HP,GE,Philips,..all opened IT shops. People were offered 10 times the salary they have been getting from their government jobs. That was how it all started.


It just went outof control. There was only talk about opening IT parks and special zones and the likes. No one envisaged for the boom in people inflow and the associated problems.The problem is with the cars. Toomany of them were added in no time. Now they are talking(aslo doing something) about the new roads,metro rail, new airports etc. It'll take at least 5 to10 years.


On the first place they should not have allowed the IT crowd to come inside the city. They should have made a seperate city some 30-40 KM away from the Bangalore city (like the Electronic City on the way to Hosur). Becouse IT has nothing to do with the city. Most of the working force are not from the city. They would have easily rented houses in the IT zones, if it was made available. And there was enough place available.


Even today Intel development centre is just opposit to the Leela Palace hotel with the crowded airport road inbetween. Alwaise I see some people wearing Intel ID trying to jumb over the median to go to the hotel. As a person usesd to all these mess, I dont dare to run accross that road. Just imagine staffs from abroad who are new to all these doing it.


Changadababu Naidu did the same thing in his state. He made the IT area far from the city and made connecting flyovers. At that time he was respected for that vission than for being IT savy.That's why he was called CEO of Andhra Pradesh!


OK...OK....Bangalore is sexy. It's the most cosmo city in India. It's not conservative like many other south cities. It has a beautiful garden at the middle of the city.There is a lover's park too

Karma Queen

i love bangalore a lot, but it is badly polluted. if you get into the right places though, it can be quite pleasant!

SHIMLA

Perspectives will always differ. Tourists will almost always have a different opinion about a city from those that live there.

After all, only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches !!

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Whoever said money can't buy happiness didn't know where to shop !

oldhippie

Very True Shimla.

freemanx

after wandering around the city one day i needed a break and sat down on a bench in this park. didn´t take long till a friendly indian sat down next to me and after some small talk he asked me if i was intrested to have sex with him

sadhuji

thanks for admitting that b'lore has the best climate in india.

the attack of pollution is not restricted to only a few cities - even the news channels have started showing the pollution levels of all the metros daily - to create awareness among the citizens. one can not just wish away a cancer like pollution.

ramalaka

Awareness is one thing and doing something about is quite another. Unfortunately, the middle and upper classes of India have not learned from the mistakes of the western countries and seemed to be more intent on creating pollution than attacking it. Making people aware is easy - just step outisde. When it comes to glorifying the internal combustion engine. Just look at all the adverts and clamoring for two wheelers and cars which will only add to the air pollution and noise pollution (about 10% of Indians have a hearing problem - much of it due to the incessant motor vehicle noise and industry while the rural folk develop hearing problems from bacteria which, no secret, is from water pollution. Further more, India's traffic deaths are soaring at a astronomical rate and won't level out until 2042. It has the worst record when it comes to vehicles to population and hit and run accidents are commonplace.

According to India Together, "India has 23 metropolitan cities (with a population of over 1 million) and 5 mega cities (with a population of over 5 million). Less than half of urban India has access to a sewage disposal system. Most of the existing collection systems discharge directly to the receiving water without treatment. Garbage, domestic or otherwise, is directly dumped into water bodies or the roadside which often wash into streams and lakes. Little surprise, then, that a recent study by the Society for Clean Environment (SoCleen) showed that a significant percentage of water in many parts of Mumbai city was unpotable."

SoCleen also noted, "Fecal coliform (bacteria found in excreta), an important indicator of water safety, was several hundred times higher than the norm. For example, samples from Chembur, Masjid, Parel-Dadar, Mulund and Jogeshwari touched 1600 fecal coliform (fc) per 100 ml of water. Safety norms in India set the limits at 10 fc per 100 ml. The WHO says that there should be no fecal coliform in drinking water."

Yeah, India has many opportunities to better itself, and if the 'Garden City' is any indication of where its headed, my exit from Bangalore isn't fast enough.