Bangalore - a city known for its lush green gardens, scenic beauty and great weather all year round. Bangaloreans claim that the city is an Indian metropolis with a modern outlook. It is supposed to be the heart of the booming Indian software and electronics industry.
Sure, the illusion lasts for a week or a month. But let me tell you what Bangalore is really like when the smokescreen clears. For the metropolitan city that it is embracing people from all over the country, how about having a street sign in English or Hindi, for God’s sake! All road signs are in the local language, Kannada. Even the public transportation has signs in Kannada alone. I thought Chennai was bad when they insisted on putting up anti-Hindi protests everywhere. But at least they compensate for it by writing the bus destinations in English as well as Tamil!
Now to the root cause of the problem, the people of Bangalore. The state has been aptly named "Kar-natak" (make a scene). Sometime back they have imposed a seven-week moratorium on all non-Kannada movies here, meaning that movies in all other languages will be released only seven weeks after they have released in the rest of the country. This is supposed to uplift the sagging Kannada film industry, since nobody, not even a kannadiga, watches their lousy movies otherwise. Has anybody heard of anything more preposterous than this? Maybe Thackeray’s plan of driving all non-Maharashtrians out of Mumbai came close.
Even with the "modern and broad" outlook the Bangaloreans have, companies still prefer to recruit only from local colleges, preferably kannada speaking populace. During official meetings, lunch or any other team gatherings, they speak almost exclusively in Kannada, so a non-speaker (like me) is absolutely flabbergasted in all weekly meetings and conferences. And to think that the French are snobbish!!
Public transport: Autos: another big pain the ass. The drivers are rude and are very choosy as in which route passenger they would take. Aren’t they supposed to take any fare as per law? Thanks to our disfunctional police staff who are more engrossed in making money out of the thelawalas and roadside chaiwalas. The auto drivers have very outrageously lamest possible excuses for not taking a particular fare. Some samples when asked for a ride- Its too far (why the hell would I take a ride if its close by?). Its too close (really? I think I should walk instead), There is lot of traffic (and you do not want to contribute to the traffic?) I wont get a return customer from there (how about I drop you back here?) and and the list goes on. Another problem, if you don’t have change you are screwed. Fisrtly the meter runs faster than the olympic winner and on top of that you end up paying extra bucks as they would never have change. I mean common guyz you are working stop begging for heavens sake. $#@&^%.
Nightlife: A typical Cosmopolitan city like bangalore which has a sizeable section of youth, business travelers, tourists and even local citizens, is devoid of night life. Bangaloreans, who work late into the evening and need some time for relaxation and recreation cannot do anything after 11:30 pm. Its sad that the Sillicon Valley of India is forcefully slipped into sleep before cindrella hours while the other countrymen in different cities have good time till late hours. The reason offered out for such rule is to control crime rate and safeguard the citizens from the mishaps at belated hours. Many big cities of the world allow an active nightlife but are by no means unsafe. Moreover, this shows sheer incompetancy of the local “4 kilo tond waale so called policemen”.
Still, one learns to get around. For all the deriding remarks I made about the people here, I must say this: there are some who are very helpful in every way possible. Some of them even go out of their normal routine to help a stranger out, which is unheard of elsewhere in the country. They are also very conscious of their image and communicate very well beyond the language barriers that exist. Even though Bangalore is a sleepy little town, people sure are active during the hours that the city is awake. Not too many lazing around, it’s a nice thing to see. Take in the good and filter out the bad, that’s what I am here to do. While in Bangalore… "Namma ooru, Bangalooru!"
11 comments:
A very hard hitting post indeed..I remember the 7 week drama , i was in blore at that time during my struggling days, such a pain. No job and no entertainment too. And The Autos in blore really suck, u feel like hiting them when u see their nakhras. You hate it even more when you have experienced the ride here in Mumbai. I really think that you can say a lot about a city when u interact with these people. Mumbai rocks..Thanks Pradip this was a sort of an eye opener
Would like to highlight one more Lame excuse by Auto drivers to mint money.. "Its raining pay extra" (Monsoon special offfers).. and that extra would be just 40-50 Rs more on the Meter charges:D.. i think they perfectly fit the tagline of "ye dil maange more"..
Yet another Indian american who goes to Italy and expects Italians to speak English. Stop complaining man..If you can learn Hindi then you should learn kannada too as thats the language of the place, you are making a living. You are free to speak in your mother tongue but don't expect the auto walas in Bangalore to speak hindi and english.
Great blog dude. very accurate. Yeah auto driver's are a menace. They need a lesson in politeness and traffic manners. The truth is that its not very different in New York...however, since the cops are so strict..they somehow manage to control them. We need some honest and strict traffic cops back in blore.
Guess u were mad as hell while writing this..... Come to Mumbai.... at least it will ease some difficulties... :-D
And i especially liked the mention of :"4 kilo tond waale so called policemen"..... :-D
I agree with Manas, Mumbai will heal ur wounds to some extent..aur bhai Salsa idhar bhi mil jayega:)
Mumbai ... ahem ahem ... was in pune ... mumbai's younger brother ... and i dont think it was any better than blore ... weather is much better here :D
Its just the frustration that I vented out and I believe almost every non-banglorean would agree to it :P
hehe u went to the younger Brother.... huge difference!!!
@Pradip - I almost read your entire post today and can't hesitate to accept I had absolutely amazing time.Awesome!!
@Narendra - why most of the ppl in south has misconception of Hindi being a North Indian Launguege? Dude! FYI, it's your National lang too. While I am not trying to be fanatic about Hindi, I wonder sometimes in which launguge you sing National Anthem.
@Ajith...As per the constituition of India ,niether is it mandatory to speak Hindi nor is Hindi an official language in all the states of India. The whole concept of national language is so skewed and misunderstood. Unless you have studied in a school under some central board Hindi is not even a part of the curriculum in most schools that are under a state board. India with all its diversities and complexeties does not need a National language. As for the National Anthem, I am not too sure if you really understand what it means. Go check out yourself, so I prefer not to comment in this regard.
In the midst of all this you seemed to have missed the whole point, i.e. to accept the culture and traditions of the place you earn your bread. We as a country tolerant to such differences and dont need a common language to unify us.
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