I came to Bangalore in September 1993. Till summer of 1996, I enjoyed my post-college years with some of my great friends there. From 1996 to February 1998, I used to shuttle between France, Bangalore and Kerala. Then, I went to USA and for six years, have not really thought about Bangalore. Since February 2004, I am back in Bangalore. I will be a temporary bachelor -- wife is in Kerala -- for a while. It is almost like my bachelor days; wandering around on my old Suzuki Samurai. Almost every weekend, I go to Kerala to be with my family. So, my exploration of the "new" Bangalore has been limited to daily trips to office and occasional shopping trips.
Here are some notes on what I saw and heard in the last month.
First impressions
In 1998, IT was getting to be popular. Now, Bangalore might be the only city in India where engineers outnumber government employees. There is no escape from IT and BPO. Anywhere you go, you will have to hear two or more people talking about Java or .NET or whatever is the latest buzzword. Sickening! It is almost like Americans' obsession with weather. The crowds are about 10 times more. I was taken aback seeing fly-overs everywhere. In any case, nobody follows traffic rules.
Perhaps as a result of all this traffic and construction work, it is even more of a dust bowl these days. The thick black smoke from vehicles used to be the norm 10 years ago. Now it is thicker dust that follows vehicles. Bangalore used to be known as a charming retirement city. If you are old and want to retire to Bangalore, rest assured that you won’t enjoy your retirement here for long.
LandscapeC
onstruction. Apartments and houses are being built at an enormous rate. Understandably, it is an ungainly sight in most places. Bangaloreans were not very keen on preserving open spaces. They haven’t changed a bit. In most places, if you stretch your arms outside your house, you will most certainly knock your neighbour’s window.t is still not the concrete jungle that Bombay is. Getting there fast enough.
Fashion
Six years ago, one had to go to M.G. Road to see fashionable --usually horrible to talk to-- people. Now all sorts of nutty fashion can be seen pretty much all around. I think the spread of IT/BPO outlets around the city has caused this. People so badly want to stand out . Girls seem to have created different variations of the plain old churidar. Now the cuts on the sides go all the way up to the waist. On windy days, it is such a disgusting sight to see it flapping around. Another style is thigh-high tops. These have matching pajamas, so it looks pretty neat at times. Purple lipstick seems to be popular - yuck! Guys these days spend way too much time with their facial hair. Various styles of beard --or rather streaks of chin hair-- were seen. I saw a guy wearing trowsers of the type J.Lo wears when she is on stage! Both ladies and gents have acquired very good taste in dressing up for work. Particularly, gents wear great ties and fantastic shoes.
Mobile phones
Telephone is one of my three sworn enemies. Imagine my shock to see everybody having mobile phones here! Anyway, I too got one yesterday. Eight years in western countries and I avoided it like plague! A month in Bangalore and I already bought my first mobile phone. Anyway, I still can’t understand what is there to talk about so much. If you thought using mobile phone while driving was bad, you should come to Bangalore. They talk even while driving a motor cycle -- which is a very difficult thing to do. Sensible ones have hands-free sets. This is even more annoying when you are in a public place. You might think some guy is talking to you --well, he is looking at you and talking furiously, with lots of gestures. Mobile phone ring tones are all over the place. Movie stars' voice, songs, chimes, you name it, you will hear it.