Almost 1 year completed for me in Bangalore. In this one year, I have learned a lot about Bangalore. It is called silicon valley of India by some people. Fortunately, it is true. The software production in Bangalore is comparable to the best in the world. Almost every good software company has its office in Bangalore. The industrial areas of Bangalore, Electronic city and ITPL contains almost every good software company. This soft revolution in Bangalore has changed the life of the people. Now they earn more, spend more thereby creating a flow of money which you can’t see in other parts of India.
This economic change has some social implications which I want to share in this article. Before coming to Bangalore, I used to think why software companies chosed Bangalore, How Bangalore is different from other cities of India. The first and foremost reason is the climate of Bangalore. The climate is not too hot not too cool. It is moderate climate. This is one of the most important reasons behind the arrival of a large number of multinational companies in Bangalore. I have been living in Bangalore since July 2007, after joining a software company. In this period of 13 months I have seen almost every aspect of life in Bangalore, the so-called IT hub of India. But frankly speaking I don’t like Bangalore due to these five reasons.
- Bangalore is very expensive city to live in. (You have to give 10 months advance before taking any home for rent)
- Traffic Problem (Roads are too narrow to support increasing traffic)
- Language Problem (I know only English and Hindi)
- Different Culture
- Different Food
Here you will see endless traffic jams, over-crowded buses, Auto-Rickshaws charging almost double money every time, a chaotic airport and railway station. The city is booming with malls, shops and offices of multinational companies but the city completely lacks the infrastructure to support this growth. Now due to infrastructure bottlenecks and rising price of real estate software companies have stopped expanding their business in Bangalore. Now they are looking for other small cities of India.
If you are new to Bangalore, then don’t ever think to trust the Auto-rickshaws Once they get the impression that you are new, they will charge you almost double price. I would suggest you to use your own transport in Bangalore, otherwise life will become miserable. The concept of night life is not there in Bangalore. All pubs, bars and restaurants get closed at 11 o’clock. During peak hours, roads are awesomely crowded with company buses, cars and motor cycles. Bengaluru International is located in Devanahalli, which is 40 km from the city. It replaced the old HAL Bangalore International Airport. And due to heavy traffic it takes same time for me to reach Pune to Bangalore through flight and then to my home in HSR Layout.
What do you think about Bangalore? Share your experiences.
==> If you liked this post, then why not buy me a beer so I can cool off?
man it suxs..i love my noida and hope NCR is some respect than Blr..though NCr has its own probs too..
I love Bangalore to core … and if u hate u are free to leave … no one is stopping you
i treat my time in bangalore as penance for all the bad things i have done in my life…
… as a guru once told his pupil… this too will pass my child
no body is here in BLR by chioce its a complustion…..had it been in the hands of ppl to leave ..it would have been isolated long before….
this webmaster would have left it himself long ago….
I agree if I had a choice I will never ever come back to this place.
Bangalore does not believe in service with a SMILE!! Go to any shop..and you will see what I mean.
All who come from outside are quite aware and shocked by the attitude of the autowalas. Nobody has any good words to say about them.
All i would say is Bangalore just chill and SMILE. It dosent pay much to be hospitable to outsiders and it surely leaves a good impression about your place and people.
Lol! I’m sure this is just a one-sided story of a person who got conned one time too many.
I have lived in B’lore for the whole of my life and this is the best place to be, even with all the shortcomings!
Lol..yes..U are right..I got conned many times here by many people. I wonder why..because this never happened to me in New Delhi which is supposed to be the most unsafe place. Infact I found the people there very helpful to the extent that once when I asked for directions, a decent man went out of his way to take to my destination. By far people are more approachable and friendly in Delhi or Mumbai.
The autowlas there are always cheerful… never mind they charge u a bomb but atleast they are WILLING to go….
I guess Bangalore has just not suited me or maybe I dont understand its pulse but I have found it very lethargic.From the local repairman to the maid, to the computer guy..they only say yes madam,..yes madam and when it comes to work…they have millions of excuses for not coming over….and worst part is they are not even willing to work even if you offer them double the amount.
Now what do u call this?? Its damn frustarting….and to add to this the bone jerking, nerve shaking roads and not to mention the king sized potholes.
But one thing is amazing about Bangalore..I see the locals dont complain about these things like us outsiders. Maybe they are used to all this so it dosent affect them anymore??
I see them merrily ignoring the shrieking autos.The potholes are nicely manouvered…and life goes on..
Amazing to see also that politicians give more emphasis on nightlife, dancing and drinking milk instead of alchohol. These are more important matters than the breaking, mayhem structure of the city.
It’s been close to two years since I am in Bangalore, still this city largely makes me feel like an outsider with its mostly hostile and unwelcoming crowd. Recently when I landed in Bangalore International Airport, at the ‘Baggage Claim’ counter I came across with these very ‘trying to be hospitable’ airport staff in ‘Red’ uniform. In spite of my reluctance, one of them pulled a luggage carrier for me and accompanied me till the exit. I was wandering that how can anyone behave so helpful here! No prizes for guessing, it all was for a ‘Tip’. I believe that even the Airport security personnel also have a share in this, as they all were behaving as if they have found a ’scapegoat’ in me. I have never come across such a ridiculous thing in any airport ever.
Invariably almost everyday I encounter a Cheating Autorikshaw driver, proudly running his tampered meter. Every time I religiously complain about them to the Auto Helpline numbers (080-22207750/22253500/22260554), I am pretty sure that no steps are being taken against a single auto driver. I believe many outsiders will agree with me on this. We face similar situations almost every time we deal with any local service provider. Things are even scarier for ladies, when they receive violent threats on protesting for anything wrong. We don’t seem to get any help either.
Call your city ‘Cosmopolitan’ later; first change your mindset and your system. We are not earning here to feed anyone’s crooked and extractive intensions.
Totally agree with Simreet.
The whole system is just so corrupt, agree corruption is everywhere but it thrives here and its a boooming industry.
And whats with the Electricity and water problems? Cant understand is this, the IT hub of India? Even the expats complain.
Everyday life gets so damn frustarting. I hate the autowalas here. Mannerless, uneducated, rude people who are so frustrated in life that they take out their anger on the passengers.
No wonder this place is not progressing with this kind of mindset here.
a. Pay 10 month advance rent.
b. Very costly city. Everything is sold on MRP or more.
c. Can’t get good sweets, and the once you get are very costly.
d. Attitude of people towards other indians who come from north is shit.
e. Want to leave this city ASAP.
f. Highest road tax in country.
g. I hope not to see any bangalorean landlord or autowallah, once i go back as it will be injurious to there health.
In 70’s Bangalore was a beautiful city. Max. temp
in summer was 26 degree c.. Silicon brought silica,bars,pubs, dance girls, arrogance
( of moneyed people). It became nude to few million/billion dollars. Natives became refugees.
Money and money alone will not bring happiness.
Some people think of night lives, millions and
millions of Indians are without one meal per day.
When Bombay was attacked, oh! one could see
bravado and patriotism in full swing when
correspondents of tv channels held mikes in
front of them. Govts spend at least 6 to 8 lakh
of public money to make an engineer.
Well, I am a Bangalorean who has lived outside Bangalore in INDIA and outside INDIA. Those of you who are complaining ,well think who is the root cause of it..You guyz…there were no bad roads, no over crowded malls, no criminals , no traffic, rents were low,Bangalore had such wonderful weather until you guyz came in drowes and killed our Bangalore…Remember to be good guest, after all the locals have lots so much because of you….you guyz r complaining about Language, will you guyz respond to me in Kannada if I visited your city ? The roads in Bangalore were never designed to take so much traffic and load they always have been narrow,Every guy who works own a vehicle, can any city take that much load, the auto guyz are the same any place you go in INDIA,visited Chennai ??? atleast in Bangalore there is something called as “Meter” that works…
How can you expect common/normal people to respond to you with a Smile when they cannot understand completely your language atleast they go out of their way to respond…Its very natural for every INDIAN to feel an outsider the moment he leaves his home state and enter another state…do u think A kannadiga will be made feel homely in a Northern INDIAN state…Believe me no where else in INDIA people will accept the way the Bangaloreans do….
The least you can do is stop complaining…
Hi
The some problems in bangalore that u have sited in your articles seems to be unfair on any metro city like bangalore.
Traffic Problem (Roads are too narrow to support increasing traffic)
** Have you visited any other metro like chennai, hyderabad or even pune? U r bound to expect traffic in a city like these. It is not that Bangalore administration is just sitting and watching you to stuggle in traffic jams. It is doing whatever it can to decongest the city. Also people have a role to make any city confortable for travel. Have you not violated any traffice in your life time?
Language Problem (I know only English and Hindi)
* Which part of india you are from? And why do u expect autorickshawalla’s to speak english and hindi to you. If they could speak english they might have taken your software job. India is a vast country with vast culture and different languages. Go to chennai and see how many ppl talk hindi? See any hindi channels are being aired out there. Atleast you have those facilities in bangalore. When you cant learn simple words from local language to make your life easy why do u expect the locals to learn u r language?? This is utter shame on your demand.
Different Culture
Different Food
** Hahaha What can i say to this. You will have problems of the same kind wherever you go india expect your home. Learn to adapt to different culture and food if you want to earn big money and fame in life.
Nothing is free in this world. Bend your back first.
If good is your problem then why dont to cook yourself?
You will get all ingredients to prepare what u like to eat. Also Bangalore has so many different kinds of hotels which cater all south indian variety food and also north indian food.
This is my opinion on your article. Hope you take it in positive manner.
bangaloreans are not friendly …i cant believe this statement of yours… have you seen any north Indian mingle freely with a south Indian in Delhi or Chandigarh …Bangalore is the most friendly city to outsiders …coming to cost of living,wen u are getting paid high salary ,cost of living tends to go high …there is nothing strange in this …regarding auto Wallas ,,,please visit Chennai and see if there is any meter in any auto there ….now coming to language ,go to Chennai and speak in Hindi and see how many people respond to you ..try and adopt to the situation dude..if cost are high its high for local bangalorean as well ….i have had chance of living in many metros across India and found Bangalore to be the most friendly city …still u have problem in Bangalore …please leave ..tumbha santosha . …namaskara..right helu
Hey,
Got to your site while searching Bhopal on google, can understand the frustration of a Bhopali in Bangalore. Had almost similar feelings for my first one year in the city. However, over time, have realized a few benefits of the place too:
1. Locals, like the stud above who ranted about outsiders expected to behave as “good guests” etc, don’t really have a strong voice here. Being a North Indian isn’t that big a disadvantage in Blore once you learn basic tricks of trade.
2. Believe me, you still have a higher chance of being conned in Delhi and Bombay than in Bangalore.
3. The weather here rocks. Easily the best amongst the metros.
4. If you are in tech line, the opportunities in this City are not matched by any other in India. Infact taking into account recession and all, this place might have the best jobs in world for all you know!
5. Foodwise, you’ll find anything you want here. Besides, the local cuisine (Idly-Dosa) is definitely a lot healthier than Vada-pav or aloo paratha with 2 spoons amul butter.
6. Atleast I found a lot more school/college friends settling in Bangalore than in any other city. Once you
live through for the first 2-3 years, you’re here for a long haul
Pensioner’s paradise is now chaos capital
Dude, you say you are a software enginner, by profession. So obviously, you are quite well-educated. In that case, Im surprised by your insensitivity and thoughtlessness. You need to be very careful & balanced when writing publically about such sensitive issues, else they result in a flame war; unless that was your VERY intention in the first place.
Having said that, lemme address your complaints…Firstly, lemme say thta the majority of the issues that u whine about(traffic, bad roads, looting autorickshaw-wallas) are present throughout India. They r certainly not unique to Bangalore..U must’ve faced them back in ur hometown too…But, then, one tends to see one’s own hometown wid rose-tinted glasses, just as u’ve observed that the loccals in B’lore dont complain as much as “outsiders”. I could have understood ur complaining abt infrastructure problems if u had been born & brought up in a developed country.
Dude, staying there u might not’ve noticed, but lemme bring it to ur attention that North Indian states are some of the very WORST states in India when it comes to infrastructure & development. As fro the law&order scene in ur state, the less said the better. In B’lore the worst thing tat can happen to you is overcharging by auto-wallah or rude language by waiters, servants, etc. In places like Bihar, UP, or even Delhi & NCR I will most probably be dead….Frankly speaking the law & order situation in these states is very pathetic.
then , u say, different culture & different food. This is laughable..U r only revealing ttat u r an ignorant, uncouth villager who is scared of the world outisde his tiny remote village. Dude, outside of ur homestate, u will naturally find that the food & culture is different..And guess wat, u r the type of gut who will not have this complaint when u go to the US, even though their food & culture is a 100 times different..In fact, u will happily accept their food & culture and start ghating ur own food, culture & even language!! Talk of hypocrisy!!
And as for Hindi, dude.. the above logic applies to Hindi too…Hindi is the national language only on paper…
Backward backward backward…..I came from New York City and this place, oh my god!
I don’t know how anyone gets anything done here at all.
The ‘work culture’is a joke. Talk about caught up in Bureaucracy for the simple fact of needing to jockey in some wee position in a company while completly ignoring the ‘larger picture’ of what the hell you are doing there in the first place.
The roads are impossible with traffic and with NO STREET SIGNS. Decide if you want to have a country village or a city, pick one!
Garbage abounds everywhere. It is disease waiting to happen on the grand scale and yet since the swine flu outbreak they will quarantine anyone with ‘fever symptoms’.
The caste system is alive and well and don’t pretend like any respect is afforded to the poorer folks here.
I don’t even deal with auto rickshaw drivers , I take the bus!
Could people stare any harder at me when I walk down the street?
The less educated don’t really speak english here. The Times of India has a laughable amount of misprints, typos, grammer errors, you name it , daily.
And no, I do not make a billion dollars a year so quit trying to hit me up for more cash.
My point is when people come to New York, you can get around town easily, won’t be asked a million personal questions, won’t be stared at, and you will work somewhere where you are expected to be a professional and get things done. And you won’t have to ‘know anyone’ to get recognized for it. There’s obviously a reason everyone is jumping from here to go to the U.S.
I won’t even comment on the ‘night life’ situation.
Bangkok is also in Southeast Asia and there’s never a power outage, there’s plenty of good shopping, friendly people to foreigners, a night life, and all this without most people speaking a word of english.
Evict your government and start over!
This is for all outsiders of Bangalore who hate this beautiful city.
U want all the money that this city generates, yet u dont have common sense that U need to blend with the local customs and environment. U talk abt infrastructure and nightlife as though u come from some worldclass city like new york or hongkong. Compare it with the village u came from, u’ll realise infrastructure is way better here. Besides, nobody asked u to come here.Ur greed for money made u come here, U dont give a damn abt what happens to the city. U’re trying to make a living at the cost of locals(by making the city unlivable, though by indirect means, by increasing rent, traffic,pollution etc).So why should the locals not live at the cost of an outsider???
Let us all get the pinch of reality, every city has its own problems and issues,budget constraints and negative ugly side. Yes as one of the people above pointed out Bangalore was a peaceful city, a great city to raise kids and still has the best things to offer. Traffic is a mess, come on @ Greg do you take your Hummer in NYC to work. Ohh yeah just step off the subway station in the bronx or drive into newark at nidnight you will get the real taste of comfort.
See if you feel Bangalore cant offer you anything better please leave no one is asking your complaining whining presence,@ Greg – try getting your drivers permit across the border north of buffalo, that will give you a real taste of bueracracy with the snow flakes and the black ice.
looks like the guy who started the thread comes from a village and is the only educated guy there and everyone reveres him there, Have you been to TCS campus in Kochi or Bhuwnshwar you will see how they treat you like crap out there.
The exodus of people has made people greedy and ask for more, come on go and live in any city abroad you will feel the diffrence, you will always pay a premium to stay in a place where jobs are easy to find. Half of the people whom you categeorize as Bangaloreans are from neighbouring town and villages like the guy who started the thread but unlike him lack the education and think that people are here to give them freebies.
Guys get it straight “Life is Hard” noting comes in a platter. Like my professor told me there is no free lunch in this world you have to earn it so is respect and gratitude.
Cheers!!
I will tell you the reason why many people especially software engineers hate Bangalore.
Way Back in 1986, Rajiv Gandhi declared that the future of Indian economy lies in computers. Now
today we can easily say that he was right. The software boom has completely changed the destiny of
India. TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Satyam, Patni, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant, IBM, CapeGemeni and many more
are providing job opportunities to millions of Indians. Now you need to just complete the
engineering degree or any computer course like BCA or MCA, you will easily find job in software
industry. Hold, on dear friends I am not going to describe the software boom in this comment but I
will tell you the implications or rather say the impact of software on Indian society especially in
Bangalore. Life becomes miserbale when you have to write hundreds of lines of codes in a day sitting infront of TFT screen for more than 12 hours. We all know that timings are not fixed in software industry. IT companies are just explioting the young generation of India. That is why most of the software engineers hate Bangalore.
WELL,
you got it right bro. Everything you said about Bangalore is 100% true BUT i can understand how the locals feel after reading your article, no one can stay quite when someone is pointing finger on their home.
Someone said that human behavior is totally depend on our experiences & on the environment in currently we are living.
We can not blame anybody because who knows, if we were there, we could be just like theme.
anyway…You are Right
I seriously Didnt like the comment about the Bangalore in the first post. See If you are facing problem Goto your native and work there. If you have come here because of your company promotion then Leave that company
I think there are two groups here and believe both are right on their part. I have just got a trasfer order to bangalore, and the only thing i don’t like there is 10 months rent advance. It makes sense to take 2 months or even 3 months advance but 10 months is far too much. The problem is everybody pays it and that is why landlords maintain it.
Apart from that: traffic, food, culture, language are all fine as it is different everywhere in India.
This city is best for who can earn more than 30k/mnth ….other wise waste of leaving here there s no saving no satisfaction, mainly the response from these guys this(i hate this traffic police of bangalore
) traffic police they wont leave u without charging ..every time……im looking to get hell out of this city….as soon as possible…..in case of food bachelors can’t survive unless he shud be a son of other state M.P or M.L.A .
Well this is one of the most anti bangalore post I have ever seen.. You have been here only for a year and you think you can judge Bangalore ?
In no other state I guess an average person can talk in so many language.. Here most people know
Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and English. If you haven’t seen them then I doubt you have ever really communicated with anyone here..
People moving from north are eating up all that we deserve..
Who takes our Jobs ? You guys..
Who takes our Education Seats ? You Guys..
Who makes the city costlier ? You Guys..
It is all for Job and Education you guys come over here and stick over here and make the whole city a mess. I am not a frog inside the well who hasn’t seen outside..
I have been in Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai.. nothing comes closer to Bangalore..
It has given me everything.. Education, Job, a house to live. Learn to respect that!! else you are most welcome to leave…
It is a fact.. take it or leave.. but at least stop crying about it!!
Abolish the unproductive Hindi language from the whole South India and also Maharashtra.
English is the gateway to the world and respect the local languages.
It is true happened to me
I am riding my bike in BTM road, two guys walking near the road and my hand touched slightly when i try to give space for another bus in trafic. But those guys beaten me like anything by schoulding in kannada, and i don’t know kannada(new to bangalore) i tried to explain them. But they broken my head and i went to nearby police station to complain.
What happen you know, the police joint with locals and they are trying to book “hit and run” case on me. And i told police that i have not done anything and i argued with them. But police are not listening to me and they asked Money from me to book a case on that guys. I have given 1000 rs for police but case is not registered.
The guys beaten me are reading newspapers in police station. I went to private hospital for treatment.
This is what happening to outsiders in bangalore. Dont argue with local kannadigas, they never like outsiders.
I am ready to spent money for justice. Is it i will get it here. Now my parents are worried lot to live here.