Having lived in Banglore( BLR for short) for most of my life I thought I’d like write my thoughts on the same. First every city has its own pros & cons and the same goes for BLR. Some people, mostly visitors, or people traveling thru BLR get turned off by the traffic problem & they end up establishing a -ve image about the city & their reviews in turn are biased. After all how can some one staying in the city for a few hours/days get the whole picture??
One has to agree that BLR is the fast growing city & has out grown its infra structure, result is frequent traffic snarls, crowded buses & major attractions like MG, Brigade rd & Commercial street are always packed with people. if you are planning a weekend outing with your family in your car to any of these places forget it, otherwise you will be stuck in traffic for hours, take a cab instead. Even thought I’ve a car I prefer to travel in my bike as the commuting time is greatly reduced. I use the car only during late nights where you have the road to your self :)
But one can plan to minimise the traffic nuisance by leaving a little early in the morning & getting back a little late.The traffic usually eases off by 8:30pm or so within the city limits. Also if people start car pooling it’ll help the traffic & reduce pollution levels too. Thats another important factor to be addressed in BLR.
Weather wise BLR is perfect for most people just moderate but not me I feel its a little warm. It rains a lot too & the city looks best the day after receiving heavy rain. there are a lot of good parks & abundant trees in most areas hence the name Garden-City.
There are a lot of pubs/discos in here if you are the clubbing type theres nothing like BLR. Many rock shows are organised in BLR out of the many cities in India & many famous rock stars have been here including the legendary Deep purple, Scorpions etc...
There are a lot of getaways from BLR many people living here would have visited Nandi Hills, its a small hill ab. 60kms from the city but If you are the adventerous kind just try going there in the night its really fun (can be dangerous too) as Nandi hills is nearly 1000ft higher than BLR & the weather is really cool. In the nights you can find a lot of fog on your way up so driving can be fun but tricky. A strict NO for new drivers!! have been there many times my self & loved every moment. Just M2M me if anyone wants to know more.
Another sad thing to note is that the kannada activists have banned the release of non-kannada movies for 7 weeks I wonder how a industry can promote itself by forcing people to watch kannada movies.Sounds silly to me.
All in all a good city if you can manage with the traffic problem coupled with bad roads. Psst. I’ve heard that people in IT here are paid ~20% more than any other city in India now thats a big incentive isnt it?? I’ve always loved the food here, there are many chinese/Thai/Arab restuarants & some serving continental food too if you please.
A lot of fly overs are in construction & lets hope the govt. takes steps to improve the towns surrounding BLR so the city can grow old gracefully.
comments invited!!
Raihan
P.S this may not be a complete review as its time for my lunch ;)