I have been living in Bangalore for almost Five years now.
It was a city of gardens earlier, then it became the Mecca of Software professionals, now it’s the hub of all BPO activities in India. Changing phases have changed the life style of this city.
But did it become another Singapore? It seems some time this year, Bangalore will over take Silicon Valley in the number of IT jobs. But has it become like Silicon valley or at least like one of its cousins in any other developed country?
Let’s see some myths and facts here.
Myth 1: Bangalore is a hep place to live
Fact: It surely looks like one. 90% of those hep people you see on Brigades/ MG road are visitors who feel that when you are in Bangalore you need to dress like this and act like this! And the rest 10% are school/ college kids and those youngsters who got some call center job recently and started earning a good amount and wants to show off!! Local people are very laid back and prefer to go to “shanthi sagars” and have “bisi bele bath”.
Myth 2: Bangalore has a superb climate.
Fact: It depends on where you are from. Bangalore climate is simply unpredictable. It can rain anytime and when you think it will rain, that might turn out to be a very hot day. Your body really struggles to adjust. Don’t ask software guys who sit in AC environment for the whole day about the climate. Ask some sales guys from Bangalore. Another problem is the air quality. 50% of the Bangalore population is asthmatic due to high pollen content in the air. If you are asthmatic, again wrong place to come. Another problem is due to Dust mites, according to one study during the humid months from July to October the dust mite count per gram of dust is around 4000-5000 and this is the major reason for persistent asthma. (More details on air quality of Bangalore see the report: https://parisara.kar.nic.in/PDF/HEALTH.pdf )
Myth 3: Bangalore people are very adjusting and helpful.
Fact: Who is ‘Bangalore people’? If you mean natives of Bangalore then its only 38% of the population here. (Bangalore had only 18, 57, 320 Kannadigas (38.77 per cent). The number of non-Kannadigas was 29, 32, 705 (61.23 per cent). Source:Times of india, Bangalore) . That means 6 out of 10 you meet here is an outsider. They say Bangaloreans speak all languages, do not show discrimination towards any state people and all. Now you know the reason. Because 70% of the time he is an outsider. You cannot reach such conclusions unless you get to meet the real localite. They surely are nice people but when they learn that you are not a localite, they will start blaming you for all the worst things that is going around in this city. The situation is very alarming in many older parts of Bangalore where localites are more.
Myth 4: Quality and standard of life is good in Bangalore.
Fact: Simply not true. A lot of reasons, totally unusable Public transport system(bus boards only in Kannada even though 30% of the people could only understand that), pathetic roads and traffic situations, unfriendly cops, frequent robberies and many unsolved crimes even in up market areas, high cost of living, heavily priced but lousy services, not even one good movie theater, very very corrupt govt. offices and other millions of reasons will prove it to you.
Final thoughts:
This is another picture of Bangalore. Of course you might adjust with all these things like any other Bangalorean, but for how long this city will grow like this, I really wonder. Already companies like Wipro and Infosys have decided that they won’t prefer to increase their presence here. Current state govt. is not very keen for any infrastructue development here as they feel that rural karnataka is being neglected. Governments major earning is from Bangalore but they want to spend it somewhere else. A city, which lacks basic civic infrastructure, cannot sustain for long.