brief bangalore insights

My second blog.. the first blog I wrote was restricted to a single topic..my opinions on the symonds racism issue.Now that I have got that "debut" syndrome out of the way,I thought it would be more appropriate to be a bit more wavering and frivolous in my style of writing.This blog talks about all those funny sights and sounds of Bangalore..a city that can be very anticlimactic.Here goes...
Ok..let me start off from the ultra rich experiences..Like, the other day,While traveling on a bus from Indiranagar to Koramangala, (bus traveling in Bangalore's an odyssey on its own.. I would dwell upon on it later on in this blog ) everyone's attention was caught with a high pitch "vroooooom"(cacophony to some but euphony to those young(or perhaps wild) at heart and F-1 Fans ) sitting by the window,the object of everyone's attention was immediately perceptible to me..a FERARI! Now you normally imagine a ferrari car to be red in colour..perhaps thats because of Micheal Schumacher and F1(a successful example of " Brand associativity" (or whatever's the correct term..refer to the management books for clarification) created by all the propaganda)..but this one was actually light (and thankfully not sky) blue!Now,being a ferrari purist,the reason as to why the filthy rich owner who takes all the trouble to buy an expensive car and pay all those heavy import duties ,(yeah..tax on imported cars in india is i think close to a 100%..so u actually end up shelling out twice the original price of the car) would choose blue(that too light!yuck!) over the classic red is beyond me..Even the rustic bloke(who probably doesn't know a thing about swanky Italian cars) who was seating beside me winced seeing the color..people can totally screw up on the color combination sometimes..and the other day at Lal bagh, I actually saw a chihuahua!!..the smallest and (probably the most expensive) and almost hairless dog.speaks volumes about the prosperity of Bangalore,which is perhaps an epitome to support the fact that the now popular catch phrase "India Shining" is no misnomer.
Let me now step a rung down on the ladder of prosperity, and tell you about stuff that commoners in bangalore encounter.First up are the auto guys here. Boy! they are a demanding lot.Unless you are crafty , you invariably get taken for a ride!(as in metaphorically).They quote astronomical prices for ludicrously small distances,(a certain fellow practice school student, who encountered a similar situation, retorted tongue in cheek,"i don't want you to quote the cost of the auto!"..)and worse..refuse outright to come sometimes,even if you are willing to pay 1.5 times the meter fare!The other day, One poor chap(who when not getting fleeced by auto wallahs also writes blogs),wrote in his blog that he had to haggle with 13 autos before an auto guy(who's probably a novice)agreed to come to the cantonment railway station from m.g road,at 1.5 times the meter rate.Why the auto guys refuse to travel to a railway station is indeed very puzzling..one of my friends captured a pic of an auto guy speaking on the cell phone while driving(i have taken the liberty to upload it..photo courtesy..prithvi)...speaking on the phone while driving..must probably be his hobby..feels prith..but thats how some of these auto chaps are..they drive really rash,and quote high prices.The traffic can also be very chaotic.The distance from my place to the office (a distance of perhaps 4 km) takes an hour at peak hours!getting caught in a traffic inside an auto's probably the perfect nightmare!(woah..an oxymoron..well almost).This city is so in need of an innovative solution to its traffic problems.the bangalore metro,coming up sometime in 2010 is touted to be the panacea .that 's going to happen only if people use the metro to commute to offices,and not just to take a ride,along with their families in the plush a/c coaches that travel underground,for the entire "been there ,done that" feeling that most Indians are obsessed with ..a situation being witnessed in Delhi, although i heard that was changing.And now the buses...ah!BMTC(Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) proudly claims thats its the only government intra-city bus operator in India that makes profits.Yet ,the drawbacks:The conductors instead of promptly returning the change, scrawl the balance amount on the back of the ticket..if that happens to you,it means that you gotta collect the change from the conductor later.But most times,(at least in my case),the bus gets so crowded and cramped that you literally give up on the arduous task of going up to the conductor,pushing and shoving all the way, and asking the bloke for change.Also certain ridiculous "cost-cutting measures" are undertaken by the BMTC..like not having the conductor chap on a bus (sometimes at peak hours),The driver multitasks the job of driving and issuing tickets.You are allowed to enter only through the front entrance,and pay the driver who issues you a ticket(and prompty takes that pen of his ,which is inserted in the upper ear area,to scrawl the balance amount)Now Obviously to prevent smart alecs from hitching a free ride,the middle doors in these buses are shut.(there are doors to entrances/exits in all bangalore buses unlike in Delhi or Chennai)As a consequence,the front entrance area of the bus gets jammed at bus stops,what with a portion of people trying to get down and another portion trying to get in through that narrow entrance..and another portion of people,standing beside the driver buying tickets,or asking for the balance amount(yeah..the scrawling on the back of the ticket scenarios)and still some more people,standing at the entrance and reluctant to go back because they will be getting down in the next few stops. Bus fares, at least when compared to chennai are also higher.But thats justifiable i suppose,the standard of living in Bangalore's higher.BMTC however must be given credit for plying those plush volvo a/c buses..yeah the fare's double..but heck,its worth it.The driver and conductor wear showy uniforms (infact bordering on the ostentatious ) and speak fluent english.The conductor carries a snazzy machine that prints out the tickets.the entire thing's an ultra cool experience.
Rains are a problem.A brief two week sunny spell in early october made me believe that the monsoons are over..but it started raining again..my manager pointed out that bangalore gets hit both from the south west monsoons and the north east monsoons(perhaps the only indian city ..i might be wrong..to have this dubious distinction). oh goody!(in case u missed ..that "goody"'s got a sarcastic connotation to it..have already got caught in the rains too many times...even got a ghastly viral fever once,though i strongly suspect that its got nothing to do with the rains..my roomy probably passed it on),and it only rains in the mornings ,when people make their way to offices, and in the late evenings and nights ,when people return home.
Some positives- bangalore's a truly cosmopolitan city, you see Indians from every part of the country here.A lively young city,there are lots of places to shop..MG road,brigade road,church street,jaya nagar, marthahalli ..lots of discounts and offers owing to the heavy competition ..lots of plush malls.. forum,the garuda mall,being amongst the prominent ones.Lots of eateries and restaurants,and good connectivity by bus,train and rail..Its overall a good city to experience your first exposure to the corporate world..lots of pleasant and unpleasant ,though interesting,experiences!