Bangalore is my dream city. Ever since I have started working in the dot com industry, I have been fascinated by this cosmopolitan city of opportunities and geeks. Everywhere, I would hear so-and-so left for Bangalore on a new job with higher payout and better future. My fascination with Bangalore grew further when I was hit by the startup fever (impact of watching Pitchers series on Youtube). I was totally bitten. I wanted to desperately go to Bangalore with dreams of an exciting startup twinkling in my eyes; my heart was set on Bangalore.
Being a North Indian and having spent my entire life in Delhi, the idea of moving to Bangalore was met with scepticism by family and relatives who would comment peevishly that there isn’t dearth of good jobs in Gurgaon.
The point that they missed was the culture of Bangalore wherein lies the true essence of Bangalore. Amidst things to do in Bangalore, for me going to a cool pub post-office was always high on the list. I dreamt of meeting my dream man, getting offered my dream job, enjoying a chilled out fairy tale style life all while drinking beer amidst rock music in an open terrace bar in Bangalore.
So, I packed my bag, booked flight with Air Asia and headed for my city of dreams with nothing (no job, no plans) but only my dreams. Well, truth is stranger than fiction. I was up for a shock, soon.
I went knocking from door to door looking for a rented accommodation but it seems you need heavy planning for this. For it requires 10 months of advance and that is just too much as compared to maximum 2-3 months that we are used to in Gurgaon/Delhi.
Language is an issue which is better to not even to start talking about. It takes time for the culture to sink it. Till then you keep looking at the faces and try to decipher what people are saying using their body language as cues.
Bangalore itself never knew that it will one day become the mecca of internet revolution. So, it was never prepared. Roads are usually narrow but due to excessive floating money the number of swanky cars have increased manifold. And you thought Punjabis of South Delhi are a show off? Well, the result is endless traffic snarls.
Autowallahs are the Dons of the road. Though the situation is same in Delhi too but then atleast I there I can vent out, teri maa di. Here, in Bangalore, for a north Indian girl it is better to keep calm and walk on.
Aiyyo, food is cosmopolitan only for the rich. For poor and looking for job type of people it is street food, local tiffin and small hotels that come in budget. The super combination of imli and spice though tasty initially, soon caused stomach to rumble and churn.
And, my dream of meeting the job and man in a pub was shattered when the reality zoomed into my face. The pubs in Bangalore close at sharp 11 pm. What? Even Cinderella met her man of dreams at 12 midnight. By the time I reached a pub beating the traffic it was almost 10 pm.
Well, my vacation in Bangalore soon ended. I came back with a reality check.
Though, I went back to Bangalore again and this time for just catching up with friends and for a vacation. I had the time of my life. If you have money, know the right places then Bangalore has everything to please and cajole you.
5 comments
Good post… Keep posting… kindly include some pictures ….. good luck
Yes Bangalore is actually a city of Dreams, so is Delhi, and so is any other city.
I went to Delhi to get a job in IT, i did get some offers, but by that time the wish to be in the Silicon Valley of India had engulfed me. I packed my bags, and came here, and went through
.
But i knew the city had a different layer, a different dimension, a different existence. There is another Bangalore that thrives within the thousands of servers, that runs at 100Mbps, that codes a thousand lines a day, that crunches and analyses Terra bytes of data. A city which made of only 1 and 0. A city that speaks Java, C, C++ , PHP, JavaScript ….
The city has given wings to so many people who come from not so modern places. Rubbing shoulders with people from other cultural belief and united by IT, we have created our own tribe here.. For me every city is special. but Bengaluru for me is not a city, its my sky to spread my wings… Namma Bengaluru.
Such is the case when true romanticism is shredded by reality. Being a Delhite in the early 2000 I was equally smitten by the idea of young professionals hanging out at pubs and abundance of takeouts (sans jats). But alas when visiting the city now the notion of traffic chaos and craziness, I only found solace at a roof-top bar overlooking everything 🙂
Satya Vachan 🙂 very well said.
really nice place