On Bangalore

After 7 years on a leafy suburb of Bangalore, I have decided to move on to fastest growing semi urban area. It was also partly contributed by enormous price tags associated with the properties in South Bangalore. South Bangalore, once home to cultural Bangaloreans, now houses scores of migrants from different parts of the country. Their language, food resonates through the air. Bangalore is becoming more globalized and consumerized.

A walk across the fabled 80 feet road will show you almost all the known brands of the city, Chinese dolls to German eye-wear to Punjabi food. Streets are teeming with smartly dressed people from North East, Paani puriwalas from east Bihar, Momo’s from Darjeeling, it has all.

People are on a buying spree, as the PP (Purchasing power) of mango man from Bangalore goes up, so does the property, food and other prices too. A 2BHK in decent locality in Bangalore now costs 25 thousand rupees! This pretty high considering this is 25 times salary of an average graduate in India.

I am kind of worried about this tremendous growth of Bangalore. It is excellent that it has provided me with bread and butter for long, but cost of unlimited growth has its side effects. The acute shortage of drinking water, auto menace, total lack of government regulation on property prices, broken down roads, problems are too many. The once temperate climate of Bangalore, where every evening it used to rain and I had to carry an umbrella all along the year is now a finely cherished memory as the average rainfall has drastically gone down resulted in a vortex of water crisis.

As I stand near a absolutely jam packed east Bangalore bus stand waiting for bus now for 45 minutes, I sighted a couple of thinly built lads with specs carrying big suitcases wrapped on olive green cover with name written on Bold letters, I know they are the latest entrants in Bangalore. Oblivious to problems around, they look poised for long pitched battle.