Bangalore - What it Holds!!

I had always been fascinated by the lure of Bangalore - A Software Company in every street and every third house housing another small startup, also along with these varied software and IT companies an Engineering/Arts College to match the growing needs of these upcoming companies; at places where even you would not think of.
That was the lure that bought me to Bangalore, when I was offered a job here. That illusion broke down when I arrived in Bangalore. Going everyday to Office from a place called HSR(Hosur-Sarjapur) layout on either the bike or by Bus; the first thing I realized was that it was not going to be anywhere near a easy task. What with having to face the daunting local and corporation buses and to top it all the unruly auto rickshaw drivers; who drove a hard bargain to get you to the destination of your choice at the most exorbitant rates that they could come up with. During one of these sorties after missing my bus that I found that if you ignore them when they say these exorbitant prices they automatically come down to the real rates at which it is reasonable to take an autorikshaw... :-(

The Bangalore that i arrived at was full of people trying to find a place - to park, to drive, to walk, to stop, to enjoy and to generally get on with work and life; the image I had in mind was completely different...
Fortunately for me I had a few like-minded friends with me and they made my first few days enjoyable, before I finally got down to the nitty-gritty gritty of what I had arrived at Bangalore for - Work!!!

Already too much has been said of the excellent traffic and the traffic conditions of our Dear Ole Bengalaru... So I thought I should also add my two bits... :-)

I have been in Bangalore for almost 18 months now and have seen the situation go down to the worst... by nature I am a foot traveler and enjoy the walk through the city where you can get to observe many things which you otherwise miss on. This was my way when I arrived to this city and started with going to my Office on foot. I used to enjoy these walks when I arrived in Bangalore. Those were the days when we used to go from the hostel in which I was staying to the Office building which was in Kormangala industrial area, the walk was a good 1 1/2 to 2 Kms and both used to enjoy the same, with the relatively cleaner air in the morning, when we used to either catch the bus going towards Raheja Arcade or walk it down if we were early enough (early used to be 0845 and late used to be 0900... :-) ). Then while coming back from Office we used to enjoy some time in Forum, which had just about opened up and then walk back, almost always. Then came the days that just after 39 days of coming to Bangalore, I changed the company I was working for and joined another which was just starting operations in India (the first center for development outside of the US). Here too I meet like-minded people who enjoyed the walk (not to the office, as that was in Whitefield area; on the ITPL road). When we got down at the Raheja Arcade, and walked it down a bit to either the Aiwa's or Forum building; 200 yards or so... :-). Here after having a snack or two we used to head back to our homes, me waiting for my friend working a few yards from Forum to join me so that we would then walk it down to the hostel.


Well! now back to the traffic area. The second reason for coming back walking from the location of my first company, was that the inner roads were cleaner and we could easily walk across without hearing the honking of horns and the smoke and smog of the vehicular traffic which used to be coming our way. This usually was the norm, until 2 months down the lane the roads were segregated and some even became 1 ways. The traffic volume increased and so did the problems related to it. We changed routes and went through the more quieter regions of Kormangala, which has some real good architectural beauties which seem to be left empty by their creators. I really enjoyed those days as compared to nowadays when all you hear is the honking and people getting irritated at the people who share the roads with them...

I have a lot more on this and there will be a second edition for this soon... :-)