Monday, January 09, 2012

Bengaluru Travelogue


Oh Bangalore !

Over the previous decade (1990's), I used to visit Bangalore regularly. Then, it dropped as it became strictly official ! While the city evolved from a green, cool & quite spiritual city to a IT hub, the frequency dropped dramatically. It also became ‘Bengaluru’ and I moved out of the country. Hence, it was after a big gap of nearly a decade ( how time flies!) that I travelled to the city of gardens… ( as it used to be!)

·         The leaves of BLR are not green ! ! ! They are brownish, yes only ‘ish’, as the plants & trees are covered with dust…at most parts of the city, I travelled over the three days.

·         Just as I observed about amchi Mumbai earlier, ‘namma Bengaluru’ has become very aggressive too!! We are not known for observing traffic discipline. But, at least we used to respect others & had basic courtesy for fellow human-beings.

·         For the majority of young techies, and others (from Blore/Karnataka/India and abroad), how much we ‘own up’? How many of us think of the world around us ? For how many of us the city is actually ‘namma’ city !

·         I found the city very polluted & noisy also. The area outside the city was very cool, clear and peaceful, compared to the city. And so much construction activity... ! But the roads continue to be inadequate. Cleanliness has dropped to a new low !! 

·         Have you disrespected nature? Confess now ( courtesy – DNA @ http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_have-you-disrespected-nature-confess-now_1634048). If we believe God is the Purusha and the entire creation is Prakriti, we should all head to a confession booth & also start working on how to reduce addition to pollution. 


  • Top brands seemed to be more ‘affordable’ for a lot more people ! Is it increased affluence or just going up the materialistic curve ?
·         A friend commented when you hire an auto, ‘we will have to go where he takes us, and not where we want to go’!

         
·         All over India gold-loan is a category of loan that is growing…B’lore seemed to be no exception.



Cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Blore, Kolkota, Jaipur, Chandigarh had their own individual identity… a unique character. I felt, most of our cities are losing it, quite fast.
     

How much the city has changed…


Oh Bengaluru!


PS - here is what Mr NRN Murthy, ( Infy founder) has to say ....
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/editorial/op-ed/‘our-system-encourages-people-not-behave-right-way’-920
We need to get in to execution mode... ' what you must do, do it quickly'... Time is running out folks !!

3 comments:

Prashant Rao said...

Agree in toto. In the lust of material wealth and power, we have completely forgotten not just respect for nature but also towards mankind. Tolerance levels seem to be really low, people want things at the snap of a finger...you may have also read the alarming increase in white collared crime in Bangalore...

SUBS said...

The whole world is like a book, read it well. Nature is the best teacher.- Baba

Vishwanath Seshadri said...

Nice post.. We have to wake up before it is too late.. The mad rush for growht is taking its toll on our lives and the environment around us..

Blessings