Such a drastic change in just 20 years. From garden city to Fashion capital. From the city of retired people to the fastest growing city in Asia.With as many as 212 Software firms Bangalore is indeed the software hub or the Silicon Valley of India. It is still the garden city but the plantation has changed I guess to the densely packed firms. I don't think there is any main road left in Bangalore that doesn't have a tech park .. or software solution firm! The only thing that is growing faster than the software firms in Bangalore is the pubs! there are as many as 3000 pubs. No other city in entire Asia has as many pubs! Even having said that I feel the fascination of Bangalore is however quite different. Despite such good infrastructure for enjoyment! there are only few patches in the city that actually have a night life!!
Even in malls like the Garuda and PVR shops close down at 9:30!! though the movie shows continue till 1:00 am the streets get empty all of a sudden after 10:00 pm! The same airport road that witnesses luxury cars traveling one after the other for kilometers together gets surprisingly vacant after 10
Even natives here unlike Delhi or any other big city are very humble ..it feels that the serenity of the weather has oozed down the hearts of the people here.I still remember how during my early days here i used to keep asking about buses from the people at the bus stand and at bus stops. I hardly received blunt replies ..it seemed that they were more than eager to help me find the right bus.
Adjacent to even major roads there are at least one or two hallies!! (which literally mean villages) and mind you they are still true to their name!! You cross any main road to enter a halli and you will understand what I mean ..roads would shrink ..shops would become smaller ... restaurant would be replaced by sagars!! Apartments would be so closely built that sometimes you would miss the road that goes between them. The density of software professionals with their IDs hung around their necks would reduce, natives and temples would be in plenty. All of a sudden the frenzy of the city is gone and you seem to be at peace again. People are laughing while talking to each other ...children are playing with the tyres and women are sitting outside the temples making garlands. This portion of the city appears to be well attached to city but well detached to its chaos. If there are pubs outside there are juice centers inside!! but if there are flyovers outside there are hopeless roads inside! Mercedes outside but bicycles inside.
I somehow am not skeptic about this contrast ..on the contrary I like it ..it kind of gives you good of both the worlds. Chaos and Peace ... speed and lethargy! weekdays and weekends ... every thing giving meaning to its opposite .... this fact could not have been as evident anywhere as it is here!!