Bangalore: So called IT Hub and modern city

Photo Source: Internet

I am staying in Bangalore after a gap of two year. My association with Bangalore city is six year old. My first ever visit to Bangalore was in 2003 when I was working with Escorts Ltd. Later DRDO gave me a lot of opportunity to visit Bangalore. Nothing much has changed in Bangalore for last six years. Except some more swanky malls, work of metro at snail's pace.

I have visited almost all major metros of India except Chennai. This city is famous for pubs, trees n beautiful roads. I can say honestly that Bangalore is not the place where you would like to stay forever at least for me. Despite earning so much respect from outside India as an IT Hub, city is not upto that world class standard.

Autowalas are biggest hurdle in this city, they are not honest (waise aajkal koi bhi honest nahi hai). They charge enormously huge amount. In day time, if you go by meter they will say meter plus 10 rupees. You fix your journey in 50 rupees, sit inside again he will ask 60 rupees, you get down than only he will agree on 50 rupees, like that. Their meters don't work properly. It's pathetic and frustrating. One suggestion (sit in an auto which has digital meter :).

Metro work, what a speed of this work compare to Delhi metro. Some time I used to frustrate why we have just one E Sreedharan among one billion Indian. Why can't we find persons alike him who can run the show on his own term with honesty, dedication and vision. In the roads, B'lore metro has taken more space compare to Delhi metro (in terms of width). Why there is no proper knowledge management by which best practices can be shared. Delhi metro prepare side road first than start work in the middle of road. Just check the indira nagar, the road is in decrepit condition. Half of workers use hat instead of yellow helmet. I don't know which norms they are using. But this work has damaged the beauty of MG road.

Public transport- Bangalore is lucky to have many swanky new look Volvo AC buses. Other than that Ashok Leyland's high end buses are frequent. But fare charges are enormously high. For 3 kilometer distance charges are 8-10 rupees. Fare charges are random in nature. But mostly buses are big in size they can learn a lesson from Delhi by using RTVs for narrow roads.

Note: I am sorry if this hurts b'lore fan and also not favouring Delhi. Each city has its own set of problems. So dil pe mat lena yaaro

My first nano experience

Though Honda City is my most favourite car, but it happened just like that. I was walking through lalbagh road in Bangalore along with rahul sagar & gaurav gupta. We were looking for bikes in Honda/Yamaha showrooms. We suddenly saw a lot of hustle and bustle nearby Tata show room. So we went inside the showroom to have a look on people’s car, Indian innovation ‘NANO’. There was just one top-end model and people were coming in to have an idea about this miracle. This has shattered all western media that Indian’s have developed a $2000 car. Not able to understand Indian brain they are pointing out about its safety, some pollution norms etc. But whatever I saw inside the showroom, it’s my feeling that this car is here to stay. Let me talk about my first hand experience about this car though I don’t know about driving a four wheeler (some time back I drove tractor a lot, don’t know how difficult is to drive a car). As most of us have read about its inner space and it is true to its words, despite nano it got lot of inner space to sit comfortably unlike folding your legs. From management’s perspective it’s an epitome of efficient cost cutting. I didn’t like the seats in first look but they were equally comfortable as other cars. Outer design is excellent; they have given lot of attention to ergonomics. I also took a chance to sit inside; my first feeling was like that I was touching everything to see that is it a plastic body or some cheap material. Even that button (door lock) was like kitchkida (some type of plastic in our local language). There were some children taking photos of this car as it is Rolls Royce and why not they were feeling proud to have a photo with nano and so me. After spending 15-20 minutes we came out. I was also feeling like, today I have achieved something, my day is very fruitful. I wish every body will get his/her dream car whether its a nano or city.