I have been wanting to write this since quite a while, especially after having a few people around me having to undergo the stress of listening to me crib day in and day out.
So, just a bit of background about me... lived in Mumbai all my life (Bengaluru was a vacation place, as i am originally from here and i have a lot of relatives here) and never have LIVED LIVED in any other city, though i have had traveling experiences right across the globe.
For a cause that would make MOST people do a lot of crazy things in life, i one-day somewhere in Dec '06 ended up making this decision of taking up a job in Bangalore, leaving my darling Mumbai behind thinking (wish i had THOUGHT actually, coz it doesn't seem as though i "THOUGHT" at all).
"ISSUES" that i have faced or continue to face in Bengaluru:
1) Commuting Related 1 (Ricks): Well.. i guess every one of you reading this would agree that this beautiful city is one helluva commuting place. The menacing, painful, irritating, frustrating etc. Auto-drivers are the worst of the lot. As a new person, one of the few people you WILL surely encounter are these bunch of people, who are expected to reach you at your destination ON METER, but hang on a sec, we are in Bengaluru, so any time of the day, there is no (talk of going by the) meter or the meter just doesn't work. If neither are the causes, then the driver "simply wouldn't go to the place of your choice". It was so frustrating one-day that my Mom in fact told the rick guy to take her anywhere HE wanted. New place and these guys make life even more frustrating and then it makes you ask a very simple question, did this or does this happen in Mumbai? Well.. to answer that, i don't think i need too much time as i'd simply say, "No". This would be the truth in 9.5/10 cases.
So what happens in Mumbai? Well... though there are 3/10 cases wherein the rick driver would refuse to come to your destination, the cases where over-charging would occur (i dare say even past midnight) would be at 1/10 cases. This happened to me on Sep 29 '07 when i landed at just past midnight and there were a lot of ricks waiting to grab passengers and when i approached one of them, 3 came to me saying come with me.. wow.. i had lost touch of such attention... after hopping into one, i reached my destination and promptly paid the Midnight fare (~40% over the regular day fare, between Midnight and 6AM) and walked off. No arguments, no debates, no bargaining nor any pleading.... just pure professional dealing and pure business!
2) Commuting Related 2 (Cops): Another thing that gets on my nerve is the lack of POWER in the hands of cops OR the lack of application of power (and i think the 2nd is more appropriate).
So what do i mean by that? Drive on any street here and you can do the following without being penalized about 9 times (and i have started doing many wrong things on the road, just because i wanna see how many times do i actually get penalized, if i do, that is).
A) Lane Cutting: Stuck in Centre Lane at a signal and realize that you need to take the right... no problem, turn the steering and veer towards thr right. Only thing to worry about are the numerous 2-wheelers that keep appearing from everywhere. Don't worry, no cop will reprimand you for this action. Why? Is it because they don't want to make some money or is it because they didn't see (read: never see) or its pardonable in Bangalore? Well, your guess is as good as mine..
B) Seat-belts: I never really wear them because it just does not matter. How cool! This is not just me, i guess all of Bangalore does not wear them, other than a few people. Though there is a law on wearing it, where are the enforcers? Who are these enforcers?
Just a quick little challenge, try doing anything of the above in Mumbai and get away.... then you will seriously be called a VIP by me :-)
So seeing the above nowadays my favorite dialogue after every wrong deed i do on the road is, "this is BLR, nothing will happen".
I can go on and on about the inefficiencies in the system, but why are these tolerated? Why isn't anyone paying heed to anything of this sort?
3) Shut Down of eateries and clubbing joints: No place (in the world) can actually boast of 90% of its establishments shut at 1130, but Bengaluru has this unique tag wherein this is prevailent. And the best part is that typically the "last order" is placed between 1045 to 11PM itself. that is just tooo early!
Well... i guess that's good enough a list for this time :-)
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