So am finally back from Bangalore after a month's stay there. Here are my thoughts on "Bengaluru" -
Climate
Relative to Mumbai, the climate is much better. There are many factors that contribute to the good climate there -
Relative to Mumbai, it's much less of a concrete jungle. In Mumbai, it's common to find high-rise buildings that are over 7 storeys, some of them going up to 20 storeys. In Bangalore. the area where I stayed (Indira Nagar) and others like Ulsoor and Koramangala, most of the buildings are small bungalows (ground + 1) and the higher ones go max to 4 storeys. This gives an openness to the city - where the sky is much more visible and there is more brightness all around.
Bangalore is a much better planned city than Mumbai. It's easy to locate things. You have "Cambridge Layout", you have "HAL 1st stage", "HAL 2nd stage" and so on. It's so much easy to map it out and to get directions etc. One of the reasons could be that Bangalore grew much in the last couple of decades and so it was much easy to plan the city. Whatever be the case, the credit goes to them.
Getting Around
Bangalore is spread over a 10 km radius from the center, so it's so much faster and easier to get around within the city (provided you have your own vehicle or use the ubiquitous auto rickshaw). I could manage to go to most parts of the city within 30 minutes by auto (on a weekend, of course).
Commuting to office - My commute daily was about 9 kms (from Indira Nagar to Koramangala) and before 9 am, I could make it in less than 20 minutes. After 9 am, it would take a little longer.
Things to do
The usual here - malls, multiplexes and some very fine restaurants. Some of the restaurants that I have been to and can recommend are "South Indies (superb south Indian food)", "World Food Network (good Lebanese food)", "Mast Kalandar (superb vegetarian parathas)" and then the usual Papa John, Pizza Hut etc. "Claytopia Bistro" on 6th Main in Indira Nagar serves good fresh sandwiches and burgers.
I visited the ISKCONN temple in Rajaji Nagar which is highly recommended. It's a beautiful temple and has a nice architecture. On the way out after the darshan, be prepared for a lot of temple shops selling ISKCONN memorabilia.
Cleanliness
During my stay there and my various city escapades, I hardly saw slums in the city, hardly. This was a very surprising fact. Maybe a few hutments here and there, but no major slums in the city. I did not see any open garbages either.
On the Flip Side
There are many power outages in the city. The metro work going on in many parts of the city has not taken into consideration the bypassing traffic and it's very difficult to even walk on some of those roads (CMH road metro work, for example), let alone vehicles to pass by.
The trees that are being chopped down for city expansion and metro work etc. needs to be replaced very soon.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I loved Bangalore. I didn't have to think twice stepping out of the house at 2 in the afternoon. Language was never a problem - Hindi and English work fine (though I did find one cranky rickshawwalla who refused to speak in anything but Kannada - luckily the meter displayed English :)). Food was never an issue. My apartment superintendent, John is a gentleman of the 1st order. He made my stay pleasant and made sure everything was in working condition.
So until next time, Adieu Bengaluru!!
Climate
Relative to Mumbai, the climate is much better. There are many factors that contribute to the good climate there -
- Being over 900 meters above sea-level, there is no humidity - this means you don't sweat and you don't feel the heat much. I have walked around at 2 and 3 in the afternoon without breaking a sweat
- There is less pollution than Mumbai (less number of vehicles, less people, less factories) everything which contributes to lower pollution and less heat
- There is much more greenery there than Mumbai - more trees, more parks which also contribute to lower pollution and a cooler climate
- Here's the "kicker" - every time the temperature rises over 37 degrees, there is a downpour, often heavy downpours, that "cooools" the climate - this was unbelievable till I saw it with my own eyes. During my last two weeks out there (which were the middle of April), I saw six downpours
Relative to Mumbai, it's much less of a concrete jungle. In Mumbai, it's common to find high-rise buildings that are over 7 storeys, some of them going up to 20 storeys. In Bangalore. the area where I stayed (Indira Nagar) and others like Ulsoor and Koramangala, most of the buildings are small bungalows (ground + 1) and the higher ones go max to 4 storeys. This gives an openness to the city - where the sky is much more visible and there is more brightness all around.
Bangalore is a much better planned city than Mumbai. It's easy to locate things. You have "Cambridge Layout", you have "HAL 1st stage", "HAL 2nd stage" and so on. It's so much easy to map it out and to get directions etc. One of the reasons could be that Bangalore grew much in the last couple of decades and so it was much easy to plan the city. Whatever be the case, the credit goes to them.
Getting Around
Bangalore is spread over a 10 km radius from the center, so it's so much faster and easier to get around within the city (provided you have your own vehicle or use the ubiquitous auto rickshaw). I could manage to go to most parts of the city within 30 minutes by auto (on a weekend, of course).
Commuting to office - My commute daily was about 9 kms (from Indira Nagar to Koramangala) and before 9 am, I could make it in less than 20 minutes. After 9 am, it would take a little longer.
Things to do
The usual here - malls, multiplexes and some very fine restaurants. Some of the restaurants that I have been to and can recommend are "South Indies (superb south Indian food)", "World Food Network (good Lebanese food)", "Mast Kalandar (superb vegetarian parathas)" and then the usual Papa John, Pizza Hut etc. "Claytopia Bistro" on 6th Main in Indira Nagar serves good fresh sandwiches and burgers.
I visited the ISKCONN temple in Rajaji Nagar which is highly recommended. It's a beautiful temple and has a nice architecture. On the way out after the darshan, be prepared for a lot of temple shops selling ISKCONN memorabilia.
Cleanliness
During my stay there and my various city escapades, I hardly saw slums in the city, hardly. This was a very surprising fact. Maybe a few hutments here and there, but no major slums in the city. I did not see any open garbages either.
On the Flip Side
There are many power outages in the city. The metro work going on in many parts of the city has not taken into consideration the bypassing traffic and it's very difficult to even walk on some of those roads (CMH road metro work, for example), let alone vehicles to pass by.
The trees that are being chopped down for city expansion and metro work etc. needs to be replaced very soon.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I loved Bangalore. I didn't have to think twice stepping out of the house at 2 in the afternoon. Language was never a problem - Hindi and English work fine (though I did find one cranky rickshawwalla who refused to speak in anything but Kannada - luckily the meter displayed English :)). Food was never an issue. My apartment superintendent, John is a gentleman of the 1st order. He made my stay pleasant and made sure everything was in working condition.
So until next time, Adieu Bengaluru!!
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