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Thursday, July 01, 2010

Bengaluru buzzzzzzz.......

The first time I had visited Bengaluru (still people refer to the city by its earlier name - Bangalore; though the acceptance of the English expression 'getting Bangalored' does not have a note of affirmation), I wasn't too ecstatic about the city.
I remember having said to a friend that Bengaluru wasn't inviting enough for me.
The weather, the greenery, the branded retail outlets, the eat-out joints and the shopping malls & arcades seemed to be the only attractions.
On the other hand, the traffic snarls, the overpriced goods & services put me off to a great extent.
Well, recently, when I visited Bengaluru for the second time, I found that most of the earlier plus-es were big enticements for me.
Being a die-hard Kolkatan, maybe my perception was too biased the previous time and I might have been closed to the acceptance of the city myself.
Add to it the fact that I didn't get much of a chance to explore the city.
There was also the nagging strain of being in a relationship that kept me on tenterhooks.
This time, I found Bengaluru to be quite embracing.

Being a diverse city, Bengaluru accepts people from across the country,
offering them a busy and fast life, ambient lounges and pubs, hi-fashion stores, luxurious malls, lush greenery and a pleasant weather as huge bonuses.
Culturally, the city is quite booming, in fact.
There are all kinds of happening things capturing the fancy of the city's enthusiastic population.
The temples, the marketplaces, the parks, the libraries - all are so spic & span and so very functional.
The sprawling roads, flyovers, under-passes offer smooth rides.
The new airport (the last time I had landed at the old airport which ceased to become operational from that night itself) is wonderfully maintained.
The entrance to the airport is lined with a vast space for the visitors to refesh and relax.
Bengaluru comes with a host of infrastructural facilities that is surely welcome for the tourists and the Bagaloreans alike.
I visited the Mantri Square Mall which is just humongous! The sheer luxury of shopping there must be a huge draw for the international visitors too.
I couldn't resist catching a screening of 'Shrek 4 - 3D' at the Inox Insignia auditorium there.

Though I wasn't missing out on the delicacies of Kolkata on this short stay
in Bengaluru, my sister and brother-in-law treated me to the finest food
at Oh! Calcutta and Lazeez Restaurant and I could see why.
For the Bengalis there, it was the gastronomical connect with their home!
Not all roads and nooks & corners are perfectly planned or visually appealing, of course.
Luckily, where I stayed, not much distant from the new airport, it was close to perfection. I was hugely impressed with the location.
The one road in Bengaluru that deserves special mention, however, is: M.G. Road,
it is the nerve-centre of Bengaluru, with shops on one side and on an embankment adjacent to the army grounds a lovely walkaway, shrouded by trees and bougainvillea.
The other special mention that I must make is that of the cool FM radio station of the city - Radio Indigo. It simply rocks!
As does its cool RJ Rohit Barker.
Before ending this post,
I can't help sharing with my readers a much-popular comparison between
Kolkata and Bengaluru.... it's funny....
and hence no attempt to be politically correct... just read and enjoy:
How to know which city you are in
same scenario, different reflexes -
Two guys are fighting and a third guy comes along,
then a fourth
and they start arguing about who's right.
You know: You are in Kolkata.

Two guys are fighting and a third guy comes...
he writes a software program to stop the fight.
But the fight doesn't stop because of a bug in the program.

That's Bangalore.... oops, Bengaluru!
hahaha..............!!

4 comments:

aarav said...

Good to know that you loved visiting Bangalore, urf Bengaluru, the Silicon City of India.
From being the proverbial Pensioners' Paradise, it has progressed in leaps & bounds.
I wish Kolkata too worked overtime, beyond the general lacuna and political ill-will, to match up as a metro-city to admire and look up to.

Anirban Halder said...

A well-penned account. Gives interesting insights about the city.

Arunima said...

Bangalore is perhaps a city of paradoxes..on one hand it has the very traditional and conservative secion and on the other hand it has the so called cool and casual crowd who are mostly migrants from other cities. It takes time to warm up to an outsider. But when it does, it does grow on you! Am glad that atleast your second brush with Bangalore was a good one :-)

Sayantan said...

wow! loved this post a lot. thanks for sharing your experiences in the city. :-)