My city strongest!
I have been living in Bangalore for ten years and cannot
think of better place to live in India. True, there are days when I curse the
traffic, the honking, the pollution or some other factors that drive me nuts,
on most other days I am glad to not be caught in Delhi’s show-off culture or
Mumbai’s non-stop rigour.
Bangalore has made me a little lazy but it suits my views on
life, I like its simple people, the weather is (mostly) good and it is greatly
connected to some wonderful places around. Famously called the silicon valley
of India, the city has seen some massive development in the past few years and
has absorbed people from all classes, languages and cultures, with open arms. According
to Mercer’s worldwide review of cities, Bangalore has topped the list of Indian
cities when it comes to quality of living, making it the most sought after
Indian city by NRIs. If I have to talk about three key factors that define a
city: Drive, Design and Connect, this is how my Bangalore fares and comes out
tops:
Design: While there is still some way to go, Bangalore is trying (fast and hard) to match the other metro cities when it comes to infrastructure. Recently, there has been development of good roadways and the Metro rail has also slowly expanded its reach, improving the accessibility of the city. In the design of a city, it is the roads, layouts, major landmarks and other architectural factors that define a city for me. Bangalore seems to be doing fine in all these.
Connect: I define ‘connect’ as the presence of opportunities, communities, and anything else that helps people connect with each other. Bangalore has a huge number of restaurants, malls and theaters that see people coming together to have a good time. While the early curfew stops people from meeting outside after 11.30 PM, it is the house party culture that takes over after that. Most of my own friends love to meet up after 11 PM at somebody’s house to talk and laugh late into the night. Added to this, there are tonnes of weekend getaways around and people are always taking off for road trips with friends and family! And how can I forget that Bangalore is the pub and concert capital of India, having the most amazing gigs and performances the year round!
Drive: Bangalore has the highest number of automobiles in the country (arguably on many factors like per person / per km etc). Bangalore provides the right environment for all. The development of large multinational companies provides a lots of job opportunities and hence much higher discretionary incomes. With higher employment rate, the economy of the city goes up making the overall standard of living better than other cities. You have people with lots of disposable income buying cars, flats, clothes, electronics and other good things that make them happy and charged up! I see Audis, Mercedes, Tata Xenon, Tata Manza, Honda civic and other such high-end cars almost everywhere I go. No wonder this city and its people are so self-driven!
I am participating in the #madeofgreat zonal war with Tata Motors! :) I vote South! I love Bangalore!
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