THE BANGALORE BIAS

It was just a three day visit to Bangalore. Yet, back home with bag full of memories. Guess what, I am in love with the city. Thanks to my friend Raghu for a splendid hospitality.

I had a dream about an imaginary metro which is eco-friendly, technically advanced and with a plenty of opportunities for millions to survive in a healthy arena.

Every inch I ventured into the city, I felt that Bangalore will be the one I dreamt about.It is not about the reckless flaws that every metropolitan city had, but it is about the attitude of people to initiate a change.

When we started our day in a small hotel tagged as ‘famous’ in the entire city for breakfast, I was surprised to see that they serve in banyan tree leaves which implies that they do not waste water in the name of cleaning. They fed parcels in a jute cover which implies countless perspectives.

When we were bantering sitting in an auto about the city and its features, we switched our topic to the temperatures that prevail in the city. To my surprise, the driver participated in the conversation stating “Sir, they are cutting many trees in the name of metro train. New ones should be planted. Or else we can’t withstand with dropping temperatures.” Common people with such a view made me agape as I first time I witnessed something against “who cares” attitude of our society.

One more spectacular thing about the city is the flexibility of the medium of the communication. You can speak any Indian language where you get a reply from chauffeurs to CEOs in the same language you spoke. Thanks to the IT boom which made that possible. When I boarded off the auto, driver replied me in my native language. “Are you from the border area? How do you know the language?” I queried. “Sir, we need to learn different languages for survival here” he replied. There was lot to learn from his answer.

I found my many using cycles for their transportation. It may be health consciousness or fear of hiked petrol prices; there were good amount of cycles across the city. Even in the Electronics city which is a software hub of technocrats earning millions per month, we can sight people moving on a cycle.

There were interesting protocols among the citizens every one day of the week or the other. It was tagged as “no horn day”. On every Monday they follow that. It is reported that Bangalore was only city in India to follow that protocol lately.

It is not in the laws that government enact for a better living standards but also our own perspective in keeping our premises clean and healthy. Enhanced standards of living don’t mean living in a posh locality but in a sustainable environment.