Between 3 trips to Bengaluru

I must accept the fact that I started writing this on 23rd of May, 2012. After the completion of my 3 visits of Bengaluru. Let me try to give what all happened in between these visits. Well, for a beginning, I will say about the sea changes in the lives of my 3 friends. 

During the first visit - October 2011.

(Ram) Subash was working in Bengaluru.

Krishna (Kumar) was working in Obopay with a pay of around 3.5 L per Annum.

Soban (Babu) was in Chennai attending his classes.

During the second visit - Jan 1, 2012.

Subash was working in Chennai.

Krishna got a hike & was in the pay range of 4.5L per annum.

Soban was in Dharmapuri with his family & preparing for final exams of CA.

During the final visit - May 23rd, 2012.

Subash was working in Ernakulam.

Krishna lost his job & was searching for a new one.

Soban came back to Chennai.

NOW THE ONLY CONSTANT THING IN ALL THESE THREE SCENARIOS IS... MYSELF. (barring the physical changes which was always up the mountain!)

I was then an MBA student who was hoping to complete the degree, then an MBA student who was again hoping to complete the degree... & Now I am here still hoping to finish my degree! :D Of course stuck in the same Chennai, though I shifted my place of residence from Velachery to Saidapet recently! 

So coming back to the point of in between 3 trips to Bengaluru, I found the following to be important things that the Chennaiites or people of Chennai should learn from our Bengaluru counterparts.

1) FLEECE Uniformly.

I am in no way saying that the AUTO-RICKSHAW drivers in Bengaluru are better than the Chennai drivers BUT they do it with a just. They have all the crazy papers and notices and do the act of fleecing with some vague feeling of justice. They swindle the money with some sanity. They show you some papers citing the changes in the fare, rise in petrol price etc.

So, the auto-drivers of Chennai can fleece BUT they should do it uniformly!


2) CUT sensibly.

I know nothing of the eco-friendliness or the conserving nature of the Bengalurians BUT Bengaluru sure has more vegetation than Chennai. I heard that the people protested while the trees in the LAL BAGH were being cut for the city's metro railway project. Anyway from what I have seen the roads are far better when it comes to the canopy size (Only the canopy size! Otherwise they are as bad as the roads in Thiruvananthapuram. Small & dusty)

So, the people of Chennai shall CUT the trees BUT they should CUT them sensibly!


Similarly I will say the following point to the Bengalurians!

1) CONFUSE sanely.

I am not claiming that the buses in Chennai are completely passenger-friendly BUT the buses in Bengaluru are completely against the comfort of the passengers! In my travels I used the Bengaluru city buses & all of them had "NO ENGLISH" boards. They were completely in Kannada & even many natives were asking me for what was written on the board! I agree that the natives wouldnt be able to read the English BUT at least the "foreigners" like me could interpret it for them!

In Chennai, almost all buses will have English boards. Most of the buses will be bilingual! I would reckon such a change in the Bengaluru buses at the earliest.


In hopes, as of ever!