Bangalore Sweatbox

Foreigners feel at home in Bangalore;
Find infrastructure to be a major problem

# Many of them find travelling in the city a problem
# They find people friendly and helpful

The Hindu, 12 May 06


BANGALORE: When foreigners first arrive in Bangalore they are greeted with chaos at the airport with its claustrophobic passageways, yelling taxi drivers, jostling passengers, noise, colour and confusion.

However, their opinion is bound to change when they have had the time and leisure to take in the city at their own pace. Since Bangalore is in essence a crowded, noisy, chaotic city, their initial opinion does not undergo a dramatic change, but other aspects of Bangalore soon begin to make an impression on them.

Rebecca, doing her international traineeship in Accenture, is from Poland and says she rather likes living in Bangalore. However, even to an outsider the problems in our infrastructure are quite apparent and she says that travelling in Bangalore is quite a problem because of the state of our roads. According to her, traffic and pollution is another glaring flaw that detracts from Bangalore's otherwise pleasing atmosphere.

Ursula, also doing her traineeship is from Poland and finds communicating with auto drivers taxing. Travelling by bus is not an alternative for her because she finds it too hard.

She too finds the people friendly but is not taken in by Bangalore's famous weather as is everyone else, finding it "too hot" for her liking.

Ms. Ursula says that she finds the city's plants and trees rather exotic as well as the cuisine. Considering the rate at which western culture has infiltrated our lives and the lengths to which Indian teenagers go in order to emulate them, this is not very surprising. Oddly though, what she really finds unusual about the city is how the houses seem to encroach upon the streets instead of being set apart from the main roads and divided by lawns or gardens, which is what she is used to back home.

Rodolfo from Brazil finds that the main problem lies in the electricity and water supply, which is irregular and unpredictable at best. He describes the profile of the city in one word: competitive. The similarity he finds between his country and Bangalore is concentrated to the areas Frazer Town and Cox Town, which remind him of neighbourhoods in Brazil.

Rosemary, a student of Canadian International School, likes the laidback culture and the fact that one is exposed to so much in this city. However, she does not like how the moneyed elite who vacation in Bangalore bring their snobbery and prejudices along with them and alter the face of an essentially non-biased and simple society. She likes the pleasant weather Bangalore has to offer from November onwards and is a big fan of the city's pub culture.

Damein from Switzerland loves the city and finds it a unique blend of cosmopolitan and ethnic culture.

What really gives him a chance to enjoy the city is the fact that most Bangaloreans know English, not to mention the fact that they are friendly and eager to help. His favourite place in Bangalore strangely enough is City Market.

Damein finds that the IT boom has really set Bangalore apart from other Indian cities.

posted by The Bangalorean @ 5/11/2006

#    posted by Mark Pritchard @ 11:27 AM