My Impressions of Bangalore

Bangalore has been named a lot of things throughout the course of history. Whether it may be ‘The City of Boiled Beans’ or ‘The Garden City’ or ‘The Pensioner’s Paradise’ or ‘The Silicon Valley of India’, it has a lot of different identities.

Bangalore is recognized as one of the main IT hubs of the world today, but it was not always so. From being named ‘The City of Boiled Beans’ by King Ballala during a hunting trip in 1100 A.D., it has worked extremely hard to attain the title of the ‘Silicon City of India’. It is listed as the 4^th best IT hub of the world and adding to this has a verb of its own originating from its name. ‘Bangalored’ as a verb means losing your job to an IT professional in India. This happens mostly when companies abroad layoff their workers and give their jobs to people in India due to a lower currency. So most of the outsourcing centers are found here. 

The BPO sector along with the BT (Biotechnology) and IT sector are flourishing and are churning out a new bandwagon of young under qualified professionals who work through the night, jabbering away in foreign accents and are shepherded to and fro from home to call centers in the wee hours of the morning. Most of them go through hard core training to get rid of the MTI(Mother Tongue Influence).Through this new found culture, two different ideologies are created. On the one hand, these youngsters are in awe of the Western culture, but some others, on seeing their way of life, prefer to choose their own heritage over theirs.

The IT sector in Bangalore gives stiff competition to that in USA and has been stated as ‘a wakeup call’ for them. The billionaire head honchos like Azim Premj(Wipro) and Nandan Nilekarni(Infosys) have been touted as the next big things and already are churning in awards. Bangalore also has the manpower of trained personnel and compared to the yesteryears, when the brain drain caused them to migrate abroad, most of them decide to stay here, thus reversing this phenomenon. This new found effect has been named as the ‘Bangalore Boomerang’. The CEO’s of these companies are like mini celebrities and their each step is followed by the various journals all over the world. But with the increased manpower in this sector, the income demand has also increased and might lead to an economic depression which is being named as the ‘Bangalore Bug’.

Bangalore with its lush green surroundings and pleasant climate, serves as a perfect place for residence as well as work. That may be the reason that it is preferred over the other metropolitan cities when it comes to building a sound information technology center  This has led to booming a real estate sector. But with the large number of population migrating to Bangalore for this exact purpose, we see a rapid decline in other industries of Karnataka like Mysore sandal, silks, agarbattis, jasmine etc. The neglect toward these local crafts has caused a whole lot of people to lose their jobs. These along with drought stricken farmers as well as migrants from the surrounding states looking for work, have set up shop here in Bangalore to join the construction business as well as serve the young professionals. This has made the identity of the Kannadiga man more confusing than ever.

Several sections of the society find this IT boom a bane to their traditions and beliefs. They feel that it is driving the people further away from their culture. The city founded by Kempe Gowda and the area demarcated by them is a far cry from the city it is today. The tall glass buildings and plush apartments seem like parasites to them, leeching on the land that is truly theirs. Every now and then, life comes to a standstill due to some rally or other going on demonstrating the same.

Though Bangalore’s identity as a technological center gives India a high status in the IT family tree, it does have its cons. The well constructed buildings do give in to its topography when water invades them in the monsoons. The choked streets serve as a disadvantage as any other city in India.

So Bangalore as a city has two sides to the same coin. It constantly struggles between its global and local side. Its dual nature tends to make it more cosmopolitan and it precariously balances both sides. But somehow in the chaos of its so many names, it maintains its own identity as the ‘Brand Bangalore’.