Bangalore gets Everyone

"Bangalore gets everyone" Punam Khaira Sidhu, who moved to Bengalooru on a transfer recently, regales us with how the City grew on her to become her "home away from home" A long-awaited promotion is received but it comes with a transfer to a station furthest from my family at Chandigarh. Two flights later, I arrive at the spiffy new Bangalore Airport and walk out into a gentle summer shower. The distance between the city and the airport, begs for a Metro. First impression Two hours later, the city, with its verdant greenery and tiled roofs, looms into focus. It has acquired a substantial share of high rises, most impressive of which is UB City, topped with a futuristic looking circular helipad for Vijay Mallya's chopper. It is here that Canalli, Stella McCartney, Moschino, Louis Vuitton, Tods and Tiffany are debuting in a mall reminiscent of a Baroque Palace. The finest marble, fountains and Greco Roman pillars and arches, transport you into a different world. But Bangalore is best epitomised, not by its numerous malls like the Ledo, Garuda, Lifestyle, etc, but in the occasional Café Mocha or the quaint Hatworks Bouleward, where coffee can be sipped beneath spreading trees, and the benches slope and slide to accommodate wizened tree trunks and hardy shrubs and art rubs shoulders with gourmet cuisine. I’ve never needed sophisticated instruments to assess pollution in a city. It usually suffices to use a cottonball doused in astringent. In Chandigarh, the cotton ball rubbed across my skin, yielded a faint brown residue; in Delhi, a deeper brown; and in Bangalore, the garden city, horrors of horrors, deepest black. Well, it’s time Bengalurus’ woke up to the evolving needs of the city. Bumper-to-bumper traffic and distances to be travelled for essential services such as hospitals, airports, schools and offices, make Mass Public Transport a priority and if it means rendering some old fashioned ‘Shramdaan’, so be it. The people are gentle and helpful. The Chief Commissioner is warm and compassionate, appreciating my predicament at leaving my tenth and twelfth class teenagers and spouse behind. The Director General assures me that I will settle down soon — “Bangalore gets everyone”—- he says. As I find my bearings, I knuckle down to the business of setting up a home for myself. The monsoon sales are a bonanza, but I settle for a rental deal from the trusty Saleh Ahmed. His warehouses, choc-a-bloc with old furniture, are a treat for folks like me. As I select the bare necessities, I begin to envisage the empty spaces of my transit flat yielding place to the makings of a home away from home. All encompassing warmth The Gurudwara at Ulsoor beckons with its warmth and melodious prayers. The lake is a serene reservoir of positivity. Commercial Street bustles with bargains while Brigade Road, and Church Street are choc-a-bloc with youngsters like my sons. Vittal Mallya Road is home to aspirational brands while Race Course Road hums with hotels and restaurants. Further along is Forum, the mega Mall, and Electronic city and the swanky high rises of Koramangala and beyond, the sleepy hamlet of Sarjapur, popular for its weekend homes and upcoming public schools. Soon, I know where to buy the best biriyani and kebabs and the freshest fruit. I can find my way along winding lanes to the temple for darshan, fragrant chameli and a delicious green coconut drink. As I mine the markets for bargains for my new home, I begin to feel the lump in my heart dissolve. Bangalore has gotten me — its champagne climate creeping into my DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid), and its only week-two of my translocation here. Is it any wonder then that the streets are spilling over with new migrants like me, all headily high on bustling Bengaluru — and trust me, the pubs have nothing to do with it. published in Deccan Herald dated 12 sept 2008 -The author is Commissioner, Income Tax (CIB). archive.deccanherald.com/content/Sep122008/realty2008091189377.asp