I've been living in Bangalore for six years, but today made me seriously question my sanity. This city, with all its quirks, tests your patience every single day. Here is what happened to me last month.
I left for work at 8 AM that day thinking I'd beat the rush hour on Outer Ring Road. The corporate greed of building skyscrapers without improving the infrastructure has choked this city. By the time I hit the Silk Board signal, traffic was at a complete standstill. Not moving. Not inching. Just... nothing.
After two hours, TWO HOURS, of crawling at 1 km/h, I just became very angry I noticed people cutting in through the small gaps. Bikers, autos, cars, trying to get the smallest fucking advantage on the road, everyone out for themselves. And guess what?
My friends who had come to visit me from Chandigarh were phoning me that they will come from a cab but the cabbies were on another level, Surge pricing was through the roof, with Ola and Uber tripling their rates. Some drivers were even asking for extra cash and said they will cancel otherwise.
I saw a guy on a Royal Enfield, revving his engine aggressively as if the sound alone could ease the traffic. But it didn’t help obviously. You see, nobody was willing to follow the rules, or God forbid, cooperate that day.
In the end, Bangalore will collapse under the weight of its own unchecked growth. Mark my words.
If Mumbai hasn't why will Bengaluru. You will keep living a life of cockroach but Bangalore will continue to grow
India* is about to fail. India will collapse under its own weight. All cities will soon become unlivable. We are 1-2 good urban disasters away from tearing ourselves apart. COVID hit many people, but a water shortage or a massive flood -- that will challenge the weak foundations of our society. It will expose how weakly bonded we are as a country -- where every man is for himself.
Kuch baat hai ki hasti mit ti nahi humari, sadiyo raha hai dushman daur-e-jahaan humara
Yeah, that's called complacency and illusion of grandeur. Your pride is your privilege in disguise. When the barbarians will storm the gate -- and take everything away from you, is when you'll realise it matters whether everyone in the country is doing well or not. It takes compassion to realise they're not.
Moreover the organisations also don't try to understand and make it mandatory for us to come to the office.
This is something I've observed when I wondered why companies are forcing people to WFO.
Almost all tech parks in the city, are owned by builders who have strong political connections. It's not like the builders are not gonna be happy if people don't use their office spaces. It's actually these same political pressures, where these builders are made to donate to the political parties that support them and aid in building these office spaces. Why ? Well, politicians need money, a large amount of money, to take care of their blind followers and bucket holders. And builders are one of their main sources of fund providers. Now, builders, under the pressure from those who aided them in building these office spaces on lakes and non approved lands and what not, have to shell money every now and then, so that they can build more, generate more revenue and give a small part of this back to those who helped them do it.
Now you might be thinking, if the builders are under pressure to generate money, the companies that have taken these offices spaces for lease contract will obviously pay them. Then how is this related to the WFO part ?
Well, these rents are mostly based on how much office space and infrastructure you use in that particular tech park. It's not about the number of floors your company has leased for themselves. It's the number of people who use it. So, if your company has a hybrid policy and less number of people come to office per month to work there, then your company has to pay more than the other company with similar office space and employee count but with no WFH policy. This feels unfair, but almost all builders follow the same. So, its fcuked up everywhere.
So, your company enforces you to WFO bcz of this reason. Unless your company is a cashcow or is lucky enough to have a office space from a builder who is not under any pressure, this is how it is.
On top of this, with bad infrastructure in place, your vehicle tends to get damaged more often + the need for more fuel due to long slow moving traffic where your engine is drinking fuel all the time, this acts as an indirect source of income to the govt. More fuel sold, more spare parts sold. More money sucked from the public via tax.
So, basically, you are feeding the rich and the poor but you are suffering.
Bangalore is too big to fail.
I am hearing the same shit from the 7+ years of staying here, nothing much changes.
Delhi's pollution causes thousands of deaths yearly and lakhs with breathing problems. Still people migrate to it.
Only a matter of time
Bangalore's infra has been crumbling under the weight of its population growth. I believe that yesterday's traffic jam was just a trailer and situation will only worsen with time.
Seriously contemplating moving out of Bangalore after...
PUNE✌🏻 much peaceful compared to Bangalore and work culture is way better than my experiences in Bangalore. Fes...
Total failure and negligence of Bangalore police 👮♂️ I don't even know one person in my friend circle who feels opposite than all the things am sharing in this post. You can't even commute in bangalore.
