Forty-eight hours in Bangalore

Two days in a place is never enough to really get a sense of what it is about, but there were some things about Bangalore that were obvious upon arrival. The very first observation was the intense traffic congestion, illuminated by my 7pm arrival during the throng of rush hour. I had gone to the pre-paid auto rickshaw booth and got my slip telling me my journey should be Rs162 much to the dismay of the shifty character who had tried to intercept me offering a ride for a mere Rs250. Piled my stuff into the rickshaw and settled in for the ride through this new city. Ten minutes later, I was still on the road leading out of the train station. It was comical the autos and scooters, curling around, vying for that small space, everyone breathing in the fumes from the vehicles in front, sat there feet away from each other in what seemed like an impossible stale mate. But suddenly, movement, a ripple, a surge and then break free and make a run for it until the next clump of traffic. Driving through as the night unfolded, it was much of what you would expect of any Indian city, the hubbub of street life, shops closing, chai stalls and restaurants with the requisite crowds lolling about, people making their way home, buses crammed full, other rickshaws, more scooters and motorbikes always with multiple people and items balancing on them, the other worldly wail of call the prayer as we passed a mosque… just another weekday night in the city.

Being the tech capital of India and the only really cosmopolitan city in the south it offers and costs a lot to the weary traveller. Here you can find decent coffee (India’s answer to Starbucks ‘Coffee Day’ is a favourite, but you can find Costas and Baristas too), you can eat sushi and you can drink expensive cocktails in swanky bars that double as nightclubs playing to an enthusiastic young crowd. Although everything does shut down around 12.30am that is still much later than most places other than Mumbai and Delhi. Young stylish girls dressed in western clothes swinging back beers would be unheard of elsewhere in south India, but here, the tech boom seems to have pushed the youth culture further forward – maybe being so connected has made western culture and customs seem more attainable or the mantle of the ‘modern’ city and progress has simply soaked into the psyche. The Bangaloreans do pride themselves on their progressive city and attitudes so it’s not surprising and an insight into the India of the future most likely.

Or at least one aspect of it. Some parts of Bangalore, like the Krishnarajendra (City) Market, are still very much stuck in time. Like all produce markets in India, there is a wonderful assault on the senses as soon as you find yourself in the midst of the throng; colourful piles of produce, the hum of barter and chatter, activity, negotiation and the stream of movement as people make their way through. Outside is mainly vegetables, and inside, down the stairs, the darkness parts into splashes of brilliant colour under hanging lights and intensely aromatic scents of flowers and herbs. Piles of yellow, orange, pink garlands wound around in mounds, baskets of fresh herbs fanned out in a wheel – wandering around, a soothing respite in the fragrant dark.

Adding to the entertainment of this excursion was the fact that my companion, my dear friend Julian, looks vaguely reminiscent to one of the England cricket team’s star players, Andrew Strauss – and he looked the part in his linen blazer. As England were due to play in Bangalore the following weekend, it would not be so far-fetched to think he might be in town, so everywhere we went people accosted him and of course, I affirmed that in fact, he was the famed cricketer. So, much time was spent with people wanting photos taken with him, usually with our cameras and then the hopeful expectation that we’ll print and send them (by post to laughably vague addresses) as email is still an abstract reality for this cross section of the Bangalore community. However modern, progressive and switched on certain groups of society are here, this is still an Indian city full of many people going about their daily business with no thought to the development on their doorstep.