What the hell's wrong with Bangalore ?
My grouses :
1) Autorickshaw drivers are at the top of this list. The sods should be exterminated like termites. A Bangalorean auto driver is like a suicide bomber with a hernia, i.e. pretty irritable.
A polite Bangalorean auto driver is like a suicide bomber with a hernia who speaks Esperanto, i.e. pretty rare.
I have tried everything short of killing the cretins. I have argued. Threatened. Compained and dragged a few to the cops. To no avail. They just keep crawling out of everywhere, and consistently refuse to drive you anywhere for a fare that is less than Zimbabwe's deficit.
2) The point about useless cops is closely related to the discussion about auto drivers. Cops in Bangalore seem to have ZERO authority. I once complained to the cops that an auto guy wasn't taking me somewhere. The rather malnourished government servant stopped an auto for me and instructed the driver to take me where I wanted. The driver drove about 20 feet and asked me to get off and dissapeared. I went back and complained to the cop. He stopped another auto. The second guy did the same thing again. It was hilarious, actually. Everyday I see cops at traffic junctions being treated like they are part of the local flora. No one cares. Maybe it's to do with the going bribe rate - even Rs.30 can get you out of trouble with a Bangalore cop if he catches you without your vehicle papers.
3) Lack of safety. Going with the flow, this takes off where point number 2 leaves off. Bangalore happens to be one of the most unsafe metros to live in. There are an insane number of attacks on people travelling through ill-lit roads at night. And of course, the cops are just fixtures. Recently a girl was molested near my friend's house in Cambridge Layout. My friend and some local guys caught the miscreant and dragged him to the police station. Instead of arresting the SOB, the cops then wanted to know if the girl was having an affair with this man. The girl in question was in school and the man in question was a rag picker. Not only did the cops not book a case against him, he was quietly let go from the station when no one was looking. The cops then asked my friend and the local guys why they were getting involved in this issue !!
Oh yeah, I forgot. The 'cops' in Chickmagalur, near B'lore completely ignored a find of a shitload of explosives, before the day serials blasts took place in the city a few months back.
What can I say.
4) Ill lit roads. Travel to the new airport any day and you will see the streetlights near Hebbal burning electricity in broad daylight. Travel on inner Ring Road any night and you will see nothing. Bangalore. IT City. Hi Tech. Guess what. Shit crap, is what.
5) Forum Mall. I am beginning to detest the place. Everything's overpriced. The crowds are just crazy. Going to a movie there is like passing through US customs. There's a bloke there who has dug his fingernails in my ass crack the last three times I was there in the name of frisking. And to go to see a movie there means you have to leave every freakin thing you own outside. A Saturday night movie costs Rs 200. What the hell.
All in all, the frustration gets to me at times. I want to get out of this city and country for a long while.
1) Autorickshaw drivers are at the top of this list. The sods should be exterminated like termites. A Bangalorean auto driver is like a suicide bomber with a hernia, i.e. pretty irritable.
A polite Bangalorean auto driver is like a suicide bomber with a hernia who speaks Esperanto, i.e. pretty rare.
I have tried everything short of killing the cretins. I have argued. Threatened. Compained and dragged a few to the cops. To no avail. They just keep crawling out of everywhere, and consistently refuse to drive you anywhere for a fare that is less than Zimbabwe's deficit.
2) The point about useless cops is closely related to the discussion about
3) Lack of safety. Going with the flow, this takes off where point number 2 leaves off. Bangalore happens to be one of the most unsafe metros to live in. There are an insane number of attacks on people travelling through ill-lit roads at night. And of course, the cops are just fixtures. Recently a girl was molested near my friend's house in Cambridge Layout. My friend and some local guys caught the miscreant and dragged him to the police station. Instead of arresting the SOB, the cops then wanted to know if the girl was having an affair with this man. The girl in question was in school and the man in question was a rag picker. Not only did the cops not book a case against him, he was quietly let go from the station when no one was looking. The cops then asked my friend and the local guys why they were getting involved in this issue !!
Oh yeah, I forgot. The 'cops' in Chickmagalur, near B'lore completely ignored a find of a shitload of explosives, before the day serials blasts took place in the city a few months back.
What can I say.
4) Ill lit roads. Travel to the new airport any day and you will see the streetlights near Hebbal burning electricity in broad daylight. Travel on inner Ring Road any night and you will see nothing. Bangalore. IT City. Hi Tech. Guess what. Shit crap, is what.
5) Forum Mall. I am beginning to detest the place. Everything's overpriced. The crowds are just crazy. Going to a movie there is like passing through US customs. There's a bloke there who has dug his fingernails in my ass crack the last three times I was there in the name of frisking. And to go to see a movie there means you have to leave every freakin thing you own outside. A Saturday night movie costs Rs 200. What the hell.
All in all, the frustration gets to me at times. I want to get out of this city and country for a long while.
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