Episode XI - People get offended.
I realized a long time ago that people get easily offended by what I have to say about Bangalore. If I were to say that "Bangalore still appears on the surface to be in a third world nation," People in Bangalore would definitely take offense. It is generally accepted that Columbia is a third world nation. I read an article to day (News that caught my attention) that seemed to catch my notice regarding a similarity between India and Columbia. The similarity had to do with gaping holes in the road, manholes and dangerous places for children. The article talked about gaping holes due to manhole covers being stolen and the danger that the holes were now presenting after a child had died as a result of falling into the said hole. They ignored the problem until it killed someone. After some time the Columbians will forget and go back to their third world ways. Yes, some covers will be fixed for a time, but they will go back to forgetting the problems.
In Bangalore it took a girl from a college to be mowed down by a truck while she was trying to cross the road in front of her campus to get this place to take the safety of pedestrians seriously. Well again this only lasted a short period of time. The put raised (speed bumps) cross walks through out the city and also where the girl had died. Unfortunately they haven't focused on the other issues from a point of safety. I have found so many dangerous holes through out the city where someone riding a bike could easily fall into a hole and die. This may have happened in the past as I have noticed that they sometimes put up barricades where holes have been dug. Most of the time however, the barricades are the dangers. There are no reflectors or indicators that the barricades are there. If someone were to be traveling late at night the chance that they would run into one of these barricades is pretty high. But now I must give credit to the average Bangalorean. They are smart enough to know that these dangers exist. So they drive with caution. If you read the article I have iterated earlier you will see the correlation. People in the third world seem to accept the bad situations that they face. In many ways it is admirable that people put up with so much and manage to keep their composure. It could also be that people are just numb and they know nothing else. It is definitely not that people want these bad situations in their environment, cause no one could possibly want that.
But none the less they get offended when I bring these things up. India is not a third world Nation. It is just a poorly managed country. It has one of the 10 largest economies in the world. You would think that I shouldn't be able to find highly repeatable examples with India and other third world nations. I can find examples with certain parts of the US and third world nations as well. Not really in the big cities as I find in India, but there are places. But Bangalore has most if not all of the same problems that which most of the third world still faces on a daily basis. The area that doesn’t seem to be in line however with the third world: the price of land. I would actually suggest that people invest in US real estate rather than invest in Bangalore. If they are buying property, like a flat in parts of bangalore for 5000-8000 rupees a square foot I would definitely suggest to the person making that investment to take that money and go to US. One of the most expensive areas in the US is the San Francisco Bay area. And you can buy a house in for example Cupertino California. There are a few companies in the city of Cupertino like Apple, Symantec and HP to name a few. It is a very wealthy city, in terms of its residents. It also has some of the best public schools in all of the US. There are probably more people going to Harvard/Stanford/Etc from the high school system that any other high school system. So when I notice that a house in RMV here in Bangalore back in February was going for 4.3 Crore Rupees or about 1 million US Dollars I thought I would compare housing in Cupertino (House Listings SF Bay Area) with housing here in Bangalore. As a side note - in 2000 Cupertino was the only city in the US with a population over 50,000 people and an average household income of over $100,000. Well suffice it to say you can buy a nice home in Cupertino for about the same price. So in some ways Bangalore appears to not be in the third world. Maybe it is just in the third world on the surface.
You decide, but please don't get offended with what I have to say.
In Bangalore it took a girl from a college to be mowed down by a truck while she was trying to cross the road in front of her campus to get this place to take the safety of pedestrians seriously. Well again this only lasted a short period of time. The put raised (speed bumps) cross walks through out the city and also where the girl had died. Unfortunately they haven't focused on the other issues from a point of safety. I have found so many dangerous holes through out the city where someone riding a bike could easily fall into a hole and die. This may have happened in the past as I have noticed that they sometimes put up barricades where holes have been dug. Most of the time however, the barricades are the dangers. There are no reflectors or indicators that the barricades are there. If someone were to be traveling late at night the chance that they would run into one of these barricades is pretty high. But now I must give credit to the average Bangalorean. They are smart enough to know that these dangers exist. So they drive with caution. If you read the article I have iterated earlier you will see the correlation. People in the third world seem to accept the bad situations that they face. In many ways it is admirable that people put up with so much and manage to keep their composure. It could also be that people are just numb and they know nothing else. It is definitely not that people want these bad situations in their environment, cause no one could possibly want that.
But none the less they get offended when I bring these things up. India is not a third world Nation. It is just a poorly managed country. It has one of the 10 largest economies in the world. You would think that I shouldn't be able to find highly repeatable examples with India and other third world nations. I can find examples with certain parts of the US and third world nations as well. Not really in the big cities as I find in India, but there are places. But Bangalore has most if not all of the same problems that which most of the third world still faces on a daily basis. The area that doesn’t seem to be in line however with the third world: the price of land. I would actually suggest that people invest in US real estate rather than invest in Bangalore. If they are buying property, like a flat in parts of bangalore for 5000-8000 rupees a square foot I would definitely suggest to the person making that investment to take that money and go to US. One of the most expensive areas in the US is the San Francisco Bay area. And you can buy a house in for example Cupertino California. There are a few companies in the city of Cupertino like Apple, Symantec and HP to name a few. It is a very wealthy city, in terms of its residents. It also has some of the best public schools in all of the US. There are probably more people going to Harvard/Stanford/Etc from the high school system that any other high school system. So when I notice that a house in RMV here in Bangalore back in February was going for 4.3 Crore Rupees or about 1 million US Dollars I thought I would compare housing in Cupertino (House Listings SF Bay Area) with housing here in Bangalore. As a side note - in 2000 Cupertino was the only city in the US with a population over 50,000 people and an average household income of over $100,000. Well suffice it to say you can buy a nice home in Cupertino for about the same price. So in some ways Bangalore appears to not be in the third world. Maybe it is just in the third world on the surface.
You decide, but please don't get offended with what I have to say.
posted by .dxr at 10:13 PM
2 Comments:
Conincidence brings me here.1)I am a Bangalorean,2)I have just written about our beloved potholes in my blog, and i see you mention of this magnificent man-made landform in your post too!
Looks like you are new to the Indian ways. I guess thats why your third party observation catches some details that we taying here cant. Thanks. :) India has been numb to its problems till the recent. I guess global awareness of bangalore's existance has started makin changes in the Indian psyche. But i think its on the route to getting better. but its gonna take some time. Nice Blog :)
It was stated that India is 1 of the top that most populated people in Asia so people wouldn't be new of this kind of issue,..
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