Sunday, November 13, 2005

Bangalore Sucks

Perhaps thats the wrong way to phrase it.

Bangalore is a big city, and it's expensive. Oh so expensive. I'm paying 380 a night for a room, the most i've spent since I got here. Now, admittedly, it's in a decent area (Yahoo and HP are across the street) - but it's way expensive.

I wanted to see a film - and so, i went out in search of an english-language cinema. They're all in shopping malls. Thats right, this city has shopping malls. Just like in the US, only louder, with more people.

The Indians of bangalore, at least the ones in the malls, have money, are pretty/handsome, and drop money like it's going out of style (as demonstrated by the number of shopping bags they're carrying). The first cinema I went to was sold out (30 mins before the film).. A first for me in India.

Thus, I took a rickshaw to another mall across town, and bought a ticket 2 hours early for the 10pm show. It seems that saturday/sunday are more expensive - but sheesh, 150 rupees (3 dollars) for a movie!! Even in Chennai, it was only 80 rupees.

Outside the mall, some kind of shampoo were giving out free samples and washing people's hair to show off the wonderful power of their products... but, alas, only for women. When I untied my hair to prove that I had long/silky hair in need of herbal hair therapy, they laughed, and told me that women couldn't touch a man's head... Seems pretty fishy to me...

This left me time to eat and surf the net...

Now, while I'm more than happy to eat food at a side-of-the-road shack, cooked by a man in nothing but a loincloth - but for some reason, I just can't bring myself to eat mall food. Even if the McDonalds here have a veggie allo tikka burger.. I don't want to touch it.


I leave tomorrow on the 10pm train to Hampi, a hopefully, much cheaper and quieter town.. this place is just crazy, and the sooner I leave, the better.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

you know chris...itz not that bad here..in bangalore.

Ya..might be pretty expensive...the price u gotta pay for stayin in a "metro wannabe".

Anonymous said...

You said it! Couldn't agree with you more. I stayed in Bangalore for 4 years and even now I get shudders when I think of Bangalore.

kamu said...

ahem!
Have you been to any other mall in India??
they're all just the way you described them..
in chennai the rule is no ticket can cost above 100 rupees..
thats politics my friend..
the money people earn here..
is more than what you could think of!
Bangalore is better than the rest..
its just that grumbling is easy!

Unknown said...

Well,
The truth is, in Bangalore, its a seller's market, simply because the buyers themselves have absolutely no idea about what or why they want! The fact that I have lived in at least 7 different states in India, hopefully, gives you an idea that I have seen a lot!

Fact remains that Bangalore is a seriously deprived city! I had never in my life bought a movie ticket in advance! But, here, you can't imagine of planning watching a movie just like that! Plus, it now even costs Rs 300 for some movies on weekends!

About the price, its an artificial situation created by some people out to fleece the corporate population! Now, even the locals have to face the brunt simply because some idiots jacked up the prices in order to earn a quick buck, and now, everyone, including the "not-greedy" locals also bearing the brunt of price rise!

Bangalore sucks way more than any other city I have been to / heard of! (I live in Bangalore, bdw!)

Anonymous said...

big plus for bangalore: weather

big negatives for bangalore: everything else

check this out, i guess its pretty impossible for people to do business here,

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bangalore/Entrepreneurs_give_Karnataka_the_thumbs_down/articleshow/3849037.cms

i wonder how long the it firms will stay here once, 2010,2011, anyone can take a guess

Anonymous said...

You missed the missed the worst thing !
nightmarish traffic jams and sucking auto-rikshaw drivers :((
Bangalore sucks 10/10

Unknown said...

its worse than people reading this can imagine...
I tried buying a used car here.. and guess what.. people sell there 10 years old used car at just 50% depreciation and on bargaining you will get that most weird look as if you are asking them to sell a rare diamond for less.. Its sad.. everything is so expensive,food sucks,auto rickshaw drivers - no comments.
I am just praying for a new job so that i can leave this hell forever

BoredTechie said...

"The truth is, in Bangalore, its a seller's market, simply because the buyers themselves have absolutely no idea about what or why they want!"

"Fact remains that Bangalore is a seriously deprived city! "

@ adroit thats so very very true

I didnt mind degrading my career just to get out of that hole...
Man 2 yrs was way more than enuf for me..

The truth is the highly paid IT crowd there dont hav any idea how dumb they are when it comes to other aspects of life..
I myself an IT professional but much sensible one I wud say..

Anonymous said...

Bangalore sucks lot, no need to describe by anyone. once people feel it then they will not be in bangalore they will leave.

Anonymous said...

really bangalore sucks ..n i hv been experiencing it since last 3 years..

Anonymous said...

traffic police robbers ...traffic .....population auto rikhshaw....expensive this tax tht tax ...life means peace which one can not find in bangalore i am living here since last three years

Anonymous said...

Bangalore..what to say about it..its full of local bastards .Autowallas no need to comment on them.This city simply sucks.No good restaurants .Why it is so expensive .No proper infrastructure .no good roads,dust pollution, House on rent too high,arrogant people.These bloody bangaloreans get all the money from north Indians and still they treat them like slaves.I wonder what will happen once the IT industry shifts to some other state.These idiots will again starve.

Unknown said...

And i will be shifting there for college in a month.
Sigh. Hate it.