The Dream
From my childhood, I was fascinated with electronic devices and the technology involved in making them, which made them so complex yet so easy to use. Either it is a TV, computer, video game or mobile phone. I used to spend lots of time understanding all the features while exploring the settings and the hardware of the devices. This fascination like all the 2000s kids led me to join Computer Engineering after my School Days. But there was a problem! Due to personal matters, I can’t move to the best city that gives opportunities to folks like me to get into IT i.e. Bangalore. It was like a dream to go there and learn about computers, programming and advances in technology happening over the years and at the current stage from persons who have worked in the field extensively for many years and still operating at a great level. But life has other plans to come up with and I have to start my engineering journey from my hometown Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.
The opportunity
While pursuing my engineering in college, the whole world just stopped down because someone in China was having fun eating a bat! During the first 8 months, I started exploring college life and learning about computer science subjects like networking, programming and Linux. But the COVID phase had made me tired and useless because of an endless loop of surfing mobile and watching movies. After COVID was over and when we were in the third Year! I regained my consciousness and started learning all the things while exploring subjects like DSA, but I was far behind. The college placement gives me a chance to turn my life into a tech field again by preparing companies present in good IT hubs across India. Finally, I cracked up and was posted on Bangalore a year later to undergo my training.
Leaving all the things you have for the dream
Finally getting the onboarding call! After the year was both fun as well as a sad moment for me as after months of waiting, I could finally start my IT journey and learn the things I wanted to, while earning and getting experience. But for almost 23 years, I have lived in my hometown with my family so it's been a hard call to leave all my comfort zone and loved ones to start the next phase of my life. But at last, I make the call based on the thing that my success will better their life for good.
Departure to Dream
1ST December 2023! I boarded my train to Bangalore from Durg Junction and kicked off my journey to Bangalore the city of my dreams. The journey started on a good note as I sat around with a well-established sound engineer who has mixed several soundtracks for popular singers and musicians. I asked him over 25 years of career and experience what are the things you learned. He said always remember/love three things:
You, you loved once (family and friends) and you work. After that, you can conquer anything with the support
After a halt in Nagpur junction, I met with my colleagues from my hometown who were also selected for the job role, and we onboarded the direct train to Bangalore for a 26-hour journey. At last, we reached Bangalore by 6 pm and after a night stay we all shifted to our hotel room.
Day - 0
Hope, confusion, confidence and stepping into corporate
4th December 2023! My first day as a corporate employee (technically trainee) came with lots of excitement, confusion and self-doubt. A night before I got to know about some of my colleagues during night dinner and was expecting to develop a healthy friendship between them (Spoiler It turned out well). On the first day itself, we were provided with all the things we needed to onboard as a trainee from our ID cards, and laptops to our salary bank credentials, a brief tour of office space and some rules as well as regulations to follow up during our office hours. The weekly schedule for that week was given and I have some doubts that I clear before the end of the day. Corporate was like a dream come true on day 1 as I dreamt of working in an office environment with a cabin of my own and learning from others as well as understanding the whole business structure and hierarchy of roles on it.
Enjoying the hotel stay and Meeting new people
On the first day itself, we were allotted to the hotel stay room which was a 3-star hotel with a 3bhk room for accommodation. The food was great, the service and facilities were nice and the location was very soothing and silent. These made our initial stay very easy and comfortable which later helped us to decide and gave us time to move to other PG-style accommodations after our 1-week stay was completed. Staying all the new colleagues under one roof helped us to get accustomed to each other and know each other culture to make healthy relations during our trainee hours. That makes corporate life a little easier.
Adapting to a new environment
As the days went on we were experiencing new things from the language to the training subjects as well as adapting to changes to the environment like our sleep schedule, learning hours, subjects and ever-new office space/environments. The first one is to understand the role structure and get to know about our managers, coworkers and seniors. So that we can easily communicate our requirements to respective personnel on need.
Week – 1
Finding the right accommodation
The first and foremost challenge we had to face in Bangalore was finding the right accommodation according to my budget and needs (room, bed, table, Wi-Fi, washing machine, drinking water and good food as well as the distance to travel to the office). During the first day, my friend (fellow roommate) and I started looking out for PGs near our office. For starting the key source of info for PG space was the internet ( websites like no broker, housing.com, olx etc). We got to know about near pg.’s and checked it out after our office hours. Second, once were recommended by friends and relatives living in Bangalore, we checked them too and third were by office colleagues(seniors). After roaming around 20km near our office space we found the PGs available for boys were small, didn’t have proper food for northern guys, were very congested and didn’t have an environment for studies and work as well as little to no privacy although they were near to office. We were disappointed at last but as the week reached to an end and our hostel stay was coming to an end, by God's grace! we finally found a great PG to stay which fulfils all our requirements. A key suggestion for looking out PG near Bangalore is that don’t look out very near to your office space, it will save time, but you won’t get the facilities you want. Just look 5 to 7 km away.
Figuring the transportation
Bangalore is a vast city with a population of around 1.3cr+ people. And every year due to IT more people get added on making the overall population per density very congested. To commute all these people Bangalore has services like BMTRC (Bus service), Metro, auto as well as cab services and lastly people with their vehicles such as cars and bikes. For context, the IT boom in Bangalore was unexpected at the time of the 2000s and 2010s as the people preferred the weather and sudden opportunities here. But Bangalore was not at all a planned city from the start and when companies from all over the globe started making their offices and headquarters here the authorities didn’t prepare well the infrastructure but just gave permission to persuade of monetary funding and instant development. That gave rise to the Bangalore infamous traffic situation, for about 243 hours on average people waste their time in traffic! (As of 2019 report ) during the peak hours of (9 am & 6 pm). Even having public transport service people prefer to go with their vehicle to reach on time and have freedom of commute. But the working population and the time they all commute make the city infrastructure inefficient to accommodate such large traffic. The most preferable pocket-friendly offering is BMRTC buses that if taken at the right time surely reach your destination but it also comes with the hurdle of inappropriate behaviour of conductor and bus driver due to harsh work environment and working hours ( they have to complete their travel quota of the day), plus the fear of not taking the right bus and thief’s makes it a little insecure. If the metro is they’re on your route it will be the best travel option without any inconvenience. But the most notorious transportation is of the Auto drivers, they are the king of Bangalore roads and if didn’t have the local knowledge of the language and route you will surely be a thug in by these drivers as they charge extravagant amounts of money for short trips. If you have apps like Ola, Rapido or Uber you will save some good bucks but not in peak hours as ride cancellation is very prominent. Since my workspace is on the way to the airport, I mostly take a bus from the main road after having a morning subway-surfer ride by taking lifts from strangers from my PG location. If you have your bike or bicycle is well and good otherwise it will be a little hard for you to commute freely if you want to reach the destination on time.
Dealing with food
Fortunately, the PG and my friend decided to have a great food menu as well as food quality. We were given 4 times food daily (breakfast, lunch, evening snack and dinners) covering a range of dishes like dosa, idle, rice, dal, roti, good variety of vegetable sabji, including beverages like tea and coffee and non-veg Sabji on a Wednesday and Sundays. That covers most of our daily diet needs. Unfortunately, we didn’t have lunch daily as during that time I was working in an office so I took breakfast as my lunch. I feel fortunate to have chosen this PG as all others were offering only rice dishes and low-quality food while taking extravagant prices. As we say good food means a good amount of energy to stay powered up all day.
Staying healthy and fit
The food part covered most of my diet well, but because it has a lot of rice items in it and my work is mainly sitting at the computer, I tried to compensate for the extra fat gained by exercising and running 4 to 5 times a week daily near my PG to be fit and active during my working hours. Although I gained weight when my workload was high for a time now, I am focusing on my fitness routine well. Also, with that, I am focusing on meditating and yoga to have a clear mind and inner peace to tackle all-day work and Bangalore hustle. Bangalore has a good culture of playing badminton on indoor courts, as it’s the easiest form of exercising while enjoying the game. You can join in badminton or any football club to be more active and fit. And for folks who like GYMs, there are plenty of great options available in any neighbourhood! So dig around social media you will get good recommendations.
Month - 1
People and Culture of Bangalore
Bangalore is located in the southern part of India (Karnataka). So just like other states in it, it’s very culturally reach. Predominantly the Kannada-speaking people Kannadigas reside in Bangalore and follow Hinduism. Bangalore is very rich in its heritage and traditions, people follow they’re religion and customs well, as you can see in their temple architecture and customs. During the British era, the Karnataka border region is also occupied by Nizams and because of that a major population of Bangalore also have Muslims in it. After globalization, lots of people from different states have migrated to Bangalore in search of work and opportunities to get a better life. It created a new mixed secular society for Bangalore to grow in from different religions like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism is practised. Every person who migrated to Bangalore from a different state has also been welcomed by Kannadigas as they bring knowledge as well as their culture from their native place. Although nowadays a large section of society tends to hate immigrants from other states and spread pro-Kannada philosophy from common people to politicians for their interest, at last, the modern Bangalore is built with the foundation of trust from Kannadigas and migrants that want overall development of their life and the heartland where they live.
Travelling
Geographically Bangalore is at a very prime location in the southern part of India. Plus it has a rich forestation area with a large coastal region surrounding it. So, it’s the well best place for any travel enthusiast to live in. If you want to explore beaches go to Mangalore, Udupi region, Gokarna etc. If you want to go trekking nearest to Nandi hills you can choose Uttari Betta, Anthargange, Makali Durga, or Skandagiri, want to explore the hill stations Ooty and Chikkaballapur are the best spots. Each of these places is predominantly connected to Bangalore and one can travel easily by public transport like buses or trains or can get their vehicle like a car or bike for a good road trip. Bangalore have a huge community of travellers ranging from different professions to age groups that will make your travel journey memorable as the people you travel with make your journey better with the places you visit. I have visited Nandi Hills only from now on! As I was busy exploring the Bangalore main city only consisting of ISKON, mall and good parks.
PS. Visit Nandi Hills at least once in sunrise or sunset time, it will be a breathtaking experience.
Pros and cons
Pro’s
Weather
As earlier said Bangalore has the best weather from any metropolitan area in India. You can expect a good sunny day with a little bit of rain shower in most of the months. Plus cloudy as well as cold days in time of winter with the average temperature of around high 28° and low 20°. So if you want to go for a walk, work, trip or travel outskirts, the weather will be not an issue.
Knowledgeable and open people
As I said Bangalore has a rich culture where migrants and locals live together, you will see a lot of folks coming from different backgrounds, cultures, religions and regions with different ethnicities. For example, you have Indians from the extreme north, east, west and middle parts of India to people from different countries like the US, UAE, Koreans (Asians), Japanese etc. Most of the people here have come to learn new things and earn to get a better life. So, they are open to talk, adapt and learn. It’s easier to have a conversation with anyone if you at least speak the English language.
Transportation
As said all kinds of transport buses, cars, bikes, metro and trains with on-time flights are available from Bangalore itself, If you want to commute within the city or outskirts.
City of opportunities
The IT industry has given tremendous opportunities to young folks to start up their career and have good salaries to manage their daily needs. It becomes a base to achieve their dreams and build their foundation to make a better tomorrow. Universities like the Indian Institute of Science(IISC), the University of Agricultural Sciences (GKVK), National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences have promoted research and development which makes it a good place to go for higher education. As people here earn more, they spend more! so you can pursue your hobbies and passion on any stream here like music, singing, dancing, culinary arts etc. As it has communities and facilities to support these activities.
Area and landscape
Covering a vast amount of forestation and coastal region it becomes one of the best places to travel across the lands With a variety of beaches, rivers and waterfalls with each corner having a devotional place for any religion.
Heaven for movie lovers
If you like movies, especially South Indian movies Bangalore will be heaven for you. You can see any language film that is screened in India or around the world because Kannadigas have been fascinated with theatres and Cinema for ages. They love their movies and stars by heart while worshipping them like gods and celebrating their movies like festivals. While Karnataka has one of the best theatre counts such that you can watch a movie starting from rupees 100 at a single plex theatre to 1000 for an IMAX or 4DX experience. It’s a dream for any cinephile as you not only watch movies, but you can discuss them with other people who generally are constructive over opinions.
Malls (lots of malls)
For luxury shopping freaks and casual dining, every corner of Bangalore has a good mall to enjoy good food and shop for items of their choice from any brand they like. As you people love to spend here you will not have an inconvenience in any service or dissatisfaction. You can visit malls like Phoenix Market City, Mall of Asia, Galleria Mall, and Orion Mall to spend quality time with your colleagues and family at your weekend.
PS. If you want to shop for good cheap clothes go to Shivaji Nagar or a commercial street.
Cons
Traffic
As said lots of people per unit area cause congestion during peak hours as they all depart from home to work to and fro at the same time with limited infrastructure of roads to support continuous construction work going forward.
The pro-state moment language
After a lot of discrimination and changing politics with a good amount of immigrants coming to Bangalore every year, locals have fear of losing opportunities for their piece, they feel insecure, so it’s a common tendency to target outside people based on their ethnicity, region and language. Most folks don’t have that pro-Kannada sentiment though locals mostly dominate the thoughts of their leaders (politicians) who use this matter as a tool to win positions/seats in their constituencies. So it’s an issue that can only be solved by cooperation and equal opportunities for all.
Hard water
People coming from the north will realize that after some time the water here is not up to mark for drinking purposes as mostly is processed and a water issue is also happening between the states. So, while most people drink R/O water, you will have hair loss at first owing to hard water entering directly into your head, something most people are not used to.
Auto gang
Most of the auto guys are hot-headed because of other competitor services like public transport and private cabs. So, it’s common to target common people with inappropriate fair charges and bad attitudes towards outsiders. Do check out apps like Ola, Uber and Rapido before booking any auto.
Malls ( why lots of malls)
If you get into the habit of going to malls again and again every weekend it becomes a monotonous site to be in and you don’t get the enjoyment after. So please visit malls only initially and then explore other staff around the city.
Final thoughts
Bangalore is a place of opportunities where if you adapt well will give you a lot of learning and wealth over the years with a good environment to live In and spend your life in. But at last, it came to yours in which terms you want to live.
Next phase
Exploring the outskirts
My current goal is to discover Karnataka's coastline area and its cuisine culture. Mangalore and Udupi are the preferred options.
Meeting locals and learning about agriculture
Unable to visit any villages due to work and transportation constraints, but will explore surrounding communities to learn about their lifestyles and farming infrastructure.
Celebrating festivals and marriages
Kannadigas enjoy celebrating their culture, and I would like to learn more about local festivals and marriage ceremonies to better appreciate their traditions.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I have shared my one and half months of experience living in Bangalore in this blog so that any person who wants to live in and pursue their dreams in the city of opportunities can get a rough idea about things that they can expect. If you like the blog do share it with your friends and family who are planning to move to Bangalore for work or studies in future. Lastly below are some still images of Bangalore city I have clicked on during my stay here, hope you like them!