Unwinding in the garden city

Recently I got an opportunity to visit Bengaluru. This was the first time since the pandemic that I was visiting a city outside of Maharashtra. Besides being popularly known as the Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru is also known as the garden city. So far every time I visited the city, it would invariably be for official engagements, leaving hardly any time to explore the city. However, this time it was different. I was visiting the city for a wedding celebration and I got to experience a totally different side of the city due to my stay at the Bangalore Club which is located bang in the city centre.

Bangalore is a city with a perfect blend of the traditional and the modern. It is famous for its greenery, parks and has an enviable climate. Cubbon park is a stone's throw away from the Bangalore Club. Also known as Sri. Chamarajendra Park, it is a historic park situated in the city's Central Administrative Area. The park surrounds the State Legislature house, the Vidhana Soudha, the High Court Buildings, the Attara Kacheri and several other institutions located on the park's outskirts and within the park, which forms the Central Administrative Area.

The park is spread over 200 acres and along with Lalbagh botanical garden (240 acres ) acts as the lungs of the city. This place is heaven for morning walkers and health enthusiasts to walk, jog, exercise around the garden undisturbed as traffic is allowed to pass through the road dividing the park only after the park gates are opened for vehicles. There is also a special corner reserved for pets to enjoy their own space. (Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubbon_Park). Staying at the city centre also allowed to get a taste of the local cuisine at Brahmins Cafe, Brigade Road for breakfast and North Canara lunch served on a banana leaf at Chamarajpet.

While horror stories of Bengaluru traffic compete aggressively with those of Mumbai, one thing I noticed was the well laid out footpaths even in the city centre. Besides the popular taxi sharing platforms like Uber, Ola, it also offers a variety of mobility options right from the standard Uber, Ola to car pooling sharing platforms ( https://quickride.in/) besides novel transport options in the form of electric scooters (e.g Vogo, Rapido, Yulu). Bengaluru having the luxury of space, has meant the property rents are reasonable making the cost of living economics in Bangalore approx. 31% less expensive than in Mumbai. Cities ranked 7916th and 6279th ($480 vs $693) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 8th and 2nd in India. The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Bangalore compared to 0.8 months in Mumbai. This means one a salary of Rs 1 lacs can give you a feeling of Rs 1.40 lacs while in case of Mumbai a salary of Rs 1 lac would feel more like a 0.80 lacs. Bengaluru is ranked 2nd vs 10th best cities to live in India. (source: https://livingcost.org/cost/bangalore/mumbai). Similarly when is comes to the Ease of Living Index (EoLI) Bengaluru is at #1 while Mumbai is at # 10. The Ease of Living Index is an assessment tool that evaluates the quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development. It provides a comprehensive understanding of participating cities across India based on quality of life, economic-ability of a city, and its sustainability and resilience. The assessment also incorporates the residents' view on the services provided by city administration through a Citizen Perception. ( https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1702417).

Being the silicon valley of India, the city attracts young millennials and GenZers by the hoards either to join the tech scene or the startup community dreaming of launching the next unicorn. Another reason for the growing popularity of the city amongst this population is its pub culture. So much so that it has started being branded also as the Pub Capital of India with its own set of microbreweries. And of course Bengaluru has been catapulted to the world spirits stage by Amrut, the single malt whisky made famous across the world by whisky connoisseur Jim Murry. ( https://www.travellingcamera.com/2018/11/explore-pub-culture-of-banglore-city.html).

Given this background, I was not at all surprised to find my friends from MBA school, Mumbaikars at heart, who played host during my visit, becoming converts, happy at having chosen Bangalore to be his karmabhoomi. If you are yet to experience the garden city side of Bengaluru, I urge you to take time off from your maddening work schedule to visit the city for its gardens just to unwind. Believe you me, you will discover a refreshing side of the city. Cheers!

Acknowledgements- My friend Sheetal Nagle for being a solid member of my blog support team.:

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