Well before I start my sincere attempt to describe about Bengaluru or preferably Bangalore, it would be deemed correct mentioning that I mostly refer to youth in Bangalore when I say the word ‘Bangalorean’. Take a walk along a footpath (though they aren’t well built here) in the morning and you could find a crowd comprising youth with colorful company ID-cards, hanging from their pocket, belt or tied around their neck and with their firmed feet being driven towards the work place. Some to a nearest bus stand or some to a near-by Technology Park (Bangalore has many of these parks). Or another bunch of youngsters may be seen heading towards one of over hundred colleges located in Bangalore. This could also be a seen in any other metro, but somehow the sight is more prevalent in this city because of its denser establishment of colleges and industries. Bangalore is the lifeline of several IT and Software majors of India and the world. You name it, you have it — Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Cognizant, Accenture, IBM, Microsoft, HP, NetApp, Dell, Google, Yahoo… and the list goes on. Besides being an IT hub, a large number of BPOs/KPOs have been doing great business here. With office work coming to a standstill on weekends, it gives some respite to the employees here when they refresh themselves by hanging out at amusement parks, malls, pizza eateries or simply socialize with friends who can surely give a company in large numbers (reason being their abundance in Bangalore!). Youths can also be seen hanging out in a self-proclaimed smoking zone outside company premises.
What makes this Garden City so special is that it has been constantly pulling up big corporate giants and conglomerates. As a consequence of this fact, students from across the country find Bangalore a preferred place to get an engineering degree. The support by the state government, its location and connectivity, a much comforting weather and above all the capacity to absorb such an inflow of talent could be some of the possible reasons for such a migration. Having said that, I may actually be reflecting a life of a youth who has come from a remote location of another state hoping he would be successful in getting at least a ` 10,000 monthly-salary job. The big question is, does Bangalore has its customs and traditions intact with huge proportion of population inflow every year?
Quite recently, Karnataka witnessed giants like Mr. Lakshmi Mittal participating in a Global Investors’ Meet called by the state CM — Mr. B. S. Yeddyurappa. Crores of rupees were spent on this meet. The outcome of it was clearance being given to a large number of industrial centers which are to be set up in several industrial corridors in Karnataka. There is lot which other cities have to learn from Bangalore. From just being a capital city ten years back, there has been a total change in the way it is looked at nowadays. With Bangalore Metro Transport Corporation (BMTC) coming up with the Metro service by early next year, Bangalore is all set to become the preferred place of settlement for the working class. Though there is lot which needs to be done to improve the basic amenities here. Also, the rising real estate prices and day to day living expenses in Bangalore hint at it becoming the costliest city in India leaving Delhi and Mumbai behind. On a lighter note, Infosys may be seen as a “chop shop” by a US senator but it is a gateway of immense job opportunities here in Bangalore!
The writer is Karnataka State Editor at Youth Ki Awaaz and also a student at BITS Goa.