A Tale of Two Cities

Well it rained in Bangalore...and the city could not take it anymore. Scenes like the traffic jams on the left were seen all over Bangalore last nite. I was stuck in many of them on my way home. But some depressing news about the city was reported in Deccan Herald yesterday.

But something even worse happened 3 months back in Mumbai. And I was there. Given below is a brief description of what happened then.

Talking of that wet Tuesday...I had a relatively easy way back...Got dropped upto a point beyond Sion(which was where most of the people were stranded) by Bhaskar a localite friend(they know the inside out of the streets which will get flooded etc etc) in his Scorpio(damn nice vehicle in this kind of situations). Walked about a km when I got a rickshaw, 30 mins Mulund, another rick 15 mins Home. 2 of my friends were with me all the time.

I left office at 4PM and reached home at 6PM :) But saw few things which I will remember for the rest of my life...

I was scared of crossing the Kurla part of the Eastern expressway coz of the slums lined on both sides of the road. When I reached there it was brimming with activity, people serving tea, mineral water, biscuit etc etc And similar to scenes in War of the World, whoever was coming in a car/Bus were stopped,people bashing on the wind shields asking them to stop and take people(esp women and children) in their empty backseats. Initially I thought its ridiculous, but then looking at the gravity ofthe situation, why shudnt people be unwilling to take others if there is extra space. Pvt cars, buses were going full from Kurla as the roads were clear till Thane. And it was left to the people living in slums to teach the others to share and care for others. I thought it was great and genuine...

That was Bombay and this is Bangalore. And I always thought the South Indians are more helpful and stuff...Not anymore

One difference between Bombay and Bangalore is that in Bombay everyone has to go through the grind everyday. If you are earning 6 lacs or 60000, you take the train, you get stuck in jams, there is a hurry in everyone's life. They understand the pain that exists in their fellow city-mate.

Here it is different. They keep cribbing that because of the IT and BPO guys, the prices are soaring and if they can afford it then we might as well charge them. I see it more as a conservative city's jealousy at seeing a progressive part of the society move up in life.