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Bangalore is doing great, progressing in a wonderful way. The IT Sector is doing really well, the floriculture is blooming, the garment industry is flourishing, the city is growing by leaps and bounds. All this is happening so soon and sudden. In fact, at times it scares me as uncontrolled growth. At other times it makes me wonder - "How is this city growing?" Well, it seems like growth is inevitable... So it happens! The infrastructure growth has not been keeping pace, and the population has grown beyond comprehension. Bangalore is said to have a true cosmopolitan crowd, its local population barely constituting 38%.
Bangalore is known for its laid-back attitude after Kolkota. The reason could be both were patronised by the East India Company, and it could be their attitude that has flowed down to the Bangaloreans. Bangaloreans are basically very peace-loving people. No doubt, Bangalore was called as the 'Pensioner's Paradise'. The lavish bungalows, sprawling gardens, pleasant climate make it so comfortable a place. There have been Clubs built by the British, and these make wonderful places to spend the evenings. More and more of clubs are mushrooming all over the place, and the biggest surprise here is that each one of these are full of youngsters, and most of them seem to be doing good business.
There's something about Bangalore, something really mysterious... Walk into any division/Department having middle-aged people. And, you can see the laid-back attitude. Even a standard Bangalorean has the idli-wada-by-two coffee attitude. The number of idli-wada joints in and around Bangalore is an evidence of this tradition. The normal routine has provisions to fit in at least 1-2 of these breaks in between. Moreover barring corporate and shops all the other establishments are closed latest by 6 PM. The youngsters are catching up the go-getter attitude.
One instance illustrating the laid back attitude is traffic. The Richmond Circle flyover is happening since at least the last three years. This is one of the busiest junctions of Bangalore, and handles tremendous amount of traffic. How can the authorities let such critical places be blocked for such a large duration? The second one of course is the Hudson circle traffic crisis. Even the road leading to the Electronic City was in shambles and ruins, till the industrialist association took the matter in their hands a couple of years back. In contrast a town like Mumbai has over 17 fly-overs created within a year. All of these had started after our Richmond Circle fly-over.
Despite the laid-back attitude if this is the progress done by Bangalore, what would it be in its absence?
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