Bangalore has really changed a lot! I was totally astounded with all the new shopping malls, modern-looking youngsters and north indians. The darker side of Bangalore was like this: heavy traffic jams, noise pollution, air pollution, dust, lots of poor people on pavements and so on. Life has become easier for those living there with a comfortable income of at least 30000 rupees. People spend most of their money for food. Spendings have terribly increased.
A fair amount of money also goes into house rental fees. My cousin who moved to Bangalore with her husband after marriage is paying 6500 rupees for a house with just three small rooms. Ten years ago my parents only paid 1200 rupees for the same kind of house.
Below is the picture of the Forum mall. The theaters there are superb! Even better than Golden Village theaters here in Singapore:
However, amongst all the glam and glitter, all they do is cheating. The prices are unfairly high, just because they are sold in branded malls like Shopper’s Stop and Garuda. A chocolate milk shake bought in the food court in Forum is 50 rupees ($2). Whereas, that which is bought in Nilgiri’s or somewhere else is only around 16 rupees or so.
I really felt sad for all those poor children begging for money on the streets. India is a place where you can see clear class division. Whereas in Singapore you don’t. It takes some time to come to a conclusion whether a girl you see on the road is rich, poor or middle class.
I honestly do not know what’s wrong with grown-up men and women, some older and still capable, who beg on the streets. They look fine. They can do some other work to earn money, even if it is little. But all they do is sit or go around the street during every signal waiting and beg for money. People who give money encourage these beggars to remain lazy and retarded even more.
I have more to talk about my trips to Salem, my birthland, and Coimbatore. But I’ll do so in my next post. I’m still having jet lag. Just landed in Singapore this morning.
Priya Jayagopi 