The Broken Strings

Bangalore might have been a dream place to live a decade back. But personally I look at it as a much-hyped city than anything else. And don't ask me what I do to make it better. I admit that I don't do much. But I do whatever that is easily possible for me to make it a better place. One, I don't throw garbage on the streets. Two, I guess I have become a more sensible rider of the two-wheeler. I don't storm into the other side of the road to beat traffic. Well, most of the times. :) And, what could be the reasons that we are so careless about caring for Bangalore? We had a little chat at the office about this and most of us felt that a major part of Bangalore is filled with aliens and that could be the vital reason. People who have settled here from the neighboring states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerela; for the young and the old, Bangalore has changed very little in terms of giving them a pleasure but for the weather factor.

The new initiatives like the "Refresh Bangalore" where great minds have started brainstorming on the ways to effectively improve the city are welcoming ones. They are more action oriented and that is the good part. It is in the initial phases and one has to wait to see if it is just another bureaucratic move. Gone are the days when you take pictures of the bad state of roads and email it to people and just hope that the city gets better. There is no room for such wishful thinking any more.

Okay, taking a deviation and thinking more in terms of the different breeds of people that Bangalore accommodates makes me write about something else. I come across very few native Bangalore-ians. Interestingly, when we meet new people at office and in public, most of us tend to pop up the question - Where do you come from? Answers - Tamil Nadu. Andhra. Kerela. Bihar. Delhi. Kolkota. Mysore. And then there would be Bangalore!! And when I ask many about their roots - parents, most of them feel that they are pretty happy at their Native place doing what they have been doing all these years and would not relocate here. That has been the case with me too. And that is the sad part. You would love to have them next to you and spend at least a couple of after-office hours with them. But how many get that opportunity? When I was single I visited my parents quite frequently. Now being married and both of us working the frequency has reduced. I am aware that I am not doing any good in taking the extra effort to connect to them often … in person! But I am also lucky that I am not too far away from them.

All the laughing, joking, sarcasms, talking, crying is done over Abhraham's instrument. Or should I be saying Dhirubhai Ambani’s instrument. We have a Reliance phone which can talk to any other reliance phone non-stop for a rental of Rs.750/- bucks a month. That's not bad.

But I must agree that even the time spent on the phone has come down. It could be for varied reasons. Mostly it is because we aren't in the same place and both the ends aren't free when the other one wishes to talk. It is when the family next door visits your place when the phone rings. When you call your folks back home there is a doctor who is entering to treat patent’s ailments and therefore an abrupt end. The call gets postponed. And so does the enthusiasm. You concentrate on something else and that is it. Fast paced life. Hell with it!!

My wife and me are missing our parents so badly and wish we could spend some time with them. Breaking the normal routine of we visiting them, we wish they could have a break at our place in Bangalore. I just spoke with my dad who isn't doing very well and got him evaluate the option of spending at least a couple of days with us during holidays. My mom would love to have such a break and be with us. But my dad is a hard nut to crack. I am just hoping that they make their trip here. I am sure it is going to be a pleasant change for every one of us. It would definitely be a special one for us as it would be the first time that they would be coming here after our marriage. Need to have better plans to reconnect to the broken strings... meaning living together with them.

Coming back to Bangalore, the administration needs to take even more innovative and tougher decisions to connect all the broken strings and make it really a "Sakka Hottu Maga..." city to live in.