The general contempt and hate the so-called new-generation upwardly mobile, MNC-employed, high-flying, English-speaking, car-driving, snobby, westernized self-appointed hypocritical middle-class Indians (but who are in reality the elite 2% of the Indian society; like for instance, Bangalore’s IT-coolie crowd) have towards public transport is well-known. It is explicitly visible on many levels and platforms, from casual office banter…
Bangalore or Bengaluru was once known for many things, be its idyllic pace of life as a pensioners’ paradise, leafy avenues, rock music, informal culture, the “AC City” weather, and more recently for finding its place on the World map in the past decade as “India’s IT Capital”. But today, the city is mainly known…
For many, especially the neo-liberated Indian in small town India, buying a car is a dream come true, the process of acquiring it is a dream process come true and car salesmen are dream merchants. Whatever people might say, I believe that globalization and capitalism have liberated us. It it were not for it, you…
Much has been outraged about the autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore and their overcharging habits. People seem to be helpless in front of them trying to wring out a profit by hook or by crook, the law often being helpless. But sorry to say, many a time the naive passenger who has a chance to get…
A car is a must today. No doubt about that, especially when there is little effective public transportation in India. But the car ownership funda in our society is totally warped with “emotional” or perceived factors outweighing the logical and rational ones. India does not have a “driving culture” or an “automotive culture” save some…
Compared to those who lived twenty years ago, us Indians of today are a pampered lot. For instance, anyone who wants to buy a car is spoiled for choice today. During those non-liberalized days when I was growing up, you couldn’t buy a car even if you had the money for there were only the…
India’s roads and driving culture are one for the books. You will be hard-pressed to find a place anywhere on earth where pure chaos and lawlessness prevails on the roads as so much as it does in India. Almost none of the rules that apply when driving a vehicle on public roads are followed here,…
Bangalore is well known for its WTF traffic and crumbling infrastructure, and everyone in the city with a vehicle will have their share of stories of woe to tell. The other day it was my turn, an incident which would ruin my entire weekend and the next Monday, set me back by around Rs.10000, cause…
The blazing sun. The clear blue sky. Fighter jets screaming through the air. Roar of afterburners hitting you like a hammer on your chest. Air acrobats drawing loops and hearts with plumes of smoke against the backdrop of a perfectly blue sky. Gleaming new-gen civilian and military aircraft glinting off the sun on the tarmac. Thousands cheering…
Any Indian worth his travel bag will swear that traveling in India is a huge fail whale. Airports are located in areas where just getting there is a half day’s job. Trains are overbooked, chaotic, slow and of course, late. Buses run when they want to, and usually seem to all places except where you want to go to. Want to…