" Asli Bangalore tho yaha nahi hai bete" said the Guru , filling his coffee cup from the vending machine giving an ' I am a pro at it' look . He explained further," Kormangala jao... Forum Ghumo... Phir EmGee( read M.G. Road), Brigade ... Green city hai beta ( it took me a while to understand the actual meaning of this phrase).. Pizza hut.. Mc Donalds... KFC... Shopping Malls... Bindas! Welcome to Bangalore".
For someone like me who literally worships Bangalore, this seemed blasphemous. The 'defensive' nerves were twitching. The gnyaan guru likes are also the ones who can go on complaining endlessly about the traffic snarls and the auto drivers of Bangalore. But the 'gnyaan guru' also set me thinking.
It is true that over the last few years Bangalore has witnessed a great change especially in the demographic terms. The shiny Billboards, jazzy malls , sprawling IT companies, multiplexes , pubs , even the red Volvo buses has no doubt made Bangalore and Bangaloreans proud.
But at the same time Bangalore has also retained its originality and many just fail to see it.
One evening , step out of the house and walk into a park with a packet of potato wafers from the nearest Hot Chips store just to watch the children play. You might even be surprised when you find yourself smiling at the group of old men chatting away. Take the road to the nearest market, enjoying the cool breeze from the rain trees forming a canopy above. Slowdown when you are approaching an iyengar bakery to e
njoy the aroma emanating from the bakery and be sure to eat a vegetable puff. Glaring neon lights will attract your attention soon and you will be staring at the name board of either a darshini or a sagar restaurant. Enter the restaurant to savour a Masala Dosa and next have a cup of strong filter coffee. Now enter the busy market just to get a glimpse of the simple Bangalore lifestyle: hawkers yelling and selling their wares, mamis and aunties haggling over the price of jasmine flowers, children running to their favourite balloon man, chiming bells from the nearby temple and people crowding around the churmurivala . The whole place would be brimming with energy. Walk back to your house on the quiet streets of your locality listening to the Kannada serial theme songs and 
dialogues coming from all those houses in your colony . Now, was that not a lovely evening?We need to realise that mere complaining can never help anybody. It is preposterous for the natives to label people new to Bangalore as 'outsiders' or 'invaders'. The natives could instead help preserve the culture of Bangalore by introducing others to it.
It is equally silly on the part of people relatively new to Bangalore to complain about the traffic and increasing mercury levels. Such problems are being faced by all Indian cities and Bangalore is no exception. Judging the nature of a city by the mentality of the city's auto drivers is nothing but stupid. People are of all kinds and you might have just had some tough luck with some auto chaps. Do care to wave to your neighbours the next time.
Metropolitan culture is relatively new to Bangalore when compared with the other Indian metros. It is natural for difference of opinions to be arising. A mature handling can certainly help Bangalore to remain as the lovely city that it has always been and to be at its ASLIEST BEST. :)
