Its a nice feeling, actually doing whatever u feel like immediately. Not thinking about what I'm going to write about and not even questioning why this sudden urge has hit me.
But nevertheless, I'd write this post about my 'adventure' so far in Bangalore.
Well, I'd say its a nice city. Probably in the absolute sense, you'd consider it to be a decent place to work and live in. However, the moment you start comparing it to cities like Delhi or Mumbai, lets just say it starts pissing you off.
An interesting change in trends that has occured in Bangalore since I've landed here. I've always heard about the vibrant young energy that this city exudes. About the amazing night life, the mind blowing pubs and fun loving crowd. You might say that it was way too overhyped for me, but in hindsight I realise I've been smitten by bad luck. A few months before I landed here, pubs / clubs got a deadline to shut down by 11. Being a nocturnal lafanga from Delhi, I have to say that was enough to keep me depressed for life. And thinking things cant get any worse, dance floors have been banned in the city. People now travel all the way to Mysore to dance and shed off the week long fatigue that sets in.
If that wasnt enough, live performances is the next thing to be banned here. Was this place called Ban-a-lore ? Or is that the name they plan to change to after Bangaluru? :|
Its an interesting argument the authorites give for banning most of these things. They say it increases the Crime rate. I'd just say thats escapist bull shit. Every major city in the world has a way of handling its night life. Whether its New York, Delhi or Dubai. The economic loss, not to mention pissing off residents has not been considered while implementing this ban. It's not the party-goers or the late night coffee buffs that commit crime, its the men who target them. You dont cut your foot off if your nails get too long.
But at the end of it, I believe its the residents of this city that are to blame. Its not worth taking shit from an establishment that curbs the freedom of citizens. Dancing and relieving a long week's stress in a party is seemingly considered a crime in this nick of the woods.
Reminds me of a certain establishment that imposed similar restrictions in a place not far away from our country - Afghanistan. Restrictions like these when enveloped in religious and cultural sentiments are harmful for a free environment. It's a suffocating feeling.
Dont the authorities have better things to do ? Why dont they take the bloody autowallas in the city to task? Every day people get threatened, fooled and harrased by these bunch of morons. A fair number of the city's crimes have them involved. Isnt that slightly more serious than to stop people from enjoying themsleves one a weekend?
I notice alot of people around getting pissed off with these new set of rules. People who have lived here for years, away from their native places. Its important to remember why Bangalore became such a preferred location for IT industries to set up. It wasn't the infrastructure (there was hardly any) or a supportive government (I'd check no on that as well). It was more to do with the Human Resources that this place had to offer. People loved settling down in this city, for the life it 'had' to offer.
With the cramped life-styles, rotting infrastructure and restrictive authority, its probably just the huge investments that have gone into this city that are stopping these industries from pulling out. Otherwise, I dont think its long before people get troubled enough to act on it.
I'd like to add here, I'm not much of a party person - I do enjoy the occassional clubbing / pubbing - but its not really my way of life. But the reason why I feel so strongly about this is just because of the suffocating feeling that dawns on you when you get to know about these rules. You give me a logical reason, tell me its the best way to handle a situation and I'd obey your rule. If you can't do that, you are fuelling rebellion.
