[Torqy]

I had a similar experience in Bangalore. I'm a Mallu settled in Bangalore. I can speak Tamil.

One day i was travelling by BMTC and when the bus didn't stop at the bus-stop i asked the conductor in Tamil, why he didn't stop there. On hearing Tamil, this conductor flared up and screamed at me in front of other passengers to SPEAK IN KANNADA. He even raised his hand at me....all for simply asking why he didn't stop the bus....in Tamil.

This tendency of dividing people in the name of language is gaining popularity with the public being in their asbolute idiotic low. Imagine the people of SILICON VALLEY of India spending their precious time to blacken the boards written in ENGLISH......when there is NOT EVEN A SINGLE SOUL to PROTEST against the bad infrastructure, corruption etc.

-- Torqy

[2theMax]

Originally Posted by FERRO

infact I have seen ONLY Tamilian lots to be more like that. I run a shop in mumbai and I had seen lots of Tamilians who are not from mumbai try to pick up fight on every small issue maybe they think themselves as inferior about the color thats all.

This is aheight of generalisation ferro and i think you are missing the point of the whole thread

BTW have you ever lived or been to tamilnadu ? to make such a stupid irrelevant statement on a public forum ?

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

@n_aditya: how did the auto guy recignise you as a north Indian? He was behind you, no?? I think this is a typical case of road rage.

Never look around / turn around when faced with verbal or non-verbal challenges. When you are on a car, you always end up losing in any kind of confrontation with anybody. In there is any honest emergency, they will flash the head lights and use the horn too.

@Torqy - agree with you there. Only the B'lore infrastructure has deteriorated within last 10 years like anything. The culture and behaviour has been always like this only, right from the early 90s at least. First thing one friend I know did when moved on to B'lore is to learn the local language - both written and spoken. Once when I visited there and he was unable to accompany me, this is the advice he gave me after dropping me at a bus stop - "take bus number XX, point a 2 Rupee coin at the conductor and if he asks anything, only say "eradu". Count N bus stops and get off. Do not ask anything to anybody. You know that you are at the right bus stop if you are facing the "Z" show room while getting down".

It is extremely frustrating when you are in a Metro city and find all destination boards in the local language only. (Applies to Mumbai, Chennai, B'lore, erstwhile Madras, etc). It is even more frustrating when you find that every body refers to route numbers only. How do people from outside Kerala find it here? At least, the buses going to places frequented by non-KEralites have boards in English ("Navel base") and often, in Hindi too.

[hrman]

Ive had my share of bad experiences with Chennai. I dont like the Auto wallas. They are not fit to be classified as humans. Ive got the feeling that the people tend to look down at me when I speak in the peculiar Palakkad accent Tamil. Frankly, I couldnt care less.

I have been in mumbai all throughout. The autowallas go by the meter. While you do find some rigged meters in Autos and taxis, they don't rob you left right and center. Oh yes, when the minimum fare is Rs.9, give them a 10 rupee note and they return back 1 Rs to you. How many cities can boast of this? You can get directions to anyplace by just asking the omnipresent and ever helpful paanwalla. You can get a chinese food stall open and a cup of tea even at 2 am in the morning.Even at 1 am, you may not find place to sit in the virar local train.The city just doesnt sleep,
You dont need to get your sweaters out in winter. The city will rise from any challenge put through it immediately and always comes out stronger. You have the best supply of power and water in the country. The water from out taps tastes better than the bottled variety. This is one place where you go to buy something and the shopkeeper does not have it, he will get it from somewhere/ guide you to a nearby shop which stocks your requirements.
Yeah IM proud of being a Mumbaikar.. Although a south-indian, I consider myself more of a maharashtrian than anyone else. Love you Mumbai..

[w 12]

Originally Posted by Torqy

I'm a Mallu settled in Bangalore. I can speak Tamil.

One day i was travelling by BMTC and when the bus didn't stop at the bus-stop i asked the conductor in Tamil, why he didn't stop there. On hearing Tamil, this conductor flared up and screamed at me in front of other passengers to SPEAK IN KANNADA.

What will be the response if a similar question is asked in Kannada in a public transport bus in chennai or cochin or delhi ? Not very diffeent IMO. ( not condoning the behaviour of conductor here )

But if you have decided to settle down in Bangalore, it does not harm to make an effort to learn the local language or use English or hindi which most of Bangaloreans understand.

I would not expect a BMTC conductor to understand and respond to you in your mother tongue. , just because you do not know kannada. You have to adapt to your place of residence and not the other way.

Imagine a conductor trying to answer questions in Tamil. telugu, malayalam, marathi, punjabi , bengali even oriya in Blr . High hopes is all I can say.

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

@n_aditya: how did the auto guy recignise you as a north Indian? He was behind you, no?? I think this is a typical case of road rage.

Never look around / turn around when faced with verbal or non-verbal challenges. When you are on a car, you always end up losing in any kind of confrontation with anybody. In there is any honest emergency, they will flash the head lights and use the horn too.

First i heard the auto driver yelling, so i turned around to see why. I have very light tints, so light that you cant figure out that the car has sun control films. So i guess he would have seen my face.

Any emergency i would have honked my @ss off to move vehicles in front of me so that the auto could pass. But in the split second this guy bumped his auto against my car and continued yelling while the lights were still red. Plus he would have seen my car regn which is from Karnataka.

I have encountered several incidents where people want to get past or squeeze through to jump a red light. The red light doesnt mean a thing to them, be it an auto or a 2 wheeler or a tempo. I have calmly moved away to give them way and waited my turn for the lights to turn green. I wonder why the auto and taxi drivers are so inhuman and feel they own the roads.... like the laws are not meant for them. I recollect a minister from Karnataka who envisioned blore to become like singapore one day. How far fetched !!!

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by prabuddhadg

I have never felt like an alien in Bombay. This is a a great city to be in. Work hard. Party harder.

Bombay is a cosmopolitan city and so is Bangalore. Chennai is not and this is one of the reasons why. Overall, the city is not very welcoming of anybody from outside.

As far as the auto driver incident, they are a breed apart in any city...not just Chennai. There is something about that profession that makes them all villans.

[TrueDreamer]

Originally Posted by w 12

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I would not expect a BMTC conductor to understand and respond to you in your mother tongue. , just because you do not know kannada.
.
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At least that stupid conductor should have responded back in Hindi or English saying he did not follow what was told IMO. This is not the only case with conductors and auto drivers but anything and everything you get from government services where no one is answerable to anyone in practice.

To avoid such situations, all we can do is some homework before we move from our place. If we are very much new to city, just find out from your friends on the basics on how to reach your destination and the entire route and if you plan to shop anything, find out that as well like which is the best shopping center, market etc. And for markets, we have Reliance Fresh and other super market outlets everywhere in the metros where we can have our basic requirements met. Since everyone of us here who are in some other city has their own transport, its better to avoid public transport to avoid such agonies.

P.S: I don't want to increase traffic hassles by recommending using against public transport. But i believe this is better than having spoiled evenings or entire day if anything happens in the very early morning.

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by Mpower

There is something about that profession that makes them all villans.

I guess it is the backing they have. Political, unions etc. But i'm glad that we have call taxi's. kudos to the guy who thought of such an idea and implemented it in our country.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by w 12

What will be the response if a similar question is asked in Kannada in a public transport bus in chennai or cochin or delhi ? Not very diffeent IMO. ( not condoning the behaviour of conductor here )

But if you have decided to settle down in Bangalore, it does not harm to make an effort to learn the local language or use English or hindi which most of Bangaloreans understand.

I would not expect a BMTC conductor to understand and respond to you in your mother tongue. , just because you do not know kannada. You have to adapt to your place of residence and not the other way.

I do not think the frustration here is about the conductor not speaking language x or y. It is about he raising hand AT a passenger.

[LLL]

Originally Posted by hrman

Yeah IM proud of being a Mumbaikar.. Although a south-indian, I consider myself more of a maharashtrian than anyone else. Love you Mumbai..

i lived in mumbai for 13 years till 1999 and i can tell u, it WAS a good city to live in. its as dead as dead a city can get.

You can fall on the road and no one will even stop for u. If you need immediate medical attention, no one will care to call the ambulance or even put u in a taxi/auto.

I was returning from college 1 day in andheri and saw an accident victim lying in the middle of the road and people avoiding the body and driving on. I have seen people throw stones in a moving train and hitting passengers in the eye and i have seen ppl throw human excreta in the ladies compartment.

i not surprised at many incidents that have reported in the media on the apathy in the general public.

So except the auto-wallas, that city is probably the worst city in india.

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by TrueDreamer

At least that stupid conductor should have responded back in Hindi or English saying he did not follow what was told IMO. This is not the only case with conductors and auto drivers but anything and everything you get from government services where no one is answerable to anyone in practice.

How in the world will the conductor know about the hindi & english. These people are the one who study in kannada medium till 10th std and would have come to the job. I'am not suporting the conductor's behaviour here anyways.

The same is the case in TN/AP or any other places. They would have studied local languages and may not understand other languages. But rude behaviour of other persons will not be accepted to anybody.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Would those with longer experience of this city agree with me that road congestion has become far worse in just two years, and noticably more so in just one?

I think we react to this compression with increased aggression. Chennai roads make me far more aggressive than London ever did, and London driving is full of its own frustrations, with an average speed of only 8MPH at times.

If there is anything to be got off the chest, for me it is the motor bikes. Maybe it is a bot like smoking, and yes I used to be a smoker --- how is it that the nicest, most considerate person, can be changed by a cigararette into someone who has not thought whatsoever for the comfort or health of those around them? I've often wondered this, since I stopped smoking!

All my life, I've hear people say that cars bring out the worst in a person.

So what about these bikes? Aren't many of the riders perfectly normal, intelligent, considerate human beings? Probably. But once on a bike...

In a way I'm lucky... The one who did drive into the back of my Swift (it was 4 days old; I wasn't very pleased) was gentle and very apologetic.

As a speaker of no Indian languages, I find Chennai very accommodating, but then, there's another side to that too --- my wife sometimes complains, if some stranger goes out of their way for me, that they would not have done it for her, as another Indian, if she was alone.

Nothing's perfect, eh?

But I feel that what I have seen as the gentle, laid-back nature of this city is changing for the worse.

[TrueDreamer]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

How in the world will the conductor know about the hindi & english. These people are the one who study in kannada medium till 10th std and would have come to the job.

Don't these have either Hindi or English as the second or third language? At least here in AP, we have it mandatory to learn three languages till the end of 10th grade. Even assuming if the person didn't knew anything else other than his mother tongue, he should have replied back saying he didn't understand what the commuter was trying to say instead of yelling and raising his hand in his mother tongue itself. Also there are some conductors who rob of change when you give them even a 10 rupees note. They have lot of change in their handbags or whatever it is and we can hear the sound of the coins but they won't be willing to give you.

P.S: I understand that its our duty to keep sufficient small change. But sometimes we don't get to keep the exact amount for whatever be the reason..

[FERRO]

Originally Posted by ajmat

This is your observation, I request others not to misunderstand this as an attack/ insult.

Folks - let us not drill down into ethnic groups and characteristics. Focus on cities and you experience with the people

hi all, thats only my observation I never said all Tamilians are like that I only said that those Tamilians visiting from outside generally don't feel like home and try to make an issue even if there is some small cause. I never intended to make it as an attack or insult to others please accept my apologies in that case.
its no use lets cool down n be friends cheers: