[Latheesh]

I am from Bangalore, and last year a company HR approached me for a position in their company. Their initial email had a question.

"Are you ready to relocate to Manyata Tech Park?"

and you are thinking about moving from Chennai to Bangalore?

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by locusjag

And - I owe an explanation as to why I am so Bangalore-phobic, or actually traffic-phobic. It is something inborn in me maybe. I just detest traffic. I feel it is a waste of one's lifetime and energy. And it brings out the worst in humanity.

Even way back in 2011, when the Traffic feature on Google maps was in Beta stage, I was among the early adopters of it. Even today in chennai, I use unknown backroads and non-existent roads to commute to work, rather than fight it out in traffic...

This is intense dislike for traffic! I guess you should not consider Bangalore as a location to be in then.

Many people choose to live near their work and all. That saves them very effectively from the daily traffic woes. However, if you're the person who likes to take your car out and drive within the city during the weekends at least, I wouldn't recommend Bangalore.

I quit Bangalore way back in 2008 because the traffic was driving me mad. For me it is very frustrating to have the car, to love driving but not being able to enjoy a drive around the city because of mad traffic.

I'm enjoying my everyday drive in Trivandrum. 10 Kms one way, and I can finish it in 20 minutes or even less. The downside is that, now I cannot tolerate even smaller traffic jams like 5-10 minutes delay. Last weekend I was driving to a nearby town and there was a traffic jam because of an accident on a bridge. Google maps warned me just in time when I could almost see the traffic jam ahead, and I just turned and went back home.

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by androdev

A very good post and this is how more or less how I look at Bangalore, except for the delivery apps

Leaving at 4pm is possible if you are an individual contributor, but even if the company policy permits, it doesn't feel right for a manager-type to checkout at 4pm when all the troops are deep in the trenches.

I manage a significant chunk of a pretty large project. Our official work hours are 8am-4pm and by 4:30, the office is empty with not a soul in sight. Staying back is not encouraged unless absolutely necessary for demos etc. Of course everyone can login from home afterwards for meetings etc.

[srishiva]

I travel long distance and drive for 2 hours. Got used to it. Being from here, I dont like moving my home near to work place. I like being inside my car listening to music
My team mates who migrated here all live nearby work and they dont have a big issue with traffic. So if you dont already own your own home, you can get accommodation nearby.

With metro coming up on ORR, I think it should make it easier for me whenever it it happens. My friends use existing metro for other work areas and its not bad.

Ultimately, its up to oneself on what they want. But I do think you should give it a try since you say 'plum offer'. Its not that bad since you can live near to work.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by clevermax

I'm enjoying my everyday drive in Trivandrum. 10 Kms one way, and I can finish it in 20 minutes or even less. The downside is that, now I cannot tolerate even smaller traffic jams like 5-10 minutes delay.

I fully empathise with you. Thats what I call the "Trivandrum Effect". I don't mind driving/riding anywhere in Trivandrum, any number of times a day.

I am semi-retired but am forced to live in Bangalore - first thing I do here, if I have to run an errand or go shopping, is to search for an online order solution or to look for a "home delivery" option

But then thats me.

However, I love my weekend motorcycle rides with a good set of friends and enjoy the places those are on the outskirts of Bangalore

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

[ninjatalli]

People there is never going to be one-city-fits-all situation. So please don't take my post as "my city is better than your city" post. For the record, I find my current city Bombay pathetic for living

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

I manage a significant chunk of a pretty large project. Our official work hours are 8am-4pm and by 4:30, the office is empty with not a soul in sight. Staying back is not encouraged unless absolutely necessary for demos etc. Of course everyone can login from home afterwards for meetings etc.

Those are brilliant working principles - kind of what I experienced outside India. However my last ~2 years of experience has literally been the opposite.

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

-> Bangalore still has the best weather out of all major cities in India. Yes global warming is taking its toll but it still is better than most of the other cities listed in this thread.
...
-> Gated communities with lots of greenery and open spaces with large houses
...
-> All the facilities and goods delivered to your home via apps. Saves a lot of time that would otherwise be spent running around

While you do have other points (especially on the job aspects), I'd just say the above points are more to do with the ostrich mentality - unfortunately the beautiful city Bangalore was in my younger days is gone, and is going worse day by day. The weather is still good, courtesy the hills surrounding the city; nothing to do with the city.

But as I said - every one for his preference. Yes, there are several +points that one must consider than just looking at this city with traffic lens only.

For the record I find Chennai and Hyderabad better options for cities to live in; but then I haven't lived long in these places so what do I know

[anurag.somani]

Boy-oh-Boy locusjag! I've been in the quandary, 13 yrs back, and again recently!

My end-yr-college days in 2005 had a six-month internship stint in Motorola, CV RamanNagar, Bangalore.
I used to walk-up half a mile from my college in Banshankari, take a bus to Shivajinagar, interchange to CV RamanNagar ~ the same routine in reverse on way-back.
The traffic snarls then through the city center were enough to make up my mind when the job offer came ~ Motorola had offices in Bangalore & Hyderabad; we'd a choice of location - and I promptly chose the latter. Hyderabad being a relatively large metropolis with all the pleasures of life, minus the traffic.

3 years of peaceful life in Hyderabad, and it was time for a switch - and as luck would have it, almost all the offers were from Bangalore.

So there I was again, back to the garden city, in CV RamanNagar, bang next door to Motorola - in Samsung
Only this time I was wiser to stay close-by, so the traffic didn't bother me much.

3 yrs back, I'd a good opportunity outside Bangalore; and our Bangalore office had also shifted to ORR making commute painful; so I moved out again.

Well Bangalore does have a fantastic weather, but it comes with a big caveat for folks with weak lungs - they'll always be sneezing/breathing hard. And half the charm of Bangalore's weather is lost anyways in last decade.

What Bangalore excels though at is at attracting top-talent. From NRIs to expats to folks from Delhi, UP, TN and all other states - you'll find the cream-la-cream in Bangalore. And that makes it a melting pot of cultures and ideas. A ground for innovation, for meeting like-minded people, for big corporate behemoths and for nimble startups. Not to mention it has some excellent educational institutions with unparalleled legacy ~ if you do manage to crack them, it's an great place to bring up kids too.

So despite the terrible traffic, or the water-tankers every morning - given an opportunity, I'll probably move back to Bangalore again someday in future.

By-the-way, these days I work in Navi-Mumbai and stay in Thane - for folks living this part of the country, I've not really escaped traffic

[sumathindra]

Originally Posted by anurag.somani

By-the-way, these days I work in Navi-Mumbai and stay in Thane - for folks living this part of the country, I've not really escaped traffic

Well i grew up in Thane and have my house there. My brother stays there. It has been more than 20 years I am in Bangalore now and trust me both the places were an absolute charm back then. I still remember Thane was really cold during winters and it was bliss. Waiting for the school bus meant putting a fire to keep your self warm at the bus stand! can you beat that?

Well every city grows and so has both these, however they have lost that earthy charm!

[kanishka88]

I recently re-located from Dubai to Bangalore and there are 2 things that took me by surprise

+ Amazing weather. Boy o boy, you are literally living in a hill station with amenities of a metro (and a high tech one). its the silicon valley of India so all your "app economy" startups start here and they go aggressive in BLR

- Traffic. Forget about anything that people have told you with a silver lining. There is no silver lining. The traffic is PATHETIC and it will draw away any pleasure of driving. I hate taking out my Eco sport automatic & Versys 650. For an average chap, you can find a house within your patience limit of travel time (15/20/30 mins), take a cab each day and forget about anything else. But I am assuming a T-BHPian would want to take out his car / bike

The only positive you can draw is weekends, and a lot of places to visit nearby. But if you are an enthusiast you would be done with these places in an year and then there is nothing to look forward to

To give the credit to BLR RTO and traffic police:
a. Road taxes are rightfully very high. You have to de-motivate people from buying cars (the other logic - i pay so much tax and hence i need better conditions is not applicable here. This city is choking to death)
b. Traffic police has been really working hard and you can find a cop at odd hours managing traffic

Slightly OT: I had a terrible road rage incident yesterday. I was overtaking a cab from the right hand side (legally right way) which pissed the cab driver (because we both were stuck in traffic for hours). He brought his car in front of mine with an intention to block and we bumped each other. If you are a North Indian, they will abuse you right left and center in Kannada and you can't do anything. I am happily relocating to Delhi this month end, atleast i can drive and ride my vehicles properly

Slightly OT+: To be honest, driving pleasure is surely limited in our country. Not sure about what job they are offering, but if you are not averse to settling abroad, do evaluate your career opportunities with that lens. Take the pill for couple of years, move abroad, own a German and live happily!

Not so much OT: Oh, did anyone tell you, you may not find an Uber or Ola during peak hours - forget about the surge charges

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

But as I said - every one for his preference. Yes, there are several +points that one must consider than just looking at this city with traffic lens only.

Absolutely, people have preferences. Mine is to avoid herds of vehicles that have no method to their madness.

And my other compelling reason to abhor traffic is that our lives are shrinking. We work for 9 hours at a minimum, we sleep for 7 to 8 hours - these leave hardly 8 hours in a day to do other things. I want time to practise kaizen in my life so that I can keep evolving in my career. I also need time for fitness upkeep, to play with my kid, to be a good husband and a son.

These preferences are sacrosanct to me. I respect others' preferences and compulsions though. To each, his own.

To be fair, I actually took a phone interview with a Bangalore-based employer 2 weeks ago. I can't keep turning down these possibilities, but being as torn as I am in my mind, I may turn down opportunities if I find that I can't plan my accommodation and commutes to my new place of employment well enough. Thankfully, I haven't received an actual offer in the last 3-4 months.

For the record I find Chennai and Hyderabad better options for cities to live in; but then I haven't lived long in these places so what do I know

I can speak for Chennai. Somehow, Chennai has been able to accommodate growing traffic. There are still unexplored suburbs in the southern part and I use those back-roads to circumvent the clogged but ill-famed IT highway. I even take a break sometimes in my commutes to observe exotic birds in the lakes, wooded areas and fields that I pass through.

Originally Posted by kanishka88

Slightly OT: I had a terrible road rage incident yesterday. I was overtaking a cab from the right hand side (legally right way) which pissed the cab driver (because we both were stuck in traffic for hours). He brought his car in front of mine with an intention to block and we bumped each other. If you are a North Indian, they will abuse you right left and center in Kannada and you can't do anything. I am happily relocating to Delhi this month end, atleast i can drive and ride my vehicles properly

Boy, tell me about roadrage. I had a scary one where crooks hit my car and even pursued me to intimidate me here in Chennai. This is why I say that traffic brings out the worst in humanity.

Here's my report on my incident: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-...ml#post4499939 (Road Rage - Understanding, Avoidance and De-escalating Situation)

Slightly OT+: To be honest, driving please is surely limited in our country. Not sure about what job they are offering, but if you are not averse to settling abroad, do evaluate your career opportunities with that lens. Take the pill for couple of years, move abroad, own a German and live happily!

I just returned to India in December 2017 after spending 4.5 years in the US. I couldn't leave my dad be alone in India anymore. He would visit us for 6 months in a year but the 6 months he spent in India alone were depressing him.

[kanishka88]

Originally Posted by locusjag

I just returned to India in December 2017 after spending 4.5 years in the US. I couldn't leave my dad be alone in India anymore. He would visit us for 6 months in a year but the 6 months he spent in India alone were depressing him.

I understand. I had a similar reason for relocating back to India. My suggestion would be find a house next door from your office, walk / cycle each day to work. You have right set of wheels (a SUV and a RE), explore Southern India over the weekends - its very beautiful Sometimes, we need to take a pill to make other fronts work in life and I can understand the boat you are in. A lot of BHPians survive (and thrive!) in this city, so i guess anyone can

[EcoFox0718]

I have lived in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, and I have travelled to cities like Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and some mid-tier cities like Indore, Lucknow and Kanpur multiple times for work. After all this, what I genuinely feel, is that traffic is a part of life if you live in a big city and work out of its prime business districts. It just seems U-N-Aoidable if you want to live in a big enough city with a well-paying job and an above average presence of amenities and culture.

Living in urban agglomerations and suburbs like Navi Mumbai eases out this problem to some extent, but rarely so, in the case of commutes. It is just a question of the degree of traffic - which might be more severe in Bangalore. There are ways to get around it. Honestly, therefore, I feel avoiding plum offers because of the traffic might not be the best career move.

[PrideRed]

Answer is pretty simple, if you are getting a good job and is to keep you happy, just find a house near to your office. Mistake that everyone does, Find a home 20KM far and the curse traffic everyday. Traffic should be problem for people who have been born and bought up here, have a house on the opposite pole of your office. That said unless you are emotions are stronger than the pain from traffic, you can always relocate to a place closer to office. Also working couples whose offices are poles apart, this is bound to be a problem. For the rest solution is right in front of you, but you are adamant.

[rav11stars]

Originally Posted by locusjag

I'd earlier mentioned on this thread how I had torpedoed a promising and plum job opportunity just because it was in Bangalore.

This morning, yet another recruiter called me with a Bangalore-only opportunity. I keep shooting down all these job offers from Bangalore. Why God why?

These days, I'm seeing an increase in number of remote jobs suggestions in stackoverflow. Wish we'd get something like this in India too.

Maybe have a once-a-month meeting in the city and let us stay in our towns or villages from where we can work remotely.

We already have good internet connectivity now. It'll be just a matter of employees just having a sense of honesty and employers trusting them.

[lazy]

Hello

Here's my 2 paisa worth.

I have been in Bangalore since 15+ years, and lived in Pune before that for 5. And since I have family in Hyderabad, keep visiting that city too.
And my prior job had a lot of travel, so have stayed in Mumbai and Delhi for weekday stays for several months.

Just like a car, there's no city that fit all. Someone mentioned the same this on this thread too.

One thing is for certain - one cannot indulge in any leisure related commute on weekdays in Bangalore. The office traffic is so bad that you will literally always be late for that movie, or drinks-with-friends plans, or a random dinner-date or whatever else. Saturday evenings are bad too, but you'll start earlier, so there's a workaround.

If you can accept the above, rest can be managed. Here's my guide:

1. Live as close as possible to workplace, in a nice gated complex with greens, sports, pool, amenities. Cycle, or walk to work,
2. If you are willing to hire a driver, #1 can be far, but still within 12 km (~1 hr drive).
3. If the salary offered is greater than the cost of #1+#2, move to Bangalore.
4. Also consider - for a Tech/SW career, it'll be better to be in Bangalore than anywhere else.

cheers
lazy