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-   -   Getting plum job offers from Bangalore, but worried about moving there because of traffic. Now what? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/203089-getting-plum-job-offers-bangalore-but-worried-about-moving-there-because-traffic-now-what-6.html)

Androdev, I am sorry man - I think I was still hurting from the time I had to visit my ex who used to live in this awesome gated community and I had to sign a million things and make phone calls before I was let in LOL.

Agree with all your other points, but choosing Bangalore to live in now is more like the best of the worst kind of competition. Its unfortunate that in India we always have to choose the best of the worst for anything we want or need.

I would still choose India as a place to live in as opposed to any other country abroad for personal reasons (single, returned from Europe on purpose inspite of easy immigration opportunities). India has something intangible...spirit, love, vibe. Whatever it is, it is here.

But I see all the people scurrying around in traffic here...and the only image that comes to mind are the ants at home scurrying in a line (granted they obey rules!) for the sugar fix.

The photo could be any house with a 1200sqft of lawn space. This is how almost all the houses were built during our parents time which was my inspiration in the first place. Now every house is built to fill up the entire plot even if it is a large 50x80 plot with more bedrooms than the number of people! I just looked up some known villa projects like Chaitanya Samarpan near whitefield which has rents around 30K. This project has couple of decent schools close by and it is also not very far from work places. This is a relatively known brand well marketed project. There are many no-name un-marketed projects which could be more VFM options. This entire road used to be very cheap to buy not so long ago.

I don't know these areas that well but the city is dotted generously with so called gated layouts which come in all type of flavours ranging from just having a gate in the front to the total-environments/palm-meadows, etc. range. I personally attended so many housewarming functions that I know all the budget ranges and it is very much within a working professional's reach. So why such disproportionate negative reaction like "oh this is an impossible scenario for a working class guy"?

Apartments are sold on a platter but building a house requires a lot of time, research and effort. Just as our parents and grandparents took the pains to build houses back then, it is still possible to do so in Bangalore. But we have all become less creative and prefer the fast food route.

The little house with some open space, the home cooked food, coming home early, kids playing in safe neighbourhood - it's no longer available to a large section of Bangalore residents but if you have a so called "plum job" then it is most definitely possible. Not only that, it is more possible in Bangalore than in any other city I have lived in in India.

So what about all the people crawling out of IT campuses cursing the traffic? It is for them to figure out. It defies all logic to squeeze them into these Eco Spaces (what a name!!) of the Bangalore when their jobs could be done from the comfort of their potty seat at home. I haven't seen my collaborators in the last 4 years except online.

A motorcycle is the most dangerous means of transport if your work involves use of your hands. I was an avid biker upto 12 years back, but ever since I became an orthopedic surgeon, I have stopped riding. I'm still ok to ride on the highway, but never in cities. The number of people I have seen who sustained trivial hand injuries by clipping a ORVM or another 2-wheeler handlebar and are unable to resume their normal jobs even after months of treatment is too enormous for me to even contemplate the risk. A car, though slower and prone to scratches, you still are safe. There is no safety for riders, even ones in good protective gear.
You can communicate better to other road users, but how do you manage the cattle which are rampant on our roads? Cows won't understand you. Plus you have the tractor trailers, Overloaded riders carrying produce, stray dogs, unsupervised children, etc. I'm surprised no one has commented on this aspect of Bangalore traffic. I've seen cows everywhere from Majestic, KR market, Malleshwaram, Yeshwanthpur, etc.

I would easily accept if they ban cars on roads and allow only motorcycles. I would buy a good bike and enjoy the commute. Instead of banning vehicles, they should think about that :)
Its bad that the thread is now becoming a 'find fault with Bengaluru' and other OT discussions :(

I admit that bicycling or motorcycling is not for everybody. It needs better fitness and better skills. But most people acquire them over time. So, it is not as risky as you think. Even if we accept that risk is 300% higher than cars, in absolute numbers, it is hardly anything. I mean, if the probability of a major accident in car is 0.001%, it will be 0.003% for bikers. That is easily a number we can live with. Also, people like me should ride only two bikes so that those senior citizens, people who really cannot ride bike, can have space to drive cars. It is the bikers who save the day for car users.

Can you elaborate how stray dogs, unsupervised children or goods vehicles are related to biking? Anyways, it is irrelevant in Bangalore or most cities.

Ahem!! Someone from Mumbai feel like chipping in here about rents or real estate costs? clap:

Seriously, the silence of the Mumbai guys in this thread is hard to fathom. Metro construction has wrecked havoc on this town and affected many lives very deeply. I know two colleagues who moved to the US because of their 2 hour commute (one way) due to Metro construction.

In fact, we are just a small handful of hold-outs. Practically everyone else has moved to the US within the organization citing either career growth, or money, or the traffic. Incidentally, from personal experience of having lived a long time in the US, I thankfully didn't buy into the carrots of career growth or money, as I know that those things are like mirages in the desert. But, I do find it remarkable that all my colleagues chose to leave for the US instead of to another city and another job. The common thinking seems to be "it's either Mumbai or out of country".

This thread started in mid October. In roughly 6 weeks from that point, based on your responses, I count you saying no, then yes, then no, and then yes again to a prospective move to Bangalore. So, let me say out loud what many people are thinking. What kind of work do you do that you are fielding such a high density of recruitment pings? That's alright. You don't have to answer. But, you should take comfort in the fact that your professional services are quite in demand. I know of many many people who would be happy to have your problems.

Cheers

I don't think loss of face on a mostly-anonymous forum should stop you from catching a great opportunity :) So good for ya!
The last few pages should give you enough to chew on while making up your mind.
I hope the great new role works out for you!

@locusjag we don't know the nature of offers so it is difficult to suggest if Bangalore can be a better option from a career point of view. I am not asking for details either :) If you can give the approximate location of your potential employer(s), I am sure you will get a very concrete idea of how things will unfold for you. Don't take up an offer unless the company has a very employee friendly policy to help them deal with traffic. It could be WFH option, or flexible timings, or office timings tweaked to avoid peak hour traffic etc. Not only it will help you deal with traffic, they are just basic characteristics of employee friendly companies. If you get an office that is outside tech campuses, you should seriously consider it.

I took pains to explain that there is no "privilege", "elite" etc in that photo, please read my posts in their entirety and then comment. This thread is to discuss "quality of life inspite of having a well paying job" and I wrote many posts suggesting Bangalore is as good as any other Indian city if not better for highly skilled professionals.

Tell me honestly, if someone is competent enough to get a job in an MNC company off ORR don't you think they can get a different job elsewhere with better working/traffic conditions? It's not like they are working illegally for a slave master in a gulf country without work permit. It is a totally self-inflicted damage and if they were my younger brother/sister I would tell them to fix lifestyle first and work backwards on the career.

I agree there is lot of misery in our urban living but this thread is about people with high paying jobs and they absolutely can save themselves the misery. Unfair to the poor but that's a different topic altogether.

PS: I opened a new thread to share what people do to minimise commute:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...y-commute.html

Well I will agree that we do have a choice, the money and job or the traffic hassle to get to that job. And a lot of us continue because the money is worth the traffic hassles. At what point one outweighs the other is different for different people and we will probably have to take a call and prioritize one day.

What is considered 'normal' for one person may be considered 'privileged' for another. Especially when it comes to homes. And especially when the definition changes over time in a fast growing city like Bangalore.

But here's my typical day (and I think typical for MOST of us on this thread) in Bangalore. :)

PS: I was born and raised here and love the city too. But I don't think pointing out reality is being negative. As many of us have said, if you have to stay in an Indian city, Bangalore is probably better than most. It's really not about Bangalore vs. any other city either and not sure we need to 'defend' Bangalore.

Have you never had to brake suddenly for a stray dog that decided to dart across the road and then decide halfway to run back and then forward again? Or because the vehicle in front of you had to do so for a dog? It is very relevant.

I think the poster mentioned that he was a surgeon. That requires perfectly steady hands. I for one can attest that my fingers have borne the brunt of my 20 years of using motorcycles. It's not a majority use case he was illustrating but a very valid one. Plus as an Ortho surgeon you get to see far more injuries than any of us can imagine. So that will definitely give you a better overall view of the risks. A friend's dad deals with head injuries and he absolutely LOSES it whenever he sees someone riding without a helmet. For him, the stark reality of the consequences of taking that risk is something he confronts daily.

Bangalore traffic now plays a major role in my life, and trust me, its not in a good way. Even a dinner invite from your closest friend or family first has to be subjected to the traffic test, what day, how far, how many traffic jam hotspots that you need to put yourself through, how soon should you start, can I get home from office by then... seems crazy, should I be rather not thinking what do I carry for the dinner, a good bottle of wine? Its not just dinner, your shopping, your clinic visits, meeting with friends.. every damn thing needs to go through the "Bangalore traffic test" before you decide to head out.

I am not talking about major injuries. I’m talking about trivial ones where you brush against another vehicle or pedestrians. Or dividers nowadays. Where you sustain simple ligament tears or sprains that haunt you for the rest of your life.
And I’ve been to quite a few cities and rarely have I seen so much cattle on the road. Stray dogs, errant children are there everywhere though.

@Locusjag, I suggest you try the city out. Forget the traffic and the other things I had mentioned in my earlier post.


You seem to be a guy who till understands the value of of the meaningful things in life - like I do. There is a chance Bangalore will grow on you, or you might start hating it. Either way, have in hand the option of going back to Chennai if things go south. Maybe have a friend or a contact within your network who can quickly help you get back to Chennai (or any location of your choice really) if you need to.


You mentioned in a recent post of yours that your mind is see-sawing. Haha true; the only way to stop wondering "What if" is to see for yourself. Take a job offer you like (which offers - in your point of view - a good balance of 1. money and 2. something you like to do) in Bangalore; this can make your life better while you are here.

Being a Bangalore native, I can completely understand your pondering locusjag. Like many other fellow native folks, I have quite literally seen Bangalore destroyed by IT infringement.

The once GARDEN CITY is now reduced to GARBAGE & SILICON CITY!! :Frustrati

Other than the obvious 'Money', Bangalore really is a great place to live. Not only is it way ahead of most of the other cities in India in terms of urbanisation, but it also has one of the better temperate climates round the year.

The aspect of commute is not only applicable to professionals for work, even kids are suffering commute to school. If you fix residence location close to office, quite possible your kid will spend time commuting to school.

Bangalore has really turned into people movement nightmare.