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Dhanyavada




Today, I complete a decade of living in Bangalore. When I landed in Bangalore on a Ugadi day in 2005, little I had imagined that I would end up living here for so long.

After a bunch of expatriate assignments with Philips, my plans were to move to Singapore. My wife Adi intervened for she would love to live in any part of India than any place abroad..... and so we landed in Bangalore. We had no friends or family ... just the two of us ....

10 years on... there are 3 thing about Bangalore which would make it very difficult for us to leave this city ....

1) People - There are many places in the world (including in India) where you would be made to feel like an outsider if you do not belong to that place or do not understand the language. In the last 10 years I have never made to feel like a immigrant....not for second

Swami Vivekananda once said 
"Learn everything that is good in others but bring it in ... and in your own away absorb it, do not become others... imitation is not civilisation"

The people of Karnataka are living embodiments of this thought ....they are really global citizens - they are as comfortable in dealing with customer/clients from any country as they are with their own culture. 

There is a strong sense of pride and confidence in their own identity which helps them integrate with people from across India and the globe. This quality is indeed hard of find anywhere ...

2) Food - I am no foodie ... but there is a certain charm in talking a walk to a local darshini .... the idlis at Brahmin Cafe, the conversations over filter coffee have created many a memories for us to cherish for a lifetime

3) Weather - There is something intoxicating about the weather here ... spend a few months here and you will have a hard time anywhere .....I struggle to spend a week in Mumbai

One of the most frequently asked questions when you meet people is -"Where are you from ?
 ...your home town? ". I honesty have struggled with question for a very long time ... being born in Ahmedabad, brought up in Mumbai and worked in many places, they was no real place I could call home. Adi has no such identity crisis ...for no matter where she lives , she is always an Amdavadi from Gujarat.

After 15 years , I now have a place I call home - Bangalore. Only one regret - I did not learn Kannada......

Dhanyavada Karnataka for a wonderful decade ...........


Comments

  1. DwarakanathMarch 21, 2015 at 6:12 AM

    Well said

    ReplyDelete
  2. BaluNovember 1, 2017 at 12:47 AM

    Lovely.. as a non kannadiga, born here and lived all my life, I have seen things change to a rough as compared to those early days. Kannadigas were known to swalpa adjustmaadi .. we all grew around this. I have never lived beyond Bangalore.. so I might never appreciate this Bangalore or Karnataka.. Happy ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ

    ReplyDelete

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