The rare common sense!

To start with a bit of a context, I have recently moved to Bangalore and still getting used to living here. It is an everyday learning experience and to be honest, I’m a little shocked at the hilarity of the place at times. I will tell you why!

Pic taken from Google

So, there are footpaths in this city. The footpaths run alongside the main road and as you would expect, they are meant for being used on foot. But these are generous people here. So, cycles, bikes and even auto rickshaws show their charm on the ‘foot’-paths. And then suddenly someone decides, lets build the electric posts just in the middle of the footpaths and make them short and wide, so that a pedestrian can walk right into them, or duck under them or just step into the road to avoid hitting their head against these posts.

Now the road that you step onto to avoid the many hurdles on the footpath could possibly be a service lane. And if it’s a service lane, cars and bikes can be driven in any direction because you know having a unidirectional service lane or even driving in a neat line is just too mainstream. This is your lane of freedom, so come let’s drive into each other and get stuck forever!

Somehow you make it across the road and walk into the supermarket for some grocery shopping and the time slows down. More megastore, a supermarket (it’s called a hypermarket) is a weekend gateway. You can stroll through the shopping bays with your trolley and your kids on the trolley and just pace yourself to your slowest rhythm possible. If a person behind you asks you to excuse, just look at him with your ‘I don’t understand’ eyes and continue as before. Also, never park your trolley to the sides; even if you are entering the narrowest shopping bay, drag your trolley into it. That way, you could jam the way for others and if lucky, you can even meet your fellow trolley-walkers!

Anyway, you would think the workers and professionals are ‘professional’ enough. But I have met three different people (so far) on different occasions who very conveniently didn’t turn up on time or do their bit of the job and on top of that, told me they had forgotten about it even though we had spoken over the phone that very day, just an hour back!

I called an electrician to fix a few wires in my flat. He suddenly turned his attention to my refrigerator and said I could not keep my fridge there (even though that was the designated place for it), rather I should have plugged in my fridge to a different switchboard. The switch board he referred to was the one just beside my gas oven behind the kitchen counter. So, there were only two ways I could keep the fridge there – 

1) Plug it into that switchboard and place the refrigerator just in front of the kitchen counter. This would block me from using the stove but you know? Who cares? 

2) Use an extension cord and draw it across the kitchen hall so that I (and anyone who visits) can trip on the wire every time I walk towards the kitchen counter. Now that’s fun, init?! 

Oh and if you were thinking, why cant the connections be mended so that right appliances get plugged to the right boards, you are just over complicating things!

And the pattern isn’t just restricted to some specific group of people or places. Say, you are taking the stairs, and someone is sitting on one of the steps with his legs stretched across. You can’t walk past him because there is no space. So, you pause, expecting him to shuffle so that you can make your way. But, nope! You stand there, repeating ‘excuse me’ and finally, he would move his legs with an extreme laziness, no surprised eye brows or a sorry smile or a courteous nod. Just pure nonchalance! Well, It’s always better just to live in your own little world, don’t you think?

Speaking of being in your own little world, how about you decide to stand in front of the restaurant and read the menu showcased outside the entrance. Whilst you are reading the menu, some people can just about find a gap between you and the menu board and stand there and start reading the menu for themselves! Oh sorry, did you think that would block your line of sight and they would be considerate? Haha, you must be new to the city! And mind you this was when it’s not crowded, so you might well imagine what a crowded place would be like!

If I start listing out my every day experience, this blog post might turn into a big fat novel, so I am going to stop here and step out of the house to meet a few more champs and make my life interesting, finally!

And, don't get me wrong here. I am not a Bengaluru hater. There are issues in almost every Indian city and this is probably just an effort to make it a better place.