The aspirational Bangalore!

The aspirational Bangalore!

My memories flash back to the days when we were young and full of lively spirits! Bangalore was the most beautiful place to live in during my growing up years (through the seventies and eighties). I would love to call Bangalore of yore, a veritable heaven on earth! There were lovely parks, gardens; and lakes; streets were lined with lush green shady trees. Change of seasons were hardly recognisable; except for fallen dry leaves and flowers from trees signifying coming of autumn; the weather was cool and pleasant throughout the year. Summers were fleeting; temperatures hardly touched 32 degrees centigrade. The local houses were built keeping in mind the circulation of fresh air and Bangaloreans preferred to keep their front doors open through the day; there wasn’t any need of ceiling fans or ACs. Youngsters played cricket on the streets, during all times of the day. The City had few localities with medium class infrastructure. There were very less potholes on the roads as the vehicular population was low; People mainly owned two-wheelers. Owning a two-wheeler (the ubiquitous Bajaj scooter and Jawa Motorcycle) was the ultimate aspiration of young office-goers, those days. Young men were addicted to watching movies, listening to Radio and of course, the ubiquitous street-cricket (gully cricket in local parlance). Showing signs of rebellion, as students we used to bunk classes and sneak off to watch movies or play cricket surreptitiously avoiding getting seen by teachers and more importantly parents! Being sanctimonious with one’s parents was expected. Most of the young people were wary of their parents, especially dads; not that the parents were harshly critical or didn’t shower love or affection towards their children occasionally; but as parents they were supposed to exercise their right of judgement over their children and have strict say in their upbringing. Social mores demanded so. Luckily my parents were very protective and rather naïve; and didn’t want to believe that their son had a streak of rebellious nature in him too! Bunking classes to go to movies and Hotels. Though I don’t remember having ever taken undue advantage of their gullibility (small transgressions here and there are acceptable)!

Over the years, Bangalore has transformed into the garbage-ridden, stinking city that it has now become with interminable traffic movement during all hours of the day and night! This fundamental environmental aspect apart the culture of the City has changed drastically over the years. There has seen a major shift in the composition of people. Information Technology boom of the nineties and later years, brought in huge influx of young people from all over the country; while the earlier employment opportunities were limited to Public Sector Industries and few Banks, that had their Head Offices in Bangalore. With the founding of ‘Infosys’ which became synonymous with Information Technology and Software boom, many more IT software companies opened their Offices in Bangalore. Call Centres and BPOs came with a bang in a big way. The incoming people brought in their own culture which gradually became part of Bangalore culture. Youngsters were exposed to Western culture as part of their Companies’ outsourcing technology efforts, largely catering to US or European clients. The expression ‘Bangalored’ came into being, synonymous with outsourcing in US. More number of pubs and restaurants came into existence to cater to the demand from young people. High-rise apartments became the norm rather than individual single-storey houses built on ‘30x40’ or ‘40x60’ sites as was the culture earlier.

With the boom came the aspirations of the young people. Travelling to US and Europe by International flights was becoming the norm among younger generation. The Bangalore HAL Airport had hardly any flights outside of India in our younger days. I recall that I had visited HAL Airport as a young boy by bicyle to watch the take off and landing of Aircraft; this made me bloat like a baloon for days, it was as if I had landed on the moon. The IT software Companies sent their young smart people to various centres in US or Europe where they were headquartered to service their large clientele base. The aspirational middle-class Bangaloreans had now begun their journey onwards towards the World scene!

Pardon my saying so, it is nice to hear when my circle of friends and a large family of uncles, aunts, their children, relatives acquired through marriage, etc., wonderfully roll out the names of cities and towns in US, UK, Canada and Australia, pronouncing the names exactly like it is spoken in US or UK with the lovely accent rolling off their tongues like Americans or Britishers. I think that their knowledge of World Geography has increased amazingly, thanks to their children! Many a time, it had prompted me to google the place in question and look into the maps of US, Europe or Australia, searching for the exact location. Most of the people I know have either a son or daughter (includes son-in-law or daughter-in-law) in US or UK or Europe studying or working there. How things have changed! Wonderful!

As proud parents of an aspirational generation, it is but natural to talk of their childrens' achievements when they make it ‘big’, both in terms of educational qualifications as well as earning incomes in Dollars, Pounds or Euros. We are proud of children acquiring highly coveted technical qualifications, master degrees, doctorates from well acclaimed Universities in US, UK or Australia or employed on H1B, L1 visas, Green Card etc., in client locations in US! Some of my friends even know the various stages of Visa processing in US. Not so, in our younger days, our chief pastime was confined to listening to Hindi film songs (on Radio) apart from playing cricket at all times of the day! In our minds, studying and acquiring educational qualifications was just incidental and not important. Studying was a waste of time (in my mind at least!) as more important things like cricket or movies was on the top of our minds!

Now as parents, it makes us feel that we have finally ‘arrived’ in society on aspirational terms. When we meet our friends or relatives in marriages or some social functions, the natural topic of conversation would no doubt end with toasting our children and their wonderful achievements (conversations would also alas, include immediate transport arrangements using ‘Uber’ or ‘Ola’ app and reaching their nests!); Great! It is nice to hear proud parents speak with self-importance on their newly-acquired elevated social status, thanks to their wonderful children.

My thoughts turn to the issue the present generation of the parents would eventually have to come to terms with. Like they say, with every change there comes some pain too, which is inevitable! What would eventually become of us the parents when our children who go abroad, settle down comfortably in those wonderful places, never to return to India! Staying away from beloved children, pining away for them; would our thoughts rue the aspirational society that created this mess in the first place? Certainly not. I am sure our present day generation of parents are much smarter and wiser. We would think of new ways to deal with the situation as and when it arises. It is in nature’s way of things that children grow up and fly away from their nest; eventually they have to make their own futures. I think it should make us extremely happy and proud that our children have a very bright future ahead of them, with the World literally their playground! We should be proud that our children would eventually make a difference to the Society that they live in (be it in US, UK or Europe or Australia); when they rise to the top of their professions, wherever they are! Some of them may even get to be CEOs or Astronauts or even MPs or Prime Ministers/Presidents in their respective countries, who knows! Aspirations and achievements never cease to amaze!