Southern Comfort

Freelance writer Asha Kohli’s reasons are less abstract and more immediate. The move, for the 29-year-old, involved giving up a cramped one-room pad in Delhi’s Defence Colony for a two-bedroom apartment in a lavish highrise equipped with a gym, a swimming pool, 24-hour security and a supermarket— and a Rs 12,000 tab, non-inclusive of utilities, for a monthly rent of Rs 5,000 on the outskirts of Bangalore.

Vineet Dhawan (name changed on request), also 29, pays considerably more for an apartment in sophisticated Basavanagudi in South Bangalore, but he believes it is justified. ‘‘There are fewer people and wide open spaces,’’ he says, ‘‘both of which are conducive to creativity, personal and social growth.’’

Kohli, though, had another motivation for city-hopping. Bangalore, she says, offers its women a respect that ensures safety from crime and protection from harassment. As a result, a feeling of ease and security permeates all aspects of social communication. ‘‘People here are peaceful, soft-spoken and cultured. They mess with you only if you mess with them,’’ she says.

So Kohli, who considered pepper spray a life-essential, is busy acclimatising to a world where a solitary evening walk is a pleasure, not a physical hazard. Anandhi Rangarajan, a 29-year-old 3D animator who moved to Bangalore three years ago, adds, ‘‘‘Pushy’ is not a term locals are acquainted with.’’

S Unnithan, a newly married painter-teacher, would agree. He shifted base to Bangalore recently, and had only one impetus for the move: ‘‘Delhi’s inherent aggression is not conducive for bringing up a young child. My wife spent the happiest years of her childhood in the Garden City and thus, when the issue of relocating came up, neither of us could come up with a better alternative.’’

But what about the tottering civic infrastructure, the jampacked roads, the unbreathable air? All these concerns have been highlighted time and again by Bangalore’s own IT heavyweights Azim Premji and Narayana Murthy, and much as the city’s new denizens may want to wish them away, they are as much part of life in the city as locally headquartered Café Coffee Day.

Consider this: The Greater Bangalore Metropolitan Area currently supports a population of 6.8 million in 224.66 sq km, a density closer to Kolkata than Delhi. Traffic is chaotic, and while white-gloved policemen command respect, snarls are a daily hazard. Some 6,48,924 vehicles—up from a mere 1.58 lakh in 1980—regurgitate asphyxiating fumes into the city, making the pollution levels close to unsafe, according to the Tata Consultancy Services’ WebHealthOnline.com.

Perhaps the greatest irony, though, is the decimation of the city’s magnificent street-lining trees, many of which are felled to create space for monolithic eyesores threatening to turn the Garden City into a Metro of Metal and Concrete. ‘‘Bangalore is coming apart at the seams in just two years since I have been here,’’ complains software engineer Sameer Chawla, 26.

But none of that stopped Nirmala Sahay, 29, from moving house. ‘‘I spent a year comparing rents, living standards and job opportunities in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Bangalore,’’ says the freelance manuscript editor. ‘‘In the end, I chose Bangalore for the same reasons as everyone else. Its fabulous weather and polite, non-aggressive people are a huge attraction.’’

But Bangalore’s stellar reputation is built on more than the mild-mannered ways of its people. Ranked Asia’s 27th best city to live in by Asiaweek magazine in 2000, it continues to be rated India’s most habitable metropolis overall. Less conservative then Chennai, far less aggressive than Delhi, and a few notches below in the ulcer-inducing competitive stakes than Mumbai, Bangalore is sitting comfortable on a promising recipe for professional and social fulfilment.

To keep the good vibes flowing, the Bangalore Mahanagar Palika promises to invest approximately Rs 51 crore for maintenance and development in 2003-04; the Bangalore Agenda Task Force is working with seven state agencies to improve the city’s public services by next year. Among its current projects are a traffic plan and an integrated sustainable waste management programme. Also on the anvil: a Bangalore-Mysore expressway and a new international airport under the Mega City Project.

But the reason for Bangalore’s continued attraction for the young and the mobile is not to be found in just government blueprints. As a complete package, Bangalore comes out head and shoulders above the rest of the country. Salaries may fall short of expectations, electricity may play hide and seek, but the city offers the new yuppies the literal and creative space that other metros are unable to match. No wonder, then, that this season, they’re all migrating south.