a mARTIAN dIARY

Last year when I took the step of coming to Bangalore to work as a IT fresher, I was no different from the count less number of faceless college graduates, who come to the city of gardens in search of a life. My case was a bit special maybe for the fact that I had never visited Bangalore before even on a college tour. Most of the information that I had was from other seniors I called up and asked about the new world. To tell the truth I was a bit apprehensive, but my mood was, if thousands of people can do it every year….I should not have too much trouble either and thinking of it now, I managed quite well.  But there are something’s that I learned , as we do in every experience that i feel, if it had been passed on to me from someone, could have helped a lot in making my transition much easier. So I thought I would jolt them down in the hope that someone might find it useful. I work for MindTree consulting and come from Kerala, so most of my tips could be accused to have a bias towards both, but I will try to be as general as possible. Ok…here goes

Language
Hindi should be enough for most purposes. English is pretty useless for general life. and thats that

Housing
After coming to Bangalore this would probably be the first thing on the mind of anyone with plans to stay in Bangalore for long term (at least one year :P). for a fresher ( ie bachelor with a job/seeking a job) we immediately have two options 1) Rented house 2) Paying guest accommodation. Both have their own pros and cons. I will try to list them out.
Rented House
Pros
•    Considerable freedom (very imp)
•    Relatively cheaper (this is general statement)
Cons
•    Bills will need to be paid by us (according to arrangement)
•    Furniture etc would require extra investment
Hostel/ Paying Guest
•    Ready-to-live house with furniture etc
•    Freedom is curbed to an extent
•    Need to get more info from inmates since there are hostels that have bad management who may intentionally switch off power and water during peak hours
Commission
If you go for a house via a agent, which would be the most natural way to find in a short period, you will probably have to pay for commission, but don’t pay more than 1 months rent(this itself is too much according to my friend Vani) . Also get a promise from the agent that in case there are any issues with the house owner he will be responsible. It’s always better to get the information of the sub-agents who would be living closer to the house than the actual agent whose office might be far away
Advance
This is a major issue since a lot of money would be at stake. Most owners would ask near 10-12 months rent as advance. You can bargain for a better deal for both the rent and the advance. It is not considered rude. Make sure that the amount is clearly mentioned in the agreement and you have a original copy of it which should ideally be stored in a house other than the rented house (the owner may have a spare key). Also any information on the deductions and time frame with which it would be returned should also be mentioned in the agreement.
Location
Location of the house is a huge factor to be considered , and the prices of land in Bangalore varies faster than the moods of a mother-to-be. But the higher prices would have some reason attached to it. So all you need to do is that reasons for the high price matter to you too. For example place might be on the higher rent side if there is school, club etc nearby but just ask yourself if that adds value for you?
 
Travel
Think about both Daily office travel and Weekend travel
This is another thing to factor in while deciding your location to live. Live too close to the office ( and if you office is in a “pattikad” ( rustic) area) then you will suffer on weekends and too close to the city and daily add another 1-2 hours of commuting to your itinerary. Also I have heard that if you live too close to the office you will be the first person asked to stay back in case there is extra work

Facilities
Important things you need to look for include heater, plug’s earthing, fans etc
In winter its gets pretty cold and having a heater is very important. If you don’t have a attached heater with the home u need not fret since you can get a immersion heater for about 200-300 RS. While buying a immersion heater the Wattage rating is important since higher wattage would ensure the water gets heated faster but also that the plastic would melt faster :P. 1.5 KW should be good. And 2 KW can be used if many people are sharing in the morning.

Vehicle
On a fresher’s salary at a service company its going to be hard to pay for a car’s running cost and most relevantly I don’t have experience with that , so am going to leave it untouched but I think the tax thing is going to be the same for that except it would cost a LOT more.….but if you want more info I can give you contact details of brave people who do that.
 The important things to know about this are…
Road Tax
 Why?
Since you are talking about bringing in a vehicle from another state and are going to be banging the Bangalore roads, you need to pay the Karnataka government for keeping the roads in the “current state”. Hence you need to pay road tax. Another reason, as a traffic policeman so meticulously explained to me in broken Hindi when he caught me once is that, there are a lot of robberies taking place in Bangalore with out-of-station registration vehicles and registering for road tax can help avoid a lot of legal problems. The rumour among people is that we can drive up to 11 months without paying tax legally after which it’s illegal. When caught most people try to ring in this excuse but it doesn’t work always. So in conclusion it’s best to pay the tax and get it over with. But from experience you get caught for other traffic violations but end up "paying" for the tax issue.

How?
Logically the cheapest/best option would be to go to the RTO office and get it done when our government is thrown into the equation, logic goes down the drain. Usually when you reach the RTO office agents will approach you and if you avail their “services”, you wont get anything done though the tangled red-tape…oh what a tangled web they weave too! :P. So you might end a paying around 300 to 400 RS extra but IMHO (in my humble opinion) it would be money well spent. And if you have the proper contacts you will be able to talk to the agents without going to the RTO office
What?
The documents that are required as
Original RC book
Copy of Pollution certificate
No Objection certificate from your original state. There is a small ambiguity whether this is required or not but its safest to get this before brining the vehicle to Bangalore to avoid complications.

Usually this venture would leave your bank account lighter by about 3k for a two-wheeler

 
Food
For a mallu coming from the land of coconuts and the oil therein and the food thereof :P, its really going to be hard to adjust to the “strange” oil of Bangalore food. To call it strange is a paradox since if I am correct only mallus and tamilians use coconut oil for their preparations. None the less, for a mallu with a delicate (tell me about it) stomach like mine, food has been a issue that’s not solved yet. Two options are there to solve it. One is to find a house where there is a malayali mess near by, but make sure that the mess caters to a minimum standard of hygiene, which sadly I can’t say for a lot of mallu hotels/messes I have seen in Bangalore.
Other wise cheapest option COOK! :P. The things to be done for this is
•    Get a house with a kitchen!
•    Smuggle out proper vessels/ crockery out of your “home” kitchen and catch the train/bus to Bangalore before your parents wake up….or do it the boring way by getting permission/buying new ones
•    Get a LPG connection. Either transfer the connection from some of your relative or get the 3kg or 5kg connection that you can get from most crockery shops in Bangalore. Mind you this will be a costlier option than the government connection option.
•    Beg your mom/girl friend to teach you to cook and actually LEARN TO COOK!

Purchases
One more thing that I found very strange in Bangalore is that EVERYTHING is overpriced. I am not being cynical. You can walk into a shop and buy anything and actually bargain for it. It’s pretty common. So don’t hesitate. In the streets bargaining is an expected part of the process and hence everything WOULD be overpriced and in crazy some way it’s pretty enjoyable if you take it in the right sprit

Health
You are likely to sweat a lot during summer and the sad part (at least for me ) is that you don’t feel very thirsty, but this can be dangerous and try to drink at least 3 liters of water everyday even if you don’t feel like it. For a sedentary job like for the software/hardware engineer this is very important. The availability of potable water is not very good as we can see particulates in the tap water we get. So either go for the Big 25 liter bottle of water. You will have water distributors which would supply the same. The cost would depend on the brand but you can get decent (Biselry) for around 60rs/ 25 liters + 5 Rs if you want them to deliver it to your house. They would also ask for a refundable deposit of 200rs for the container. Be sure to ask for the container with tap which should come free with the connection. Or else…if you can afford it go for a water purifier or look for a house with one

Eating Out
Usually last orders are taken by 10:30 pm and the restaurants close by 11 pm TO 12 pm . I think pubs close around 11 pm. There are some 24 hour coffee places too.I don’t subscribe to the pub culture and hence don’t have much info on that.

Dress
There is not as much a dress code in Bangalore and I haven’t heard of any extremist groups prescribing anything yet :P. It’s mostly dictated by the weather. Every type of cloths including Laidback, cosmopolitan and trendy-Indian and Western clothes are worn with ease. Usually dependent on the area the cloths would fluctuate from traditional to trendy.

People
Bangaloreans are a warm and friendly people by nature. They will go all out to make you feel at home. Remember to take your shoes off before you enter a Bangaloreans home or a place of worship like in most of south India.

Mobile Connection
Times have reached a state that to even think about life without a mobile is blasphemy. Choosing a mobile connection is one of the most important nuisances while settling in a new city.  There are two things to think about Operator and Plan
Operator
the major player include
(Statutory warning: coverage is a highly relative thing. I would recommend to ask people that have some intersection in the spatial domain with you in your day to day life)
AirTel
Probably the costliest but the best coverage and strength
Hutch
Decent mix of coverage and Cost….strength is poor
Spice
Cheapest but with the lowest coverage and strength. Very bad service too
Reliance and Tata Indicom
CDMA so better coverage, strength etc

Plan Choose your plan based on usage. If you have important personalities back in Kerala/ other state that you would be conversing with a lot Reliance and Tata Indicom would give you best cost but the plan would change from time to time. Mostly you would be using a roaming SIM from your native state whose incoming rates in roaming would be small. For the lucky few whose important personalities are in Karnataka it self local sms/call would be better catered to by GSM I think. Local would be good with CDMA too but the rates would be too similar to justify the large investment that CDMA would require in the start (CDMA handsets assuming you are coming from a GSM back ground)

Public Telephones & Post Offices
(This info I got from the net but I think it would be useful)
While calling from older public phones, dial your number first and then insert the one rupee coin when you get an answer. For new phones you need to insert the coin first and then dial your number. If the number does not go through the coin is returned. Alternately, you could look for an STD/ISD booth and pay the metered charges.

The post office can be used to send letters and parcels. The General Post Office at Ambedkar Veedhi is efficient and open from 10 am to 7 pm from Monday to Saturday and till 1 pm on Sunday.

Home Sweet Home
Believe it or not other state people actually outnumbers kannadigas in Karnataka. So don’t be too surprised if you find the hot chick in jeans and t shirt standing next to you near forum, talking thri-shiva-peru-uur style Malayalam on phone to her Boy Fiend (bummer eh?!!). Ok enough emphasis on that point. So during vacation time it’s going to be tough to find a ticket home. Really tough! There are two things here that are of prime importance. Mode of transport and Date of Travel.
Mode of Travel
There are 2…no 3 modes of travel.
Bus – Surprisingly the most used (or maybe I was among the wrong people ) transport to go back home. The biggest advantage is that there is a good chance to get it even if it’s the date of travel as there will be some “special” busses running when the load is high which may be scheduled as late at 7 pm on the date of travel if there is enough load. A bus ticket can cost anywhere from 300Rs Rs (a special bus 5-seater with no push back and booked early) to 700Rs (AC Volvo). Normal push back , the most common one come to around 460. The thing they don’t tell you in the ticket is that along with the ride back home you are paying to spend a night with the luscious “mootta” or the bed-bug. Even though she may not always honor the agreement, the days that’ she does, she will literally keep you awake all night making you toss and tumble in your chair Another huge problem is bathroom. I shall not venture too deep into that issue here as I think it should be well know to everyone :P,. The ticket’s can be brought from Kallada, KPN offices or any of their dealers offices. They are mostly concentrated near Koramangala or Kalasipalayam. But the dealer offices can be found at every nook and corner of Bangalore owing to the foreign nature of the large part of the population.

Train – My favorite mode of transport, and not just due to the bathroom thing. There is a higher chance (compared to bus) to have a hot chick sitting next to you to say the least. Another good thing is the cost which can be as low as 260 Rs including booking commission. The biggest factor that pulls me in is the ease of booking it online. Visit www.irctc.co.in for further details. It’s a very easy procedure and you can plan you travel easily. Once you get the ticket you just need a printout of the same along with your passport/license to travel which saves a lot of hassles. I want to stop talking about trains before you guys start thinking I have some train fetish but One last thing that I think that makes train the best choice is Tatkal option. By paying a bit extra (120 I think) you can book a ticket on a fully booked train around 5 days before the actual date of travel. This is a very good option for people who plan late. Only thing is that the rush will be great and you better have a good net access at 8 o clock (when the booking opens) in the morning 5 days before the actual date of travel.
Of course the negatives include that the normal train tickets are usually fully booked at least one month before and you need to plan before hand

Plane – Even though it is not an option for me (cue my salary) I still think it’s a choice for some. I Will try to get some info from people who use it if anyone requires it. Also I think if you book early you get a lot of discounts

Date of Travel

This is another important decision to make since depending on the “occasion” the availability of seats fluctuates. Even though while you come initially the plan might be to “go home every week” after a while (mostly immediately) that’s bound to slow down. So usually people go home when “long weekends” come in. Long weekends are weekends when the attached Friday or Monday is a public holiday. Most companies will also allow shifting public holidays from other parts of the week to Friday or Monday to make a pseudo-long weekend. Since most people would also be looking to travel at the same time booking early is the only way to get train tickets except for of course the Tatkal which I have heard to been sold off in 10-15 minutes after 8’o’clock of the relevant day.  If that fails bus is the option. Mostly a lot of special busses would be running which might not be as comfortable as the normal ones and slightly costlier even. So PLAN EARLY. If going on other days even thought the rush will be less the “special busses” will not be there and 2-3 week’s prior planning is recommended. A tip is to look out for “special train” (humans have a way of specializing trivial things don’t they?)  which might be having seats available and also to take Friday or Monday to forcefully make another kind of pseudo-long-weekend

BMTC and Auto-Rickshaw’s

Any discussion on Bangalore would be HUGELY incomplete without a discussion on the two most common sights on the Bangalore roads. The BMTC is the best thing (transportation-wise) that can happen to a Cheap-o like me. Yeah compared to back in cochin the individual ticket prices don’t make much sense ( minimum of 3 rs for upto 2 stops apart and then 5 and a steady increase to 9 depending on distance after which the graph kinda tapers out) but the Bus passes are heaven sent. For 25 Rs you can travel in any BMTC bus for the whole day. And better still for 480/530 Rs you get this privilege for a whole month. The two different cost if because the former pass does not entitle you safe-passage into Pushpak (with padded seats and usually lesser crowds) Busses.

Auto’s are the other integral part of your transport when a private vehicle is elusive. For the fear of stating the obvious a lot of auto-rickshaw drivers will try to cheat you. There are two modes of Fares. Fixed price before travel and Meter based. If you go for the fixed price before getting you be assured that the cost is going to be at least marginally higher than what would get with the meter on but you would reach the place the fastest though gullies that even Bangalore herself wont know she has. This is recommended if you don’t know the way. If you know the way probably using the meter fare is the best but expect him to come to some cross and ask “straight or front or back” as through its his first day driving in Bangalore. One personal observation I have made is that drivers of auto’s with digital meters seem to be more amicable. It might be a bias I have for a electronic device, don’t know. There is currently a SMS based service being mooted but I haven’t used it to comment on it

There is a lot to write about this topic as such but I shall not venture too deep into that for this is survival kit and not a encyclopedia

I think I have covered most topics I could think off and now if anything else comes up I can put it up as a new post…..present bangloreans…please let me know if you feel I have left out anything important and banglorians-to-be mail me if you feel you need info on anything else…..(Robi (and others) I know you want more info on pubs….will get the right person to write a guest article and let you know) 

Acknowledgements
I am purposefully going to emit people because  I am feeling evil right now  The information contained in this post is due to me and me only (evil sounding laugh) But in another life as a IT engineer I had inputs from the following people which makes me the white (red?) mage I am today (this is a sad LOTR reference but the original idea is good). Anyway without further nonsense here’s the list

I am thankful to fate that conspired in me taking MindTree, failing which this post would never spoilt the phosphor of so many monitors (assuming LCD is not being used by too many ppl)

Thanking the girls first. I would like to thank Neha and Shrisha for the info on the LPG cylinder. I also want to thank my UK roommate Laura who helplessly watched as I experimented various cooking on her vessels/house after which I can authoritatively write on cooking (yeah rite!)

I also want to thank my room-mates Nikhil. Nikhil II and Manish whose various clever ideas I have shamelessly stolen and passed off as mine in this post. And who will be along side me in the Bangalore roads by the month end for lack of house to stay even with my clever advice

Thanks to jose for pointing out two important things I left out initially.

And to my Banglore Guru Raj(ath) who I have pestered innumerable times for getting a lot of info.

(I was tempted to put the title"The Hitchhikers’ Guide to Bangalore" but there were some threats of copy right infringement from Nikhil, the honestestestest person I know  so I resisted)