A Tale of Two Cities

Shahrukh Khan once told in an interview”When I came to Mumbai I thought that one day I will conquer this city,but now when i look back and see I realise that I have been conquered by Mumbai.The city has made me its slave.”Every year hordes of people from all over the country come to their city of dreams..for their livelihood,for their survival..such is the cosmopolitan nature of this city…All these years I used to have this impression of Mumbai….but the recent events there have made me think if I am correct or not.
The second city in the tale is Namma Bengalooru…India’s Silicon Valley….which,15 years back was a pensioner’s paradise,the city of gardens,city of udupi restaurants,city of iyengar bakeries.The city now is a concrete jungle.Udupi restaurnats and Iyengar bakeries have given their way to CCDs and McD’s.The garden city is now called a PubHub.I can imagine how it feels to be a person who lived all his life here in bangalore.similar to mumbai hordes of engineers,IT Professionals come here every year with dreams in their eyes only to give its collapsing infrastructure a further beating..
Now,what has happened in mumbai,If I’m asked is a murder of democracy.Keeping a state on gunpoint by a failed politician to hog limelight can never be justified.If Mumbai is for Mumbaikars and delhi for delhites becomes the law of today,then the basics our nation are somewhere wrong.Infrastructure is a issue but after 25-30 years only you realise that infrastructure is collapsing and not to forget that the people whom you are chasing out of Mumbai are the very ppl who have been utilised by virtually every political party for their votebank politics.
What has come as a full blow in Mumbai is only an undercurrent in Bengalooru(by the grace of Almighty).I also live here and I love this place,its Culture,its tolerance.Mindless expansion(without having the infrastructure in place) has definitely taken away the soul from the city but IT sector cannot be blamed for every problem in the city.
It is for bengalooru to decide whether to go the Mumbai way or find some alternative…
Bouquets and Brickbats expected and awaited