So… What is India Like?

Ever since we arrived in Bangalore, I have exchanged a number of texts and emails with friends/families back in the US.  The first question is inevitably, “so, what is India like?”  I understand the curiosity as most of my close friends and/or families have never been to India.  It has been tough coming up with a succinct answer without going into paragraphs as I will do here.  My go-to response has been “the food is great, but the traffic is horrendous”, which does not truly encapsulated my experiences here thus far.

My initial reaction of Bangalore, or Bengaluru as it is officially known as, is that it reminded me of basically every country I’ve visited in Southeast Asia, i.e. Cambodia, Indonesia or Thailand.  I think the main difference is that there are more cars in Bangalore than any of the other major cities in the aforementioned countries.  We were forewarned that the traffic would be bad, it was in fact horrendous.  As our cab left the highway and got into the heart of the city, we were in bumper-to-bumper traffic on a late Monday night.  I have been here for a little under two weeks now, and every time I ventured out, I have been stuck in traffic for an extended period of time.  A 1.5 mile trip usually takes between 20-25 minutes.  Needless to say, patience is of the utter importance when going anywhere in Bangalore.

On the positive side, Uber is extremely cheap by American standards, and talking to the locals here, they also mentioned how much prices for cabs have gone down due to the competition from Uber.  From my experience, a 30 minute ride (~1-2 miles) would cost between IND 90-120 (~$1.50 – 2).  Uber’s main competitor here is a company called Ola, which allows you to order an “auto”, i.e. an auto rickshaw, something that Southeast Asian countries call “tuk tuk”.  Autos are a cheaper mode of transportation, but do not provide much coverage as they are open on all sides.  See below for a picture.  I apologize for the quality, it is a screen grab of a video I shot, although how apropo that the auto is passing an Asics store, which brings me to another observation of the city thus far.

It is fairly easy to get around Bangalore as a foreigner.  I feel like more people in Bangalore speak English than most of the other Asian cities I’ve visited (with the exception of Singapore of course).  I have to acknowledge that my exposure to natives here have been fairly limited as I haven’t had time to truly explore the city, however, nearly everyone I’ve came across thus far either speak perfect English, or have a good working understanding of English.  A couple of my friends asked me if I have experienced cultural shock in Bangalore.  Yes, the culture here is starkly different than the States, but I won’t call it a shock.  Bangalore has a lot western imports, including the aforementioned Asics, as well as a number of familiar brands, such as Dominos, Pizza Hut, Burger Kings, etc.  Actually, come to think of it, do people really experience cultural shocks anywhere in the world anymore, given the globalization of large international companies.  I bet it won’t be hard to find a Starbucks in any large cities across the world.

Before coming here, the husband received an information packet from his employer on Bangalore that has proven to be very useful.  One section, titled “shopping in Bengaluru” has been particularly helpful.  It mentioned that Hypermarkets are large one-stop shopping venues that carry a large range of food and non-food items.  I actually LOVE to visit supermarkets, it is one of my favorite things to do when I visit a new city.  I am always curious to see what local products they have, and I especially love to discover “excotic” products that I’ve never seen before.  The first day after we arrived in Bangalore, I’ve immediately looked up the closest hypermarket and was happy to discover that there is one approximately a mile away.

The market reminded me of a Target or a small Wal-Mart (see below).

I took my time and wandered down each aisle, hoping to discover some cool unknown product.  Overall, the products were not as exciting as I would’ve hoped for.  The brands were a good mixture of international and domestic brands.  Most of the food products were similar to the ones you can find in your local Shoprite or Target, although I was fascinated with the variety of fruit juices, including lychee, guava and something called Masala Jaemun.  It is so much more interesting than your usual OJ or Grapefruit juice.

One interesting observation is that the refrigerated/frozen section is tiny, there are limited amount of frozen food, and most of the freezer space is dedicated to ice cream.  There aren’t any frozen meat, although there is a butcher on hand to sell meat.  There is a section dedicated to homemade pickles and snacks, both of which I haven’t had the courage to try, but definitely plan to in the near future.

In terms of price, the imported products are more significantly expensive than the local ones.  In the first trip (top photo), I barely spent $10, while spending nearly $50 on the second trip (bottom photo).  However, given the amount of Cadbury chocolates (I can’t resist chocolate), misc household items (the air freshner was $4!), the various ready-to-eat dishes (which were terrible by the way), and the bottle of wine hiding in the back, $50 seemed reasonable for such a big cosmopolitan city like Bangalore.

That’s it for today, I feel like I barely scratched the surface of my experience here, and it has only been two weeks.  Stay tuned for more from Bangalore!