People make a big deal about Bangalore being called the Garden City, because the gardens are scattered and visible only fleetingly in the city's traffic. Orchard Road in Singapore is also rather inappropriately named. The orchard, if it exists, is well hidden. As per Wikipedia, "Orchard Road got its name from the nutmeg, pepper and fruit orchards or the plantations that the road led to in the mid-1800s." Obviously, re-naming roads in their present context is not a priority.
So this city is my new home. I am not yet sure how I feel about it. Sydney felt like a leisurely extended vacation. Bangalore is my "permanent" home. This city impresses me with its efficient public transport, law and order, sheer number of eateries, multiculturalism, and monuments to consumerism. Some say the city lacks character. How does one define this term? Can a city develop into a major international commercial hub with hardly any resources of its own, and yet be lacking in character, I wonder?
It is nice to be in a world class city that is only a four hour flight away from the mother country. For the short term fix, there is Little India with its amazing concentration of restaurants offering quality South Indian food. Yet, when I browse through the food courts, the pungency of foreign smells assails me, reminding me of how far away I am from home ground.
Home? Not quite. Once my family joins me, maybe then.
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