Subtle Things and Not So Subtle Things

Author: Christopher Herlich
Project: Indian Institute for Human Settlements | Visualizing India's Cities
Year: 2014
Bangalore, India

Where to begin! There are some pretty enormous differences I’ve noticed between India and the US. In some cases I’ve been very impressed with the Indian way of doing things and in others I’ve really felt a bit like the good ol’ U-S-of-A does things pretty darn well. There are of course even more instances where I’ve simply thought or said “hmm, that’s different” or “I didn’t even know that was an option”. One thing I will say, at least with respect to Bangalore, is that traffic and transportation are major issues that need to be resolved. Enforcement appears to be nonexistent and being on the road in almost any vehicle is dangerous. Beyond that, emissions truly need to be curbed: the levels of particulate matter in the air are kind of startling and the constant grayish bluish haze undoubtedly has major public health ramifications. However, Bangalore is a large and rapidly developing place, so it’s also not terribly surprising that the Metro and bus systems are not state of the art, and that people rely on older vehicles for travel. Once you move beyond the cars, though, I absolutely love the street life. People are always outside, walking and talking and just hanging out. There are always, as Jane Jacobs would say, eyes on the street, which is one of the reasons it’s as safe a place as it is. I also enjoy the fact that people are out of their homes at night, socializing outdoors. The vendors, shops, and corners are all packed with people shopping or just chatting until 10:00pm. That may just be in our neighborhood (Malleshwaram), but it’s wonderful to see and it makes me really dislike television – it’s an excuse to ignore your neighbors. I’ve really been impressed by the way people here seem like they want to be doing their jobs. In the US, there’s a lot of “I’m too good for this” or “I really can’t be bothered” but nearly everyone I’ve interacted with in the service industry or otherwise has been very professional and happy to be doing whatever it is they are doing.