#5 Bangalore: A personal lore

Reflections on the latest city that's been incredibly kind to me.

This flash essay is part of a collaborative, constrained-writing challenge undertaken by some members of the Bangalore Substack Writers Group. Each of us examined the concept of ‘BANGALORE’ through our unique perspective, distilled into roughly 500 words. At the bottom of this snippet, you’ll find links to other essays by fellow writers.

Image credits: Priyanka Sacheti

At Glenn’s Bakehouse in Indiranagar, my closest friends surprised me and another friend with a birthday cake. This is one of my most pleasant memories of Bangalore, more than 10 years ago. We were in college at the time, and my gang was doing their six-month architecture internship there. I chose to stay with my family in Mumbai and came over for a visit. Coming from hot, hot Nagpur and earning for the first time, Bangalore represented freedom. Like a lot of privileged kids from engineering college, we were just so happy that the pubs were so fancy, the weather was brilliant, we found modest spaces to call our own, and in a new city, adventure called out to us.

The dream continued for a while after graduation, as the same set of friends came back to discover themselves as newly working professionals in the city. I was quite lost at this point in my life, and took refuge in their chilly flats in Thaverekere and Indiranagar. Here, they warmed me with their company, music, tetra-pack Old Monk, spicy starters, and warm blankets. It was in these moments I could let my quarter-life crisis stay, temporarily, within the confines of a John Mayer song.¹

Fate had other plans for me in Mumbai, and it would be another three years before I finally came to stay in Bangalore with my girlfriend in March of 2020. At times I felt I had arrived late to the party as most of my friends had already left Bangalore by then.

The pandemic began a week after settling in my new place, and a few weeks later, my girlfriend left to be with her mother. And like billions of others, I had to embrace my solitude. In my neighbourhood in Thippasandra, Bangalore slowly evolved into Bengaluru for me. I learned to rediscover the joys of walking the familiar, dead-end streets filled with Gulmohar, Cherry Blossom, and Jacaranda trees. I learned to slowly sip filter coffee and admire the beautiful golden light that melted on the walls of the neighbourhood.

Images owned by the author. Use freely if they please you

It is in these years in Bengaluru I said a slow goodbye to my twenties and let the first of many wonderful things happen to me: I got married. I started making lasting friendships at work, and got promoted. I discovered the joys of cooking while listening to book podcasts. I hoarded books at Blossoms and found closure in finishing off computer games from my childhood. I started to learn French, and wrote a 100,000 word draft of something. When things got super toxic at work, I found solace and hope in the songs of Billy Joel and reading Proust in its entirety. I finally took the steps to heal myself with therapy.

Nostalgia aside, like many cities of India, Bengaluru also has its own contradictions, which others have articulated with a clarity I envy. Despite it all, there is a part of me that shares the possessiveness of Namma Bengaluru. It is the fertile soil on which I have nurtured myself as an individual, and for that there is gratitude eternal.

• Looking Down over Bengaluru by Vaibhav Gupta, Thorough and Unkempt

• Blossom Book House, Bangalore by Rahul Singh, Mehfil

• A Walk, A Pause by Mihir Chate, Mihir Chate

• Bookless in Bangalore by Vikram Chandrashekar Vikram’s Substack

• Bangalore,once by Avinash Shenoy, Off the walls

• My love story with Bengaluru by Rakhi Anil

• Bangalore Down the lane of History by Aryan Kavan Gowda, Wonderings of a Wanderer

• Nagar Life by Nidhishree Venugopal, General in her Labyrinth

• Belonging by Shruthi Iyer, Shruthi Iyer

• The Street Teaches You by Karthik, Reading This World

• The Wild Heart of Bangalore by Devayani Khare, Geosophy

• A Love Letter to Bangalore by Priyanka Sacheti, A Home for Homeless

• ThoughtsMovies Dates, Bangalore and Them by Amit Charles, AC Notes

• Between Cities by Richa Vadini Singh, Here’s What I Think

• A Haven? Awake in Bangalore, by Lavina G, The Nexus Terrain

• My love affair with blue skies by Sailee Rane, Sunny climate stormy climate

• A City That Builds Belonging by Sathish Seshadri, Strategy & Sustainability

• There and Back Again by Ayush, Ayush's Substack

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1. In case you were curious which song I was referring to, check it out here.