Bangalore - A Walk Along Brigade Rd

In 2005, my work sent me to Bangalore in India, to provide training to our colleagues. While there I wrote a series of stories about my experiences and about an expat living in India. This is one of them.

Bangalore - A Walk Along Brigade Rd

A few weeks ago I took you all on a journey up a side street where people live. I received a number of positive comments about that story, and I thank all those who took the time to give me their feedback. One of the themes that I have been following with my stories is that of the contrasts that can be seen in Bangalore. Tonight we are going to follow that theme by taking a walk up another of Bangalore’s streets, but this time a busy, brightly lit shopping street. Welcome to Brigade Rd.

The Auto ride to get here is much the same as most others. We make sure the meter works and hold on for the ride. It costs us Rs32, for which we give the driver Rs40. He has dropped us at the lower end of Brigade Rd and we are now standing here looking at the surroundings.

The intersection that we are at is that between Brigade Rd and Residency Rd. The larger of the two, Residency Rd, is four lanes wide, which of course allows six or seven lanes of traffic to proceed. On the other side from where we are standing is a traffic island with a couple of trees and some sort of earthworks going on. Across from us on the other side of the intersection is too far away for us to care. We are now standing in a part of town where there is so much going on that you can’t possibly care about the other side of the intersection. Maybe we’ll get to that later.

Our plan tonight, which is a balmy evening with no breeze, is to walk up Brigade Rd on the left hand side towards MG Rd. Remember Mahat Macoat? Then we will cross over Brigade Rd, which is a narrow, one-way street with cars parked on one side, and walk down the other side back to the big intersection with Residency Rd. Along the way we will see what we see. We might even stop for coffee somewhere, because there’s a few places to choose from.

The first thing that we notice is just how many people there are here. The footpath isn’t packed full, but each step will require negotiating around people. The people here are mainly local and aged between sixteen and forty-five. There aren’t many children, but there is a smattering of families. It is eight thirty on a Thursday night and most kids are going to school tomorrow. So that would exclude many families.

We’re still at the intersection and there are a number of Autos milling around looking for fares. The police will move them on soon, but until then there are nine or ten hoping for someone to take them. There are also quite a few people standing around. I suppose they are waiting for a lift, or maybe this is a common meeting place. We turn left into Brigade Rd and start to slowly walk up the hill.

The footpath soon starts to get narrow, with a guard rail stopping people from walking straight on to the road or accidentally falling on to the road. Remember there are a lot of cars and two wheelers traveling down Brigade Rd. And with this many people on the footpath, it would be just too easy for an accident to happen. Interestingly there are no Autos in Brigade Rd. I can only imagine they are banned from coming in because there just wouldn’t be enough room with them stopping for passengers.

As we move slowly up the hill, we are passing a small shopping mall. There are a number of these in Brigade Rd and MG Rd. They are often about ten or twelve years old and are where a multi story building has been turned into a small shopping mall. The inside usually does not match the good impression they give from the outside, with many of the shops inside struggling to maintain the flashy appearance. This first one, however, is the exception. The main draw card for this mall is the Levi shop right in front. It has only recently become part of the mall and is very modern. I expect many of the younger people are drawn to the mall by the Levi shop and then continue past to see what other shops are there. We spend a few minutes in the shop, looking for unexpected bargains, and discover that most of the clothes are half the price of Melbourne or less. This shop is ultra modern, having the latest styles to be seen on the streets anywhere in the world.

We continue up Brigade Rd.

The footpath narrows right down now so there is room only for two people. On the footpath, as on the road, this means that three or four lines of people attempt to squeeze past each other. When you’ve got a backpack on, as I do, this really doesn’t work well. But, this is Bangalore and not Chapel St, so I go with the flow. Mind you, I have swapped my wallet from my back pocket to my front pocket as a precaution against pick pocketers. I don’t think anyone would try, but this is Bangalore and not Chapel St, so who knows. I’ve done the pick pocket thing once in Rome and would prefer not to repeat the experience.

Every two or three steps the shops change. The buildings are a higgledy piggledy mix of old, very old, needing renovation old, abandoned skeletons and modern, glitzy glass boxes. Some of the shops have steps that go up. Some of the shops open straight off the street and some have steps that go down. There are even groups of shops in small arcade arrangements that are below the level of the footpath. A co-ordinated approach to the streetscape is a subject that is a long, long way away yet for Brigade Rd.

The people are all in good spirits, with everybody here to enjoy the busy atmosphere and the bright lights. There are so many people on the footpath that it is like showbag alley at The Royal Melbourne Show on show day. It’s easy to see why they put up the guard rail between the road and the footpath. There are young girls walking arm-in-arm, many wearing jeans and t-shirts like any other teenager or twenty-something in Melbourne, London, Paris or New York. But thankfully there are almost as many who are wearing the beautiful saris and selwar khamis (I’ve got the spelling wrong, but this is the other main outfit worn by the ladies here). Many of the young ladies wear the selwar khamis, maybe because this outfit has the leggings and I’m guessing that they feel more at ease in them.

Ladies of any age here take exceptional pride in their appearance. The older ladies, say from age thirty upwards, and those from more well off families, have an abundance of gold on them. Their makeup is beautiful, their hair is beautiful and their saris are beautiful. But the most beautiful thing is the pride they take in themselves. They carry themselves with dignity, even the ladies in their early twenties. Having three daughters, I am keenly aware of things like this, and it warms my heart to see the ladies of India having such pride in themselves.

Then there are the men. To me it is sad that there are almost no traditional clothes worn by the men in Bangalore. I know that this is no doubt for a myriad of practical reasons, but it is still sad. The young men of eighteen to twenty six move around in pairs or groups, just as happens everywhere else in the world. But there are not too many places in the old British colonies where the men walk along holding hands. To a first-time visitor this can be a surprise and to some a little unsettling. But here and in the Middle East and many other places, this is perfectly acceptable and is simply a show of trust and friendship. Sometimes a friend may have his arm over the shoulder of his companion as they walk along, checking out the many girls who are also walking along with their friends. Because here as elsewhere, the young girls also go out in groups of two or three. So as far as the subject of cruising down the boulevard is concerned, Bangalore is no different to any other place in the world. Except here it is done on foot, not in fancy cars with big motors, big sound systems and wanky blue-lights glowing underneath.

As we progress up the hill, we duck into the occasional shop to see the merchandise or check the prices. I am particularly interested in leather gear. I’ve always loved genuine leather and am interested to see what the prices are like. In the better shops the quality is not in question and the prices seem to be be a little over half what we would expect to pay in Melbourne. But of course that is totally speculative, because no two articles made of leather are the same, so it is almost impossible to make a close comparison.

By now we have reached the first of the two roads that go off to the left from Brigade Rd. This one is a short road, ending in at a residential complex of some sort. This road contains many of the bars and nightclubs that are in this area. Both sides of the road are lined with two wheelers and cars with maybe two hundred motor bikes lining the first seventy five meters of road. There are also a number of restaurants and cafes on this road.

We stay in Brigade Rd and cross the side road. This is an interesting exercise as fifty people cross in either direction while cars and two wheelers attempt to enter and leave the side street. But as is the norm, no one gets frustrated with everyone ducking and weaving and getting to the other side safely.

We continue moving up the road as we have been. The footpath seems to have narrowed even further. We are now walking past a beggar who is sitting on the footpath, scrunched up against the wall of a business which is closed for the day. She is holding her hand out and mumbling something to us, using the sign for food that we have become very used to, which is the fingers held together and motioning towards her mouth. We walk past the beggar and continue on our way.

Let me stop here and explain something to you. I know there are people reading this who now consider that I have just been a rotten mongrel, a heartless sod or just downright mean. There are a couple of points about the beggars that I need to explain.

1/ Even by the word of the local people many, or most, of the beggars are working for an organized group collecting money. I had heard this before coming here, but now I can see that it is very likely to be true.

2/ There are so many beggars, or people in need, that it is impossible to give to them all. It is simply impossible. Having said that, the streets are not crawling with beggars. But in any outing you are likely to see four, five, ten beggars. It is not possible to give to them all.

More on beggars soon (unless I forget).

We are now crossing over Church St. This is a well known street in Bangalore containing many restaurants, bars, clubs and hotels. It is Church St where there is a very nice Chinese restaurant that I intend taking Donna to when she gets here for her Indian summer. This street also contains many street vendors selling books. They lay the books, which range from cheap little paperback novels through to reference books and the autobiography by Bill Clinton, in neat rows on the side of the footpath. A decent novel, such as “Angels & Demons” by Dan Brown, sells for around Rs120, which converts to $A4. Copyright? Who knows.

Past a few more shops and we’ve reached MG Rd. Now it’s time to cross over to the other side of Brigade St. The intersection is controlled by traffic lights, with a white-hatted policeman standing next to us. But after nine weeks I still haven’t worked out the sequence of the traffic lights. So along with everyone else, we look for a blip in the seismic graph of traffic and take advantage of it, giving the safety of our life to Allah and heading for the other side.

We made it.

Now we are heading down the hill. This side of Brigade Rd isn’t quite as enthralling as the other side, but still has some interesting shops. One in particular, which sells brass statues and other “Indian” stuff attracts us inside. I have always liked this type of shop and this one, with its musty smell, reminds me of the antique souk in Riyadh.

This is a very large shop, filled with statues large and small of the various gods that abound in India. One god in particular catches our eye. It is a woman with only one, but prominent, breast. There are other women gods, each with two rather prominent breasts, but this god only has one. I think I will need to find out from Ram and Srini what the story is. Interestingly, a number of the gods have elephant features somewhere on their body. One is definitely a woman with an elephant’s trunk and four arms. We have all seen pictures in books and magazines and I can tell you now that these really are local gods and are worshipped devoutly by millions and millions of people.

We spend a while in this shop, finding a number of items that would be great for our gardens, feature walls and entrance ways back in Melbourne, but leave empty handed. Maybe another day.

Back on the footpath, we are still heading down towards Residency Rd. There is another beggar holding her open hand in front of her, but this one takes my interest. She is an elderly lady, of indeterminate age, who looks like she is genuinely down on her luck. She quietly stands there with her hand open in front of her, not making the food motion, just looking up at me with forlorn eyes. As with the beggar in a previous story, I immediately feel that this lady is genuine and, seeing how the women in this country work and work and work, no doubt has endured a very hard life. In a single moment I have visions of my mother, Donna, the three girls, Donna’s mother and every other hard working woman in the world flash through my mind. I reach for my wallet, take out Rs10 and hand it to the lady. Then she does what the previous lady did, and which causes me to have to choke back tears. She holds the Rs10 note between her hands, raises it to her forehead and bows to me in thanks.

My goodness, this is a hard country to come to terms with.