When we visited Bangalore last August, the prime mission for our visit was to find a place to live. Many expats live in some of the snazzy new apartment complexes or walled-in gated communities of villas. We live on campus at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and are so glad we had that option and made that choice. [location]
- it’s like living in a park, with trees and wildlife everywhere
- there is lots of wildlife (check out my photos, or this amazing Flickr album, by a grad student)
- I walk to work (2 blocks!), skipping the numbing traffic of Bangalore most days
- it’s quiet – because there’s no traffic and there are lots of trees
- the air is cleaner – because there’s no traffic and there are lots of trees
- it’s safer – because it’s a gated community with guards at all the gates
- the power, telephone, and water are reliable, unlike other parts of the city (which suffers through 4hr power outages most days)
- there are many on-campus services, including a restaurant and little independent shops: tailors, hairdressors, drycleaner, travel agents, copiers, bookstore, bike repair, vegetables, milk, bread, sundries
- we have access to facilities like the gym and pool
- my kids’ schoolbus stops at the gate on the edge of campus
- my kids can safely play and bike in the streets
- there are lots of kids in the neighborhood, and they all speak English; my kids have friends
- they have free kids movies on some nights
- the neighbors are all professors, and friendly.
It’s not perfect, to be sure – there is a surprising amount of trash around, and a clear lack of maintenance. But this is so much nicer, on the whole.
This post was transferred from MobileMe to WordPress in 2020, with an effort to retain the content as close to the original as possible; I recognize that some comments may now seem dated or some links may now be broken.
David Kotz 