I visited Bangalore after four years.
The city feels maxed out.
Traffic is maxed out.
Patience is maxed out.
Space is maxed out.
The energy felt strange.
Back in 2014, when I moved here, Bangalore still had some old-school charm left. I found my den in an apartment beside the giant old trees on Old Airport Road.
Our daughter was six months old. We were new parents. My wife had a new job. I had a new place to explore and make music.
The energy of that place was beyond words.
This time, the energy was also beyond words.
But not in the same way.
It felt soulless — like Dubai without the planning.
Concrete. Cars. Chaos. Commotion.
And then, suddenly, some belts of green. Some aesthetic corners. Some places trying hard to feel peaceful.
In Indiranagar, at this beautifully done minimal Japanese cafe called TÉKA, we found temporary solace.
But that was the point.
Now you have to find the corner.
Back then, Bangalore itself was the corner.
No one had to manufacture it.
I crossed the area where I last lived in Whitefield. I could not look at it properly.
I wanted to keep the picture memory of what that place was to me until 2022.
I did not want the current version to overwrite it.
Yes, I am whining.
Yes, I am complaining.
Like a child who went back for his favourite ice cream from his favourite shop and found out the shop does not exist anymore.
But that is what cities do.
They change.
Then they charge you more for what they destroyed.
This was not really a trip to Bangalore.
It was a trip to my memory of Bangalore.
And the memory was better maintained than the city.
That said, even the charm of Corner House has changed.
But I still love Bangalore.
Not in the old way. Not as a city that naturally gave me space. That version is harder to find now.
But there are still places where it comes back in flashes.
Jayanagar. Certain patches of Old Airport Road. 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar. Some areas around Shantiniketan Mall in Whitefield. Oberoi and the roads around MG Road. A few places like these still carry something of the city I remember.
Maybe that is the adjustment.
You do not love Bangalore as a whole anymore.
You learn to recognise it in parts.
