India Bashing

[SAPPORO]

On my last India trip I ate out quite a bit. Upscale bakeries, brunch places, South Indian and foreign cuisine places were generally good. Quality looked suspect in cheaper, North Indian cuisine places. Quality of groceries is not as good as Blue states or Canada. Most stuff marketed as 'high protein' and 'low sugar' is much lower in protein and higher in sugar than brands you get in North America. Getting protein in India is a struggle without powders and even those are suspect in India. My cousins asked me to get some from US.

You can have eggs, curd,lentils, chickpeas etc for protein. Whatever you mentioned isn't very surprising or unexpected. India becomes very expensive and non worthwhile for premier products. On the other hand, India is great value if you if you stick to the middle ground.

We had great idly dosas and other south Indian food in Udupi restaurants in Bangalore and also in Udupi. We had great chats and samosas, chicken biryani, beer. We had a great time

We did Bangalore to Udupi a Maruti Alto, we noticed most people now in India buy only SUVs and EVs. Nobody buys small hatchbacks anymore.

My wife's cousin bought Tata Curvv, 22L car, it is so futuristic, there is sports mode economy mode, some 21 cameras and the car has something like cruise control. They have an EV charger in their house and now they do like 400 Kms without any charging on the road.

I am quite excited about India, but I understand in India you must have a lot of money but avoid the upper class bubble. Stick to middle class and enjoy the FIREd life

Getting tired of Idli, Dosa, Vada etc.., that's all the folks here eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and tiffins in-between! Miss my Burrito bowls, kung pao chicken, piping hot pho
and so on!

[Returning_Indian]

But it takes close to 2 hours from the city to the Bangalore airport and check-in 2 hours prior to the departure!
I can't take this chaos and cacophony anymore and counting down the days to go back home May not visit in the future unless there is an occasion that I can 't miss. Very sad to feel this way, maybe my patience is running out with age.

it is frustrating but it's part of life in any big city. It took me around 3hrs to from hotel to JFK to cover a distance of 20miles. Same was the case when going to JFK to hotel. London is also the same but atleast outside of central London speed is much faster than NY. NY is just plain horrible. Delhi/NCR isn't as bad but have heard bad about traffic situation in Bangalore. I think Bangalore is going thru pain which Delhi went through 10-15yrs back. Immense construction to facilitate the flow later on. In any case living in cities is for people who work there. Not for vacation. Delhi has also provisions for using metro from all points in the city and connect to airport. I wonder how Tokyo is. Guessing it's the same.

People living in suburbs of US are spoiled and do not understand the struggles of living in big cities. Just like people living in villages do not know what traffic jams are. You cannot expect similar flow.

[Returning_Indian]

Getting tired of Idli, Dosa, Vada etc.., that's all the folks here eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and tiffins in-between! Miss my Burrito bowls, kung pao chicken, piping hot pho
and so on!

I have made a decision to eat only south Indian food when I go out. Demand is not high, so chances of adulteration is also low. Plus it's made from dal/rice etc. so very low chance of quality issues. Plus it fermented so good for gut health also. I guess best to stick with pulses based food.

[old-spice2]

What is going on with NCR? I have a wedding to attend in mid-Feb and all 5* hotels are asking for $500/night. More expensive than many American cities. Is it due to Kumbh? I need to downgrade to 4* hotel at this rate or look for a hotel far away from the wedding venue.

[SAPPORO]

But it takes close to 2 hours from the city to the Bangalore airport and check-in 2 hours prior to the departure!
I can't take this chaos and cacophony anymore and counting down the days to go back home May not visit in the future unless there is an occasion that I can 't miss. Very sad to feel this way, maybe my patience is running out with age.

it is frustrating but it's part of life in any big city. It took me around 3hrs to from hotel to JFK to cover a distance of 20miles. Same was the case when going to JFK to hotel. London is also the same but atleast outside of central London speed is much faster than NY. NY is just plain horrible. Delhi/NCR isn't as bad but have heard bad about traffic situation in Bangalore. I think Bangalore is going thru pain which Delhi went through 10-15yrs back. Immense construction to facilitate the flow later on. In any case living in cities is for people who work there. Not for vacation. Delhi has also provisions for using metro from all points in the city and connect to airport. I wonder how Tokyo is. Guessing it's the same.

People living in suburbs of US are spoiled and do not understand the struggles of living in big cities. Just like people living in villages do not know what traffic jams are. You cannot expect similar flow.

It's just not the traffic; it's the chaos and all the honking, and potholes. Been to many countries including China, Peru, Thailand etc.., and nowhere it's as worse as in Bangalore/India.

[JINSAKAI]

But it takes close to 2 hours from the city to the Bangalore airport and check-in 2 hours prior to the departure!
I can't take this chaos and cacophony anymore and counting down the days to go back home May not visit in the future unless there is an occasion that I can 't miss. Very sad to feel this way, maybe my patience is running out with age.

it is frustrating but it's part of life in any big city. It took me around 3hrs to from hotel to JFK to cover a distance of 20miles. Same was the case when going to JFK to hotel. London is also the same but atleast outside of central London speed is much faster than NY. NY is just plain horrible. Delhi/NCR isn't as bad but have heard bad about traffic situation in Bangalore. I think Bangalore is going thru pain which Delhi went through 10-15yrs back. Immense construction to facilitate the flow later on. In any case living in cities is for people who work there. Not for vacation. Delhi has also provisions for using metro from all points in the city and connect to airport. I wonder how Tokyo is. Guessing it's the same.

People living in suburbs of US are spoiled and do not understand the struggles of living in big cities. Just like people living in villages do not know what traffic jams are. You cannot expect similar flow.

It's just not the traffic; it's the chaos and all the honking, and potholes. Been to many countries including China, Peru, Thailand etc.., and nowhere it's as worse as in Bangalore/India.

Joby can introduce the flying cars in Bangalore

https://www.jobyaviation.com/

[SAPPORO]

it is frustrating but it's part of life in any big city. It took me around 3hrs to from hotel to JFK to cover a distance of 20miles. Same was the case when going to JFK to hotel. London is also the same but atleast outside of central London speed is much faster than NY. NY is just plain horrible. Delhi/NCR isn't as bad but have heard bad about traffic situation in Bangalore. I think Bangalore is going thru pain which Delhi went through 10-15yrs back. Immense construction to facilitate the flow later on. In any case living in cities is for people who work there. Not for vacation. Delhi has also provisions for using metro from all points in the city and connect to airport. I wonder how Tokyo is. Guessing it's the same.

People living in suburbs of US are spoiled and do not understand the struggles of living in big cities. Just like people living in villages do not know what traffic jams are. You cannot expect similar flow.

It's just not the traffic; it's the chaos and all the honking, and potholes. Been to many countries including China, Peru, Thailand etc.., and nowhere it's as worse as in Bangalore/India.

Joby can introduce the flying cars in Bangalore

https://www.jobyaviation.com/

The wings crushed up in the air due to jostling there can be recycled to fill the potholes on the roads as well.

[mcr]

It took 7.5 hours to travel 350 Kms distance between Chennai and Bangalore twice this week.

Next time when you visit India you should be able to do this journey in around 3 hours. A brand new expressway is coming up connecting Bangalore and Chennai at a cost of around 2.5B USD and will be operational probably sometime next year. But this will not alleviate the traffic pain once you enter the city!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengaluru ... Expressway

[mcr]

I can't take this chaos and cacophony anymore and counting down the days to go back home May not visit in the future unless there is an occasion that I can 't miss. Very sad to feel this way, maybe my patience is running out with age.

I always felt that those who visit India on vacation will have more tolerance to withstand the chaos as they know that this is all temporary for them and they will be back to the first world comfort in a few days (at least that was how I felt when I was visiting India on vacations when I lived in the US). Apparently everyone has different tolerance levels. But I would not let these airport traffic experiences dissuade me from visiting India in the future. You can enjoy other things India offers which are more tolerable and pleasant (staying in a nice hotel, meeting friends and relatives, explore the heritage sites, temples etc.). Just my 2 cents.

[nodegree]

But it takes close to 2 hours from the city to the Bangalore airport and check-in 2 hours prior to the departure!
I can't take this chaos and cacophony anymore and counting down the days to go back home May not visit in the future unless there is an occasion that I can 't miss. Very sad to feel this way, maybe my patience is running out with age.

Exactly how I feel every trip after 4 weeks in. Throw in mosquitos and stray dogs for me. But I keep coming back