'Bangalore has lost its charm'

Expatriates love Bangalore for its cosmopolitan lifestyle, salubrious environment, food and people. Maureen, an expat from Scotland, shares her experiences here.

Fifty years is a long time to be married — but Maureen and Steve Thomas, who have been together for half a century, still brim with warmth and cheer. Both are well into their 70s and grandparents, but they still blush when they talk about how they first met. It was love at first sight, confess the couple in unison.

Maureen is from Scotland and Steve from Kollam, in Kerala. Steve moved to Glasgow in Scotland to pursue marine engineering and that’s where he first met Maureen.

“It was at a dance that I first saw her. She was sitting with two young children and she looked stunning. I thought to myself, no harm asking a married woman for a dance and I gathered my wits, walked up to her and asked her for a dance.

And later, she said that the children weren’t hers. I can’t tell you how relieved I was,” smiles Steve.

Blushing just as much, if not more, Maureen recollects, “He was so handsome, with beautiful brown eyes and very polite. I fell for him instantly. I was only 17 years old then and at that time, I had lost both my father and mother in quick succession. Steve was there for me then and even now.”

Maureen and Steve moved to Bangalore 22 years ago and have been living in the City since. They first lived in Whitefield in the 1960s. “The streets were so empty back then and you had to get home before 8 pm, lest you get stopped by dacoits; they would lay big boulders across the road so that you couldn’t pass. But now, the streets are crowded and Bangalore has lost its charm,” recalls Steve.

Maureen and Steve will soon be flying off to Scotland to celebrate Christmas and Maureen’s birthday with their children in London. “We are looking forward to being with our children — David and Stephen. We’re getting older by the day and our children want us to go and live with them, which we are considering doing,” explains Maureen.

Maureen is also a beauty therapist and used to run her own salon until she retired 10 years ago. “I think women and men are very conscious about the way they dress and look. In the 60s, I used to have men walk into my salon and ask me for a facial,” says Maureen, who also helped the contestants of the ‘Miss World’ beauty pageant in 1996 in Bangalore, with their hair and makeup.

Maureen and Steve have their circle of friends but don’t claim to be social. “We go to lunches, dinners and get-togethers once in a while — today, I feel like I am more of an Indian because we have a lot of Indian friends who make us feel at home,” she
explains.

Ask her about her life in Bangalore and she says, “It used to be a great City but now, the pollution, garbage and traffic has ruined it. And M G Road doesn’t look the same anymore, without the Boulevard; I hope they reconstruct it.

I remember driving around Mekhri Circle in the 1960s but now, the flyovers have spoilt the look. Progress is good — but at what cost?” she wonders.

The couple largely stick to a western diet, but Maureen confesses, “I cook dal, roll
out a few parathas and make chicken curry sometimes. We love Indian food.”