Content with their choice

Alok Kapoor Jain, who hails from Gadarwara in Narsinghpur district, Madhya Pradesh, moved to the City, after he got placed with an IT company here. He fell in love with Bengaluru and now, Alok who works with Calypto Design Systems as a Senior Application Engineer, and wife Nimisha who works as an Assistant Professor with Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, are settled here with son Urvish.

 They can see themselves living nowhere apart from ‘Namma Bengaluru’. In 2006, when Alok had completed his MTech and got placed in a company here, he knew that the City had welcomed him. “Bengaluru was my first choice. I had heard from people that it was a great place to settle in. It is the ‘Silicon Valley of India’ and was one of the two options in the country, the other being Pune. But comparing the weather and opportunity here, Bengaluru was perfect,” he says.   When Alok started working with the present organisation, he was offered a job position in Noida, but he told the company that he couldn’t leave the City. 

 “There was no office here then. I told them I didn’t want to leave Bengaluru and they offered me the ‘work from home’ option. The office here opened recently.” Alok says that people are professional here. “They are more accepting also,” he adds. 

Alok has visited China, US and Malaysia on work and says that he has seen a lot of Indians from Hyderabad and Bengaluru there. 

 “Bengaluru is on the world map because of the IT industry. The City has a good presence across the globe. When I’m abroad and I say that I’m from India, people immediately ask me if I’m from Bengaluru,” he details. 

The couple are smitten by the nuances of the City. “There is nothing to beat the weather here. When we went to Agra, it was so hot early morning that I just wanted to go to the hotel or come back to Bengaluru,” says young Urvish, to which the parents add that “there is nowhere in the country that could beat the weather here”.

The people here are very accepting, say the couple. “They are very religious and thus have great discipline in their lives. Also, we find them sophisticated and friendly. This gave me a social security,” says Alok. 

He adds that the cosmopolitan nature of the City is a big advantage. “The City has accepted everyone. Everyday, one can see people from across the country migrating here for different jobs. It’s a mini-India here.”

Safety is a big aspect of their stay here. “We have never felt threatened,” says Nimisha, adding, “in most other cities in the country, you know that people are looking at you and making comments. But not in Bengaluru. Here people are busy in their own world and minding their own business.”

Alok says that another advantage is that Bengaluru is the centre point for one-day outings. “Be it Mysuru, Nandi Hills, Hesaraghatta Lake or Shivanasamudra Falls, one can head out for a day trip from here. Whenever my colleagues from Noida want to go on a trip, I tell them to come here and plan trips from here,” says Alok.

The couple miss traditional food items like ‘poha jalebi’ and ‘gajak’ here. 
“But that is typical of any place. One cannot get ‘dosas’ and filter coffee everywhere in Madhya Pradesh. Just like that, not everywhere can one find these foods,” says Alok.  

But nothing can deter their admiration for the place. “We cannot imagine leaving. This is home for us now. And we don’t intend to move,” say the couple.