Living in Bangalore
Water, power, rent, food, safety, getting around. Short, practical pieces about this city’s neighbourhoods, a few minutes each.
The city has plans tonight. Finding them is the hard part.
Gigs on one app, meetups on another, pop-ups on Instagram. Nothing is filed by the one thing that decides whether you go: where you live.
Viraj Chandra·Read it- Food and drink·3 min read
Where do you actually eat?
Ratings apps know where visitors eat. Your neighbours know where the food is good on a Tuesday.
Vibhuti Chandrakar· - Food and drink·3 min read
Where do you buy vegetables?
The most ordinary question you can ask about an area, and one of the most revealing.
Viraj Chandra· - Safety and civic·3 min read
What is your area like at 10 pm?
Safety in this city is not an area fact. It is a street fact, and it changes by the hour.
Vibhuti Chandrakar· - Living here·3 min read
What does power look like in a bad week?
Every building has electricity on the day you visit. The question is what happens when it goes.
Viraj Chandra· - Getting around·3 min read
Can you get an auto without a fight?
The last kilometre decides whether a well-connected area is actually connected.
Vibhuti Chandrakar· - Services·3 min read
The errand test
Chemist, ironing stand, tailor, electrician, courier. The boring shops are the best area review there is.
Viraj Chandra· - Moving in·3 min read
See a flat at 3 pm, and again at 9
Every flat has one good hour, and the photos were taken in it. Visit in the other hours.
Viraj Chandra· - Moving in·3 min read
Ground floor or top floor: pick your problem
Both ends of the building come a little cheaper than the middle. The discount is never a gift.
Vibhuti Chandrakar· - Living here·3 min read
The society rulebook nobody emails you
You can agree the rent with the owner and still be turned away at the gate. Ask the association early.
Vibhuti Chandrakar· - How we think·3 min read
How we score a locality, and what we refuse to fake
Where our numbers come from, and why some of them are blank on purpose.
Viraj Chandra· - How we think·3 min read
Whether you rent or buy, the area comes first
Everything inside four walls can be changed. The street outside cannot. Choose in that order.
Viraj Chandra· - Moving in·3 min read
Hunt for a flat as if it is already monsoon
Flat-hunting happens in the dry months. July is when you find out what you signed.
Viraj Chandra· - Getting around·3 min read
The tech-corridor tax
Live near the office and you pay in rent. Live far from it and you pay in hours. Choose with both eyes open.
Vibhuti Chandrakar· - Moving in·3 min read
The twenty minutes at move-in that save your deposit
Photograph everything and note every reading, before you unpack a single box.
Viraj Chandra· - Getting around·3 min read
The real walk to the metro
"Walkable to the station" measured as the crow flies, when you are not a crow.
Vibhuti Chandrakar· - Living here·3 min read
What a flood-risk flag actually means
Not "walk away". It means: ask this question on purpose, before July asks it for you.
Viraj Chandra· - Living here·3 min read
Cauvery or borewell: the water question nobody asks
Where the water comes from decides a chunk of your monthly cost. Ask about the block, not the area.
Vibhuti Chandrakar· - Moving in·3 min read
How to rent in Bangalore without a broker
A month of rent buys you access, not judgement. Here is how to get the access for free.
Vibhuti Chandrakar· - Moving in·3 min read
The ten-month deposit, and how to push back
Bangalore’s deposit habit is negotiable more often than people think, and protectable always.
Viraj Chandra· - Getting around·3 min read
Is living next to your office actually worth it?
A ten-minute commute is the best amenity in the city. The area around a tech park is often the worst.
Vibhuti Chandrakar· - Living here·3 min read
AQI and noise: the invisible things that decide if you stay
You will not fall for a flat because of its air. You might leave one because of it.
Vibhuti Chandrakar·