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Ask HN: Best city in India?

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Ask HN: Best city in India?

#1
I've been working for myself for the last several months and have decided to use my freedom to live abroad. I'd like to start off with India (I'm an American-born Indian). The major places to be seem to be Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai. Any others you'd recommend? Do you guys have advice on pros/cons of the various cities and how to best get started there?

Number one priority is internet of course. Also, since I won't be part of a company, I'd like a place where it is easy to meet other people - clubs and events and such. I'm thinking of staying there for the first few months of 2011, so I would like a reasonable flat that has plenty within walking distance.

Thanks a lot!

Re: Ask HN: Best city in India?

#2
If you want to meet other people and attend (tech) events and such I would suggest Bangalore. It is not called the silicon valley of India for no reason.

Of course I am biased.

BTW If you want to experience India, the real incredible India, you may want to roam across the country avoiding the cities. If you are doing this, don't always expect reliable internet connectivity.

Re: Ask HN: Best city in India?

#6
Bombay. In malls, people wait till you come out of the elevator before getting in. I bet you will not find that in any other place in India.

I grew up in Chennai and currently live in Bombay. I've lived a few months in Hyderabad and Bangalore, and I've visited Delhi a few times. So yeah, I can talk!

Apart from the generally civilized air that is so rare in India, Bombay has great restaurants and malls, easy internet connectivity, lots of clubs that stay open till 1, and some restaurants/clubs that stay open all night. Stay away from the train stations, though. South bombay is calmer than the suburbs and very expensive.

Chennai is hot and the people are rude. It doesn't have anything to recommend itself, except a few startups and beaches. You might run into interesting, smart people around Anna Nagar or Mylapore or the IIT, but it's no use - they don't talk.

Bangalore is full of people in their twenties working in software companies. There are some startups, too. The traffic is heavy, and the weather is the best in India. I interned in Google, Bangalore a long back and remember seeing the road get regularly jammed for several hours in the evening. It's just a pain to go anywhere there. Also, it has no diversity whatsoever. A little like the valley, I guess. It has a lot of clubs, but everyone drops asleep at 10 PM sharp and NOTHING stays open after that.

I don't know a lot about Hyderabad and Delhi. Hyderabad is currently somewhat disturbed by regional issues and has some good South-Indian restaurants. It also has excellent bookstores. Delhi is not safe(at all) in the evenings, and has an AWESOME metro.

As for cost of living, Bombay is crazy expensive, Chennai is dead cheap, and Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi are in the middle.

All of these places are overcrowded, noisy and hot. The people will invariably shove you out of queues and counters, stare at you if you wear a hat (or anything that they don't wear), break rules and honk a lot on streets. Welcome to India.

Re: Ask HN: Best city in India?

#7
Start with pondicherry(some 180kms from chennai). Get in touch with Auroville Ashram and get an accommodation there. Once you have spent sometime there you can move to Chennai and then to Bangalore.

Re: Ask HN: Best city in India?

#8
post #7

Start with pondicherry(some 180kms from chennai). Get in touch with Auroville Ashram and get an accommodation there. Once you have spent sometime there you can move to Chennai and then to Bangalore.

I second this. With or without Auroville, Pondicherry is awesome. Have decent internet connectivity, living cost is low and peaceful with all big city facilities in a small town.

Edit:- But no start up culture or any events worth participating. You can visit Auroville, of course.

Re: Ask HN: Best city in India?

#9
I worked in Gurgaon a couple of years ago. Don't go to Gurgaon, if ever they were to remake the Office series in India, that's where it would be set.

I went to Delhi from Gurgaon a couple of times and thought it was a great place to go. I would've liked to have done Agra and Shimla, but I didn't have time. I can't speak for the rest of India (as it's huge and I haven't been) but I have friends from Calcutta who like it there.

Re: Ask HN: Best city in India?

#10
Personally, I was never a fan of indian cities when I travelled there. I'd like to live near a cheap beach town like Gokarna or this place near Mangalore : http://surfingindia.net/node/10 . That said there's likely no tech/startup culture out here, but hopefully much less smog/air quality issues.

Upvoted Pondicherry as that looks pretty promising too.

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