'Bengalureans are a bunch of happy-go-lucky people'

A candid chat with Nimish Bhatia, Chef and Restaurateur, about what makes Bengaluru a favourite city

What makes Bengaluru tick?
I have visited half the world and yet Bengaluru is the only city I love to live in. This multicultural city accepts everyone. Delhi is snooty. Chennai and Kolkata are too traditional.Mumbai is politicised. Bengalureans are a bunch of happy-go-lucky people. Whether you drive a Maruti or a BMW, Bengalureans will care for you anyways.

What is your favourite Bengaluru moment?
I have lived here in several instalments for the past 27 years till it became permanent home. In 1992, when I first stayed here, I remember falling in love with the city's clean and green roads. Bengaluru then ended at Mehkri circle. There was no summer or winter. We enjoyed chilled beer throughout the year. It was paradise. Friends advised me to open a restaurant in Delhi. But my heart was set on Bengaluru.

If you were the dictator of Bengaluru, what is the first thing you would do?
I would get the traffic situation sorted.I agree that there has been a population influx. But other cities manage to handle it. By the time a flyover project ends in Bengaluru, we fall 20 years behind again. I would form a committee to understand it scientifically, install more signals, build more flyovers, employ strict lane-discipline and train auto and bus drivers for smooth public transport flow.

Who is your favourite Bengalurean? Why?
Food critic Kripal Amanna is my favourite Bengalurean because he has worked towards putting our city on the national F&B map. I remember his event Chefs for Charity in early 2000, where he connected people of leisure, the chefs and the needy.Nobody thought of this chain of connectivity in F&B circles.

If not Bengaluru, which city would you like to live in?
I would probably live in Chandigarh.Simply because it reminds me of Bengaluru in many ways. Its climate and people are just like that of our city.Chandigarh is also a multicultural IT city.In fact, it has cleaner roads with traffic discipline, which makes it quite livable.
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