Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad or Chennai – Which City Has Ideal Living Conditions From All Perspectives

Editors Note: This is not an article, but one person’s perspective about living in four Indian cities. The author had made a comment on one of our previous posts, and we thought that we could publish this for wider audiences. The language used may not be thoroughly correct in some cases.

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We find people comparing Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai all the time. It might be from perspective of Jobs, or transport or climate or various other things. Given that I have lived in all these cities, I am in an unique position to give you my experiences and differences that I have come across.

I am not claiming that what I say may be 100% right because experiences differ from person to person. These are my own experiences and other may or may not agree to it. So here it goes.

Here are the things that I will compare, so it will give you an all round perspective:

• Job
• People
• Food
• Cost of living
• Transport
• Traffic
• Residential areas
• Localities
• Climate
• Outings and nearby-tourist places
• Night life

Job

In my view, Bangalore should be considered as best because of presence of big companies plus day-by-day increase in number of start-ups ! If you are seeking for high pay scale offering companies and start-ups, this is the place for you. Pune doesn’t count here much. Pune generally has service based and ‘less-brand-name’ companies,while core-development companies are not much to be seen. But still looks like Pune is expanding now in terms of its startup ecosystem and product companies are now making their presence felt.

Hyderabad is similar to Bangalore but less in number if we talk about startups, Chennai goes little down here as compared to Bangalore and Hyderabad, but better than Pune if you still are seeking big pay companies.

People:

I would vote Pune here. Bus conductors, Rickshaw walas all are helping and polite.

Bangalore also counts than below two. You won’t face communication problem here.

However, Hyderabad is little rustic. People are little complex even though they speak hindi and although better than the core part, but still not that liberal, yet they are helping.

Chennai is full of reserved people but are most cultural. Local people in buses will stare at you as if you are from other planet! Gosh !

Food:

Food part really depends upon your taste per se.

If you want north indian food and chaats, obviously Pune is the best. Right from ‘thelas’ to luxury fine-dine  restaurants, you will find really good taste here.

Bangalore, apart from branded and prominent food chain restaurants, sucks if you are roaming for north indian food but good in south indian taste. You can’t find good frugal north indian food easily here.

In Hyderabad, non veg food is unbeatable, especially meat ! I am sure you guys have heard of ‘hyderabadi biryani’ and ‘paaya soup’, but pure veg folks beware, nothing is that tasty here, but yes, is available. And food is mostly spicy here.

Chennai scores top in seafood obviously and core south indian food. You won’t find north indian food easily here and taste? forget about it !

Cost of living:

This is the topic which already everyone knows.

Obviously Bangalore is costliest.

Then Pune scores the list.

Chennai comes third.

Hyderabad is cheapest.

Transport facilities:

It depends upon what sort of transport you want.

Metro, AC buses you won’t find in Pune. But they are in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.

People seeking rickshaws as conveyance? Pune is better as it has got ‘shared auto’ and ‘shared van’ concept which I haven’t found anywhere. However you can take risk of buying Two-Four wheeler in Pune for workdays. If you have your own vehicle, you can reach from any place to any place in Pune city limits within an hour. Bangalore transport is expensive but easily available.

In Hyderabad and Chennai buses, you will find less IT people as compared to above two.

Frequency of buses are same in all the cities.

Traffic:

(Here I am talking about dog-days not weekends)

Since Pune has two major IT parks at extreme ends, traffic only can be found there, and yes, it is irritating. Bangalore traffic is bad, especially at city signals through out, due to lot of IT parks scattered within the city. So you reach late in your offices ! Hyderabad has less traffic as compared Bangalore but greater than Pune.

Chennai’s traffic size is almost the same as Hyderabad but more organized.

Residential Areas:

Pune is number one !! You will find luxurious societies for low and are easily available too.

Bangalore is difficult place to find flats without brokers. Even with brokers and agents involved, you have to compromise on the area. PGs are in extreme number here. And yes, it is expensive.

Chennai has cheaper rates then above two, but owners are much reluctant. They generally prefer their local people to north Indians when it comes to living. Though in Hyderabad, you won’t find that luxurious flats that easily and in ample amount, but living is cheapest here. Societies can be difficult to find.

Localities:

Bangalore covers every street corner to have some ubiquitous brands like KFC, McDonalds, Nike, etc. But at every corner of street, no matter how posh or slummy, you will find heap of garbage somewhere and stench of drainage. I didn’t find this in Pune. But you will find shops and restaurants of all brands in every area of Bangalore unlike the rest.

Hyderabad gets similar atmosphere as well. Old Hyderabad is kinda less interactive. IT people seldom go there. Bangalore is better than Hyderabad in this context. Chennai is spacious road-wise, as compared to Bangalore and Hyderabad but almost same as Pune except hardcore south indian culture. Main city area (or old city area) of all four cities reflect their respective cultures. Bangalore is equally scattered though.

Outings:

Bangalore takes the credit here as there are more natural places to visit than any of these e.g Mysore, Coorg but you won’t find beaches nearby. Pune has more temples as tourist places rather than hill stations except Lavasa and Lonawala.

If you want to spend night on beaches with a peg in hand to loosen up, Chennai can’t be competed with anyone. Ooty, kodaikanal etc are nearby. And so is Pondicherry. As far as outings go, Chennai does have some good options! If you are not looking for any hilly place or much to have tourism to, Hyderabad is there for you. But it does not have too many places to plan a tour.

Climate:

Bangalore has the best climate among all in every season. Pune goes little hot in summer. Apart from it, it is nearly same as Bangalore.

Hyderabad is extremely hot in summer, but is balmy in other seasons. Chennai sucks in climate. Humid, itchy and sweaty. Even my Nike Deo failed down there !

Night life:

Bangalore has greatest number of bars and pubs ,but they all are time-restrictive. I don’t understand why Bangalore is recommended as night life city if it gets closed so early. Almost all Bangalore pubs close down by 12:30 am. While in Pune, they open till early mornings ;-). If you want hard-core rave night party, go to koregaon Park in Pune.

Hyderabad has far lesser pubs and bars. You’ll like a pub called SPOIL there .Talking about Chennai, as you guess right, is full of sacrosanct, so its hard to find much there. Candy club is the only good one there.

Real sick night life is in Pune !

So pals, the point is that these cities can’t be really compared to each other. Based on your need , you gotta choose one !

Author Biography : Anshuman works as a developer in large IT services company and has an experience in Open Stack. Currently living in Bangalore. Passionate towards observing life and culture. He is an artist with deep interest in pencil sketching. He is also an avid wild-life lover.