A woman's post about the alleged discrimination she faced as a North Indian in Bengaluru has sparked a debate on social media. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the woman, who goes by Shaani Nani on X, recalled the hardships she faced in the Silicon Valley of India during her stay there for 1.5 years. In a series of posts, she claimed that auto drivers harassed her by asking questions like why she was in Bengaluru when she belonged to North. They even pretended not to understand her when she spoke in Hindi or English. "I was so engulfed by the negativity around me," she wrote in one of her posts. She also revealed that due to the hardships, she decided to move to Gurugram.
"I was working in Bangalore for 1.5 years. Married in Punjab, I wore chooda for the entire 1 year as it is a part of my tradition. It was clearly evident I was from North India. What a harassment it was to commute in auto from flat to office and back. The audacity of local auto drivers to strike a conversation on why I was in Bangalore when I belonged to North, if I was learning Kannada, asking if I like anything apart from weather, asking for more money as I was newly married and pretending not to understand a word when I would talk in Hin/Eng. I had a very bad experience with local crowd there," the X user wrote.
In the following post, she claimed that she was also given a hard time by the customer support of BESCOM (Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited). "Once I called BESCOM to complain about power cut, the guy ended the call saying 'No hindi, no English, only Kannada'. They only want to take care of problems of Kannada speakers," she wrote.
The woman said that she was "engulfed by the negativity" around her. She found the weather very depressing. "It would rain all the time. We can't go out. If we want to go out, we cant find cabs. If we find cab, then it will take hours to reach anywhere due to the traffic and water logging. I was stuck in my house."
Due to such hardships, she said that she decided to move to Gurugram. "I decided to quit my job as I was so homesick. I feel such a drastic change of energy in me after coming to Gurgaon. I take long walks, I eat good food, I can travel wherever I want. No awkward conversations with auto drivers," she said.
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Shared just a few hours ago, the post has already accumulated more than 2.4 million views. In the comments section, while some users agreed with the woman and supported her, others her post offensive.
"Almost Similar Experience. Only difference I'm in Noida instead of Gurgaon. The place where I live in is so welcoming and almost feel near to Home. Bangalore sometimes you feel you are in foreign land. Yes the weather sucks here but not the environment!!" wrote one user.
"I am from North India too, been living in Bangalore for 3 years now! Never faced any problem. I feel safe here, never been catcalled, never been robbed. Guess you're in the wrong Bangalore. Because locals don't treat you like you've mentioned," shared another.
"Well in the first place no one forced you to go to Bengaluru or any other place. It was your choice. Yes, jingoism towards non kannada tends to be high there, no harm in trying to adjust and learn a bit of local language. What the auto drivers do is wrong, absolutely. However of late, an air of hindi imposition across has stirred up sentiments towards own language especially in Bengaluru.. With or without anyone Bengaluru lives on, and with or without anyone India lives on," expressed a third X user.
"No harm in learning a new language. In Army we pick the language of the troops we command. It is common to see an Officer from Chennai serving in Sikh Regiment speaking very fluent Punjabi & vice versa. They feel very proud about it. However it shd not done under any pressure," commented another.
