'Cars caked in dust, packed metros': Frustrated Bengaluru local posts long Reddit rant on how city has lost its charm

In a fiery Reddit post titled “Why living in Bengaluru has become irritable recently,” user ‘Normal_Excuse_6303’ detailed his disillusionment with life in the Karnataka capital. Born and raised in the Basvangudi area before moving to RR Nagar three years ago, he recalled a once “great city” that now appears buried under dust, overwhelmed by traffic, and losing its sense of community.

“Little context about me, I have been born and raised in Banglore Basvangudi area, recently(3yrs back) moved to RR nagar,” wrote ‘Normal_Excuse_6303.’ Citing daily commutes to his office near MG Road, he lamented increasingly cumbersome travel and rising pollution: “I have been experiencing a lot more pollution, specifically dust everywhere… bikes and cars are accumulating dust like crazy.”

His frustration deepens when describing a perceived decline in civic sense: “The civic sense and discipline of the overall population seems to be going down. Clearly evident in any activity you do especially during travelling.” The user also criticized the city’s growing garbage problem: “So many footpaths treated as garbage dumps… All nearby tourist spots are spoilt with either plastic or alcohol bottles.”

Crowds and congested public transport added further strain. “I tried travelling by metro to office… there is barely space to stand,” he wrote, describing how even early-morning and mid-afternoon trips failed to avoid jam-packed trains. “All in all starting to dislike this once great city,” concluded ‘Normal_Excuse_6303.’

Other Redditors jumped in with similar experiences. One user noted, “Not only Bengaluru many metro and non-metro cities have similar issue, people are not giving importance to plant trees, this is the major cause.” Another user, who left the city in 2014, said he returned in 2025 to find it “so densely populated… it’s hard to even get inside [the metro].”

Echoing the sentiment, a third comment read, “Absolutely relatable! The garden city is no more what it used to be… now it’s some urban sprawl where infinity amount of apartments and commercial buildings are built.”