India-Origin Man Prefers Bengaluru Over San Francisco, Says 'Everything Is Mega Cheap'

There are an end number of Peak Bengaluru moments on the internet, giving a glimpse into people’s lives from the tech hub of India. While most of the viral posts show how people are struggling to find affordable options to survive amid rising rents and costs, a man recently highlighted the perks of living in Bengaluru. Hardeep Gambhir, an Indian-origin entrepreneur, recently returned to India and had a San Francisco-type experience in Bengaluru. Taking to his X handle, Gambhir, in a long thread, shared details of his experience.

“Since I moved out of India 7 years ago, I thought I’d never live here again. After spending a lot of time in the Bay, in May, I moved to Bangalore. And it has been an immaculate SF-like experience in this city,” he wrote.

To begin with, Hardeep Gambhir spoke about the simplification of Uber booking at the airport, where one can simply book a cab, go to the first car in the queue, and leave. He was also surprised to see English-speaking autorickshaw drivers. “Turns out Bangalore is the city with English as the most spoken language in India. I was so surprised by this,” the tweet adds.

Additionally, the entrepreneur also shared about the advent of quick commerce, or Q-commerce, and added, “I once ordered a bunch of misc things at 2:33 AM and by 2:37 the dude was outside. Delivery charge was $0.03.” He then mentioned India’s low carrier plans along with the option of mobility services like Yulu electric bikes in Bengaluru. “In general, everything is mega cheap. For comparison: my total expenses in SF were about 2500 USD monthly and here it’s about 900 USD,” he added further, highlighting that among the few things that he disliked were mosquitoes and ridiculous security deposits for renting.

Gambhir’s social media post has sparked an interesting conversation online, drawing a lot of reactions. A user outlined a few other pros and wrote, “Totally agree with you. Btw you didn’t mention these points – Immaculate public infra – 24*7 access to basic things like water and electricity – Great attention to detail in city planning – Hardly see any traffic on roads.”

Another user commented, “I visited Bangalore last year and at USD 100-150k/yr income I’d take Bangalore over SF if doing anything except AI. It vastly exceeded my expectations; only traffic was annoying.”

One of the comments highlighted the problems with Bengaluru. “All true. But the basics are the problem- pollution, traffic jams, water scarcity. The greenery of Bangalore is gone,” it read.

The post has received more than 100 reactions in the comment section. Also, it has amassed over 1 million views and nearly 3,000 likes.