Was it always this way?

I'm in Bangalore. Hometown.... which currently seems like a foreign land to me. Yeah i know, i know. Some of you must be saying that i'm just exaggerating the effect of staying out in India for a year, but if you continue reading this post, it only gets worse. So if you don't want to read the raving and ranting of a visitor to Bangalore, please... the "close window" button is at the top right corner of your screen !

Leaving Grenoble, evoked mixed sentiments. I knew i'm going away only for 3 weeks, but i knew i'd miss the place. I was over-excited that i'm leaving my adopted home, only to return to the place i've called "home" since i was born. But there were butterflies in my stomach as the train pulled out of Grenoble station.
Landing in Bangalore evoked even more mixed sentiments in me. I knew i was home, but i was missing Grenoble already. I knew i'd be meeting friends and family whom i haven't seen in a year, doing things and visiting places, viewing changes that have taken place in this rapidly growing city.

I reached Bangalore in the dead of the night, and it was only the next morning that the full effect of the change hit me like a thunderbolt !
It's difficult to put a finger on it, but this place is different. This doesn't even seem like the place i left behind. Maybe this place has changed, or maybe i have.

I woke up the first morning to the sound of blaring music being played by my neighbour.
I found myself reaching around for the toilet paper roll in the loo, only to realise that it isnt there, and my actions were by reflex.
I took a car ride, and was stunned by the sheer number of vehicles on the road, trying to make impossible manouvres at unmanned and uncontrolled junctions, mixed with the sound of horns blaring for no particular reason, to no particular effect. Cars, bikes, autos, all veering dangerously close to each other, several of the drivers utterly the most flowery language at each other.
Not many people on Bangalore's roads seem to have an inkling of patience. Each day that i have gone out, i have come close to being run down since i am stupid enough to believe that pedestrians have the priority !
I went into a cafe, popular with the young crowd in Bangalore, and i wonder why they play that blaring music that makes you shout at the top of your voice.
People speak loudly, and autos always ask for extra money !

I had a bad stomach the first couple of days... i guess all the French food has weakened my stomach lining, making it sensitive to "real" Indian food.

Too much to write, many tiny details that bother me out here...
People in France... i have a lot to tell you when i return to Grenoble !
(No, still no elephants on Bangalore streets !)