'Bengaluru existed before IT boom’: Viral post counters city's retirement-town label

A Reddit post contests the idea that Bengaluru was merely a retirement hub before the IT boom, highlighting its working-class population and industries.

A Reddit post from a Bengaluru resident is gaining traction online for challenging the widely held perception that the city was merely a sleepy retirement hub before the IT industry took off.

Redditors offered perspectives that painted Bengaluru as a city that has long balanced opportunity with livability.(Pexel)

In the viral post, the user recalls a casual conversation with a colleague from Noida who claimed that “nobody knew Bengaluru existed before the IT boom” and described it as “just a hill station where retired people lived.” The Bengaluru user pushed back, arguing that such narratives oversimplify the city's complex and industrious past.

Read the full post here:

I hate how people conveniently call whole of Bengaluru a "Retirement place" and nothing else before IT boom.
byu/New-Squirrel-2742 inBengaluru

“This is a common narrative pushed by the media and content creators,” the post reads. “But this isn’t entirely accurate.” According to the Redditor, Bengaluru had a thriving working-class population even before the IT sector came to define its global identity.

The post cites numerous public sector units and industries such as MICO, HMT, BHEL, BEL, and ISRO, as well as major banks like Canara Bank, SBI, and SBM, to illustrate that the city had long been home to engineers, scientists, bankers, teachers, and skilled workers. Prestigious institutions like IISc and BMS College are also mentioned as evidence of the city’s longstanding educational and scientific ecosystem.

The Redditor goes on to compare the socio-economic trajectory of South India with the North, suggesting that cities like Bengaluru and regions across southern India saw an earlier shift toward white-collar employment. “Even among the top 10% in North India, many were still in government jobs, whereas in the South, people had already entered fields like science, medicine, and engineering,” the post claims.

While acknowledging that certain parts of Bengaluru were indeed home to retired individuals living in quiet neighborhoods, the user emphasizes that this represented only a small fraction of the city’s demographic.

“We can’t characterize all of Bengaluru as if it was insignificant before the IT boom,” the post concludes.

How did Reddit users react?

Reddit users quickly joined the conversation, offering perspectives that painted Bengaluru as a city that has long balanced opportunity with livability.

One user wrote, “Retirees loved Bengaluru for its weather, peace, and greenery, but that doesn’t make it a retirement hub. The city had numerous industries and peaceful residential areas long before the IT boom.”

Some users even defended the "retirement city" label as a compliment. “To be honest, I’d rather be known as a retirement city than a chaotic one,” said one commenter, alluding to the congestion and fast-paced nature of modern Bengaluru.

A nostalgic take came from another user who recalled, “I'm old enough to remember when people called it ‘Pensioners’ Paradise.’ Before IT took over, the city was known for its weather, tree-lined streets, engineering and medical colleges, public sector companies, and pubs. It was both a retiree’s haven and a youngster’s dream.”

Many agreed that the assumption of Bengaluru being “insignificant” before the tech boom stems from a lack of historical context, especially among younger people unfamiliar with the city’s legacy in education, industry, and culture.