A look into Bengaluru’s ramen connection as #PeakBengaluru trends

What does India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ have to do with a popular Korean streetside food? Bengaluru, the tech hub of India, has been trending for some time now thanks to its unique culture. The hashtag ‘Peak Bengaluru’ trended a lot on social media, which showed techies working on their laptops while travelling and juggling office work with shopping. A fresh trend called "Deep Bengaluru" has been gaining attention across social media platforms.

The movement started with just one post. On September 2, Nikhil Velpanur, at the well-known ramen joint Naru Noodle Bar, responded to severe criticism. In his defense of the restaurant he adored, Nikhil proudly identified himself as a "deep Bangalorean" and mentioned that he had savored over 1,000 bowls of ramen there.

“Seeing a lot of hate towards Naru Noodle Bar and arbitrary ratings pulled out of their hats with no credible analysis or justification. I’ve eaten more than 1,000 bowls of ramen and am obsessed with Naru Noodle Bar before it even had a physical location in the courtyard,” he wrote on X.


The phrase "deep Bangalorean" quickly caught on among social media users.

One individual humorously asked, "How deeply deep Bangalorean am I, guys? Is there a test for this?" The shift occurred after a user suggested that the account adopt the new name. The suggestion was posted as, "Petition for @peakbengaluru to rebrand to deep Bengaluru," and the account soon obliged. Before long, the term was being tossed around freely on social media, fueling a viral trend where people began using "Deep Bengaluru" both seriously and sarcastically. Many residents of Bengaluru embraced it as a way to express their authentic connection to the city, while others used it to draw attention to the infrastructural problems plaguing India's tech capital.