About Ooru

Ooru (ಊರು) means "hometown" in Kannada. It is a free city app that started in Bengaluru and now also covers Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. It puts the things residents check every week in one place: what is happening around town and how to get there by public transport, what is in the local news, where to eat, and everyday phrases in the local language. You can use it in any browser at ooru.club, or in the Ooru app, without creating an account.

India's big cities are home to millions of people who moved there from somewhere else. Information about each city is scattered across event platforms, transit apps, news sites, WhatsApp groups and government portals. Ooru brings the most useful parts of that together for the city you are in. It works out your city from your approximate location, and you can switch city at any time from the city button at the top of the Events and Samachara pages.

What you can do on Ooru

Events

A daily updated listing of concerts, meetups, workshops, treks, comedy, food festivals and community gatherings in each Ooru city. You can filter by date, category, and free or paid, or look at every city at once. Listings come from public event platforms and from organisers who submit their events directly, and each one links to the original page so you can register or buy tickets there. When the organiser has listed the venue, Check transit opens public transport directions to it in Google Maps or Apple Maps. For online events, and venues that are announced later or shared only after you register, the button reads "Check event details for location details" instead. Times are shown in Indian Standard Time.

Event pages by city: Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata, each with pages for this weekend, free events and tech events.

Samachara (local news)

Headlines from your city's pages on the Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu and The Indian Express, focused on things that affect daily life: traffic and infrastructure, civic decisions, weather, water and power updates, and neighbourhood stories. Each headline opens on the publisher's own site.

Connect

An invitation to the Namma Ooru community on WhatsApp, where members share what is on in the city, ask for recommendations and hear about new Ooru features first.

Your city's own pages

Each Ooru city also has three pages of its own, which appear in the menu for people in that city:

A food guide

How the city eats, organised by the kind of food rather than by star ratings, with what to order at each place and a local tip. Each one is named with a local word for food: Thindi in Bengaluru, Saapadu in Chennai, Khana in Delhi, Dawat in Hyderabad, Pet Pujo in Kolkata, Khau Galli in Mumbai and Jevan in Pune.

Phrases in the local language

Everyday phrases for getting around: talking to auto drivers, asking directions, ordering food, shopping and getting help. There are pages for Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and Marathi (shared by Mumbai and Pune). Each phrase is written the way it sounds, in easy English phonetics, with its meaning, so there is no script to learn.

A city guide

A long-form guide for newcomers: neighbourhoods, getting around, the weather, food, the language and things to do.

In Chennai: Saapadu, the food guide, survival Tamil phrases and the Chennai city guide.

In Delhi: Khana, the food guide, everyday Hindi phrases and the Delhi city guide.

In Hyderabad: Dawat, the food guide, survival Telugu phrases and the Hyderabad city guide.

In Kolkata: Pet Pujo, the food guide, survival Bengali phrases and the Kolkata city guide.

In Mumbai: Khau Galli, the food guide, everyday Marathi phrases and the Mumbai city guide.

In Pune: Jevan, the food guide, everyday Marathi phrases and the Pune city guide.

Who makes Ooru

Ooru is an independent project, started by Anindya Mishra, a PES University alumnus who splits his time between Bengaluru and Washington, D.C. It is not affiliated with BMRCL, BMTC, BBMP or any government body. Event details, venues, news and transit directions come from third-party sources and can change, so please check with the organiser or operator before you travel.

How Ooru is funded

Ooru is free to use. To cover hosting and data costs, some pages show advertising. We do not sell personal information. You can read exactly what we collect in our Privacy Policy.

Get in touch

Suggestions, corrections and partnership ideas are always welcome. Visit our Contact page or email hello@ooru.club.