BENGALURU aka BANGALORE

We visited Bangalore Jan 18-25. This is where India's economic miracle started, with outsourcing at the leading edge. That outsourcing occurred was due to the confluence of cheap bandwidth that suddenly became available in the early 1990s and entrepreneurial zeal of a few. Today India's Silicon Valley has gone far beyond its moorings and encapsulates all the right .. and wrong things about a burgeoning area. Think Palo Alto merging with New York city's grittiest street and you get the area around MG Road and Brigade Road in Bangalore. Sprinkle in 5.3 million people. In the continuing trend toward Indianizing city names, Bangalore is Bengaluru . It has become more chaotic, more difficult to navigate. It has 2.8 million vehicles of which 2 .0 million are two-wheeled affairs. As usual the roads are populated with everything under the sun. There is a pristine Electronic City that is a far cry from the chaos outside.

There were to me a surprising number of religions and I still marvel at the easy way they coexist. My nephew Arun, Veej and I were walking along the streets when we were accosted by two Korean girls who invited us to the church gathering down the street. They were nonplussed that my son was a Catholic, my nephew and I Hindus. Sometimes I feel India can be the beacon of tolerance in the world. My sister in law, Padmini, has among the pantheon of Gods she prays to in her kitchen Baby Jesus. It dawned on me that Madonna and Baby Jesus have a striking coherence to Lord Krishna and Devaki, his mother. There have been several parallels drawn between the pairs.
My brother Balu lives in Bangalore and he has shown what sheer dint of courage and stick-to-it-iveness can do. He came back from so many medical problems from the car accident that claimed my Dad's life in 1996 (Balu was driving). After 14 surgeries, as many near death experiences, and losing a leg he is still the happy go lucky guy I know from his youth, always willing and able to help. His company CBAS -- an aviation service company-- has become a stunning hit ever since he started it just after his accident. I wish I could get him to be a subject of a business case study. As a kid he was not known for sterling academics, but Balu has lived the adage Bill Gates often quotes:" I was a C student and had the students who had As and Bs working for me". There is more than a grain of truth in this since social skills & networking -- needed for corporate success-- are more important than rote learning, common in India (surprisingly, Japan wants to follow this model). What is fascinating to me is that while India has made superb progress due to its techie brilliance, it is the all-round skills that people like Balu have that ultimately is more important.

He was waiting for us at the airport. Padmini and Arun-- his son-- were as usual very helpful and Vijay had a person his age he could hang out with. Arun took receipt of a new car --a Maruti Swift. Pretty neat. And a chick magnet.

What stands out in Bengaluru? It must be the great head massage and all body massage we received. For a little more than $1, the barber will provide a full head and shoulder message.For the more adventurous, there is Ayush which includes a 1 hour full body massage with oil and bath with shikkai. I never enjoyed oil baths as a young boy, but this was different. You come out as you are floating in air. That felt sooooooooo good....

I also discovered that the best thing to do for calling is to buy yourself an Indian cellphone and a SIM card that can be filled with usage for 1-, 3- and 6-months. At Rs 1/min (2.5 c) it is the best buy. A brand new Nokia phone for less than $30. But you have to live with so much automated telemarketing coming at you in several Indian languages.

My brother Kittu in Harihar, his wife Ratna and daughter, Minnie, visited us two separate days. My sister Chuchi and her hubby Mahadevan made a trip from Chennai aka Madras to be with us for 1 day. Really feel special in India.