Arrival in India

Bangalore, India

Staying at 37th Crescent Hotel.
After 2 nights, moved to the more affordable Vellara Hotel (+91-2536-9116)

We sure planned this one right, arriving in one of India’s most congested cities at 3:00 in the morning. The streets were dark and empty as we rode into town, so we remained blissfully unaware of the traffic and pollution issues until well after we settled into our pleasantly comfortable hotel. The service and rooms at the 37th Crescent were great and all, but it was hard to justify the $100+ price tag on our budget, especially in India. No regrets, however, because it was a nice smooth transition for us, coming to India from Singapore.

With Bangalore being one of the main high-tech boom towns of India, we had envisioned a very clean, modern city full of flashy shopping centers, upgraded transportation systems, and manicured boulevards. This expectation had been set based on news footage we had seen of new California-like suburbs being built in Bangalore to house the many successful high-tech workers, plus the massive construction, modernization, and shopping mayhem we had seen in China. To our surprise, the heart of Bangalore had remained relatively unchanged physically, despite the10x growth in population over the course of 10 years (from 500,000 to 5M!). More wealth has meant more cars, yet the roads haven’t been restructured to handle them (except for things like the demolition of boulevards and fountains in the roundabouts, enabling “free-flow” of vehicles straight through the massive uncontrolled intersections). It has also meant more air conditioners, pumping out heat into the concrete filled city, raising the average temperature ~1 degree C per year over the past decade. Apparently, 10 years ago Bangalore had the perfect climate: around 25C year round. Now I couldn’t imagine living there without AC.

One mistake we made was in thinking that Bangalore would be an easy transition into India. Think again. Trying to cross the street felt like a suicide mission. Auto-rickshaws (a.k.a. tuck tucks), powered by 2-stroke engines spewing black exhaust, fill the streets and smog the air. Getting into a rickshaw involved having to haggle hard over fares, despite the “mandated” meters, and then worrying about where this guy’s going to try to take us next. Walking down the busy shopping streets (such as Commercial Street) involved pure chaos with pedestrians, motor bikes, and vehicles trying to all share a road the size of a narrow alley; cars honking as they pass, as if just to watch me jump. Phew! It’s exhausting just thinking about it.

Despite all that, Bangalore did turn out to be a great introduction to India. We had the honor of meeting with some wonderful locals, who were great ambassadors to their country. A former work associate of Grant’s, Ganesh, and his wife treated us to a fine south Indian dining experience, as we got to know a bit about the lives of a working couple in India. The next day, Ganesh took us to his office at Mindtree (in Global Village) and gave us a royal tour of the campus. To start with, the business park itself was quite the contrast to the central part of Bangalore: tall glass office buildings surrounded by plenty of green space. Indian high tech workers really do seem to be living the good life these days. Onsight training facilities and programs, childcare rooms with docking stations, ergonomically designed cubicles with plenty of daylight, etc. Companies like Mindtree really try hard to keep their employees happy, so they don’t jump ship to the next highest bidder across the street.

A couple other highlights were the friendly attentive service and excellent South Indian food at the restaurants and pubs.