Barely a week remains of our India trip and I can claim only one blog entry so far. An occupational hazard of being an intermittent blogger is that I am constantly filtering all encounters and observations through the "how do I blog this" filter, but rarely do those things actually make it into a blog. Waiting to write a coherent entry is a big hurdle, so I am going to stick to a few quick hits now.
The end of week 1 of our trip saw us heading to Kerala. Much rain and slush were promised, but we mostly encountered dry skies and 95% humidity. The mosquitoes could easily mistaken for little birds and the rolling power cuts in the night (to work around an explosion in a major power station) made for enjoyable sleep. To nobody's surprise, Arjun's hands, legs, and face were decorated with various insect bite reactions by the end of day 1. Abhi also joined him this time. Despite all the inconveniences, we achieved the main purpose of the trip - meeting almost every one of our relatives (after a gap of 7 years).
Kerala has not changed much - local politics are still a strong force (when we were there, my nephew's school was closed for 2 days because students were protesting the disciplining that some kid got) and there is no industry to speak of. There are pockets of wealth (mostly from NRIs), real estate in Cochin/Ernakulam is still booming (there are so many high rises there, that it almost has a real skyline) - although there are plenty of reports of shoddy construction - but overall, life has not changed much for most folks. If you want a driver to negotiate tight spaces, hire one from Kerala - the towns there have some of the narrowest streets I have ever seen. One prominent change I noticed in Alleppey was the large number of house boats moored along the back waters. Apparently tourism is a big industry now.
Returning to Bangalore after 5 days in Kerala was a relief - if only to get away from the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes. But life in Bangalore is no picnic. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say it is quite brutal. Nobody I met - irrespective of their walk of life - seemed to ever have a relaxed moment and most people were constantly juggling at least five different things. Two aspects dominate the conversation here - traffic and real estate. The Metro was supposed to open this year, but is still a ways away. Construction for the metro and elevated expressways are all over the city.
There is a stunning amount of money in Bangalore, but the disparities are starker than ever before. On one hand, there are people who are driving Italian sports cars and shopping for $100,000 Mont Blanc wrist watches and on the other hand are the millions who are eating out of dumpsters. Real estate costs in the heart of Bangalore easily rival Manhattan or downtown Tokyo. Getting to your premium apartment is another matter altogether.
As a very interested, but essentially outside observer, I am constantly wondering where all this is heading? Perhaps this is how the Wild West felt like - India today (& I am largely extrapolating from Bangalore) is almost a lawless frontier tumbling at breakneck pace towards the uncertain future. It is clear that the leadership will not come from the politicians - it is a wonder they have any time to govern at all. The so-called leaders in Karnataka, Kerala, and the Center are all embroiled in some controversy or the other and spend most of their time protecting their power bases. I doubt the situation is much better in other states.
Upward mobility is a big driving force and education is still seen as the way out. The number of private institutions have exploded, but there is limited enforcement of standards. The fight to rise to the top is even more intense and a big controversy today is the lax scoring done by the CBSE folks. Just a couple years ago, the number of students scoring 95% or greater was less that 200, now they number in the thousands. Things have gotten to such a head that a big name school in Delhi set their cut-off at 100% - yes, if don't have 100% score in your finals, don't bother applying there.
Indian sports has hit the big time - several of the "stars" from the recent Commonwealth and Asian games have tested positive for PE drugs. Almost everyday, a new name comes out. I am sure it is no coincidence that many of those athletes have coaches from the former eastern bloc.
One gets daily reminders of the uneven pace of development (I hesitate to call it progress). I went to a well known book store and picked out several books. The checkout lady prepared the bill by hand, laboriously writing the complete title and ISBN - for whatever reason, they didn't just scan the bar codes that were on the price tags. When it was finally done, I handed her my credit card (since I was out of cash), but she couldn't charge it since their machine was down due to a power cut. She suggested I pop over to the ATM across the street, but that was closed as well - probably because of the same power cut. I had to leave the store without my books.
There may be a shortage of land, but the construction of new temples, churches, and mosques continues apace. It is perhaps the most cynical of land grabs anywhere.
India is a heady place today - the energy is almost palpable. Consumerism is rampant and the youth has long shrugged off the diffidence of prior generations in spending freely and generally flaunting it. There is way too much attention paid to Bollywood stars, cricketers, and corrupt politicians, but there is also much intelligent discourse. If you stop to think about it, there are literally a million different problems that will leave you paralyzed - but then, if you do stop to think, there will be a million others who will use that opportunity to rush past you.
The end of week 1 of our trip saw us heading to Kerala. Much rain and slush were promised, but we mostly encountered dry skies and 95% humidity. The mosquitoes could easily mistaken for little birds and the rolling power cuts in the night (to work around an explosion in a major power station) made for enjoyable sleep. To nobody's surprise, Arjun's hands, legs, and face were decorated with various insect bite reactions by the end of day 1. Abhi also joined him this time. Despite all the inconveniences, we achieved the main purpose of the trip - meeting almost every one of our relatives (after a gap of 7 years).
Kerala has not changed much - local politics are still a strong force (when we were there, my nephew's school was closed for 2 days because students were protesting the disciplining that some kid got) and there is no industry to speak of. There are pockets of wealth (mostly from NRIs), real estate in Cochin/Ernakulam is still booming (there are so many high rises there, that it almost has a real skyline) - although there are plenty of reports of shoddy construction - but overall, life has not changed much for most folks. If you want a driver to negotiate tight spaces, hire one from Kerala - the towns there have some of the narrowest streets I have ever seen. One prominent change I noticed in Alleppey was the large number of house boats moored along the back waters. Apparently tourism is a big industry now.
Returning to Bangalore after 5 days in Kerala was a relief - if only to get away from the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes. But life in Bangalore is no picnic. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say it is quite brutal. Nobody I met - irrespective of their walk of life - seemed to ever have a relaxed moment and most people were constantly juggling at least five different things. Two aspects dominate the conversation here - traffic and real estate. The Metro was supposed to open this year, but is still a ways away. Construction for the metro and elevated expressways are all over the city.
There is a stunning amount of money in Bangalore, but the disparities are starker than ever before. On one hand, there are people who are driving Italian sports cars and shopping for $100,000 Mont Blanc wrist watches and on the other hand are the millions who are eating out of dumpsters. Real estate costs in the heart of Bangalore easily rival Manhattan or downtown Tokyo. Getting to your premium apartment is another matter altogether.
As a very interested, but essentially outside observer, I am constantly wondering where all this is heading? Perhaps this is how the Wild West felt like - India today (& I am largely extrapolating from Bangalore) is almost a lawless frontier tumbling at breakneck pace towards the uncertain future. It is clear that the leadership will not come from the politicians - it is a wonder they have any time to govern at all. The so-called leaders in Karnataka, Kerala, and the Center are all embroiled in some controversy or the other and spend most of their time protecting their power bases. I doubt the situation is much better in other states.
Upward mobility is a big driving force and education is still seen as the way out. The number of private institutions have exploded, but there is limited enforcement of standards. The fight to rise to the top is even more intense and a big controversy today is the lax scoring done by the CBSE folks. Just a couple years ago, the number of students scoring 95% or greater was less that 200, now they number in the thousands. Things have gotten to such a head that a big name school in Delhi set their cut-off at 100% - yes, if don't have 100% score in your finals, don't bother applying there.
Indian sports has hit the big time - several of the "stars" from the recent Commonwealth and Asian games have tested positive for PE drugs. Almost everyday, a new name comes out. I am sure it is no coincidence that many of those athletes have coaches from the former eastern bloc.
One gets daily reminders of the uneven pace of development (I hesitate to call it progress). I went to a well known book store and picked out several books. The checkout lady prepared the bill by hand, laboriously writing the complete title and ISBN - for whatever reason, they didn't just scan the bar codes that were on the price tags. When it was finally done, I handed her my credit card (since I was out of cash), but she couldn't charge it since their machine was down due to a power cut. She suggested I pop over to the ATM across the street, but that was closed as well - probably because of the same power cut. I had to leave the store without my books.
There may be a shortage of land, but the construction of new temples, churches, and mosques continues apace. It is perhaps the most cynical of land grabs anywhere.
India is a heady place today - the energy is almost palpable. Consumerism is rampant and the youth has long shrugged off the diffidence of prior generations in spending freely and generally flaunting it. There is way too much attention paid to Bollywood stars, cricketers, and corrupt politicians, but there is also much intelligent discourse. If you stop to think about it, there are literally a million different problems that will leave you paralyzed - but then, if you do stop to think, there will be a million others who will use that opportunity to rush past you.
