Bangalore vs Pune

No, no… this isn’t one of those “my city is better than yours” posts. I love both cities. I know Pune better, but I simply love Bangalore. The one year I spent there was brilliant. It is strange that I chose Bangalore to make one of the most monumental career decisions ever. Quit my job and go ‘entrepreneur’.

But this post on Bengalooru Banter reminds me of Bangalore the way I loved it. Those small lanes around Ulsoor opening up into the nice leafy 100ft Road of Indira Nagar and the chaotic, yet resourceful CMH Road.

All that post has done is throw up predicament. I must make another trip to Bangalore. And not one of those flying visits like I had in January.

It’s done. It’s not done.

That’s the kind of answers I get from Hathway, my beloved ISP. About 10 minutes ago, someone called to tell me that the line had been repaired and that the Internet connection would work just fine from now. About 7-and-a-half minutes later, another call from Hathway and I was beginning to think "Wow, they really took my complaints of the last four days to heart and are notifying me of a working line". But then, I was reminded that this is Hathway I am dealing with. The second caller assured me that the line is being worked upon and that it will begin working by 8pm tonight. Right.

As of right now, I am confused whether the line is working or not. And I am in the tech capital of India.

UPDATE: Since this got published, it is working!

Tags: Bangalore, Hathway, Internet, ISP, Suicidal

Weekend versus weekday

It’s Saturday. But when you are a professional wfh-er (work from home), it hardly matters. Times of the day don’t matter either. In my case, there are roughly three ‘times of the day’ that punctuate work: Lunch, Tea and Dinner. Of course I sleep, but that’s not a break from work at most times!

Like with most people involved in technology writing or the Internet as a medium, I have an extensive RSS feed list to keep on top of. At last count, there were close to 180 feeds I follow everyday ranging from Cricket, Formula 1, Technology, News and what not! There’s a couple of cartoon feeds too! So every time my beloved Shrook, the RSS reader, goes ‘ping’, I need to rush over. Drop whatever I’m doing and run. (It is just for this that I am contemplating getting an iPhone when it does become available.) But today being Saturday, it’s been a rather slow day.

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Can locals of a city be unfit for the city?

Over the last week or so, I have been to Pune where I grew up and to Mumbai where I spent the last eight years working. I am currently based in Bangalore and there is something that all these cities have in common: migration. But Mumbai, one would have to argue, is less affected in terms of its fabric or the way the city is since it has seen migration for a very long time. Who is the local in Mumbai, one would have to first ask. The Shiv Sena would argue that it is the Marathi Manoos while others may have their own points. It’s entirely debatable.

That, however, is not the case with Bangalore and Pune. Both cities have a strong cultural heritage with local people being identifiable thanks to language, customs and a variety of other reasons. But is there a case when one has to say that the local citizens of a city are no longer fit for the city? And I ponder over this question with the utmost objectivity, difficult as that may be.

Does there come a time when the locals simply have to let go (a little bit at least) of their city’s cultural fabric and be a little more accommodating for the sake of the progress and improvement of the city? Is there also a case that ‘outsiders’ coming to the city bring in more positives than negatives? Is there also a possibility that the locals should sit back beyond a point and let more seasoned ‘settlers’ improve their city?

I don’t know the answers to any of the above questions, but I am inclined to argue "yes". Was it possible that without migration either Pune or Bangalore or for that matter, Mumbai, would have become the important cities that they are? Take a look at say, Cochin or Lucknow where migration is much lesser compared to these cities and perhaps my point may sound valid. Of course, I ignore ground realities such as governments, but then isn’t the government a reflection of the local thinking? Where one city chooses a government that may bring in investment and with it, the inevitable migration, another is keen to hang on to what is already there and hold on tight.

Is this even a point?

Tags: Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, migration, locals, citizens

Incompetence versus bad business

[Ranting follows. You have been warned!]

Some would argue that the two points in the headline are connected. However, I am inclined to believe that they may not be. I shall once again go on a tirade against Hathway, my ISP in Bangalore. I have been a customer with them since December 2006 and have renewed my connection four times since. But the trouble one has to go through to get that done or get any information from them is simply monumental.

Getting the connection was no problem. They were prompt, helpful and efficient. That’s not bad business. But then, they went over to the other side and became plain incompetent. I wonder if there are more Hathway users in Bangalore who suffer in the same manner I do. I have to believe there are. Every renewal is a pain. Checking account status by yourself is an even bigger problem.

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Scared to jinx it…

But I will say that today has been the best day in about 4 weeks… in terms of power cuts in Bangalore! Only 2.5 hours and that too in one go in the afternoon. There was electricity the whole morning, late afternoon and so far, early evening (it’s 6.17 pm as I write this).

Surely I can make it through today without more power cuts… but actually that will mean a really bad day tomorrow. Hmm.

The Hathway internet connection remains dodgy as always, though. Oh well. You can’t win ‘em all!

It’s Bangalore

Or is it? Some have started referring to it as Bengalooru. Variants of that spelling too! But name notwithstanding, the city is the same. Lovely weather, great places to eat, good place to work and a rotten place if you don’t know the language. Why?

As anyone who has moved to a city that primarily speaks a language you cannot will vouch, life does become tough. So much so, that you walk up to Auto rickshaws gingerly and ask if they will go in the direction you are headed in. In Bangalore, though, auto drivers have a rulebook entirely their own and they will travel only if there is no traffic on the road. Or so they have me believe right now. I’m open to being convinced against that one!

Auto drivers, who I have always believed are equally bad no matter what city you are in, are a grade worse in Bangalore. I have lived in Pune for 20 years, Mumbai for 6 and been here for about a month. I have also been to Delhi umpteem times and to Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata recently. Nowhere are they as bad or conniving. Ask the locals and they would mumble their agreement.

There are plenty of adventures and episodes to be narrated here. More as one finds more time.

Cheerio.

Technorati : Bangalore