High-Rises in Bangalore: Boon or Bane?

Karnataka High Court

igh Rises in Bangalore, or for that matter anywhere, are a good thing.

In today's news report, we read that the Karnataka High Court tells Bangalore Bruhat Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to allow high-rises in city.

An Evening at a Sunidhi Chauhan Concert in Bangalore.

unidhi Chauhan needs no introduction.

When I learnt of her concert in Bangalore on this past January 31, as part of the UNMAAD 2016 celebration at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, I was quite excited to attend it, although that'd make my subsequent road transportation from South Bangalore to the airport, to catch a flight back to the US, a greater nervous exercise in navigating Bangalore traffic, for all of 45 kms, to get to the airport.

Footpath Failure in Bangalore: Will 2016 be a Happier New Year?

ootpaths — or sidewalks for the American reader — fail to address the needs of pedestrians in Bangalore adequately.

Various kinds of imperfections exist in the footpaths in Bangalore. The NGO Janaagraha has done a scientific study, 2015 Street Quality Score, and concluded that 75% of footpaths in inner Bengaluru, and 58% in outer part walkable.

Intolerance Needed in Bangalore: To Chaotic Traffic.

ntolerance is very much occupying media these days in India.

A key fuel for this intolerance debate appears to be public statements by renowned Bollywood actor Aamir Khan. While this intolerance hits at the very basic foundation of secularism of Indian democracy, and deserves to be properly handled, I see the need for a difference kind of intolerance needed in Bangalore: Intolerance to chaotic traffic.

The Reality of 100 Mbps of Internet Service in Bangalore.

nternet is a very important service that anyone needs in today's world.

Thus, there is a constant effort that everyone makes to get to a better speed of Internet service. For example, it is well known that Internet-based videoconferencing, Cisco recommends, will need at least 384 kbps. And, for video streaming, Netflix recommends 3.0 Mbps for SD and 5.0 Mbps for HD quality.

Dealing with Diabetes.

iabetes is a worldwide epidemic.

A World Health Organization (WHO) article proclaims Type 2 Diabetes: An Epidemic Requiring Global Attention and Urgent Action.

As of The 7th Edition of the Diabetic Atlas of the International Diabetes Foundation, there are 387 million afflicted with diabetes worldwide today.

The article Is Diabetes Becoming the Biggest Epidemic of the Twenty-first Century? provides a richer variety of statistics to substantiate its title.

An interesting spectacle a couple of days ago in South Bangalore made me realize how Bangalore is

Make-Shift Testing Desk

coping with this epidemic. A healthcare industry employee in Bangalore sets up a temporary, make-shift, desk near public areas such as community parks. At this desk, the employee administers glucose measurement and blood pressure measurement for ₹30 ($0.45) and ₹20 ($0.30) respectively.

This setup is at the instance of a local hospital — name withheld by request of the employee — which, I presume, hopes that the individuals that got tested would eventually go to the hospital for any future medical needs. A useful service, I'd say.

How much of an education the tested individuals get through this testing episode is another matter. After all, you cannot improve anyone's life in an effective way unless the person gets sufficiently educated as well.

Uber Rides in Bangalore, 2015

esterday's Uber ride from Bangalore South to Bangalore North leaves me with the impression that Uber rides have made great progress since my first one.

Specifically:

1. It seems that Google Maps, on which the Uber software is built, has become very reliable within Bangalore. Quote from yesterday's driver, exuding confidence: "If you have given your [home] address correctly, then I can park the car in front of your home." "ನೀವು ನಿಮ್ಮ [ಮನೆಯ] addressನ್ನು ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಹಾಕಿದ್ದರೆ, ನಿಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯ ಮುಂದೆಯೇ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಬಹುದು."
2. Even at about 8:00 am this, November 20th, Friday morning you can see in the snapshot at right that there are 5 cars in wait for a Malleswaram Circle pickup location. The density of cars used to be much less in peripheral areas such as Malleswaram Circle last year. (Some people might regard Malleswaram as central to Bangalore, but I regard the Kempegowda Circle area, MG Road, et al., as more central).
3. Based on the kind of conversation I was able to strike with yesterday's driver, it looks like some of these drivers are also being sensitized to the importance of being good conversationalists too. I don't know whether Uber makes any special effort towards this user experience.
4. It is indeed true that the Uber rates are not much more expensive than the auto rates: I paid ₹228.09 for a 15.26km ride. Based on the tariffs in effect since January 8, 2014, the auto would have charged me probably 15.26*₹13.00, or ₹195.

Summary: I'll continue to patronize Uber during my presence in Bangalore. (Disclaimer: I don't own any shares of Uber).

Making Sense of Mobile Tariffs in Bangalore.

obile phones are a bare necessity these days, no matter where you go. If you have access to a smartphone, it is even better.

However, if you are used to 'all-you-can-eat' mobile plans as in the US, for example, it will take some sorting out to make the best out of the mobile plans in Bangalore, and perhaps in India.

A year ago, in June 2013, I got a SIM card for my then phone, an iPhone 4. Since I spent only a few days during that visit, I didn't pay attention to how the mobile tariffs worked, even though I was somewhat aware of the myriads of options, and settled for the Full Talktime options my bank provided.

It turns out that the options can be indeed mind-boggling. Just take a look at this Airtel example for Easy Recharge options for prepaid phones online in the Karnataka region. Yes — that's right — there are upwards of 60 Easy Recharge options from which to choose.

Primarily, if you determine the duration of your stay, you can maximize the mobile value by choosing additional options for Calls — Subscriber Trunk Dialing (STD) with or without roaming, International Subscriber Dialing (ISD), etc. — SMS, Internet access.

Airtel calls these options as packs.

So, you have to buy the packs in addition to the Full Talktimes, if you want to play the mobile usage optimization game.

My First Uber Ride in Bangalore.

ber ride in Bangalore?

I have experienced Uber ride in the US, and it has been quite pleasant.

My enthusiasm for experiencing an Uber ride in Bangalore, was boundless, as I landed last Tuesday. I had specially bought an Android smartphone as I landed in India so that I could use Uber App during my stay. (Use of an unlocked iPhone with a North America number, while possible, can add up to quite a sum while roaming internationally).

Bangaloreans can Feel Proud.

angaloreans must feel proud of this young man, Alok Shetty, who has now been named to be the Time 'Next Generation Leaders': Building Hope in India: Architect Alok Shetty is finding simple solutions to complex problems. His list of accolades is quite impressive, as can be seen from one of his company's — Bhumiputra Architecture — web pages.

Is the [Karnataka State] Government for the People?

When you read the article titled Karnataka govt to foot Ambareesh's Rs 1.16-cr medical bill, you have to wonder what kinds of considerations prompted the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to sanction reimbursement of ₹1.16 Crores.

Uber in Bangalore, and the Impact of Social Networking.

ber, the Silicon Valley startup transportation company that recently raised a capital of $1.2B at a "post-money" valuation of $18.2B, has transportation services that serves the city of Bangalore, along with other prominent Indian cities.

What is interesting about this startup company? According to CEO Travis Kalanick:

"So what is that vision?… It’s a reflection of our mission to turn ground transportation into a seamless service. Basically make car ownership a thing of the past…"

Make car ownership a thing of the past. Wow! With cloud computing, we have made, for most enterprises (and people), "big" computer ownership a thing of the past. With streaming music and video, we have CD and DVD ownership a thing of the past. Now, entrepreneurs are working to make car ownership a thing of the past. Nice. What is next? I digressed.

Having experienced the Uber service in the United States, and as a frequent visitor to Bangalore, it was necessary for me to conduct an exercise of comparison between Uber, and a particular taxi service I have used in Bangalore, Meru Cabs.

From the screenshot you see at left, of a page from Meru Cabs' web site, you can see the following:

Rate for first 4 km = ₹80
Rate after 4 km = ₹19.50/km

So, for a 40 km ride, say from the airport, you would incur a fare of ₹80 + (40-4)*₹19.50 = ₹782.

The UberBLACK service, which is somewhat similar and whose screenshot you see on the right, has the following tariffs in Bangalore:

Base fare = ₹80 (irrespective of total distance)
Time component = ₹2/minute
Distance component = ₹18/km

So, for a 40 km ride, involving 1 hour, then, you would have a total fare of ₹80 + 2*60 + 40*₹18 = ₹920.

If you are able to avail of the service when certain discounts are offered — say of 49% between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm as seen by the tweet on the Uber screenshot — you could incur only 51%*₹920 = ₹470. And, Meru charges a slightly higher rate, between midnight and 6:00 am.

Thus, the power of social networking may provide Uber a slight advantage of being able to attract a larger number of customers provided, of course, you can make use of social networking as you land in Bangalore.

Of course, the comparison may not be perfect; but, nevertheless, it is useful to have this comparison in mind.

Google's 'Know Your Candidates Tool' for India's Lok Sabha 2014 Elections.

Bangalore South Constituency Contestants, Lok Sabha 2014 

oogle's engineers have created an interesting interactive web site of India's 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

In the Bangalore South constituency, where Nandan Nilekani, former chief of the Unique Identification Authority of India, is one of the contestants, there are 21 others. 22 people in all for 1 single Lok Sabha seat. (In other words, the 'best' of these 22 contents will get elected to the lower house of the parliament.

A Public Request to the KSCA Authorities (in Bangalore).

Image from Wikipedia,
under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Cricket is a sport that has entered the youth of India in a big way.

That being the case, why not use the sport as a platform to motivate and mold India's youth? Recently, within a span of a few weeks, I had occasion to visit both the Lord's Cricket Ground in London and the KSCA Stadium in Bangalore.

Karnataka State's Recipe for Future Development around Bangalore.

In a recent news item, as shown in the clip to left, the Karnataka State Cabinet has given its nod to implement a project aimed at decongesting Bangalore, by developing 8 small townships around Bangalore.

A Google Map of the proposal is presented later in this blog post. In addition to showing the NICE Road (green) and the Outer Ring Roads (purple), it shows the 8 townships (purple) proposed by the State Cabinet. It also shows the Bangalore airport.

The proposed cost of this development, according to the article, is ₹2,100 crores, or approximately US $400 M in today's exchange rate.

Loss of a US Passport in Bangalore.

Image source: Wikipedia.

It happened to one of my relatives in a recent visit to Bangalore. This relative — call her Ms. X — had come to Bangalore from the United States to attend her cousin's wedding. Not only did she miss the central wedding ceremony, a primary purpose of her visit, the Kanyadaan (ಕನ್ಯಾದಾನ), but ended up having to deal with officials from the Karnataka State Police and visiting the US Consulate in Chennai, before she could continue with her return journey as scheduled.

Once she realized she had 'lost' her purse, most likely due to someone's lifting it away from where she had set it down in the wedding hall as a temporary measure, it became important to let the local police know about it. And, we had to reach out to the police that had the proper jurisdiction over the wedding venue. We prepared  the report, all of it hand-written. (For a state government that boasts of trillions of rupees in IT exports by 2020, and as the IT Hub of India, it is somewhat ironical that the Karnataka police stations are not well equipped with adequate computer machinery: we had to file a hand-written report).

A Morning Walk in a Bangalore Park.

While Bangalore may be better known internationally for its Software Technology Parks, a rather large number of public parks with varied plant content do dot the city, and provide valuable infrastructure for exercising and socialization. Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park, of course, are two of the more famous ones. The few of them I visited in recent years are indeed very well designed to encourage walking, or jogging, as a means of exercise for the local inhabitants. The photo depicted on the right is a morning scene from Dhanvantari Park in J P Nagar 2nd Phase, in the southern part of Bangalore.

View Larger Map

A morning walk in such a park can be refreshing in more than one way. The obvious physical benefits of exercising before a breakfast is, of course, well-known. An unstated rule in most of these parks (with endless walkways) is to go clockwise from where you can enter the walkway. This is perhaps an influence of how devotees go about doing pradakshina in Indian temples.

In addition, in a morning walk in a place like the Dhanvantari Park, you see additional entertainment and intellectual benefits as well:

A Master Plan for Bangalore's Development?

In Girish Karnad Reflects on Bangalore, India, you learn of Girish's view on haphazard growth of the city, with no effective, central, theme to aid in the city's growth. As a collective bunch, either the city fathers are overwhelmed, or clueless, depending on your point of view.

Several questions arise in anyone's mind, particularly if that someone has some experience of having lived in the city.

1. Is it too difficult to analyze the effect of a new high-rise, or any major structure, before sanctioning its construction?
2. How happy are Bangalore's citizens regarding how Namma Metro has evolved?
3. As any local economy grows, it is bound to generate some discontinuities. Have the city fathers created a satisfactory template that can guide the city's growth? 

I, for one, would like to see a master plan at the BBMP web site.

Happy Yugaadi, 2012.

"Gandhada Gudi", a Shadow Play, 2011.

When you are away from the land of your upbringing, any activity that you run into in the far away region has special meaning to you, particularly when the activity involves unique talent. And, what talent among the troupe, identified only as "Gaampara Gumpu"¹, that presented "Gandhada Gudi", a special shadow play describing the history and diversity of the State of Karnataka!

Happy Yugaadi, 2012.

This was a very beautiful, carefully selected, presentation of the various aspects of the State of Karnataka, with very appropriate musical backgrounds. This was performed as part of the cultural Yugaadi 2012 program that the Kannada Koota of Northern California presented on 7 April 2012 in Campbell, California. (The embedded video in this blog post, however, is what was presented in Sacramento in 2011, but is very representative of what was presented in Campbell).

Kannadigas everywhere, take note! The "Gaampara Gumpu" troupe of Sacramento, California, ought to make you feel proud. This presentation is an excellent realization of the motto of the State of Karnataka: "ಸಿರಿಗನ್ನಡಂ ಗೆಲ್ಗೆ, ಸಿರಿಗನ್ನಡಂ ಬಾಳ್ಗೆ".

Kannada is living well in California.

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¹The quotes are not mine: the troupe refers to itself with the quotes. For those who know Kannada, it is ಗಾಂಪರ ಗುಂಪು.

Bangalore and a Specialty Snack (ತೇಂಕೊಳಲು).

Although Bangalore is famous for Masala Dosa, there are many other tasty snacks that are somewhat unique to Bangalore in general, and South India in particular.

ತೇಂಕೊಳಲು

One such eatable is known in Kannada as ತೇಂಕೊಳಲು — pronounced tenkolalu, see inset picture — and, being able to enjoy a home-made version of that snack in America is a very special treat.

Recently, a very special "guest"¹ to our home in California blessed us with not only her visit, but with ತೇಂಕೊಳಲು and a whole host of other snacks. (If you know how to read and understand Kannada, you can read about it on a separate blog).

My best wishes to you, the reader, that you get a chance to enjoy this savoury soon.

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¹I have used the word "guest" only to avoid needless publication of the guest's identity.