Keeping an Eye on Technology Futures, No Hidden Agendas, New Attitudes, No Platitudes!
I have been on vacation for the entire month of February 07. I went to England to pick up my eldest brother, and we flew non-stop on British Airway from London to Bangalore, India. This is a daily flight, which flies back and forth - the 350-seat jumbo-jet is always packed to capacity.
My brother an I were making a return visit to my hometown, Bangalore, after a similar visit with our family in January 2006. I'm #7 in a family of 10 (see weblink below) all happily in good health. We spent most of the time in Bangalore, but spent a few days in Pune, about an hour away by air; interestingly, there was an excellent choice of several local airlines: SpiceJet, IndiGo, Kingfisher, Jet Airways, and others. I was impressed with the easy on-line bookings and excellent service. They compare well with Southwest, JetBlue or any other US airline.
Bangalore is hard to describe - the traffic is overwhelming, even though many streets have been converted to one-way. I have driven in London, Paris, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and many other big cities of the world - but not in India. If you follow any rules, you'll crash. There is only one rule - don't hit anyone. Frankly, during my 3 weeks, I saw only 2 minor "accidents" - they simply dusted off and went on their way.
Yes, there are traffic lights. Everyone stops and many switch off their engines to conserve gas (petrol, about $ 7.00 a gallon). Thousands of tiny autorickshaws are everywhere, filling up every little space. When there are no traffic lights, turns into oncoming traffic are made boldly - if you're shy, the pressure behind you builds up to where you can't wait any longer. Strangely enough, no honking - just revving engines.
Beyond just family socializing, I did venture on one business visit - to Infosys, the software giant in Bangalore. The Pinto brothers were given the tour, starting with the same multi-media introduction that Tom Friedman witnessed before he was stimulated to write his best-seller, "The World is Flat".
I must tell you, I've visited the Microsoft and Google campuses in the US, but they hardly compare with the Infosys corporate HQ. The company now has 69,000 people, with about 12,000 in Bangalore and 15,000 in the training complex in nearby Mysore.
My article about the corporate culture of Infosys will be published this month (March 07) by Automation.com, as part of their Corporate Culture series.
Anyway, now that I'm back, JimPinto.com eNews should continue to be published "irreverently and irregularly". Thanks for staying in touch.
