Bangalore

Tuesday, May 6

Flew to Bangalore on Tuesday. Bangalore is an hour flight south of Hyderabad. It is the birthplace of the software and computer technology boom in India. IBM has several offices there. Bangalore is also getting a new airport but it has not opened yet and has been delayed
several times. It was supposed to open in March. The current airport is right down town.

We gave the taxi driver the wrong address and ended up getting a little tour of the city. Even though Bangalore is closer to the equator it is not as hot as Hyderabad. The city is at a higher elevation. There are a lot more trees. Bangalore is called the Garden City because of how green and lush it is with gardens planted at the intersections. Maybe because of the office and airport being right in the city center and there are trees and sidewalks, Bangalore feels more cosmopolitan than Hyderabad.

The traffic in this city is much much worse. This is kind of traffic you invision or have heard about in India. Vehicles going every which way and huge backups. We were pretty lucky that even though we steered our driver the wrong way, we didn't run into anything too bad traffic-wise.

Learned a new term from Bangalore IBM team member. Software Culture. Luis asked about shaking hands versus bowing. A team member said in the "software culture" shaking hands was the norm where as the slight bow is something that more traditional people from the far south
of India would still do.

We flew back to Hyderabad the same day. As usual we had to hunt down a ride. We finally found a taxi driver who was willing to take us to the airport which was only a few kilometers away. This taxi ride was the ride to end all rides. I don't think he once let up on the horn nor the gas pedal. I've learned to not look out the front and to just look at the sights along the side. I think it is all about knowing the exact dimensions of your vehicle. There are cars with dents and bangs but amazingly not that many. And I've only seen one actual accident.

This taxi driver was incredible. Luis and I were laughing and gasping at the same time.